@Flatty ha ha that's the aim. Basically, I'm a fussy prick and any part i fancy for the bike gets bought or anything i feel could've been damaged previously, it gets replaced. To be honest, the quality of the headlight is very good, it's tough, durable and still retained the natural high gloss finish but there was some stone chipping and a couple of scores from whatever happened before i bought it. I did rub it down though which made it super dull, not sure if thats the picture you're referring to? The tail light was just poor care and attention i think. Nothing major, just needed a bit of TLC.
Removed the shock which was a bit of a bugger but didn't actually take that long. Just had to take my time and be careful. First off i removed the ride height adjuster which is just 2 bolts. Ball joints were good but usual corrosion on the outside needing cleaned up. Next up was the shock cantilever which again, just had the retaining frame bolt and upper shock bolt. Then came the lower shock retaining bolt which was problematic. The top of the shock was loose so there was no pressure on it. You need to get deep in there with an 8mm allen. Unfortunately i didn't have one long enough to put any leverage on so i had to grind the shaft off one of my old ones and attach it to an adapter and breaker bar. The torque for this is only supposed to be 42nm, however, this required A LOT of force to remove. There was no loctite but a decent amount of dirt and grime. Squeeky bum time trying not to round off the head of the bolt lol. To remove the shock, i had to tilt it forward towards the engine and lift the rear out. I had to jack the bike up so the bottom of the shock could clear the top of the swingarm. At this point i decided to remove and completely overhaul the swing arm so this process could have been made a lot easier lol
To remove the swingarm you're suppose to restrain the left side of the pivot bolt that needs a massive allen key, which of course i didnt have. I thought bugger it, I'll try it without it and loosen the right side which is a 21mm retaining nut that threads into the pivot. Surprisingly, it worked and the bolt didn't actually seem to have that much pressure on it. For removal of the pivot i took a generic socket and attached it to 2 x large extensions and 2 x small extensions. The socket fits nicely inside the pivot bolt without threat of damage to the inner threads, however, the shoulder of the socket catches the edge of the pivot which gives you a good point to drive it out. The extensions are needed as the further out the bolt is driven, the further in the extensions go. The bolt was dry and had minor surface corrosion but this could be cleaned up easily. Next up was removing the brake caliper/speedo lines underneath the swingarm and the rear caliper. Simple enough, 2x caliper bolts and 3 x bolts for the line holder. Water pissed out of the swingarm when i removed them. Not really a surprise as I'd read about liquid and dirt getting in but still a bit bizarre watching it happen lol. You can see a small drip at the middle hole still. I removed the swingarm with the chain still on. All i had to do was remove the front sprocket cover, (2 x bolts) and clutch slave (3 bolts). After wiggling and freeing the swingarm from its position, i was able to lift it forward which gave the chain enough clearance to be pulled over the teeth of the front sprocket. Swingarm could then be pulled out without knocking the bike off the jackstands lol. After removal i used the grinder to flatten the retaining links which took a couple of minutes. Full overhall of bearings, seals and eccentric hub to come. I also decided to remove the anodising due to a couple of blemishes.
I had the same problem getting both the shock bolt and the height adjust bolt out of the swing arm. I soaked both in releasing agents and tried everything. In the end I took it to a commercial vehicle place and they had some tools with grunt and managed to get the shock bolt out but the height adjuster isn’t moving. The head of the bolt is totally corroded into the swing arm. I’m going to take it to a local engineering shop who will spark erode it out.
My height adjuster bolt was alright to be fair, i wouldnt expect it to be that bad as its more protected. Has it had a bit of a hard life? Before you do that, take it to a welding shop and see if they can weld a big allen key or similar on to the bolt. Heat the threaded and head area up well, and then try get some sort of long sleeve to put over the allen key as leverage. I had an old rear brake disc bolt on my RS125 exaclty the same as yours, corroded, rounded, chiseled and the welding method worked. I have an old fork stantion which works wonders, better than a breaker bar and fits over most tools.
The head of the bolt is in good condition and I have a good quality allen socket. I’ve tried a 1m bar on the end of the wrench and nothing even after some heat. I think the issue is the outer circumference of the head of the Allen bolt is corroded and almost become one with the swing arm. When I got the shock bolt out you could see the corrosion and where the steel / aluminium reaction had occurred.
@Jonesy51 Ahh i get you now. If the bolt has pretty much fused to the swingarm i can imagine it would take something pretty special to remove it. My lower shock mount bolt had some brown corrosion marks on it but nothing major. After hearing your experience i may have been lucky and caught it early doors. I hope you're able to sort it though, nothing worse than stubborn bolts.
Having had a 1098 and struggled to get the lower shock bolt out, I bought one of these and then life was easy. Get one before you come to re-assemble everything.
@razz yeah, i had a look at those but the only ones i could find weren't long enough so will just need to look harder. Whilst on the tool note, just had my new toy delivered. Buzzing to use it, will make torquing everything so much easier.... And more satisfying lol.
