Rear shock & greasing question

I've had the bike a couple of years now and finally got round to checking the swing arm bearings. To be honest I'd heard so many horror stories of seized pivot bolts, I was putting it off and off.

Good news was that although it initially wouldn't budge, a few sharp knocks with a lump hammer got it moving.

The bearings look in good shape, although are in desperate need of greasing.

While I've got it all apart I'm going to replace the Kouba lowering link with the original. I like a tall bike, and I think this may cure a light front end and slight front wheel wobble at 60-70mph on the road, by putting the geometry back to standard.

Two questions I've got:

First, I've noticed that the rear shock has about 2mm of lateral (horizontal) movement at the top fixing. This translates to about 2cm of movement at the bottom when the shock is unbolted from the lower linkage. Is this normal? There is no up and down movement, just side to side.

Second ( ), not being an engineer or mechanic I know nothing about different types of grease. The only grease I have in the shed is a tub of constant velocity Lith-Moly grease. Is this going to be ok to re-grease the swing arm bearings and suspension linkage bearings, as well as coating the pivot bolt.
I've read all about using water-proof grease, but I'm not intending to do any hard core off roading and river-crossings (just gentle green laning), and now I've realised how easy it is to take apart, I'll be re-greasing at least once a year.

What do you reckon??

I use normal LM grease...LM = Low Maintenance nothing special.
I have upwards movement on my linkage when lifting rear wheel but this is normal not sure about side to side as I have never tried mine .....sorry

CV-Lith Moly grease is excellent...... for CV Joints which are encapsulated by a hermetically sealed rubber boot or any other application whereby the grease is sealed off from the environment.
This grease 'evaporates' over time hence becomes thick, and no surprise then that CV Joints require re-greasing over time.
The Moly (molybdenum disulphide) is an excellent (solid!) lubricant in flake-form which can withstand very high pressures, and it will perform emergency-lubrification when oil (in the grease's metal soap) is absent or moved away (due to the very high pressure).
From all this one can see why it is used in CV Joints, and mind, by all means use it for other applications where one will be able to renew it often enough..... but my take is this is not the linkage!
Also, the metal used for the soap (the base of the grease, imagine a spunge) of this grease is NOT water resistant - sure, water will run off because of the oil present inside, but there's better greases for water resistant applications: waterproof greases! (duh )
Get one of those and use it, liberally, fill the cavities if present.... it'll last long.

But, as indicated already Moly is a nice2have substance.
I am (almost!) sure that waterproof moly greases exist but dunno one offhand - make your own?
As follows, and yes, this is very safe to do.
Get some Molybdenum paste (it's thick black goo, watch your clothing!) and smear this on all metal surfaces (which you've cleaned superbly, thinners will work well). Rub it in well into the metal, take the excess off (no need for blobs to remain), then grease with waterproof grease, then assemble - et presto, job done!

Quite frankly, for the shafts & bolts here I'd use Coppaslip also, this is anti-seize copper compound. Everywhere where steel is in contact with aluminium (the frame!) a lick of this stuff is good to apply, for it will prevent seizing hence allow disassembly later.
Use it, don't....

No diea about your play, best is to have a look. Also check if all the parts are present, a washer or why may be missing?
If all checks fine (no wear, no bent parts, all components present) then you may want to add 2 O-rings, 1 either side, with some grease (refer above LOL).

Cheers!

Thanks for that explanation BuRP. Very helpful. I'd been thinking about using copper grease on the pivot bolt. Seems to make sense to me.

I'll go and buy some waterproof grease for the bearings and linkages.

Popped my swinging arm bolt out last night....talk about dead easy.
Lifted the bike on stand
Blocked front and rear wheel
Undid left nut and tapped pin out with 1/2 socket extension bar about half way
Reached over bike and pulled bolt out.....
wiped it clean and covered in LM grease...popped it back in and tapped it through.
Copper slip on threads and then tightened nut.....
Hardest part was holding a socket on right side whilst undoing the left nut lol....
Took about 5 mins max....

Ya Mausie,

Yaya, but, eh, also tell the guys how often / when last did you remove AND regrease it please?
If my memory serves me well (which isn't too often I have to tell you Frederick... ) then that was what, in April or thereabouts?

But sure, yesSirindeed, doing this regularly WILL prevent shite laters, and then also use any grease which is nearest, no need for fancy stuff like us lazy buggers need

BuRP wrote:Ya Mausie,

Yaya, but, eh, also tell the guys how often / when last did you remove AND regrease it please?
If my memory serves me well (which isn't too often I have to tell you Frederick... ) then that was what, in April or thereabouts?

But sure, yesSirindeed, doing this regularly WILL prevent shite laters, and then also use any grease which is nearest, no need for fancy stuff like us lazy buggers need

It might have been April but my bike has been ridden and washed @ least twice with water !!!!
I must say the relieved part of the shaft in the middle isn't well done Honda have done with an old grinder and not very well .....anyone got a new 1 to see if it has been plated after grinding or before ?.....

Here you go Maus hope this helps! not sure but by the looks that maybe the middle part of bolt was turned on a machine lathe? wondering if this smaller diameter of bolt was too hold some grease or other purpose?

Cheers for that...funny enough I Google'd the shaft last night and found a similar image... as you say it's been relieved to allow for either grease or to reduce the contact area and as such reduce the chances of it seizing in might buy a new 1 they are cheap enough

I took the shock out and could see that the two collars that pass through the bearings don't fit exactly flush to the top of shock body. It's only the smallest amount, probably about 1mm, but it's enough to give the shock a tiny bit of lateral movement. I took it to my local dealer who said it's absolutely normal, nothing to worry about and the bearings are fine.

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I managed to get the shock out without removing the sub frame. Just removed the tail pipe, detach the rear brake reservoir and remove the lower fixing bolts. Detach the air box boot from the carb, and the whole sub frame can be swung up out of the way.

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I had to detach the air box boot from the airbox to get to the shock bolt. When reinstalling, does this go back on the airbox with any sealant??

Wouldn't think Honda would use sealant on the air-box ?

R056rx wrote:I took the shock out and could see that the two collars that pass through the bearings don't fit exactly flush to the top of shock body. It's only the smallest amount, probably about 1mm, but it's enough to give the shock a tiny bit of lateral movement. I took it to my local dealer who said it's absolutely normal, nothing to worry about and the bearings are fine.

I managed to get the shock out without removing the sub frame. Just removed the tail pipe, detach the rear brake reservoir and remove the lower fixing bolts. Detach the air box boot from the carb, and the whole sub frame can be swung up out of the way.

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I had to detach the air box boot from the airbox to get to the shock bolt. When reinstalling, does this go back on the airbox with any sealant??

Did you remove the swing arm?
Don't use sealant on the airbox to carby joint, make sure its clean and don't over tighten the clamp.

Yes I took the swing arm off to check the bearings.

The joint I'm concerned about is the joint between the boot and the air box, not the boot and the carb. There looks to be the remains of some sort of sealant, hence the question. I can't find any reference to it in the manual.
This should clarify.....

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Still don't think Honda would install any sealant on the bike ?, maybe someone did this as an after mod ?.....does look like silicon though ?

I wouldn't put any sealant on it as long as it is in good condition (ie not hard and brittle). The most I would do is a thin smear of heavy grease. If it NEEDS sealant then you should probably be replacing it. Put it back on and then check for air leaks.

That's what I was thinking. Clean it up, put it back together and check for leaks. Thanks guys.