2up rear shock install Questions

[Tazzel]

First, I purchased a new 2up shock on Ebay for about 117.00 (which included shipping) and wanted my local dealer to install it for me. I offered for them to purchase the shock first but they said they could not match the Ebay Price of 117.00 and advised me to purchase on my own and they would install it for me. I asked them how much to install and they quoted 3 hours for $237.00. I am "what"!!!!!! 3 hours to install a rear shock, you got to be out of your mind!!!! I could have sworn that F3 owners here on SpyderLovers were doing it themselves and saying it was pretty easy and quick (less then an hour). I could be wrong but wanted to check with you guys first before I tell them they are crazy. I complained to the dealership owner and he talked to the shop and got it reduced to 2 hours but I still think that is way to much. Let me know what you think.

Just so you know, I don't have the tools or the upper body strength to do this myself.

My other option is to have my scooter mechanic do it for me. I still own a modified 50cc scooter and this dude will come to my house to work on my scooter and my spyder (only mods, no engine or other core functions of the spyder).

 

[jcthorne]

Done several rear shocks on F3s. I normally charge only one hour labor to do all 3 shocks. Its only 2 bolts on each one.

 

[Tazzel]

Done several rear shocks on F3s. I normally charge only one hour labor to do all 3 shocks. Its only 2 bolts on each one.

That's what I thought, I told owner of dealership it should take 30min to 45min tops to do a rear shock but would be willing to pay an hour. I am just sick of this crap. They still think consumers are stupid and that we don't do our research. When pricing is not in the ball park of where it should be, I start asking questions and then the dealership gets pissed.

 

[Capt. Bob]

That's what I thought, I told owner of dealership it should take 30min to 45min tops to do a rear shock but would be willing to pay an hour. I am just sick of this crap. They still think consumers are stupid and that we don't do our research. When pricing is not in the ball park of where it should be, I start asking questions and then the dealership gets pissed.

Tazzel, My dealer advised that the flat rate book for the rear shock job is something like 3.1 hours which seems pretty ridiculous given what I am hearing. They only charged me for an hour because they are good folks and they also sold me the shock for $180. I know that presenting the other side is not pleasant but our dealers are businesses that have all kinds of overhead to just stay in business. By denying them the sale of the shock which is a profit center, why would they be compelled to cut you a deal on labor when the book calls for about 3 hours when they didn't make a dime on the part? I just don't know why you would think that the dealerships are necessarily "stealerships"? They are just trying to pay all of their expenses which are generally pretty enormous and to help feed their employees, their famililies and their own families. If you have a gripe with the dealership, have your Indy come to your house and do the install. If everyone in your community keeps looking for the cheapest deals, you will soon find that there is no dealership to take your machine to when warranty work is needed because they will be out of business. It is a pretty simple equation. I guess one of the questions is, "Why would the dealership not get pissed that a customer is trying to help them lose money and/or potentially go out of business?" I would hope that this response does not trigger a lot of flaming as those of you who are in business or have owned businesses know exactly why I am saying what I am saying and it is not intended as a slight to Tazzel.

 

[_..stiffler..]

I just did an install on my buddies f3 for an elka. And then did the 2 up shock on mine.

It literally took me 20 mins to install each shock.

It is extremely easy to do.

Not alot of upper body strength needed at all.

If you want I can take a small video of what I did.

The steps are

1. Take off the rear seat (push and turn key to right and lift back seat. Unhook cable and remove seat)
2. Take out 7x torx head screws under the tail of the rear. Not sure torx bit size.
3. Remove the torx screw under the rear seat that point down towards the floor. Can't remember how many. I think 5.
4 pull the bottom plastic fender out
5 use a 15mm wratchet and wrench to remove the bottom bolt on the rear shock. Jack the machine up just so the rear tire is barely off the floor. And remove the bottom bolt. You might need to play with the jack a bit to get the bolt out.

Once bottom bolt is out. Take out the top bolt with ease. And remove shock. Replace with new one and reverse the steps.

If you want pics let me know. Wish I was closer. I'd do it for you for free.

Stiff

Sent on Note 5 in Taptalk

 

[Ochoa1801]

do you remember the name the seller sold you the 2up shock on Ebay for about 117.00 ?

