Dangit!,.. Versy!,... I had a whole theory goin' there....

man I just faced this exact problem. I was gonna trim the supertrapp and then weld. So I take the whole header and exhaust off put on the 12 1/2 inch shocks  put the header back on loosely fit the supertrapp on and spin the header out slightly, angle the supertrapp a little and I've got an inch of clearance and no leaks. Plus it still bolts to the bracket correctly.

Point is I found enough wiggle room to make it work.
Sevier

verslagen1 wrote on 11/11/09 at 23:12:22:



Just checked the books, and... Every indication in the Real Suzuki Service manual shows the nut on the rider's right side and the axle bolt being installed from the left (pulley) side. Of course Clymer's shows it installed the other way around, and even tells you to push the axle bolt through from the right side. I think I'd prefer to stick with the way Suzuki builds them if possible.  

bill67 wrote on 11/12/09 at 03:57:12:


You reckon they'll do it for free, or charge you shop rate?

As long as there is no clearance issue, I cant imagine it mattering from which side the clamping force is applied, since it is evenly shared on both sides.

Serowbot wrote on 11/11/09 at 14:48:29:


Lucky!  Mine wouldn't go past 11 3/4" before hitting both the axle nut and swingarm: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1254399272/16#16  

I could fit 11 1/2" shocks maximum, without changing the muffler.

Been sick for about a week, but I'm finally getting back around to posting some more on this project:

This is one reason why the axle bolt should go through from the LEFT side:

That is unless you LIKE pulling your exhaust to pull the rear wheel!!! Personally, I put it back the way the Suzuki service manual shows it, and the way two different shops put it back in on two different bikes when replacing the rear tire. I think there's a legit reason why it goes in from the left, and I think I know why. Anyone else care to venture a guess?

BTW, SevierSavage was right, if you loosen all the muffler and header mounting stuff up and wiggle it around some; you'd be surprised how much room you can make without cutting anything. I finally got it looking like it might be alright on the right side. BUT THEN... of course I ran into more problems... on the LEFT side:



I'm not sure even re-installing the 17 tooth front sprockt (which was too high geared for my liking) will make the chain clear the swing-arm; unless I also go up to a 45t or 47t on the rear to make more room (and get my gearing back down where it should be anyways.) Of course then I'd get to spend another $70 or so on another cheap o-ring chain; since this one is going to be too short if I do that.

I didn't really like how the 12" shock was jacking the rear up so high anyways.

Notice I said 12" and didn't add the 1/2"? That's because I've realized that none of these shocks I've been working with are the 11-1/2" and 12-1/2" I thought they were:

Here's one of the shocks I've been replacing:

About 11" center to center.

And the Progressive:

Closer to 12" than 12-1/2"

And look how short the one's on my "chopper" have been cut down:

I keep the short ones on the highest preload setting, and they almost never bottom out; and it doesn't ride bad either.

Looks like I may scrap the whole tall shock thing on the "road bike" and save them for a planned enduro/track bike version Savage. Notice I've got the old purple 87 kind of set up that direction in the pictures in my sigfile. I'll really need a chain conversion on whatever bike ends up being more rugged off-road use oriented anyways. And that bike should also be one of the 5-speeds, not a 4-speed.

Hmmm... I can see it coming now. the old low-mileage 87 ends up being the "road bike;" and the current "road bike" becomes the "track/enduro" bike with those tall shocks; some low gearing (big sprockets) with the chain drive, and some long travel fork tubes from a dirt bike. Gonna have to chop at least 5º of rake out of the frame at the steering head to make it handle decent.

Like I don't have enough projects going around here at the homestead as it is.

Hey... Anybody wanna give me about $5k for three good running Savages; and a half a garage full of spare parts: 3-4 good extra seats, both solo and double; 5-6 extra sets of handlebars; 3-4 spare exhaust systems; extra shocks and a 3.8 gallon GZ250 tank that shouldn't be too hard to fit to a Savage? All bikes combined only have about 32K miles on them.

Then I could just go buy me a Kawasaki Versys or a Bonniville Scrambler and just stop all this freakin' tinkering...  

I started off kidding as I wrote that, but now it sounds like a pretty good idea!