Brilliant thread thanks so much! You’ve inspired me to start restoring all the rest of my beginning-to-look-tired-close-up 1198s, I only came here for the headlight polishing!
Terrific work wish I had your skill I've got a black 1098S and in Glasgow too, mine would look like a POS next to that great stuff
@AmalfiCoast_1198s Appreciate the kind words. I got a lot of motivation from watching build series on youtube which has lead to me to starting a couple of builds myself. Decided to share my experience as there was sometimes nothing to reference online and thought i would try to help others in a similar position. @Old Jock Thanks buddy. I don't know about skill, certainly a mix of trial and error.... And hope for the best lol it helps that my dad is a jedi at problem solving so I'm never steered wrong but most of this stuff is just putting research into practice which can be dawnting at first. Im about 8 miles outside Glasgow in Barrhead. When this is finished it would be cool to get some sort of Glasgow meet arranged. The build is currently at a stand still just now. Im waiting on a new Ohlins spring which has been held up for about 3 weeks and getting to be a bit of a joke. Other than that the rear is end is ready to get pieced back together and re-installed but i like holding off until completion so i can post the pictures in a oner. I have so much more in the pipeline and so many juicy parts to install but here's a sneak peak of what is still do go on the bike.
Here's comes the Rear end stuff. Got my hands on a TTX DU911 off a 2011 1198SP. It was in a hell of state. Took me a fair while to clean up up, using good ol' gunk of course, but it came up really nice. I sent it off to Eddie at ERS racing up at Knockhill who serviced it for me. He is an authorised Ohlins service centre. He he was previously a Ducati tech and is a very knowledgeable guy who could give you advice on anything. He is a one man band though so do expect delays if you need to get anything done. Anyway, he said the top and bottom ball joints had completely seized and needed replaced. As a result of this, the shock wasn't able to pivot properly and was forced to go up and down in a permanent angular direction which caused minor wear on the piston shaft, however, it was miniscule and reusable as we caught it in time. The piston had wear as well so that was replaced along with new seals and fluid/gas. He believed the shock had never been serviced in it's lifetime based on the condition of it. The shock service and postage came to £220 but Eddie managed to do me a deal and said that some bits could be reused. Here's the breakdown: Piston: 15.38 Piston ring 9.53 Sealhead: 48.66 Teflon band: 5.69 ( dividing piston ) O rings: 9.04 Ball joints x2: 47.34 Seals x 4: 10.00 Shock sevice: 120.00
It was at this point I decided to buy a flat link but the corse/kyle rocker never came up so I went for the forsaken motorsports one with the shorter Sato racing ride height adjuster which is required for the link. This came to $803CAD including postage. When buying things from outside the EU there are 3 X charges. 20% VAT, import duty which is typically 3.7% for automotive parts and £8 royal mail fee. You can find the import fees if you Google UK commodity codes. The end price for the link and adjuster was £520. It's also better to buy using a MasterCard as they only charge a flat 2.75% conversion fee whereas most banks charge 2.99% with a £9 fee on top. PayPal is also slightly more expensive than using MasterCard. Shortly after buying this, an English company started selling their stuff minus import fees which would have saved about £80 but hey ho. Forsaken advises an increase in spring stiffness of approximately 15Nm. I'm about 185lbs give or take and accounted about 15lbs for gear, so with the increase in mind, I was to go for a 105Nm spring. I ordered a spring from Eddie at ERS which took about 4 weeks to receive. The main part number is 21040 which relates to the TTX36 spring. The numbers after are to do with the Nm and something else. The rod ends that came with the adjuster were pretty cheap so I managed to find SKF ones on 123bearing.co.uk. They are a French company so a conversion fee applies, however, they regularly do promotions. They have a massive range of all kinds of bearings. The thread of the sato adjuster/SKF rod ends are M12 x 1.75 and all the other dimensions are exactly the same as OEM. The bottom rod end is still opposite thread. I believe the OEM rod ends are M12 x 1.5. you can see the difference between the Forsaken flat link and the OEM rocker. The flat link uses OEM bearings and seals. The rod ends were approx £30 each and the spring was £95 plus postage. Replaced the shock link bush for £17.
