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Lowering link installation?


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Has anybody tried these lowering links from lust racing? It says it will lower the bike a little over 3/4". .8" to be exact. 
http://www.loweringlinks.com/moto/yamaha-fj-09-lowering-kit/
No, I didn't see these when I did my search on this, and they may be just what I need.  I'll try the Yamaha links first at the 9/16 lowering and see what it's like. I don't necessarily agree with the Lust statement "MAXIMUM lowering possible by changing suspension links on Yamaha FJ-09" - Soupy's still has the 1 1/4 inch links at http://soupysperformance.com/fj09-lowering-link-links-kit.html
, but we all know about marketing hopefully.

Well I finally got the Yamaha 9/16" links installed. Here is a look at the three sets next to each other; Stock, 9/16", and 1 1/4" (sorry about the lens distortion, but the comparison is still pretty good):
http://i.imgur.com/LPGALu7.jpg
 
Here is a set of measurements on each one:
http://i.imgur.com/KdVFG4G.jpg
 
The 1 1/4 inch set are not Soupy's, but are PSR brand that my dealer got for me.  Searching the dealer's website, I think they are PSR pn 1304-0659 per this chart
http://i.imgur.com/brFRIqJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1N2VmNT.jpg
 
They are marked PSR Y-L6.
 
I'm not satisfied with the Yamaha 9/16", still a bit high for me.  I believe the 1 1/4 rating on the PSRs, but as I said before the cat converter scrapes on my driveway ramp.  So I'm going to try the Lust ones next, even though I don't look forward to fitting the exhaust back up on the bike after installation.  It is a bit of a hassle for me, for some reason (any hints?).  But removing it sure makes the link switch a lot easier.
 
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The PSR links will not work, I own a set of them also(my "knowlegable" dealer sold them to me as well)- you would have chop out a huge section of the swing arm to fit those in there...I know because I installed them and the bike lost all ability to have any rear suspension... yeah my feet touched the ground great! but at the cost of a rock solid rear wheel. Go with soupys or lust, PSR isn't a real option unless you have a full fab shop to be able to modify the swingarm as needed.
Also shame on the dealers that sold us these... I know at mine they said "the suspension is EXACTLY the same as the FZ-09, so they SHOULD work."
the lowering kickstand from psr is nice, but it has a similar issue that it cant be flush with the ground like other lowering kickstands
Im working on something to fix that (will reveal later when it is futher along)
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I just got done putting on Soupys lowering links. Holy crap what a pain in the ass. Got the bike up in the center stand and got the bottom link bolt out in no time at all. Then spent about 2 hours trying to get the top bolt out. Couldn't get a good hold on it so I had to loosen the exhaust and drop it out of the way. Then I couldn't get the top bolt broke loose because it was torqued down so tight I thought I was going to bust the bolt. I almost ended up rounding off the nut... I finally got the top bolt out and the new links put in... kinda. From what I have read all you have to do is use a jack on the swing arm and jack it up till the holes line up. Well to do that I would have ended up throwing the bike over cuz it wasn't heavy enough. So I had to take a ratchet strap and wrap it through the rim of the rear tire and over the passenger seat and ratchet it down till the holes lined up for the bottom bolt. Got the bolts all in and tight and exhaust is back on. Dropped it off the center stand and... damn thing feels like there is no suspension at all now. It has some give but I have to jump on it with all my weight to make it sag any. Hopped on and it feels great as far as height goes but just riding it around the block it feels stiffer than shite. Is this normal? Should it feel that stiff? If it is I think I just wasted about $60 cuz this thing is going to beat me to death.
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The PSR links will not work, I own a set of them also(my "knowlegable" dealer sold them to me as well)- you would have chop out a huge section of the swing arm to fit those in there...I know because I installed them and the bike lost all ability to have any rear suspension... yeah my feet touched the ground great! but at the cost of a rock solid rear wheel. Go with soupys or lust, PSR isn't a real option unless you have a full fab shop to be able to modify the swingarm as needed. Also shame on the dealers that sold us these... I know at mine they said "the suspension is EXACTLY the same as the FZ-09, so they SHOULD work."
the lowering kickstand from psr is nice, but it has a similar issue that it cant be flush with the ground like other lowering kickstands
Im working on something to fix that (will reveal later when it is futher along)
Couter - Did your PSR links look the same as the picture I posted?  Some of their links have multiple positions, so some material might be extending beyond the mount points.  Looking at mine, I don't see any obvious reason they wouldn't work.  Riding a few hundred miles on them with the shock at minimum preset, I didn't experience any of the effect you describe.  The bike was noticeably lower and scraped on my driveway ramp, but didn't feel that hard at all.  I rode through a construction area back and forth to work with some pretty rough pavement.  There appeared to be plenty of room for them to bolt up - did you see any damage to other components down there?  I'll check my bike too if you did. 
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I just got done putting on Soupys lowering links. Holy crap what a pain in the ass. Got the bike up in the center stand and got the bottom link bolt out in no time at all. Then spent about 2 hours trying to get the top bolt out. Couldn't get a good hold on it so I had to loosen the exhaust and drop it out of the way. Then I couldn't get the top bolt broke loose because it was torqued down so tight I thought I was going to bust the bolt. I almost ended up rounding off the nut... I finally got the top bolt out and the new links put in... kinda. From what I have read all you have to do is use a jack on the swing arm and jack it up till the holes line up. Well to do that I would have ended up throwing the bike over cuz it wasn't heavy enough. So I had to take a ratchet strap and wrap it through the rim of the rear tire and over the passenger seat and ratchet it down till the holes lined up for the bottom bolt. Got the bolts all in and tight and exhaust is back on. Dropped it off the center stand and... damn thing feels like there is no suspension at all now. It has some give but I have to jump on it with all my weight to make it sag any. Hopped on and it feels great as far as height goes but just riding it around the block it feels stiffer than shete. Is this normal? Should it feel that stiff? If it is I think I just wasted about $60 cuz this thing is going to beat me to death.
Shadowhawk - The installation instructions that come with the Yamaha 9/16" links say to drop the exhaust and remove the back wheel.  I just dropped the exhaust and had plenty of room.  I used a ratcheting box end wrench on the nut and a open end wrench on the head of the bolt - holding the head in place and turning the nut.  BTW the ratcheting box end wrench set is one of the best buys I've made, really handy. Using a ratcheting strap on the rear wheel is normal when you are compressing the shock/spring far enough to fit up these short links.  I would probably take off the back seat first though, the grab rails can take the force.  I've added the Yamaha back rack and the Shad bag mounts, which requires removing the grab rails, so I had to route the strap through the new mounts to have them take the force, but it worked.
Have you removed all the preset from the shock spring, this should soften the suspension some.  There is also a rebound adjustment on the shock, though I still haven't found it behind a bunch of hoses and stuff.
 
