DIY! How to Grease Up the Rear Suspension Links for Motorcycles

How to

A motorcycle can run stably whether in the straight lane or cornering thanks to the rear and front suspensions. The rear tire moves around the swingarm pivot, but if the movable parts of the swingarm will be insufficiently lubricated, the movement of the rear suspension will become poor or may cause a squeaky noise while riding. Regular grease-up is effective to prevent such problems for the future.

1. What is the important lubrication for suspension movement?

Use a sturdy jack to support the lower part of the motorcycle and make sure it is stable before removing the rear tire and try to shake the swingarm end up & down, and left & right. The suspension links, rear shocks bolts, and collar may be worn out if the vertical and horizontal backlash is conspicuous, and the swingarm pivot is considered worn out if the backlash is found on the right and left sides.

Many riders are concerned about the front suspension, as the front fork contracts when the brakes are applied while riding, but how about the rear suspension? Some riders may only be conscious about the quality of a comfortable ride, but rear suspension plays an important role in every situation while riding.

When tilting the motorcycle at cornering, the rear suspension contracts by dispersing a heavy load in the vertical and horizontal directions, and when opening the throttle at the corner exit, the rear suspension is expanded to raise the motorcycle.

If the rider's physique is well-built, the spring rebound may increase at high cornering speeds, but the rear suspension still needs to "contract" and "expand". What is important here is the lubrication for each part of the suspension.

2. Grease-up before the collar of suspension links turned into burned-color

The 3 bolts are connected to the frame, swingarm, and the rear shocks, respectively. In the case the bolt diameter and length are different, it is hard to make a mistake in assembly, but for models with the same diameter and slightly different lengths, it is important to remember where the bolt is removed from.
Clean the adhered dirt with a parts cleaner before performing grease-up. Since this suspension links has a metal dust cap, clean the backside after removing it. In case the dirt is deposited on the bolt and the nut, the cleaner is blown to the motorcycle and dropped to some extent with a brush, and then the cleaner is worked by using a box end wrench and a socket wrench.

The rear suspension of a sports model is generally a single suspension or a monoshock, and in many cases, suspension links are built between the swingarm and the rear shocks. The rear suspension link is a part that changes the stroke amount and force of the swingarm that swings up and down (moves like swinging) and transmits it to the rear shocks, and the movable part is equipped with collars and bearings (or bush for small engine displacement).

The collar is lubricated by grease, but the link is subject to significant force each time the rear suspension strokes, and water can penetrate if the motorcycle is ridden repeatedly in rainy weather. As I mentioned earlier that lubrication is important for the rear suspension, but as you understand the role of the suspension links, specifically, grease-up to the collar is important.

The rear suspension links, which is constantly being flooded with water while responding to changes in the weight of the motorcycle and a heavy load during acceleration / deceleration, is in a more severe situation than expected. If the grease flows out and a heavy load is applied, the rear suspension contracts and the reaction force of the rear shocks spring expands.

As the symptoms of poor lubrication develop, the suspension links may not be able to absorb small shocks and hard, or the grease will generate a lot of noise every time the rear is expanded or contracted, and the collar may overheat and burn if the grease will be withered, causing the bearings and bushes to stick and lock.

You may notice abnormalities when suspension links experiencing terminal symptoms such as poor motion and abnormal noise, but it is difficult to notice before it gets worse. In the manufacturer's service manual, it is specified to perform a periodic check-up every 2 years, but there is no instruction to perform grease-up every 2 years, and it is to be disassembled, cleaned, and grease up if necessary as a result of an inspection.

3. Rear suspension will be smoother with grease-up

In a collar where a large heavy load is constantly applied, heat is applied to the plating on the surface due to insufficient lubrication, causing burning, and further progressing results in the expulsion of the plated surface. There is grease left on the surface of this collar, but it seems that it was a severe situation because it was partially burnt.
After cleaning both the collar and the bush, apply grease with excellent extreme pressure and water resistance. Since the bush and collar have insufficient clearance, apply grease to the collar and rub it firmly with your fingers. I used Super Zoil grease here.

In order to grease up the rear suspension links, it is necessary to lift up the rear of the motorcycle and remove the rear tires, but you cannot use the racing stand or maintenance stand that supports the swingarm. There is no problem if your motorcycle has a center stand, but since APE 50 introduced here has only a side stand, perform under the engine to lift the jack while checking the safety so that the motorcycle does not grumble.

Because most of the suspension links on motorcycles without undergoing maintenance are dirty with muddy chain grease or rainwater, loosen the bolt and nut after removing the dirt beforehand so that the tool does not come off and clean it in order not to forget where the removed bolts are being placed. As the APE is a small engine displacement, it has bush specs instead of bearings, and the hard chromium plating on the inserted collar surface has a burnt mark indicating insufficient lubrication, but it was reusable after washing with parts cleaner when inserted without a backlash or snagging noise.

Since the heavy load is large where moisture adheres to it, it is necessary to choose a new grease to be applied with heavy load capacity and excellent water resistance. The worse the condition before maintenance, the better the effects of grease-up with the rear suspension links.

The suspension links move smoothly even fine gaps, providing a comfortable ride to expands and contracts the rear shocks, and the reduced friction loss can also give an illusion that the rear suspension has smoothened. In addition, a drastic change may occur as the rear of the motorcycle height increases by being able to expand the rear shocks without losing the resistance of the suspension links.

However, such a drastic changes are caused by the usual lack of maintenance, and it is necessary that lubrication with grease is always sufficient to keep the motorcycle in good condition and to avoid extra repair costs. Therefore, regular disassembly, cleaning, and grease-up are important.

If you are worried about being able to restore the original assembly of the suspension links, take a picture with your smartphone before disassembling and start working. Clean and grease-up the 4 collars including the lower mount of the rear shock, making the rear suspension movement smoother. Since the rear shock spring has not been changed, the smoothness is caused by the friction loss at the suspension links.

4. Rear suspension links is powerful below the edge

Maintain performance by performing grease-up to the important parts that support the riding comfort. It is important for the suspension to move without friction loss before the customizing, such as mounting a special rear shocks. It is important to know that the grease-up suspension links have a tremendous effect on a monoshock motorcycle.