Thanks

 

[Tazzel]

Tazzel, My dealer advised that the flat rate book for the rear shock job is something like 3.1 hours which seems pretty ridiculous given what I am hearing. They only charged me for an hour because they are good folks and they also sold me the shock for $180. I know that presenting the other side is not pleasant but our dealers are businesses that have all kinds of overhead to just stay in business. By denying them the sale of the shock which is a profit center, why would they be compelled to cut you a deal on labor when the book calls for about 3 hours when they didn't make a dime on the part? I just don't know why you would think that the dealerships are necessarily "stealerships"? They are just trying to pay all of their expenses which are generally pretty enormous and to help feed their employees, their famililies and their own families. If you have a gripe with the dealership, have your Indy come to your house and do the install. If everyone in your community keeps looking for the cheapest deals, you will soon find that there is no dealership to take your machine to when warranty work is needed because they will be out of business. It is a pretty simple equation. I guess one of the questions is, "Why would the dealership not get pissed that a customer is trying to help them lose money and/or potentially go out of business?" I would hope that this response does not trigger a lot of flaming as those of you who are in business or have owned businesses know exactly why I am saying what I am saying and it is not intended as a slight to Tazzel.[/QU]


You got to be kidding me dude. I pretty much knew going in it was a 30min install and to be quoted 3 hours is the same as stealing and if i hadn’t already done my research i would have handed over my money like some stupid dumb a**. I don’t mind paying a reasonable price, but 3 hours for a 30min job is just outrageous. I try to be wise with my money and I try to weight cost with inconvenience/convenience with this quote it was a no brainer. I think dealers lose a lot of business by overcharging. With the availability of information out there, consumers are much more aware. I will just have my scooter mechanic do it, he already quoted me 40.00 and he will come to my house.

 

[Tazzel]

I just did an install on my buddies f3 for an elka. And then did the 2 up shock on mine.

It literally took me 20 mins to install each shock.

It is extremely easy to do.

Not alot of upper body strength needed at all.

If you want I can take a small video of what I did.

The steps are

1. Take off the rear seat (push and turn key to right and lift back seat. Unhook cable and remove seat)
2. Take out 7x torx head screws under the tail of the rear. Not sure torx bit size.
3. Remove the torx screw under the rear seat that point down towards the floor. Can't remember how many. I think 5.
4 pull the bottom plastic fender out
5 use a 15mm wratchet and wrench to remove the bottom bolt on the rear shock. Jack the machine up just so the rear tire is barely off the floor. And remove the bottom bolt. You might need to play with the jack a bit to get the bolt out.

Once bottom bolt is out. Take out the top bolt with ease. And remove shock. Replace with new one and reverse the steps.

If you want pics let me know. Wish I was closer. I'd do it for you for free.

Stiff

Sent on Note 5 in Taptalk

I think a video would be great

 

[_..stiffler..]

Ok I'll try to get one.

Sent on Note 5 in Taptalk

 

[_..stiffler..]

I didn't do a video because my shock is already in place.

But here are some pics.

This is under your rear seat.

After all those are removed the bottom plate will come out. Then jack up the machine just a bit to get the rear tire just off the ground. You can use a vehicle jack if you don't have a floor jack.

Make sure you jack under the bike on the Square frame. Pretty much in front of the front foot pegs.

Then remove the bottom shock bolt using 15mm wrench and socket. And do the same with the top.

Hope that helps.

Stiff

Sent on Note 5 in Taptalk

 

[deer30084]

Tazzel, My dealer advised that the flat rate book for the rear shock job is something like 3.1 hours which seems pretty ridiculous given what I am hearing. They only charged me for an hour because they are good folks and they also sold me the shock for $180. I know that presenting the other side is not pleasant but our dealers are businesses that have all kinds of overhead to just stay in business. By denying them the sale of the shock which is a profit center, why would they be compelled to cut you a deal on labor when the book calls for about 3 hours when they didn't make a dime on the part? I just don't know why you would think that the dealerships are necessarily "stealerships"? They are just trying to pay all of their expenses which are generally pretty enormous and to help feed their employees, their famililies and their own families. If you have a gripe with the dealership, have your Indy come to your house and do the install. If everyone in your community keeps looking for the cheapest deals, you will soon find that there is no dealership to take your machine to when warranty work is needed because they will be out of business. It is a pretty simple equation. I guess one of the questions is, "Why would the dealership not get pissed that a customer is trying to help them lose money and/or potentially go out of business?" I would hope that this response does not trigger a lot of flaming as those of you who are in business or have owned businesses know exactly why I am saying what I am saying and it is not intended as a slight to Tazzel.[/QU]