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Oh ok so it is normal for everything to be so stiff then... I put the suspension on the softest setting the first day I got the bike so that part is done. Because I had a tough time on finding how the links are installed I didn't know you actually had to remove the exhaust. I figured it was one of those thing that was overkill to do the job. Guess I was wrong. I will try out these links for a little while and see if I like them. I think I will get a set of the yamaha stock 9/16" lowering links as well just so I have more options. Now that I got that one bolt broke loose things will go much faster next time. I thought for sure I was going to bust that bolt before it broke loose. Or worse yet round off the head of the nut. That would have sucked.
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Couter - Did your PSR links look the same as the picture I posted?  Some of their links have multiple positions, so some material might be extending beyond the mount points.  Looking at mine, I don't see any obvious reason they wouldn't work.  Riding a few hundred miles on them with the shock at minimum preset, I didn't experience any of the effect you describe.  The bike was noticeably lower and scraped on my driveway ramp, but didn't feel that hard at all.  I rode through a construction area back and forth to work with some pretty rough pavement.  There appeared to be plenty of room for them to bolt up - did you see any damage to other components down there?  I'll check my bike too if you did.
They looked exactly the same! There is another thread here somewhere I posted a similar picture of them comparing the size. Since then I bought the lust links, and its been much better... maybe I'll try the PSR one more time, and really crank the preload on the rear shock and see if that makes a difference... Honestly though since I sometimes have a passenger, I wouldnt want to lose any more height especially with the weight sag between us. I always want to touch both feet comfortably to the ground though... Ah hell I've got them, might as well try them one more time! If nothing else maybe someone else here will want them. For now, I've got a new weekend project I gotta find time for... Hopefully its nice in Denver so I can give an appropriate test ride
 
As for dropping the exhaust, if youre lucky enough to have a professional toolbox loaded with tools sitting in your garage, theres no need for that... then again I did have the entire rear swingarm removed and have over 2k miles on it since I reinstalled it! so minor details.
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  • 3 years later...

First of all, I want to say hello on forum. This is my first post here.
My name is Szymon. I'm from Poland. I just bught 2016 tracer 900.
And want make some modifications :)


I have posibility to make (by my friend) my own links, I want to make 20mm and 25mm height drop versions.

Here is .ods calc with all measurement from @timg post above, my calculations and found equation:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jt9En-dZJd_2SY8NSlPWVs1S6dYZUaME/view?usp=sharing

[20mm drop]
axis to axis:
57.68mm
[25mm drop]
axis to axis: 55.45

All I need is get thickness of links (stock Yamaha, PSR or other) to make order to my friend.
@timg Maybe you have posibility to check the thicknes of your links? Currently I can't do that on my own :|

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