[sjbiat]

I bought a Hitchock luggage rack for my C5.  It turned out there wasn't enough space to slide it under the shock bolt on the left side.  Closer inspection shows the upper shock mount is welded to the frame slightly off line.  This seems like a warranty fault, though I suspect RE won't want to replace something that expensive.  Workaround is probably to take out the washer under the bolt head and machine about half the bolt head away.  Has anyone else had this problem?

Taking out the shock bolt seems to involve taking off the rear fender.  It looks like there is a fastener holding it on under the seat.  Is that hard to reach?

Thanks y'all..

Stephan
C5
94 Ural
97 Guzzi (for sale)

[GSS]

Stephan,
This is a very easy fix. The shock mounts are fairly soft and malleable metal, so you can easy pry them into place if they are off by a little bit. The entire rear fender swings up if you remove the bolts behind the passenger footrests, thereby making it easy to remove the upper shock bolts.
GSS

[Ducati Scotty]

Yes, you've got to pull the fender to remove that bolt.  Also, the little helper handle to get it on the centerstand makes the two sides different.  If you remove the handle would it line up better?

Scott

[sjbiat]

Thanks for your tips.  The left side handle was not responsible for warping the shock mount.  But the assurance that the bracket is malleable means I'll just take out the washer to free up a little space, and then tighten everything back up and if it bends the bracket a little, I won't worry about it.

Stephan

[Ducati Scotty]

...if it bends the bracket a little, I won't worry about it.

Stephan

Not worrying about small things is key to being happy with an RE