Modifying Sportster shocks to fit my '82 XJ550 Seca

Hi all,

I got hold of some sportster shocks for cheap, but the bottom eye is too wide to fit the gap on my '82 XJ550 Seca.

Any tips on how to modify the shocks and/or the frame bracket?

Cheers!

Rogier

 

If you mean the eye is too big for the mount, perhaps a bushing to fill the gap between the eye and the mount? Then a sturdy washer of the appropriate size behind the mounting nut.

Or do you mean the eye is too big to fit in the surrounding space of the frame? If so, a pic of the problem might help.

 

When I went to shorter shocks on VooDoo, I ended up cutting off the old bracket and made a new one out of 3/16 flat stock then welded it on the swingarm, on the drive shaft side I had a custom stud machined to accommodate the wider and lager diameter eye of the new shock.

Here's the print for the shock stud that fit my particular shock.

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding, as I read my post now it hardly makes sense

I did this highly professional sketch in ms paint - don't judge

 

Okay, so the mounting stud isn't long enough to go through the eye.

Really, you're pretty much limited to either doing as Mad suggested and fabbing a new mounting stud or grinding away material from the eyes. And I'd really discourage the grinding option.

 

I'd strongly recommend just buying the correct shocks. They're not all that expensive.

 

Really?????


I put sportster shocks on one of mine. I ground the inside edge. Its not a big deal. You don't have to remove that much material to get it to work. The amount removed isn't going to cause any issues.

 

Thanks for the input!

I think I'll give the grinding option a go.
@Junkmn don't the metal parts scrape together when you push down the spring?

 

no scraping on mine. I hope we're talking about metal removal of the same part of the shock. I removed metal from the lower eyelets to mount them,

 

The problem I found was the metal sleeve on the shock 'eye' was not only too long, the diameter was also larger than the stud so even if the sleeve was ground to an acceptable length, there was too much play between the stud and sleeve (for me, any ways) That's why I fabbed correct fitting mounts.

 

On the 550, there are simple stamped brackets welded to the swingarm and the mounting bolts pass through them. No "studs."

There is NO "metal to be removed" grinding the brackets thinner will dangerously weaken them.

To make those shocks fit and work correctly, their eyelets and center bushings would both need to be thinned down; the trick would be to thin down the actual eyelet a bit more than the inner bushing to allow the eyelet to still move while the inner is trapped tight, as in the original configuration.

Again, I would recommend the correct shocks rather than slimming down and possibly weakening the eyelet on the Sportster shocks. Progressive's 12-series, with either black or chrome springs (which come in std or heavy.) I'm running them on both 550 Secas.

 

I've done it myself before on a few previous bikes also, but without seeing the actual shock on the actual mount and seeing exactly how much would have to be removed, I didn't have enough info to safely recommend it in this case.

I don't want somebody dying because I told them "Sure, grind it off!" without knowing the specifics.

 

@Bigfitz: unfortunately those shocks are not in my budget at the moment, I've seen you reccommend them in other therads and checked them out before I decided to go with this el cheapo option.
Hope to build a bike on a bigger budget in the not so distant future and I'll definitely go for the Progressive's
Also, I'm not planning on grinding the brackets, just the
eyes & bushings as you described.

 

When I did mine I ground the eyelet of the shock and replaced the bushings with Moog poly bushings. Yes I had to reshape the bushings a bit. No problems on it whatsoever. Do a search for Moog in these forums and you will find the part number.