So having the wheel off to clean stuff because I like clean stuff I decided I would check the drain hole and rear shock bolt. Well I can’t for the life of me find the drain hole but I can see where the casting should have a hole, but no hole. So the shock bolt, is it that Allen headed bolt in the recess which you can see from the right hand side? Any idea what size, should I spray it with penetrating fluid for a few days before attempting to undo it, should I go straight in with the powerful impact rattle gun and wind it out? I want to copperslip it so if ever I need it off it will come out ok. All advice welcome. Thanks.
Well......yes the lower shock mount is down that hole on the RHS you can see with the wheel removed, spraying anything down it might help, tho it made NO difference with mine, the head of the bolt is a VERY very tight fit to the swing arm as this is how the bolt supports the shock, theres no shoulder to take the load, the head is the bit that siezes as well, not the threads, if you search my name on here I put a thread up last year about my adventures taking it out, essentially I broke 3 8mm allen bits, the last one a Snap on one, and ended up cutting both sides of the bolt to get it out, a proper Royal pain in the ass ! even when cut the head needed a lump hammer and drift to get it out, whereas the threaded section came out by hand a New bolt is only about £8 or so but getting the old one out might be a pain I tried... 1000nm impact gun... 1m long breaker bar... air impact guns...... air hacksaw.... when I reassembled it I used Duralac anti-sieze compound..recommended by Car tuning boys who have issues with galvanic reaction with their fancy bottom arms/Ti parts etc, it was designed for Yachts with alloy masts in S-Steel sockets and lots of salt water, I pulled my lower bolt 1 year on and it cam striaght out, no drama drain holes....theres 2... 1 right under the lower shock mounting eye, cant see it till the shock is out 1 right under the rear hub, poke around with a screwdriver as they do get blocked Good Luck !
Many thanks, I shall clean out the bolt hole thoroughly before attempting removal and keep looking for drain holes. If the bolt does not come out first time it’s staying there.
I had the same issue as Funners and dealt with it in the same way. If you do a search you will find my documentation of it in a previous thread on this common problem.
How old were your bikes and what mileage? I “never” ride in the wet but have been caught out once or twice.
Mine was 4 years old and coming up for 40,000 miles although I don't think mileage would have anything to do with. More to do with galvanic corrosion over a period of time. Keeping the weather out would have helped a lot but too late by the time you find out.
But as an aside.... I’ve done nearly 10k this last year in all weathers and Duralac anti-seize has really done an excellent job
Duralac certainly looks like the go-to for protection against galvanic action. Part of the ACF50 blurb is that it has similar protection (anti galvanic) properties. Anyone here used it for this sort of application?
I used the AFC50 grease to fill the hole around the rear suspension lower bolt when I did a deep clean last year. I didn't remove the bolt completely just made sure it undid a turn or two. I've just ordered Duralac to use instead of Copperslip, thanks to @Funners . I've also started using Ceratec (ceramic high temperature grease for rear of brake pads) instead of Copperslip to eliminate galvanic corrosion issues. This year I plan to use XCP Rust Blocker instead of AFC50 for some parts/areas of the bike, after seeing the Ride mag review. I'm sucker for this type of stuff and the recommendations on this forum cost me a fortune
I would avoid copperslip for this application as I hear it has the effect of welding different materials together. TB
I can only speak on a personal level, but I never had any bother using Coppaslip for that purpose. I have always used it ?
I won’t be doing it today, I have some other stuff to go on the bike so will do it all in one go, I know if the bolt decides not to come out today and I leave the wheel off I will want to bang hell out of it. So I shall have one attempt and if it’s stuck the wheel will get put back on along with the other stuff and I shall forget about it. If it ever needs to come out then I shall trade the bike in for another.
