Lower Shock for 08 XT

[Cooter]

Gal dang! Sad sight my friend

[cvc]

If i remember right 1/4 inch of shock length is about 1inch at the back of the bike. I was riding my XT with 1 inch bar risers and the forks slipped to the bars at 1.2 lower than stock. The front kept wanting to turn in too fast. I then installed the DIY stabilizer which covered up some of the problem. But when I put the SS shock on the rear and dropped the back about 1.3 inch (set preload soft I weigh 150lb ) the bike immediately handles like it should an amazing difference so do both ends or don’t. Unless road rash and bike repairs are your thing. By the way I still need a right hand/wind guard and a stock left side scoop. ☹️

[Tbone]

cvc the 1/4 inch sounds about right. With a spring plate the shock length stays the same, allows the pre-load to give you more sag and lowering the ride height. I think I used a 10 or 15 mm spring plate. At the same time I also raised the yokes on the forks about ~ 5mm to get it right. This was after rebuilding the rear shock with Racetech. Just recently installed a new totally stock rear shock and set it to a couple of turns on the pre-load and the forks are seated all the way down on those retaining ring things and all is good. Are you on a Uly and I could not imagine touring loaded down with a different rear shock? the stock one does so well.

[cvc]

I’m on an XT and mostly ride back and forth to work so not touring only some spare socks, welding cap and coffee in my top bag and 125 pounds of Kylee once in a while. I never noticed the extra sag on my SS with similar weight passengers like I do on this bike but I set the preload soft with her on I can flat foot and back up comfortably with out I still have to jump off if trying to back up an incline. I would like to get about a half inch lower unloaded and install the hydraulic tensioner on that shock

[cterry66]

I just bought an 06 SS shock. It measures 13.6" eye to eye vs 14.25 for the XT. Will let you know how much it lowers the bike when I get it installed. Will also try to install the Ride height adjuster from the XT

[cvc]

Let us know how you retain the hydraulic tensioner. The preload adjuster on the long shock has two lugs welded on the shock body and the uly shocks have a grove and retaining ring similar to the ones on the forks.

[cterry66]

I got the 2006 SS shock installed on my XT today. the SS shock is .65" shorter than the XT but interestingly, the springs are the same length and the wire diameter is the same. Maybe the spring rate is also the same . The only problem so far is that although the remote cartridge and its hose are the same length on both, the hose angle at the shock end is different so the cartridge doesn't fit into the old location under the ECM properly. I decided not to try to use the remote preload adjustment on the SS shock for now. The new shock lowered the bike 1.25" and is more manageable for me now. I 'm going to ride it for a while before I decide if I'm going to slide the fork tubes up.

[cvc]

Okay playing with shocks 06/07 XB12SS and SCG shocks are the same length Cooter measured an EBR shock and it measured 12.5in eye to eye so that would be the shortest so far posted and may bottom the rear hugger to the under seat plastic tray. And an SCG shock on a Xb12X makes the same suspension hight as the early XB12SS but with the lightning spring rate, an SS shock likely has a closer spring rate as the 08 up STT, XB12SS, XB12XP and XB12X all used the same length shock but only the bikes offered with hard bags had the hydraulic tensioner.
Just a little food for thought.

[cterry66]

Okay playing with shocks 06/07 XB12SS and SCG shocks are the same length Cooter measured an EBR shock and it measured 12.5 in eye to eye so that would be the shortest so far posted and may bottom the rear hugger to the under seat plastic tray. And an SCG shock on a Xb12X makes the same suspension height as the early XB12SS but with the lightning spring rate, an SS shock likely has a closer spring rate as the 08 up STT, XB12SS, XB12XP and XB12X all used the same length shock but only the bikes offered with hard bags had the hydraulic tensioner.
Just a little food for thought.

That's interesting about the SCG shock. I found a measurement somewhere online that it is 13.25" Eye To Eye. I also found 1125 shocks on Ebay are apparently 13"" but they have to Gas chamber built on to the shock so doubt they would fit our bikes.

Dumb question, Will I loose all the gas in the remote if I quickly loosen the bolt to reangle the hose?
The XT remote has a Schrader valve for the gas, the SS shock doesn't. How do you refill it?

Next question, How many lines show on the fork tubes of XT from the factory? Don't know if mine was lowered any when I got it

[cvc]

I don’t know how many lines show but if stock they should have a ring in a retaining grove under the triple to set both tubes the same and may be a safety thing as well for the “adventure bikes “ I was able to slip my tubes 1.2” with 1” bar risers letting them stop against the underside of the bars.