You got to be kidding me dude. I pretty much knew going in it was a 30min install and to be quoted 3 hours is the same as stealing and if i hadn’t already done my research i would have handed over my money like some stupid dumb a**. I don’t mind paying a reasonable price, but 3 hours for a 30min job is just outrageous. I try to be wise with my money and I try to weight cost with inconvenience/convenience with this quote it was a no brainer. I think dealers lose a lot of business by overcharging. With the availability of information out there, consumers are much more aware. I will just have my scooter mechanic do it, he already quoted me 40.00 and he will come to my house.

Hey you guys, I half agree with both of you. But Tazzel, thanks for this post and your pictures. I will refer to it when I do my rear shock on my F3. I do believe in supporting my dealer, but when I buy a part elsewhere, I'm committed to doing it myself. It's sorta like buying a steak and bringing it to a restaurant and saying , "Here, cook this." I used to think exclusively of supporting my local businesses, but along came Amazon with easy shopping from your house, great prices, two day shipping, no tax....but I digress. Last week I put Easy brackets and saddle bags on my F3. Did I get them from my dealer? No. But he'll get my business for other stuff.

 

[Tazzel]

Hey you guys, I half agree with both of you. But Tazzel, thanks for this post and your pictures. I will refer to it when I do my rear shock on my F3. I do believe in supporting my dealer, but when I buy a part elsewhere, I'm committed to doing it myself. It's sorta like buying a steak and bringing it to a restaurant and saying , "Here, cook this." I used to think exclusively of supporting my local businesses, but along came Amazon with easy shopping from your house, great prices, two day shipping, no tax....but I digress. Last week I put Easy brackets and saddle bags on my F3. Did I get them from my dealer? No. But he'll get my business for other stuff.

I pretty much don't think the issue is that I Purchased the shock elsewhere, when I asked for him to order the part, I think he quoted me 210.00. I asked him if that with my 20% discount (offered at F3 purchase for all parts and accessories). He told me "yes" that is with the discount, which I knew was a lie but I know they have to mark in some profit on items. I told him what prices I was seeing on eBay and he said "those are great prices, I cant match them, go ahead and purchase on your own and I will have my guys install for you".

I have decided to hold off putting the 2up shock on. I will have it done when I get some other work done on my 50cc scooter and I schedule they mechanic to be at my house. I only purchased the 2up shock because I found them on sale and quickly purchased. I have never bottomed out or had any other issue, so there is no hurry.

Oh and I did not post pics, it was Deer30084

 

[deer30084]

Tazzel, you don't have to explain anymore. It's all good. Stiffler posted the pics. Have a good one!

 

[_..stiffler..]

Hope those pics helped.

Sent on Note 5 in Taptalk

 

[Capt. Bob]

Tazzel, It sounds like you tried to work with your dealer to a certain extent. I had a similar experience on another trike where I wanted an aftermarket part installed. An acquaintance got the same part and a Harley dealer charged him 3 hours labor to install. I called the manufacturer and he advised that it should take no more than 1.5 hous for a tech to install who has never installed one. I called another dealer and explained the situation and he said he would install for the 1.5 hours and was glad to do it. They ended up only charging me 1 hour of labor because the job took the tech 50 minutes to install. Guess which dealer I use for work I cannot or do not want to do? Sure as heck not the dealer that was too inflexible and who's tech could have done the install in likely about 45 minutes after having already done one. I had offered to pay the 1.5 hours knowing the dealership would have only needed less than an hour. In cases like yours where the dealer is just not trying to work with you on some level, then prudence suggests you seek another remedy. Like 30084deer pointed out, we do need to help support our dealer networks when it is at all reasonable lest we run out of places to get factory trained techs to wrench on our machines

 

[Ochoa1801]

I didn't do a video because my shock is already in place.

But here are some pics.

This is under your rear seat.

After all those are removed the bottom plate will come out. Then jack up the machine just a bit to get the rear tire just off the ground. You can use a vehicle jack if you don't have a floor jack.

