When I removed the standard rear shock on my low mileage 09 I noticed a bit of side to side free play within the suspension linkage. Before fitting the 12 Balance shock, I cleaned and re-greased all of the bearings and linkage, then fitted the shock and torqued up all the nuts in the linkage to the correct spec. The reason why I mention it, today my bike had it's first mot and the tester mentioned the amount of free play within the shock linkage. He did say that Honda's and Harley Davidson are the worst 2 for free play with their shock linkage, anyone know why
Don't know why, but i had to replace the bearings on my 08 on its 2nd MOT for these exact reasons, tester said that it was a common issue.
I did the same this year and striped and clean the linkage when changing my shock. I think its meant to have side to side play. Allows it to rotate, otherwise the side plates would touch centre piece. Up and down play in the bearings no!! Maybe not, thats just what I thought.
You're partially correct Broos. A bit of side to side play is not an issue. Up and down play is. The tester will grab the ends of the swingarm and move it up and down and side to side. There is a lot of leverage on the linkages and so any wear will show up as a relatively large amount of movement and clicking at the ends of the swingarm. If I were you guys with post 08 Blades I'd check em regularly and insist on a proper inspection ASAP !!!
