PW80 Rear SHock Replacement - moving Xtender from old shock

[etyrnal]

Ok, bought a used PW80 in really nice condition.  Everything is pretty good.

Problem.  All suspension is pure spring.  Not wanting to see my daughter get sprung off the bike on the first big bump, i bought some fork oil for the front forks, and a pwonly replacement shock for the rear.

I cannot figure out how to get the pwonly rear shock apart.  (as an aside, the PWONLY shock looks like it has less travel than the shock i took off.  But maybe that's an illusion.)

The nut in the spring on the PWONLY shock is bigger than 16mm, and a 17mm wrench flops around on it.  A 5/8" wrench wont' fit on it, and the 11/16" wrench swims around it.  There is very little room to get in there with any tool.  Took new pwonly rear shock to 2 different auto parts stores and couldn't find a spring compressor, or any other creative tool alternative to get it apart.


Wondering if there's a way to compress the spring some other way, and just take the pre-load clip out so the spring can just slide down the shock body and reveal the nut at the end of the piston shaft...

How on EARTH do people swap these out?!?

[jdextreme]

Hi etyrnal,

I was confused on the easiest way to swap out the shock spring. I bought a new PW80 (adult spring rate) spring from a local vendor and the owner was kind enough to gift me this interesting tool:




The front shock eye mounts in with a pin and there's a plate up front that holds the spring while the lever is pulled up. Once the spring is tensioned, the retaining washers will slide off and the spring comes right out. Same process to get the washers back on with the new spring. I don't who makes this tool (there's no markings or branding on it.) It might be a home built rig.

Harbor Freight sells smaller spring compressors which should work for the job. I've seen videos of people using 3 or 4 ratchet straps to compress down ATV springs, but the PW80 shock is so small, I don't see that being a viable method.