Dog Bones 101 (Rear suspension mod)

[mike]

By B12Teuton:

One of the more frequently performed mods is to alter the dog bones (rear suspension linkage).  If you make them LONGER, the rear of the bike sits lower.  If you make them SHORTER, the rear of the bike sits higher.  Lower is good for short folks and people who want to lower the bike for drag racing.  A higher rear end provides more ground clearance in turns and also helps quicken up the steering geometry for you backroads hooligans ;)

Now, you can go out and buy yourself a nice set for $70-$100, or you can run to Home Depot and spend $5.  I did the later:

The first task is to get the OE units out of the bike.  Easier said than done.
First you have to move the guard/foot pegs:
 
You'll need to loosen the upper and lower bolts/nuts.  The top ones on mine were fairly easy:

The bottom ones required the impact gun:


Once you get the nuts off, you can pull the bolts out the left side of the bike.  I was able to depress the black plastic chain guide enough to pull the bolt out, but you may want to remove it:


And there you have em:

Make sure you keep all the hardware organized and clean.  You will want to clean and grease everything before you put it back together!

Now, cut a length of flat stock to the size of one of the dog bones:



Once you've got both cut to length, it's time to drill!  I used a big C-clamp and a drill press with a good quality metal bit.  A vice and hand drill will work, but a press is best.




This one's a little out of focus, but the idea is to make the new units about 1/4" shorter!

Now if it's not exactly 1/4" isn't that important, but what is critical is that both the pieces you make are exactly the same!!
So once you have your first one drilled, clamp it over the second one and use the holes you drilled to guide your drill into the second unit.  This is the most important step!

Here is what we have so far:

I used a Dremel to take off all the burrs and make them look a little nicer.
Time for a test fit:

As you can kinda see from the picture above, there is actually a function for the dog-bone shape.  Straight units hit the swingarm and prevent the holes from lining up!  In the pic, the top bolt is in but the bottom is off!
This is why we have an nice angle grinder!

The spot you'll need to grind is the upper-rear part.  As you can see below, this is where you need clearance:

And looky here... they fit!



Again, you'll want to grease everything and put it back the way you found it.  Torque to 56.5 ft-lb
 :cool: