I've had a good couple of days wrenching on the RT and after moving my Garmin 660, installing my Polk Audio speakers, installing my chrome handlebars and cleaning up a bunch of wiring I decided it was time to tackle the rear Elka shock that I've had sitting in the shop for weeks.

So far I have yet to have a project that didn't fight me and this was no exception. I already had the side panels off so I didn't have to deal with that but they do need to come off if you're doing the install.

On the right side you'll see a schrader valve, you'll need to let all the air out of the system before taking anything apart. Mine may be in a little different location than yours because mines preproduction but this is what you're looking for. It looks like the valve stem on your wheels.


Now that all the air is out you can jack it up and take the weight off the rear. Now you want to take the bottom bolt out of the position sensor linkage.



I was able to get the bottom bolt out of the shock no problem but the top bolt was a fight for me. The nut is on the right side and you can hardly see it let alone get a wrench on it. I was able to get a 15mm socket on the left side with an extension but all I could get on the right side was a open end wrench and I had to do that from the bottom up. I called in help for that one and then it wasn't that bad. It was a real fight for one guy for sure.

Here's a comparison of the stock shock and the Elka.


It's too tight to get any good pictures but the next step is installing the Elka shock. If you got the shock with the remote can you'll need to fish it up and over the belt so you can zip it up to the frame. You want to make sure that this line does not rub on the belt when the swingarm moves up and down.


They give you a cool little bracket that bolts to the backside of your bags. You replace the hinge screws with the ones they provide. It is a threaded nut on the backside so you can pull one screw out at a time and change them out. I would wait to snug them all the way up till you get the bracket on.

This picture is just to show what bolts you take out, the bracket is mounted under the bag on the backside.


I mounted my can first and then zipped up the hose where it wanted to go. There's no right or wrong way to do this other than it need to be clear of the belt and you don't want the line chaffing on anything. You want to make sure you can get to the adjustment knob too.


This is how I tied up my line.




I'll report back after I put some miles on this shock and let you know what I think. One thing for sure is it is a quality part just like the front Elkas.