Hi

I'm in the middle of replacing my rear shock. I was also going the re-grease the rear linkage while it is off the bike. When I removed the linkage and shock, the lower shock mounting point and the linkage were seized together. I removed the but bolt to separate them and there is a bit of rusty water on the bolt which looks suspect!

The spacer that fits into the linkage is absolutely solid and both rubbers either side are splitting. The two other spacers (with the needle bearings) are fine and slip right out, but the shock mounting point is solid.

Is this normal? At first I thought it had gotten wet and seized in the bearings, but then checking out the parts fiche, there are no bearings in that part of the linkage - It just looks like a single part.



So the question is - Should this spacer be greased and free moving or is it supposed to be fixed solidly to the linkage?

It's a bushing so it should be able to move, but I've found that most are so old that they don't move too well (if they move at all).

Rick Oliver sells bearings that replace the bush, a good idea! An easy improvement to make over the standard setup.

It is a solid bush, a few people mod it to a needle bearing:

http://x-files.serveftp.com/harkermatic ... htm#Rocker Arm