Another lowering thread...

EricV

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Should those sleeves inside the linkage come out with the bolt?
No. You only need the bolt out. The sleeves may come out, but will go back in. It depends on the tension there. When removing a shock, typically they stay in place. Sometimes when doing the links, (dog bones), the spacer will come out.
 

RaginTxn

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No. You only need the bolt out. The sleeves may come out, but will go back in. It depends on the tension there. When removing a shock, typically they stay in place. Sometimes when doing the links, (dog bones), the spacer will come out.
Good deal - I think with my monkeying around the tension is a bit...higher than probably should be. But good to know I'm not breaking anything if they come out.

Thanks all for the quick feedback!

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rstrom

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Good deal - I think with my monkeying around the tension is a bit...higher than probably should be. But good to know I'm not breaking anything if they come out.

Thanks all for the quick feedback!

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Ok - so, I thought this should be a bit easier than it has turned out to be (YouTube lied!).

I got the one bone off the right side, after some rubber mallet application - that's when I should have stopped. But I figured first time to be messed with probably in its life, so it's gonna be stubborn.

When I tried to tap out the other bone, it got stuck...I tried on the center stand, off the center stand, leaning on the side stand. Can't seem to find the sweet spot. The videos showed the guys popping them off with their hands. I applied farm logic and used a hammer.

Help!?View attachment 49898View attachment 49899View attachment 49900

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bike on center stand, lever under rear wheel. I used large crowbar and small wood block. When sweet spot found the bolts will slide out easily. remove rear link bolt first keep spacer in place. The pressure will now be off the front bolt so slide it with the link untill it contacks the exhaust. At this point slide the spacer halfway out to the right , this will give enough room to get front bolt out. Be careful as the as the needle bearings are in a teflon type cage and can be dislodged. Put new link on front bolt on and slide back in repositioning spacer when bolt clears exhaust. Using lever line up for rear bolt a second set of hands helps here. Do not force and hold spacer so it does not slide out when bolt goes in. 43 ft # for nuts good luck
 

RaginTxn

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Success!! Amazing how those simple machine classes from grade school come in (the lever).

Last but not least - anyone have the torque specs for the front triple?IMG_20181014_153917.jpegIMG_20181014_153922.jpegIMG_20181014_163943.jpeg

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RaginTxn

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Just looked up - found 19# for upper triple pinch and 14# for lower triple pinch - sound right?

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EricV

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You got it on the torque. Take it easy, that's not a lot. And you might want to put the bike on the center stand, then either add some weight to the rear, (big bag of dog food?), then remove the front wheel before you start loosening the forks and doing that end.
Congrats on the use of a lever. :D
 

RaginTxn

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One last inquiry and hopefully should be good to go. What are people's opinions/experiences on side stand: 1) buy an OE unit, cut, and weld a foot plate; 2) buy an aftermarket adjustable and a foot plate (right now I'm only seeing Soupy's as the option for this route)? Also, has anyone chopped their center stand after lowering? PITA trying to pop it up now it's lowered.

At least I can fully flat foot it now

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EricV

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Wouldn’t a hyd-jack under the shock side of the pivot help relieve the tension?
To answer your question, yes, but there is only a very small amount of slack in the bolt/spacer/links. The jack will have to be in just the right spot to allow free movement of the bolts. It's much easier to use a lever to lift the rear tire while you are pulling on a bolt to find the sweet spot and allow the bolt to slide out easily. With the jack, most people jack it up too much and there is tension in the opposite direction, and the bolt is still hard to remove.

Besides, it's way easier to use a lever under the tire than find a nice spot to jack the swing arm up. You can pull the rear wheel, which will lighten the swing arm significantly and make things easier too.
 

EricV

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What are people's opinions/experiences on side stand: 1) buy an OE unit, cut, and weld a foot plate; 2) buy an aftermarket adjustable and a foot plate (right now I'm only seeing Soupy's as the option for this route)? Also, has anyone chopped their center stand after lowering? PITA trying to pop it up now it's lowered.
Few people shorten the center stand. Ride it up on a piece of 2x whatever and it will be easy.

Side stand - People go both ways. Depends on if you think you're going to leave it that way or change it back. I think Soupy's is the only adjustable one known to fit the Super Tenere. However, it's worth knowing that the Gen I bikes use a steel side stand and the Gen II bikes use an aluminum one, but both fit either bike.

You can buy a new Yamaha Gen I side stand for $52.38 plus shipping from Partshark and a Gen II for $92.49 plus shipping. Might be cheaper to buy a Gen I steel and have a local welder shorten it to your spec than buy Soupy's. Plus then you can still use a side stand enlarger foot. Most welding shops can TiG weld aluminum too, you're just spending more $$.

