Aftermarket Rear Shock

[raYzerman]

On the relay arm, you can put grease in there with a small stick/Q-tip/whatever with the seals in place. If you grease the bolt, the seals will tend to scrape it off as you insert the bushing but you'll have a coating plus what you worked into the bearing. Good enough.
I see what I didn't do, measure shock bolt shoulder diameter and bushing OD, should be the same or near enough. Nor did I measure shock clevis hole for the bolt shoulder. The shim idea was creative, time will tell the longevity of the brass.

[escapefjrtist]

Update: 2/23/19
<<Big snippage>>I'm not inclined to replace the bearings on the relay arm - I think the result would be the same. I was worried about that shoulder of the bolt moving up and down - that will only get worse and at some point, the clevis could break. I'm inclined to email Hagon to confirm, but just ride it a bit and then check it in about 1000 miles and see if the shim is wearing any. I could order a new bolt too.

Thoughts, anyone?

@'pants - I'm emailing you [and Ray] a couple pics from my Penske investigation. Penske clevises don't break because of OD-ID differences with the shoulder bolt. Breakage is caused by the difference in thickness of the Penske clevis verses stock, and length of the "shoulder" on the bottom bolt. The Penske clevis is pinched ~.030" - .035" by a too short shoulder and stack up with the bottom collar. [IMO] eventually this leads to fatigue of the aluminum clevis.

Although the shoulder bolt fit sounds a bit sloppy in the Hagon clevis, if the stack up captures the bottom collar I wouldn't be too concerned with it.

~G

[raYzerman]

G, there was talk of an improved clevis on the Penske, i.e., not a sharp stress point at the stud portion that threads into the shock. It wasn't clear if Penske would send you the new clevis if you asked for it. Meanwhile, a shim washer will work so the clevis is not squeezed.

[Cav47]

I still have the broken clevis hanging on my peg borrar. Would anyone like me to ship it to them for post mortem investigation?

[Hppants]

Ray, George, and I are trying to get on the same page via email. Well technically, Ray and George are absolutely on the same page, but Pants, stuck in his box otherwise known as his mind, is trying desperately to get out of the gate.

(sigh)....

[Steel_Gin]

Don't know if this will help, throwing it out here on the off chance it does. When I talked to Penske about the clevis issue the tech told me the problem was with the step bolt used off of the OEM shock. He said it doesn't pull evenly, because of that they are now including the bolt. I asked if there was a spacer needed and he said no.

I kept a good eye on it for a couple months after it was installed and didn't see any sign of an issue. Slipped for the last month or so on checking. I will try to remember to take a look tonight and report back if that would help.

[raYzerman]

I made this drawing, which is based on the OEM shock mount and steel clevis. It explains the side to side play between the relay arm and the clevis (in this case 1.18 - 1.11 = 0.07"). It also gives you an idea of what happens if the clevis is thicker than the bolt shoulder (0.22"), or has an opening bigger than the relay arm bushing (1.18"). If either or both conditions exist, it will cause the clevis to squeeze, thus requiring a shim washer at the threaded end or machining the bolt head thinner to match the clevis thickness. The bolt shoulder is essentially the same diameter as the Bushing OD.

This has little if nothing to do with up/down play, that is an accumulation of tolerances and quite frankly is hard to measure accurately at the rear wheel.

[Hppants]

Thanks for taking the time to draw this, Ray.

When I get back home, I’m going to study this next to the bike.

[Steel_Gin]

Don't know if this will help, throwing it out here on the off chance it does. When I talked to Penske about the clevis issue the tech told me the problem was with the step bolt used off of the OEM shock. He said it doesn't pull evenly, because of that they are now including the bolt. I asked if there was a spacer needed and he said no.

I kept a good eye on it for a couple months after it was installed and didn't see any sign of an issue. Slipped for the last month or so on checking. I will try to remember to take a look tonight and report back if that would help.

Sorry about the delay, kept forgetting to check. No sign, that I can see, of the clevis issue.

[Hppants]

I received a reply from Hagon. They indicate that they have sold many shocks for my bike and other motorcycles and have never had a "fitment" problem with the lower clevis breaking. They suggest I remove the shim and ride it.

I know that my stock bolt has a wear mark on it. My dial caliper can't decipher the depth of that mark, but I can feel it with my finger nail. So I'm going to order a new bolt, new bushing. If the new bolt still measures 0.010" (or more) smaller than the Hagon hole, then I'm inclined to keep the shim installed. Maybe ride it 1000 miles and then check the shim and see how it (the shim) is wearing (if at all).

I still don't know if I've got a relay arm and/or swing arm bearing (s) problem or not. I suppose to address that, I've got to order all of the seals and bearings, lift the bike, remove the center stand, and change the bearings. That's a big PITA, and I don't know if it is worth it or not. My feeling is that I will change all of the bearings, go through all of that crap, and realize no appreciable difference.

[raYzerman]

If the wear mark is just a small mark, probably not worth worrying about (picture?). Is the diameter of the shoulder 0.67" (same as OD of the bushing). If so, it's OK. You shimmed it, even better.
You don't have a swingarm bearing problem, never heard of a bad one and don't know how they could possibly fail.. You don't have a relay arm bearing problem if you slid out the bushings and they were relatively clean and not all rusted to hell. If good, and it's still all buttoned up, go ride more, worry less.