Windagetray
Member
This past weekend I installed the Baja Ron shock spring adjusters and the B/R (anti) sway bar with the aluminum end links onto my 2014 RT-S.
First a few tips and first with the spring adjusters:
I thought I might have to remove the frunk because the assembler (dealer) had put the top shock mount bolts in from the front (the nuts were on the back side of the mount). The instructions assume the nuts are on the front leaving plenty of room to slide the bolt back and out. Don’t worry, there is room for the bolts to go out the front. However, I DID re-install them the “right” way.
To hold the bolt head from turning as I turned the nut on the top bolt, I used a 3/8” “breaker bar” and the appropriate socket (I think a 15mm). I have box end and other various “obstruction” wrenches but as reported elsewhere in this forum, the breaker/short socket combo works better than I deserved.
Another thing of note is that once the shock is out, you’ll see there really is a surprising amount of room around that upper mount. You are really just needing to work around that big shock and spring keeper at the top. SO….while the shock is out, take advantage of that extra room by using Ron’s double-sided tape trick to hold the nut on the FRONT side of that shock mount until you get the bolt started. What I did was put the tape on the nut and cut it out as described in Ron’s instructions so the bolt screws in effortlessly. Next, I put the bolt through the top mount (from the back to the front) and screwed the nut on it after removing the rest of the tape backing (exposing the second sticky side). I then pulled the nut against the CLEANED mount surface and pushed that nut as hard as I could for about 20 seconds. I then held the nut from turning and unscrewed the bolt out of the nut which was left sticking there. I then installed the upper shock into the mount and re-inserted the bolt and GENTLY screwed it into the tape-fastened nut on the front side of the mount. When it got snug, I employed the use of the aforementioned breaker bar and short socket to the nut and a ratchet and socket to the rear bolt head and snugged it up.
IF you use Ron’s spring compressors, I found that if you are careful to get them exactly across from each other at the start AND you use an open end wrench on the lower arm’s nut (11/16”), you will have nearly no worry of any shifting of the compressors on the spring. The other thing I found is that one of the rubber bumpers on the shock shaft was snug and tight against the spring keepers on the top. I had to use a small screw driver to push it down the shock’s shaft before the keepers could be removed. You must compress the spring far enough that ALL parts of that large outer keeper clears the spring!
Other than the above, everything went according to the instructions.
Now for the (anti) sway bar:
The first thing of note is that there were 2 unmentioned “push pin” fasteners under the lower “water deflector”. There is one on the top and one torx headed bolt as described in the instructions but there are two others on the bottom that must come out before you can remove the deflector.
The next thing is the bolt that holds the lower grill piece along with 3 other components together. Ron mentions a “star washer” that will not be re-used. It is NOT a “star washer”. It is a bolt “keeper”! It is designed to hold that bolt in place in the absence of a nut. It a very thin, push-on keeper that must be pried off of the bolt and it is under all the stuff (3 things) that the bolt is holding together. Just be aware that once you get the nut off, you won’t be able to slide the bolt our unless someone has already removed that “keeper”. There is a part that is “push-pinned” just to the outside of that nut and bolt. If you remove that push-pin, it gives you a little more room to work on that nut and “keeper”.
I did the swap on a dual-ramp car lift. Once everything was off/loose, I just rolled one of the front tires to the INSIDE edge of the lift and then got under and took the old sway bar out pushing it to that side. This gave me plenty of clearance to get the bar out and down. I reversed the procedure to install the new bar. Since the bar must go through a small hole in the center of the Spyder created by a “beam” running up through the middle of the bike, you must have room for half of the bars length to come out one side and then room UNDER the Spyder for the bar to rotate at the bent end.
My review:
The spring adjusters are wonderful! I’m a big guy (just under 300#) and my wife and I ride together often. (If you think I’m gonna mention her size/weight um….THAT’s just not gonna happen in THIS life!) Our RT always felt a bit “mushy” in the front and it scraped often. Thank God for Spyderpops’ skid shield. It’s looking nasty under there even WITH it! Before and after ride static, unloaded ride height measurements indicated with the adjusters bottomed out, ride height increased between ½” and 3/4”. I started out adding 2 full turns and that’s probably where I’ll leave it. Riding both by myself and 2 up yesterday was WONDERFUL! I no long have to worry about roads rutted by big trucks nor speed bumps, nor the nose dive during heavy breaking. The ride is more predictable and I don’t really notice any increased harshness at all. I love them. I recommend them to anyone who is not sized according to our government’s fitness charts. If you are over 185 pounds and/or ride 2 up often, you will like the results from these adjusters.
The (anti) sway bar, I have mixed feelings about. When spiritedly entering a turn there is a bit of body roll before the sway bar’s effects are felt. I can tell the bar is resisting the lean a bit more than the stock bar did but, it takes too long (in my opinion) for that to happen. The bar is thicker than the stock one and I am presuming the inner mounts are made of at least as stiff a material as the stock ones were. I am feeling all of that. However, I noticed that the Heim joints were a lot more loose than the stock ones were. It is perhaps this looseness I feel before everything tightens up to employ the new, larger bar? I may talk to the B/R folks about this….or I may experiment on my own putting the old end links in to see if I get the feel I am expecting. That being said, that upgraded bar DOES make a difference. I think it is especially helpful if your Spyder is hauling weights near its upper limits.
If you can afford both of the mods I described here, go for it. If you can only do one and you want to cure the scraping and soft feel of the front end, I would go with the shock spring adjusters. Also, there is no advantage to doing them at the same time as I don’t know of any cost savings AND there is no duplicate labor involved.