When the shock spring arrived it was time to get it installed. I decided to create my own shock compressor for spring changes instead of having to keep paying a garage. This was done on a budget as I didn't fancy paying £400 for an Ohlins/Harris type unit. I bought a generic 6 ton press from eBay for £63 which came with 2 plates. In order to accommodate the bottom of the shock a hole had to be drilled. Again, good ol' eBay coming in handy, I bought a 52mm arbour (circular holesaw cutter) with a centered drill bit and quick release function. 50mm would probably be better but still works either way. When drilling I started with a 4mm pilot hole to help centre the boring. You need to take care not to overheat the drill bit and holesaw teeth as this will wear them out fast. To prevent this I used a slow drill speed and used cutting fluid. The diluting ratio is roughly 7%-9% fluid to water which is then applied generously, I needed just short of 2litres (water and fluid) and the process took about 40 minutes with a 10 minute cool off break in the middle. I mounted the shock on the plate which rests in the struts, placing the bottom of the shock through the hole till it caught the bottom mounting piece. At the top I used a couple of rubber pads to protect the shock against the piston. Once the shock is perpendicular and level you keep levering it until the bottom mount of the shock protrudes past the plate and reveals the skimpy circlip keeping the bottom mount in place, you can remove this with your fingers. Once the clip is removed you can release the compressor valve and the bottom mount will come off along with the spring. To install the spring just do the exact opposite. The plate did not leave any mark on the shock mount I bought a hydraulic preload adjuster for the shock, however, the company sent one for the right side of the bike and were unable supply the correct one. I could have used it probably but need money now to progress the build so returned it for a refund until I change my mind. Shock settings from Ohlins are below. Forsaken have advised a sag of around 27mm so preload will be ammended if need be once installed. Preload - 19mm Compression- 14 clicks Rebound - 14 clicks (can possibly go 3 clicks tighter depending on type of use)
Next up the swingarm overhall. Once all cables and plastic guides are removed you can remove the hub. In order to remove the hub you need to remove the rear caliper mounting plate by removing the circlip around the end of the hub. This was a bit of a bugger, I had to partially remove the circlip where the pliers go and then follow the circlip around with a flat head screwdriver gently tapping it with a mallot which then removed it. After this there was an o-ring and washer on each side of the caliper plate. I then leveraged the rear of the swingarm at the clamping point with an old chisel, only a small amount of pressure to be applied. Doing this, the hub can then be removed easily, however, you may need to rotate the hub to allow removal. I was shocked to find a puddle of water drain as well as trapped dirt, however, this didn't seem as bad as other examples online. I removed the anodising and re-brushed the swingarm with Emery cloth, however, anything that touched it left a mark going against the grain so I polished it as usual. Circular motion from 400 grit up to 1000 grit. To polish aluminium you need to use blue compound for both general polish and high finish which proved good results. I also removed the crease lines in the strip of welding for a more uniform finish. I then cleaned and sprayed the rear of the swingarm with VHT paint to prevent any corrosion from water ingress. I used VHT as I thought it would a bit more durable. The water gets in from an unsealed weld at the front of the swingarm at the chain area as well as the shock mount areas. I plan on drilling a 4mm hole at the rear for drainage and may spray some silicone too for waterproofing.
@Flatty I showed my girlfriend that and she just laughed at me ha ha thanks for thinking so though Time to replace the bearings now. It's a simple concept, being a softer metal aluminium expands quicker than steel so all you do is use a standard heat gun, which is at least 300° and heat the area around the bearing till you can't touch it with your bare hands. At this point use an old/any socket which is the same diameter as the outer race and chap it out with a hammer. It has to be the outer race and make sure you remove it evenly or the bore may get stretched at one side. A heavy weighted hammer is prime for this application and they usually come out easy. For the right hand bearings you remove one of the bearings by driving the centre of the spacer which will then release both the bearing and the spacer. This will give room to remove the remaining bearing. For the left bearings you can just drive one through the other, taking them both out. The swingarm has 4 bearings. 2 x needle bearings accompanied by seals on the left and 2 x ball bearings which are separated by a spacer on the right. There is a steel bush that runs through the left needle bearings. The bearings and seals I got from ebay are below: 2 x Ball bearing - SKF 6005 2RSH C3 - £9.12 2 x Needle bearing - SKF HK2520 - £9.90 2 x OEM needle bearing seals - 93050121A - £5.86 Before continuing I clean all the old grease off with, you guessed it.... Gunk. I grease the bores which house the bearings with Motul Tech Grease 300 which is a mad green colour. I put the new bearings in the freezer over night which shrinks them slightly aiding an easier install. I use either the old bearing as a driver to drive the new bearing into the bore or a similarly sized socket, again make sure it's going in evenly or you will damage the bore and likely warp it. I use the butt of the socket to spread the force over the outer race. Never use hit the inner race as this will damage the bearing, pretty much the only time you hit the inner race is for installing new steering stem bearings. To get things started I use a block of wood on top of the old bearing which makes it a bit easier. You can drive the inner left needle bearing all the way in from the outside which saves negotiating tricky angles and then drive the outer one in. Once in place, the seals can be greased and tapped in. The right hand bearings are straight forward as they can only go so far. You will know when the bearing is fully seated as the hammer will bounce a little and make a metallic banging noise. Don't smash the living daylights out it. Install 1 x bearing and then the internal spacer before doing the second bearing. The edges of the right hand side internal spacer actually sit in the centre of the bearings. Once all the bearings and seals are in, then the spacers and bush can be installed. If there's anything to take away from this, it's impossible to have too much grease.