Make sure you jack under the bike on the Square frame. Pretty much in front of the front foot pegs.

Then remove the bottom shock bolt using 15mm wrench and socket. And do the same with the top.

Hope that helps.

Stiff

Sent on Note 5 in Taptalk

thanks for the pictures

 

[jaherbst]

Tazzel, My dealer advised that the flat rate book for the rear shock job is something like 3.1 hours which seems pretty ridiculous given what I am hearing. They only charged me for an hour because they are good folks and they also sold me the shock for $180. I know that presenting the other side is not pleasant but our dealers are businesses that have all kinds of overhead to just stay in business. By denying them the sale of the shock which is a profit center, why would they be compelled to cut you a deal on labor when the book calls for about 3 hours when they didn't make a dime on the part? I just don't know why you would think that the dealerships are necessarily "stealerships"? They are just trying to pay all of their expenses which are generally pretty enormous and to help feed their employees, their famililies and their own families. If you have a gripe with the dealership, have your Indy come to your house and do the install. If everyone in your community keeps looking for the cheapest deals, you will soon find that there is no dealership to take your machine to when warranty work is needed because they will be out of business. It is a pretty simple equation. I guess one of the questions is, "Why would the dealership not get pissed that a customer is trying to help them lose money and/or potentially go out of business?" I would hope that this response does not trigger a lot of flaming as those of you who are in business or have owned businesses know exactly why I am saying what I am saying and it is not intended as a slight to Tazzel.[/QU]


You got to be kidding me dude. I pretty much knew going in it was a 30min install and to be quoted 3 hours is the same as stealing and if i hadn’t already done my research i would have handed over my money like some stupid dumb a**. I don’t mind paying a reasonable price, but 3 hours for a 30min job is just outrageous. I try to be wise with my money and I try to weight cost with inconvenience/convenience with this quote it was a no brainer. I think dealers lose a lot of business by overcharging. With the availability of information out there, consumers are much more aware. I will just have my scooter mechanic do it, he already quoted me 40.00 and he will come to my house.

Really it's quite simple, pay the dealer or do it yourself. (no whining involved) You want the Dealer to do it

but you only want to pay him what you want to pay.

The choice is yours. Why vent to us? Get out your wrenches or drive it to the dealer. These are the facts of

life!

​Jack

 

[Tazzel]

Really it's quite simple, pay the dealer or do it yourself. (no whining involved) You want the Dealer to do it

but you only want to pay him what you want to pay.

The choice is yours. Why vent to us? Get out your wrenches or drive it to the dealer. These are the facts of

life!

​Jack

Actually there are a few other options:

Find an honest mechanic would be my number 1 choice. Whining? Really? I call it smart business. When I had my 2012 RS SE5 I had a non dealer install my front Elka's, it took him 30 minutes to install. My Spyder dealer wanted to charge me 200.00 per side to install. Maybe some people have more money then brains. I have very limited of the first and slightly more of the second. Really quite simple.

 

[SpyderF3-s]

What seller on Ebay?

I looked on Ebay and cannot find any Spyder F3 rear shock for $117. Who was the seller and what brand was it?

 

[sking1983]

I just did an install on my buddies f3 for an elka. And then did the 2 up shock on mine.

It literally took me 20 mins to install each shock.

It is extremely easy to do.

Not alot of upper body strength needed at all.

If you want I can take a small video of what I did.

The steps are

1. Take off the rear seat (push and turn key to right and lift back seat. Unhook cable and remove seat)
2. Take out 7x torx head screws under the tail of the rear. Not sure torx bit size.
3. Remove the torx screw under the rear seat that point down towards the floor. Can't remember how many. I think 5.
4 pull the bottom plastic fender out
5 use a 15mm wratchet and wrench to remove the bottom bolt on the rear shock. Jack the machine up just so the rear tire is barely off the floor. And remove the bottom bolt. You might need to play with the jack a bit to get the bolt out.

Once bottom bolt is out. Take out the top bolt with ease. And remove shock. Replace with new one and reverse the steps.

If you want pics let me know. Wish I was closer. I'd do it for you for free.

Stiff

Sent on Note 5 in Taptalk

I just finished the install on mine. As stated the install is very straight forward. The instructions and the pictures by stiffler made it simple thanks !!!


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