Good Luck and Happy Ridin’,
Mike
First a few tips and first with the spring adjusters:
I thought I might have to remove the frunk because the assembler (dealer) had put the top shock mount bolts in from the front (the nuts were on the back side of the mount). The instructions assume the nuts are on the front leaving plenty of room to slide the bolt back and out. Don’t worry, there is room for the bolts to go out the front. However, I DID re-install them the “right” way.
To hold the bolt head from turning as I turned the nut on the top bolt, I used a 3/8” “breaker bar” and the appropriate socket (I think a 15mm). I have box end and other various “obstruction” wrenches but as reported elsewhere in this forum, the breaker/short socket combo works better than I deserved.
Another thing of note is that once the shock is out, you’ll see there really is a surprising amount of room around that upper mount. You are really just needing to work around that big shock and spring keeper at the top. SO….while the shock is out, take advantage of that extra room by using Ron’s double-sided tape trick to hold the nut on the FRONT side of that shock mount until you get the bolt started. What I did was put the tape on the nut and cut it out as described in Ron’s instructions so the bolt screws in effortlessly. Next, I put the bolt through the top mount (from the back to the front) and screwed the nut on it after removing the rest of the tape backing (exposing the second sticky side). I then pulled the nut against the CLEANED mount surface and pushed that nut as hard as I could for about 20 seconds. I then held the nut from turning and unscrewed the bolt out of the nut which was left sticking there. I then installed the upper shock into the mount and re-inserted the bolt and GENTLY screwed it into the tape-fastened nut on the front side of the mount. When it got snug, I employed the use of the aforementioned breaker bar and short socket to the nut and a ratchet and socket to the rear bolt head and snugged it up.
IF you use Ron’s spring compressors, I found that if you are careful to get them exactly across from each other at the start AND you use an open end wrench on the lower arm’s nut (11/16”), you will have nearly no worry of any shifting of the compressors on the spring. The other thing I found is that one of the rubber bumpers on the shock shaft was snug and tight against the spring keepers on the top. I had to use a small screw driver to push it down the shock’s shaft before the keepers could be removed. You must compress the spring far enough that ALL parts of that large outer keeper clears the spring!
Other than the above, everything went according to the instructions.
Now for the (anti) sway bar:
The first thing of note is that there were 2 unmentioned “push pin” fasteners under the lower “water deflector”. There is one on the top and one torx headed bolt as described in the instructions but there are two others on the bottom that must come out before you can remove the deflector.
The next thing is the bolt that holds the lower grill piece along with 3 other components together. Ron mentions a “star washer” that will not be re-used. It is NOT a “star washer”. It is a bolt “keeper”! It is designed to hold that bolt in place in the absence of a nut. It a very thin, push-on keeper that must be pried off of the bolt and it is under all the stuff (3 things) that the bolt is holding together. Just be aware that once you get the nut off, you won’t be able to slide the bolt our unless someone has already removed that “keeper”. There is a part that is “push-pinned” just to the outside of that nut and bolt. If you remove that push-pin, it gives you a little more room to work on that nut and “keeper”.
I did the swap on a dual-ramp car lift. Once everything was off/loose, I just rolled one of the front tires to the INSIDE edge of the lift and then got under and took the old sway bar out pushing it to that side. This gave me plenty of clearance to get the bar out and down. I reversed the procedure to install the new bar. Since the bar must go through a small hole in the center of the Spyder created by a “beam” running up through the middle of the bike, you must have room for half of the bars length to come out one side and then room UNDER the Spyder for the bar to rotate at the bent end.
My review:
The spring adjusters are wonderful! I’m a big guy (just under 300#) and my wife and I ride together often. (If you think I’m gonna mention her size/weight um….THAT’s just not gonna happen in THIS life!) Our RT always felt a bit “mushy” in the front and it scraped often. Thank God for Spyderpops’ skid shield. It’s looking nasty under there even WITH it! Before and after ride static, unloaded ride height measurements indicated with the adjusters bottomed out, ride height increased between ½” and 3/4”. I started out adding 2 full turns and that’s probably where I’ll leave it. Riding both by myself and 2 up yesterday was WONDERFUL! I no long have to worry about roads rutted by big trucks nor speed bumps, nor the nose dive during heavy breaking. The ride is more predictable and I don’t really notice any increased harshness at all. I love them. I recommend them to anyone who is not sized according to our government’s fitness charts. If you are over 185 pounds and/or ride 2 up often, you will like the results from these adjusters.
The (anti) sway bar, I have mixed feelings about. When spiritedly entering a turn there is a bit of body roll before the sway bar’s effects are felt. I can tell the bar is resisting the lean a bit more than the stock bar did but, it takes too long (in my opinion) for that to happen. The bar is thicker than the stock one and I am presuming the inner mounts are made of at least as stiff a material as the stock ones were. I am feeling all of that. However, I noticed that the Heim joints were a lot more loose than the stock ones were. It is perhaps this looseness I feel before everything tightens up to employ the new, larger bar? I may talk to the B/R folks about this….or I may experiment on my own putting the old end links in to see if I get the feel I am expecting. That being said, that upgraded bar DOES make a difference. I think it is especially helpful if your Spyder is hauling weights near its upper limits.
If you can afford both of the mods I described here, go for it. If you can only do one and you want to cure the scraping and soft feel of the front end, I would go with the shock spring adjusters. Also, there is no advantage to doing them at the same time as I don’t know of any cost savings AND there is no duplicate labor involved.
Good Luck and Happy Ridin’,
Mike
hyea:
