can a rear shock handle a side load due to a slightly crooked spring?

motometal

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 3, 2001
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Why am I asking this?  Well, springs aren't perfect, and i'm sure there's a bit of uneven pressure on every shock spring made.  As an experiment, I stiffened a spring by heating up and collapsing one turn of the spring.  I measured first to make sure there's no chance of coil bind.  It actually seemed to work pretty slick, and according to sag measurements I ended up with exactly the spring rate I wanted.  The ends of the spring apear fairly parallel, but i'm sure not perfect.  Looking at the shock, there is a bit more spring clearance on one side than there is on the other side. 

It's a great feeling to do a mod that works, just for the cost of the torch gas, as opposed to bolting on someone else's creation.  But, I don't want to wear out an expensive shock!

As a contrast, forks have a huge amount of side load on them due to the rake of the forks...

What do you think???  Cool mod, or impending doom for the shock?
 

motometal

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 3, 2001
2,682
3
thanks for your input.  So far, it seems to have worked quite well.  I used a small hand held torch with mapp gas and no oxy.  Turns out the pain Kawasaki used on the spring burns off right about the same temp as what it takes to temper back the spring, so there is a visual indication when you have completed a given area.  This was my first "McGuyvered" shock spring, I have previously done fork springs on lowered bikes by cutting off, grinding the end, then collapsing just the first turn with heat.  PVC spacers can be used on top of the spring, in combination with spacing out the top out springs (if applicable).

I realize this is really barn yard and low tech, just though there may be another DIY'er or person on a low budget out there that I could help. :cool:
 
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