markjenn
Well-known member
Hi, I just finished installing a new Penske 8983 rear shock on my 2005 FJR-ABS. Since many of you might be doing the same install from the GP Suspension GB, I thought I'd list a few notes which might make things go more smoothly. Warchild's full treatise of a Wilbers install at FJR tech is still the place to go to get familar with the job in general and has lots of pretty pictures that I'm too lazy to shoot.
https://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=48
1. Install can be done from the bottom with the bike on the centerstand. I gained a little extra working room by putting a 3/8" strip of plywood under the centerstand feet, but not sure if this was really necessary.
2. I removed the left silver side panel to gain a little extra working room for top eyelet access. Again, this might not be necessary, but it helps. Removing the right side panel too would help even more. This penel has a bunch of those plastic rivets - most work by pushing the center button, but a few work by a 1/4 turn screw. Keep track of where they go as they're not all the same.
3. The hard/soft lever is held on by three nuts that are hard to get to, but come off easily. With these nuts off, the adjuster is loose and will easily fish out the bottom as you drop the shock out the bottom.
4. Put something under the wheel (or jack it up) as you remove the top/bottom shock bolts and suspension linkages, otherwise the weight of the wheel will be working against you removing the bolts. At the bottom, I removed the bottom shock bolt and the linkage bolt at the swingarm. This gives you plenty of room to remove the shock from the bottom.
5. On the Penske, be sure you have the two eyelets at each end of the shock reasonably aligned with one another, otherwise, you'll have difficulty getting the bushing at the top eyelet between the frame tabs.
6. When inserting the Penske from the bottom, the remote reservoir needs to go in first then the shock. One side of the top bushing at the top is removable and this helps getting the shock through the hole with the hose fitting - it's a tight fit and you'll need to stress the hose a bit but it will be very tough unless you remove the half-bushing.
7. The top is harder to bolt up, so do the bottom first. Just bolt up the shock and the linkages at the bottom, then things will be easier to get aligned at the top.
8. I used a small jack to raise the rear swingarm to get the top bushing to align to the frame tabs. It took some fiddling, but eventually the bolt went in.
9. If you're using the fancy GP Suspension bracket, it bolts up by replacing the top two bolts on the rightside exhaust/passenger-peg hangar. The bracket goes on the back side of this hangar. Remove the two existing bolts, replace with the two new bolts (long one goes on the front hole - that's the one that gets the spacer), torque them tight, then put the spacer on the front bolt. The spacer takes care of an offset between the two bolts so the bracket doesn't sit ****-eyed. Put the bracket on and tighten the two nuts.
Not a difficult job, but not a whole lot of fun either. I haven't ridden the bike yet, but I can immediately tell it is a lot stiffer in the back. I fiddled with the ride height before bolting it on; I wanted the max ride height that would still have the centerstand work acceptably. This was slightly longer (one full turn) than GP had the ride height set at. When I talked to Dave about ride height, he expressed concern about a longer shock causing shaft drive angle issues, but I really don't think it is much of a concern unless you go crazy high - mine right now is only slightly higher.
Ride report to follow.
- Mark
https://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=48
1. Install can be done from the bottom with the bike on the centerstand. I gained a little extra working room by putting a 3/8" strip of plywood under the centerstand feet, but not sure if this was really necessary.
2. I removed the left silver side panel to gain a little extra working room for top eyelet access. Again, this might not be necessary, but it helps. Removing the right side panel too would help even more. This penel has a bunch of those plastic rivets - most work by pushing the center button, but a few work by a 1/4 turn screw. Keep track of where they go as they're not all the same.
3. The hard/soft lever is held on by three nuts that are hard to get to, but come off easily. With these nuts off, the adjuster is loose and will easily fish out the bottom as you drop the shock out the bottom.
4. Put something under the wheel (or jack it up) as you remove the top/bottom shock bolts and suspension linkages, otherwise the weight of the wheel will be working against you removing the bolts. At the bottom, I removed the bottom shock bolt and the linkage bolt at the swingarm. This gives you plenty of room to remove the shock from the bottom.
5. On the Penske, be sure you have the two eyelets at each end of the shock reasonably aligned with one another, otherwise, you'll have difficulty getting the bushing at the top eyelet between the frame tabs.
6. When inserting the Penske from the bottom, the remote reservoir needs to go in first then the shock. One side of the top bushing at the top is removable and this helps getting the shock through the hole with the hose fitting - it's a tight fit and you'll need to stress the hose a bit but it will be very tough unless you remove the half-bushing.
7. The top is harder to bolt up, so do the bottom first. Just bolt up the shock and the linkages at the bottom, then things will be easier to get aligned at the top.
8. I used a small jack to raise the rear swingarm to get the top bushing to align to the frame tabs. It took some fiddling, but eventually the bolt went in.
9. If you're using the fancy GP Suspension bracket, it bolts up by replacing the top two bolts on the rightside exhaust/passenger-peg hangar. The bracket goes on the back side of this hangar. Remove the two existing bolts, replace with the two new bolts (long one goes on the front hole - that's the one that gets the spacer), torque them tight, then put the spacer on the front bolt. The spacer takes care of an offset between the two bolts so the bracket doesn't sit ****-eyed. Put the bracket on and tighten the two nuts.
Not a difficult job, but not a whole lot of fun either. I haven't ridden the bike yet, but I can immediately tell it is a lot stiffer in the back. I fiddled with the ride height before bolting it on; I wanted the max ride height that would still have the centerstand work acceptably. This was slightly longer (one full turn) than GP had the ride height set at. When I talked to Dave about ride height, he expressed concern about a longer shock causing shaft drive angle issues, but I really don't think it is much of a concern unless you go crazy high - mine right now is only slightly higher.
Ride report to follow.
- Mark
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