I'm setting up my 3" over swing arm and I'm looking to see what others have done with securing the PCW shock extension to the pumpkin. It fastens to the axle, shock mount and to the shock. The axle portion is held on with the factory parts, and the shock mounts to the other end, I can put a nut + spacer to hold the PCW part using the original shock mount but I was looking for a little more elegant looking solution.
I was thinking of getting the stock shock mount bolt machined to down/ threads cut so I could use a nice SS washer/ nut. Tell me/ show me what your solution for this is.
PCW gives you the extra hardware required. It looks good too.
Use the OEM shock mounting hardware to secure the shock to the PCW bracket.
The PCW bracket attaches to the differential where the OEM shock stud is. You will have to remove the OEM stud from the differential. I tried the double nut trick but that did not work at all. I had to resort to vise grips. Once you get the stud removed, you insert a spacer tube (supplied by PCW) into the differential. Be sure to leave the tube sticking out of the differential just enough to engage the PCW bracket. The spacer tube is made to help positively locate the bracket in place. If installed correctly it should be flush or just slighty lower than the face of the PCW bracket. Then, you install a bolt that PCW supplies to secure the bracket in the differential.
The PCW bracket also attaches to the rear axle. It just slides over the axle and is secured with the OEM axle nut. The bracket I received from PCW was made to fit the early type differentials, which are slighty wider. When I installed the bracket and tightened the bolt that replaces the shock stud, there was a gap between the bracket and differential where the axle goes.
I was told to just tighten up the axle nut and the bracket should bend enough to close the gap. I didn't like the idea of doing this so I decided to place a couple shims on the axle, between the differential and PCW bracket. I used the OEM axle nut washer as one of the shims. For the other shim, I found a S.S. washer and carefully filed it down to the correct thickness and polished it when complete.
I also needed to get an early style axle because my axle was a bit too short to get the axle nut to properly engage the threads with the new shims and bracket. I used the late style locking nut on the early style axle to prevent having to use a cotter pin and castellated nut. I removed the washer that sits on the outboard side of the caliper bracket (known as the washer swap washer) because I wanted to have a little more of the axle to stick out of the differential. This is why I posted the question about the importance of this washer a few months back. I was looking at the rear wheel assembly and did not see any reason why this washer really NEEDED to be there. Sean, and Fred both said that it would not hurt anything so I put it in the spare parts bin.
I can't remember what year the differential width changed, you may not have the same issue with Redbone.
I have attached a crappy photo of my rear diff. If you need a better one let me know.
If you had your swingarm shifted to the left to help center the wheel, you may be interested in seeing what I had Sean make up for me to help with the shock angle.
and my s/a is offset 250mm (I think, I'm going to use a 200 tire). I will give PCW a call to get the parts on the way.
