Looking for some advice on a 2009 Road King Classic.

I'm going to be upgrading the front and rear suspension, and since the bike is now 15 years old I was wondering about the motor mounts and stabilisers.

Should I be replacing the old motor mounts while I'm doing the suspension? If so, what brands are good?
Thanks.

 

Motor and side rubber mounts only last a few years, so chances are they have been changed at some point, so may want see what your up against, before you may end up wasting money on swapping out still good rubber mounts. If mounts need to be replace, then oem HD.

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As for suspension, before you throw the baby out with the bath water, rebuild the front forks, use 15 weight shock fluid to oem specs,
and change out the rear shock fluid to 10W.at 10.5oz (after you have removed all the old fluid).

Even if you are going cartridge in the front forks, still need to rebuild them anyways, since ever with cartridges, forks still run about 5oz in the voids and need good bushings and seals from the start
15.16 and 21 have to be replaced, before you can install the new cartridges and these parts need to be replaced, including the fork oil about every 30K as well.

Note, fork diagram for that year model, but guessing that yours are air forks isntead.


Now with 15w in forks to oem level, 10w at 10.5oz in each shock, if you do want to go stiffer, then can up oil weights to 20F/12 rears (oem is 10F/7R0) or can go to after market shocks. Hence, fork rebuild kit, and fluid for both front and back, less than $100, so do this first, before you dump over a grand in front and back aftermarket, to end up in the same place as the dam near the 15/10 again.

And just a fyi, but cartridges for forks are nitro charged, and when they need to be rebuilt again in 30K miles, get real spendy sending them back to be rebuild, since most are not geared up to rebuild them themselves. On the other hand, the factory forks and even the factory rear shocks (Honda used them on the older goldwings, so honda carriers parts to rebuild them) all can be done in ones own garage without the need to special tools.

Bottom line, give it a once over, service what needs to be service, since bike will wear out parts fast enough on it own, and in most causes, it just keeping up with the need services and repairs are enough ; isntead of looking to waste money on items that are still in service spec, that don't need to be replaced yet instead.

 

To add, if bike was not tracking straight, solid stabilizer links 9, get pulled and thrown in the trash,and replace with missing link adjustable style one.

Hence not uncommon for frame to be slightly off from it being welded in the first place/when released from the frame jig, and without being able to tram the drive line in the frame, since motor/primary/trans/swing arm/rear tire are all floating in frame line, and with solid links, can not get the drive line back into perfect alignment with the frame (center line and swing are tram), so bike will track straight in the end.

I bring this up, since have engine alignment tools, so when replacing even the newer bikes with fixed length stabilizers , still use engine alignment tool on the rear axle to side plates to hold the motor tram in frame, and its a 50/50 chance that the fix length stabilizer is the needed lenght to get the drive line straight and trame in the end.

Just a primer on checking to make sure suspension and drive line parts are aligned to start with, and this case, its drive line not level with frame that is showing up with shock bolt distances to swing arm bolts, that having no adjustment in the link can not solve the problem.

 

Thanks Dano, that's really great detailed info. 👍

The bike hasn't done many miles (only 10K) so it's been sitting parked up for much of it's life. I just acquired it and want to improve handling and suspension and make sure I don't miss anything.
Cheers.

 

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thats a good one 👍

 

Just a reminder, that some of the special after market tools, are not needed, since can just use a tape messure for shock bolt side to side to see if swing arm is level or canted to frame, as well as checking front triple tree as well.

As for when replacing forks in triple clamps, the pogo method does work very well to get them correct/de-twisted in the end.



And when installing washer 14,

Flat side of the washer goes down towards lower bushing, and the rounded edge side, up towards the seal that going to be on top of it.
Hence plenty of fork rebuild videos on You tube, but all forget to mention which way the washer goes in, since rounded slide up, as you are pressing the seal it above it, helps to flair the bottom edge of the seal outwards, to allow it to seal better against the id of the tube in the end/flat edge side down help to hold the lower tube bushing in place as well.

As for bushings, they are Teflon coated for where they are going to slide against surfaces, and if coating is worn out, then time to replace bushing before it starts to wear into the bronze as well.


The other one that helps out when rebuilding forks, if you have a lathe, then can use such to make sure fork tubes are not out of spec bent, if still in spec and slightly bent, then mark bend to install with bend forward of bike in triple clamps, and use the lathe to polish up the slider tubes to gleam them as well.

 

thats a good one 👍[/QUOTE]

It's not. The guy makes one mistake.. He says that the rear shocks need to be equal length when mounted. The problem is that on some frames, the top mounts are not straight. You line them up and the swingarm is out of kilter. Better to use the front and rear discs and get them in the same plane.

 

Hey Dano, if I get one of the adjustable style stabiliser links like you have suggested - what is the method or process of adjusting it? How do you know when you've got it adjusted properly?

Thanks

 

Dude, at 15 years old, yeah, definitely consider new motor mounts. They're rubber, and they will degrade over time. While you're in there, new engine stabilizers are a good idea too, keeps things tight and prevents vibes. I've had good luck with Progressive Suspension mounts, but there are other solid brands out there.