Planning to have my forks and rear shock serviced and worked on by MCT in Stowmarket. Plan is to remove the forks and shock myself and take them over for the work. Looking to clear up some confusion if possible - does the swing arm have to come out to remove the complete rear shock including both reservoirs? My Ducati workshop manual doesn't say either way and there is “conflicting” information on line. TIA. Bob
So just finished replacing my upgraded front and rear suspension to my 2011 Diavel Carbon. In the end after some research and talking with MCT, I decided to have Darren to service and modify the forks involving modifying the spacer, damping mechanism, air gap and grade of oil and bought a Nitron NTR1 rear shock built to my weightvetc. No reservoirs to worry about fitting and made the shock much easier to remove as no need to remove the swing arm. Simply unbolted the preload reservoir and removed it and the shock. Sitting on the bike and “bouncing” both ends indicates a definite difference but clearly a ride out is now needed to see how differently the bike now handles. A HUGE shoutout to Darren at MCT for his input, advice and superb service. Highly recommended!!! So, my observations after completing this. The Ducati manual section on this is rubbish. No guidance on supporting the bike and in the end I used 3 stands / car jack to allow the job to be completed without removing rear wheel, swing arm etc. Left and Right lower bushes were a bit dry of lubrication making removing them problematic. Bolts holding the damping reservoir are made of cheese and its easy to round them off due to access issues. Care was needed to use a car stand to line up the relevant holes for the “special” bolt that holds the rear end of the rear shock by placing it under the swing arm where the rear of the shock fits. So hopefully my Diavel will handle as well as it goes and looks.
