550 YSS rear shocks

[Oddjob]

Bushes new Dom? If so genuine Honda?

Yes the gap looks excessive but with you saying you might struggle to find a really thin washer I presumed it was an illusion. There should be a small amount of movement allowed Dom, as the arm lifts the shock has to change it's angle accordingly, so both upper and lower mounts must be able to rotate a little.

[DomP]

Thanks Ken, yeah new and genuine honda, I'll try a few washers tomorrow, today it just annoyed me so I left it to do something else.   

[Murf]

That just looks wrong, the fork should be a close fit on the steel centre of the SA bushing, I will measure my original Honda shocks and the SA bush tomorrow and post the dimensions for you, just so you can check the SA bushes you have are correct before you take it up with Hagon again!

Then if you can’t get any joy with Hagon I can make you some stainless spacers to fill the gap if you give me the size required. I would suggest 2 equal spacers for each shock to keep it central.

[DomP]

Thanks Murf that would be great, it gets quite annoying having to go back and forth with a supplier, they tried to get me to pay for return postage too!

[Murf]

Hi
I have measured my shock and SA bush.
The SA bush is 19 mm front to back
The fork has a 19.15 or there abouts  spacing
So the fork is a close fit to the bush, when the fork bolt is tightened the fork is a tight fit on the bush. Which it has to be or the bolt would not tighten securely.

I took the shock off the top mount and just tightened the lower fork bolt, shock is held securely in place but has about 20mm of movement both forwards and backward with the flexing of the rubber in the bush when light pressure is applied. So adequate movement in the bush to take up any normal shock movement when riding.

So as I expected clearance between the fork and bush should be minimal and when the fork bolt is tightened the fork should be clamped to the SA bush.
I can make you some spacers but I think the favoured option is to get Hagon to supply shocks with the correct fitting.
I have attached a photo of the shock just clamped to the SA bush on my bike, you can see that it is just held in place, the bolt is not even tightened that much and the sides of the fork are not touching the swinging arm.

[DomP]

That was my thinking Murf, been out and measured mine which is the same 19mm bush but clevis has a 21mm gap so being stainless is too much to clamp up squarely.  I've been in conversation with Hagon today so will see what they decide, for moderately expensive shocks built to my spec I think its a bit poor that even after being returned they've come back wrong.

[Murf]

Yes it definitely looks like they are making it up as they go along.
Definitely too big a gap to just clamp it up, also if you are using original bolts they are only just the right length for the original shock with its 19 mm fork opening.