Has anyone ever removed the mounting fork off of a 250R shock?

[Billy Golightly]

I'm at the max my durablue lowering link can give me, and the shock is starting to rub ont the front of the swingarm so it cant get any lower anyways. So, until I can get my new suspension setup made I need to find a way to lower this stock setup a little bit more. I'm thinking if I can remove the botom fork perhaps I can take an inch or two off of the shaft and put the fork back on. I've looked in the service manual but it doesn't detail any stuff like that. I know there has to be a way to do because thats the only way to change the bump stop. It doesn't appear to be threaded and I don't see any cap screws or anything holding it on.. Anyone got any ideas?

[Red Rider]

Billy, my brother, Mr. Sandman, replaced the bump stop on his rear shock a few years ago. You might try PMing him and see if he remembers the details.

[Mr. Sandman]

What is it they say? The memory is the first thing to go, thankfully the 2nd thing is still working perfectly.:D

Now that being said, I don't recall how the fork is attached to the shaft but I believe it was either threaded or pressed on and it may not be removable. I do know that to change the bump stop I had to totally disassemble the shock, remove the nut that holds the dampening plates on and then pull the shaft out of the shock body to get to the bump stop and that was an experience in itself.

[Derrick Adams]

Billy, the way Jason modded my bike (and his) works real well for lowering. He took the front lower shock link off and sectioned it. Ended up adding 2", then welded some grade 8 bolt shafts along the sides for strength.
This mod alone, without the lowering link will slam your bike down. Along with the link you can sit the frame on the ground.
Strength doesn't seem to be a factor either, since I regularly test mine and it hasn't failed yet!

[Billy Golightly]

I did manage to get the shock apart. I experimented on an old junker before I tore my good one apart. What you have to do first is knock out the washer type thing that is grooved that the spring sits on when its compressed. Then what you do is clamp the bottom mounting fork in the vice, and there is a round spacer threaded onto the end of the shock rod, clamp the vice grips around it and you can hopefully turn the bottom fork off. after its off you can probably turn the round spacer off with your fingers and your left with the shock that is threaded on the end. I decided that I dont want to mess with totally taking the good shock down and possibly screwing the shaft up (I dont know how I would hold it in the lathe to re-thread it anyways). So, I'm either gonna try a shorter shock like off of 200x or something or Derrick I'll try that trick with the other linkage and see how it works out. Thanks for the replies.

[Billy Golightly]

Hey Derrick, I was looking at mine while I was over at the shop for a few minutes earlier, doesnt lengthing that front linkage make the end of the shock lower to the ground? Mine is real close to sticking in right now and I just dont want that to get hung on anything. Maybe if I pull it back up with the lowering link it wont be to bad. How far is yours from touchin the ground?

[Derrick Adams]

I was wondering about that with those 16" tires. You may want to just throw on a 350X shock. Seems like those were a couple inchs shorter.

Mine works fine with the 18's on there though. Even with the bike slammed. Pitches the shock back more-so than down really.

[Billy Golightly]

Are they the same at the top and bottom? Hmmm...I hate to rob another part off of the 500 (Already got the 1/4 turn twist off of it haha) but I might have to borrow the 350x shock off of it too...