6Th Gen Abs Shock Removal In Pictures

After searching, I found nothing showing how the 6th gen ABS shock is removed.  If you have a non-ABS bike, anyone who's done it would probably say "that's easy!"   And actually it is.  If your bike does not have ABS, almost all of this can be skipped, going straight to lifting the tank and removing the upper mounting bolt,  followed by removing the rear wheel,  triangle and dogbone assembly, then lifting the swingarm and dropping the shock out.  If your bike does have ABS and you want to preserve the remote preload adjuster, set aside a Saturday for this project.  If you're going to ditch the stock ABS shock for another unit, what follows can be skipped by simply removing the banjo bolt from the hose, letting the hydraulic fluid drain out and snaking the hose out with the shock.     If you do that however, the adjuster system will need to be re-filled and bled for it to work properly.  The hose could also be cut, but that renders the shock worthless as the hose / adjuster cannot be purchased separately and there have been posts of owners lamenting that they cannot locate an ABS shock for sale, so they are worth money.  For what should be a simple job, IMHO Honda waaay over-complicated this assembly.  All I can figure is that ABS was an afterthought and components were included "where ever we can get 'em in" rather than a clean sheet design.  Getting this out was way more complicated than it should be - nothing technical, just common hand tools needed -  just complicated and time consuming. 

The first thing the manual tells you to do is to "Remove the muffler".  Hard to see what that's got to do with the shock, but I'll bite.  Off with it.   Then, Honda drops the bomb on you.  "Remove the rear fender."  Looking at that I thought "Hmmm . . . how hard can that be, it just holds the license plate, right?"  How naive I was . . .    When Honda says "Rear Fender", they mean the tray under the seat - not what's replaced by a "Fender Eliminator" kit.  Honda has designed the ABS bike in such a way that the hose / adjuster cannot be threaded out without removing the fender under the seat.
 
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The seat and rear cowl come off, then the tray.  After removing the "fender" and license plate, remove the battery and pull the wiring in the pocket next to the battery up and out.  Also detach the cable from  the seat latch.  There are two collar bolts (5mm hex) that are upside down at the rear of the tray.  If you have anything mounted under the seat, in my case a Power Commander and electrical distribution box, those come off as well.   Once all that's removed, this is what you'll end up with.  Yeah - no fun.  Still a long way to go.  My chainguard is removed because I have a hugger and the tray could not come out with it in place.  Otherwise the stock chain guard could be left alone.  Note the tone ring on the inside of the rear rotor that generates the signal for the ABS unit.
 
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The object is to remove the adjusting knob from the bracket (yellow) and thread it out with the hose (green).
 
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The hose (yellow), threads underneath the rear ABS unit, over the brake hoses (at the green arrow) and terminates at the shock (orange).   Rather than remove the knob from the adjuster as the manual specs (with the "Oh Sh*t" spring and ball bearing that likely end up under a workbench), I removed the bolt holding the brake hoses (white) and moved the hoses aside to make room to thread the unit through intact.
 
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If you're thinking of buying an ABS shock for your non-ABS bike, you'll want to be sure the seller includes the mounting bracket and hardware.  Otherwise you'll have to buy it separately or come up with your own mount.  The bolts (green) are unequal length as the bosses are not the same (red).  There are also two bolts that hold the adjuster unit to the bracket (yellow).  If the bosses (presuming it has them) on your step are not threaded you'll need to drill and tap those too.
 
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Now that the brake hoses have been moved aside (yellow), the adjuster hose (green) has been moved outside the bracket and the adjuster (also green) is ready to thread through the swingarm with the shock.
 
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I only threw in this photo (sorry about the crappy quality) to show the rear ABS unit (yellow) and brake hose attachment (green).
 
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Lift the rear of the tank and remove the 17mm nut that holds the shock to the frame.
 
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Lift the swingarm.   I used a floor jack, but you could just as easily do it yourself by lifting it and sliding some wooden blocks, a crate or anything sturdy underneath.  A helper could also do it, it's really not very heavy.  If you have the fender removed, a ratchet strap around the subframe and a wheel stud would also do.
 
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Triangle removed.  I might have been able to wrestle the shock out with the dogbone in place, but it's just a 17mm nut and an 8mm hex head bolt (opposite) to get it out - made things easier.  A ratcheting end wrench is useful here (it's a nylock nut) - no room to get a socket in there.
 
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Hex head bolt on the opposite side (again, sorry for the lousy photo).
 
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Shock coming out, followed by the pre-load adjuster.
 
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Finally out, adjuster knob left in place.
 
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For practice or are you replacing it ?  Nice  job .

Thanks.  Both shock and forks are on their way to Jamie D. for a re-spring / valve.  This is not a job I'm looking forward to repeating.  (Actually, I'm not looking forward to knitting all this back together, but I am looking forward to the improved ride!).

Wow, Cogswell that is a phenomenally clean bike!  What cleaner do you use on the swingarm/rear axle assembly?  Please don't say dry ice.......

Nice write up on the adventure of removing the ABS rear shock.  Had my 08 re-sprung and tuned for my weight last year.  What a difference.  Absolutely worth the effort.

Wow, Cogswell that is a phenomenally clean bike!  What cleaner do you use on the swingarm/rear axle assembly?  Please don't say dry ice.......
Nice write up on the adventure of removing the ABS rear shock.  Had my 08 re-sprung and tuned for my weight last year.  What a difference.  Absolutely worth the effort.

Thanks. For greasy cleanup I spray some WD40 on a rag and wipe things down. For general dirt some Windex or a product I have called "Greased Lightning" seems to work well. A hugger also helps keep the crud down.

I've read nothing but good things about getting the suspension tuned - I should have gotten to it sooner.

Hi, I had the suspension modification performed on my '07 last year by Jamie Daughtery. Very pleased with results, lot more comfortable and smoother riding now. Why did I wait so long? You will be happy.