Preload Adjuster Issue

Solomoriah

Solomoriah

XS650 Addict
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Here's a picture of the preload adjustment on the left side shock on my 1980 XS650 Special, shot from the front:

XS650%2020200616_091651.jpg


This is messed up, right? There's no way to turn that adjuster since it's fouling the chain guard. Shouldn't it be aligned to the back, so turning it would move it around the outside of the shock?

I assume I have to pull the shock and rotate it 180 degrees and remount it, on the centerstand of course to unload the shocks. I've not done this before... any pitfalls I should know about?
 
Okay, just looked at the right side shock, and it's similarly misplaced; it's not hitting anything, but turning it is going to be a bear because the cylindrical bit is oriented toward the wheel.
 
Solomoriah said:
Okay, just looked at the right side shock, and it's similarly misplaced; it's not hitting anything, but turning it is going to be a bear because the cylindrical bit is oriented toward the wheel.
Click to expand...

Maybe someone has had them off in the past, and swapped them side for side?
 
Mailman said:
Maybe someone has had them off in the past, and swapped them side for side?
Click to expand...
I thought about that, but if you take the shocks off and swap them, the adjusters would be in the same positions. The right adjuster is inside to the rear, the left inside to the front.

Guess I need to look at the fiche...
 
... okay, just looked at the fiche, and I can't find the decorative upper bits on the parts list. The shiny shell with the reflector that covers the top part of the shock. Hmm. Very strange. Not all the pictures of "stock" appearing bikes on the Internet have them, either.
 
It won't hurt anything, if you adjust them and the chain guard flexes that's fine. It's not going to bend or break anything.
 
Yeah, I considered just forcing them around, but I'll have to use a big pair of pliers and a rag. I'd really like the adjusters accessible.

Leading me to a conjecture: Someone tightened the adjusters up to max, then turned them one more step, causing them to drop off into the "wrong" set of notches. One more thing the PO did to screw me.
 
So I pulled the shocks one at a time, which required the removal of a surprising number of fasteners, rotated the decorative bit 180 degrees and reinstalled them. The adjusters are now useful. Took a short ride last night to verify nothing was going to fall off...

... and it was the first ride I've taken on that bike at night in some time. Turns out the instrument lights are dead... gah.
 
The proper tool for adjusting the spring preload collars is called a ring or hook spanner, something like this .....

n4RDUFn.jpg


As you can see, the wrench wraps about halfway around the part. The handle sticks out nearly opposite of where the pin is located. So, there's nothing wrong or off about where your adjustment pin hole is located.
 
I'm familiar with that sort of wrench; however, the bike didn't come with one, and the preload adjuster doesn't look like the one in your pic. The stubby cylinder sticks out about 6mm from the adjuster collar, and if you'll look at my picture again, you'll see there is NO WAY to get any tool, even the wrench you depict, to engage with it on the chain side. It's just not possible, there's no room for the wrench between the chain guard and the shock, which is where it would have to go to turn that collar. If you did get it in there somehow, it still can't move past the chain guard without deforming it. On the other side, technically the cylindrical bit isn't "obstructed" by the brake hardware, but I'm not entirely sure the wrench you show would fit there either.

And, the hole in the little cylinder thing is exactly right for the butt end of the supplied screwdriver shank to fit into. Doesn't seem like it's a coincidence.

XS650%2020200616_091651%20revised.jpg
 
... and here it is in the owner's manual. I don't have a copy, had to download this. Notice the cylindrical thingie is pointing toward the back of the bike, not toward the front as in my picture (of course, this is reversed on the right side).

XS650-shock-adjustment.jpg
 
Possible, but I'm really thinking they just turned the adjusters one click too far. Considering all the other half-assed, hamfisted things I've found on this bike, it would be par for the course.

... but I did come up one washer short, and had to go to my spare parts for a replacement. I thought I'd lost it, but maybe not ...
 

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