Yes what everyone else said. You want a straight line. I just went through this. Go to ACE hardware and buy some hardened washers in the same I.D. and O.D. as those spacers. Take them with you to match or measure them. Here's what mine looks like now:



The reason you want it 90 degrees (or straight) is to not cause the seals in the shocks to fail prematurely as well as for the springs to function properly.

To see where the shock ought to be, tighten only the bottom bolt leaving the acorn nut and any spacers off the top. You'll see then where the top of the shock wants to rest. From there you can figure out what needs to change.

 

Thanks Matt, that helps a lot. Funny, I just got off the phone with the designer of the shock, he apologized profusely and said that they also just learned of this in that when the shock was designed in 2006 it was a perfect match to stock. And that in the newer models they just found out that the stock shocks are actually mounted a little crooked (they discovered this via a local HD Dealer). Explains a lot as to why I had some challenges getting the non threaded bottom side out too.

He told me I should be able to shift one of the spacers and sleeve a little to the inside on the bottom and that will get me to where I need to be.

Also exactly what you mention about extending the life of the seals.

Gotta say this has all been a great learning experience for me. Really enjoying working on the bike myself when making upgrades.

Just want to add how great Works has been with me. Answered the phone with a real person, good order procedure, turn around time, etc. When I called he was on the other line, left a message, he called me back within 5 minutes. I sent him an email with the pics and he walked me right through it.

 

I didn't know about all this shock alignment until I had a seal go on me and starting investigating why it might happen. Ricor doesn't provide any instructions. It's the Works instructions that I found that led me to figure it out.

 

Ditto for me... of course they also led to my confusion

 

Update time, take a look and let me know your thoughts...

I did what the engineer said and simply moved one of the bottom outer spacers inboard. It seemed then that I was slightly off with the top being a little in and bottom out. So I put a small spacer up top as well on the inboard side. I don't know if there is any concern about putting the shocks too far outward?

My biggest challenge is that I'm still doing this by eye since I don't know the best points to measure distance from to ensure parity. The base of the upper stud doesn't seem to be the same distance to the shock as the base of the lower mount.

 

Looks good to me.

 

Yeeha, thanks again, now hopefully find some time to ride these next few days (my commute is less than a mile all downhill).

 

Just another thought: If you want to keep the shocks a bit closer to the bike, you might remove one of the lower Works spacers and add the one you used up top. What I am getting at is looking at your set up, I would want to avoid pushing out the top of your shock out any extra at all.

I did the same trick that mattVA mentioned except I hung the shock from the top mount, tightened down the acorn nut a little, then checked to see how the bottom of the shock looked when rotated next to the lower mounting hole.

 

yeah I was just thinking that as well. I'm using my little car jack as I haven't bought a proper one yet and borrowing tools from my shop at the resort where I work so it takes two people to hold the bike, etc. so I may wait until I get my jack and new tool set next month.

Are there any risks that I should be aware of with running them like this? Overall I really added about an eighth of an inch I'd say.

 

I don't think there are any risk, but any time you cantilever something, the further out - the more stress involved. But I think the less you shim the better(keeping the shock vertical of course) and I also think the top mounting area is the most visually observed so try to make it look the best.