linkage stinkage

[Readmarx]

I bought my '94 ST as salvage a couple of years back and discovered it'd had 14 owners and no servicing judging by the bible-like nonsense of servicing errors, worn/seized/damaged/missing parts. Anyway the motor blew and I'm replacing that and stripping the rear end to replace the shock.

I took apart the Triumph suspension last night and I'm truly baffled by it... It seems to contradict the Triumph parts microfiche and the laws of physics. I can only assume it's part of another model because I can't for the life of me work out how the linkage comes apart to free the shock.

This is what it should look like, the shock sits in the middle bit of the wishbone looky-liky bit and the link arms attach to the swing arm & a bolt threads from one side to the other through the wishbone and holds the shock in place - standard stuff


What I found was that the wishbone had fractured at the point where one of the 14 owners has over tightened a pinch bolt, so I ground the piece off. the thing is that there's no bolt going through the wishbone and shock as the microfiche says there should be. It's like the whole thing is some kind of pressed bush affair because I can not get the protruding part out - the bit that's pushed against the link arm is firmly in place, there is a 19mm hex head and grease nipple that came off either side - no bolt. What's worse is that when you look inside the protruding bit/bush it's clearly a single with another on the other side separated by another bush in the middle - you can see the joins between bshes by looking down the protruding bush. By my reckoning it means that triumph manufactured the part that meant the whole thing either needs some hydraulic press/grip to remove/replace the bushes or the whole thing - including the shock - comes as one part...



I'd be interested to hear anyone's comments on what they think is going on here - what am I missing?

For anyone interested - here's pics of the crankcase after the lump threw its middle conrod - notice the fractures to the starter motor housing as well as the gouge out the casing!

[andrewb]

When changing shocks on any of the T300's I've owned, The following was observed.

After removing one of the end cap/grease nipples, and loosening both pinch bolts, the hollow shaft can be gently drifted out with a long piece of brass rod.

Every time, I have been able to remove and reinstall the rear shock without any major hassle in about 30 minutes or so.

Andrew

[MotT3]

The hollow spindle you are trying to get out is regularly a pain in the neck, if not visited for a while and ridden through the winter it can rust in a bit ..!! your linkage is a bit past it's best..I wouldn't hesitate to stick a rod through the spindle and whack the living mahooochas out of it against something solid, once you have the shock off I'd get another linkage off fleabay if I were you, you can see here that the spindle is designed to be hollow allowing grease to be pumped in to lube the needle roller bearings for the dog bones etc etc..

http://www.mottleybiker.com/page20.htm

Yours looks to be original which is probably part of the problems you are having

[daytona 750]

jesus!
i bet that conrod went with a bang.......or several!

[Readmarx]

Nice write up MOT. I'm talking to someone about a linkage for sale and will do the needle bearings and new link shaft/bolt with Fowlers. The thing that was getting me is the clear separation in the shaft into three parts. I'll gring the fuggers out and post some pics if I'm right about it. I have a new shock ready to go in and I'm looking forward to some comfy, well greased and serviced suspension myself!

Daytona750 - I'd just come back from 2500miles ragging the bike through the Alps when I was 50miles from home on the M4 and had just scored a convincing victory over some Italian car driver in the drag race out of the petrol station when it went bang. My mates behind said the oil cloud was very impressive, despite it being 11pm!