Hey guys. I'm having a really difficult time putting my rear tire back on my '16 Street Glide. The problem is it's very difficult to line up the left side shock(lower bolt). And when I do line it up, the bolt won't thread straight in. I bought a thread chaser and used that. First from the inside of the swingarm bore, then from the outside. I got the threads to what seemed like they had been corrected. I could thread the bolt on its own. I proceeded to line up the shock and bolt and tried to thread it ....and again it won't catch to go in. If it does catch it is once again at a cross thread angle. I'm not the most mechanically inclined dude but I'm not a complete moron at this stuff(maybe/maybe not).... this thing beat me up today. Any suggestions?

Oh and they're Revo shocks if that makes any difference

Thanks in advance

 

I had a similar issue when I installed my new shocks. This is what worked for me. I installed the shock that required the bike to be higher from the floor first and put the bolts most of the way in but not tight yet, bottom bolt first, then the top. For the other shock, I put the bottom bolt in then adjusted the lift down to align the top bolt. Once all bolts were started, I torqued them all down. It did take a little fiddling with the lift to get it just right. I'm not sure why the installed length is slightly different from side to side, but the shock install instruction said it's common. If i recall, it was only about an 1/8" difference, but enough to make it tough.

 

OK, OK....I'll probably have a go at that tomorrow. I didn't realize that was a common thing at all. I remember the initial install of the new shocks being a bit of a PIA. But my son and I got it done without too too much fuss. I'm on my own this time and like I said...the shock won today's battle!

Thanks B U!!

 

What has worked for me in the past, is to jack the bike up. Measure the distance between the eyes of the shock, then raise the WHEEL up so it matches the shock eye to eye. Then it should slide right on. no muss no fuss.,,,

 

I doubt you needed to chase threads. Matter of raising and lowering bike a smidge

I just bought cheap lift that you use on table lifts. I think it would be good for this. Raise and lower bike a little to line up holes.

Bad thing is no way to strap bike down

 

I always removed my mufflers, no need to fiddle with the shocks that way.

 

Sounds like the holes aren’t lining up under load. Support the bike so you can adjust the rear wheel height until everything is perfectly aligned.