There are cheap China made aluminum lowering stands on Ebay right now. Here is one ad, but there are many. The slot is 9mm wide and the OEM Gen II slot is 12mm wide, but the OEM uses two washers and the steel 'toe' on the side stand mount is 9mm wide. A little filing on the slot of the China one and it will probably work. The depth of the OEM slot on the Super Ten is 40mm. The 'toe' on the OEM mount is 30mm and the slot on the China side stand is 33mm. The length only goes to 235mm, which should be fine for a lowered Super Ten. You might have to rig a tab to hit the side stand switch. For the price, perhaps worth a try.

The height of my Gen II on the side stand measured closer to 265, but mine isn't lowered and has custom suspension. (I could actually use a slightly longer side stand for less lean.)
 

EricV

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A forum member ask some questions off list. I realized my response and the links may help others, so am re-posting it here.

I have Ohlins 30mm fork kit up front and a Touratech Extreme rear shock. Both were ordered with my weight and loads in mind thru Jaxon at Ride On ADV. He's in TX and I did it via email/mail and installed the shock myself. Jaxon was awesome and helped me decide as well as asked all the right questions for weights and riding so things would be built for my needs.

I shipped the forks off to be done, they came back ready to install with the removed parts in plastic. I just used a gun case to ship them. It's better if you can get one with a cardboard box around it, but they shipped it w/o fine at UPS. All in all, it killed about $3k. You can get a nice aftermarket shock, sprung for your weight and lowered for $800-1200. Sliding the forks up in the triple trees 13mm is free. Wilbers, HyperPro, Penske, Yacugar, Progressive, Cogent Dynamics and others I have forgotten all offer possibilities for the Super Ten. Progressive and HyperPro specifically mention lowering options. Ted Porter's Beemer shop, (they work on anything), is one of the most knowledgeable places and Ted will take the time to talk to you, even if you're not a customer. He's a really nice guy. Sometimes super busy and on the road though, so can be slow to respond to email.

Most shops when you order a custom rear shock will help you select what meets your needs, including ride height, if thats what you want. Some aftermarket shocks allow the spring perch to be lowered, others do not. Some shops build special set ups for lowering with shorter shocks. Spring swaps are pretty easy for any good shop to do, though the stock Super Ten shock requires a spacer to fit aftermarket springs in some cases. My stock shock did, in which I ran an 1100 lb spring on my stock shock for nearly 100k before going with the custom suspension.

In my case, I didn't need any lowering. I'm 5'11 with a 30" inseam, but am fine with just a toe down. YMMV.

Nice article those considering lowering might find interesting. LINK
 

Kiejoe

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Uhh, gentlemen, a little thought process helps a lot here. Put the bike on the center stand. Put a lever under the rear tire to use to help un-load the linkage when you pull the bolts out and they will slide right out. Gravity is pulling the rear wheel down, so you simply lever the rear up a bit with an old fence board, a pry bar, a large screwdriver, what ever you have that's a little long so you have some leverage to make it easier.

You can NOT remove linkage bolts with the bike on the rear wheel! All that weight will push against the linkage and make it extremely difficult to remove the bolts and even more fun when you pull them out, not to mention when you go to try and put them in again.
TAKETHELOADOFFBABY.......fulcrum.....
 

richarddacat

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I just put new tires on and I slid my forks up 3/8” or lowered my triple tree. ;)

I really like it, feels more sport-bike. I expected quicker turn-in but it’s not that noticeable at first, making U turns is where I noticed it the most and also feeling more planted, of course new tires may have done that.

Height wise ain’t much but I do feel more secure with it and a bit easier on & off. I’m 5’7”.
I like it!
 
B

ballisticexchris

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bike on center stand, lever under rear wheel. I used large crowbar and small wood block. When sweet spot found the bolts will slide out easily. remove rear link bolt first keep spacer in place. The pressure will now be off the front bolt so slide it with the link untill it contacks the exhaust. At this point slide the spacer halfway out to the right , this will give enough room to get front bolt out. Be careful as the as the needle bearings are in a teflon type cage and can be dislodged. Put new link on front bolt on and slide back in repositioning spacer when bolt clears exhaust. Using lever line up for rear bolt a second set of hands helps here. Do not force and hold spacer so it does not slide out when bolt goes in. 43 ft # for nuts good luck
Special thanks to you sir!! I'm getting ready to put some rising links on my Super Tenere. I was thinking I might have to remove the mid pipe for the bolt to clear. It's good to know the spacer removal gives enough room and the bearings are caged. My Beta needles are loose.

The darn bike sags so much that it's almost vertical with side stand down. Not to mention I have ground clearance issues when going over curbs, small ruts, rocks, and my boots have dragged a few times on the corners. This is just a temporary solution until I'm due for a full suspension service with stiffer springs.

I'm finding more and more that this is a very capable off road machine as long as I respect the weight. Hoping I won't have to keep banging out dents on my AltRider skid plate. At some point I might end up with a Jaxons custom plate.
 
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