Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but I haven't seen a step by step tutorial on this, so I figured I would take some pics while putting mine in and show the world.
To begin with, I sourced a used shock with linkage off of a 2006 model from ebay. It cost me just over $50 shipped. A steal. I would highly recommend getting the linkage along with the shock as it makes installation a snap. And even if you can't find a shock with the linkage, you can usually find the linkage sold separately on ebay as well.
Now we begin:
First and foremost: Safety. It's always a good idea to lock your front brake when lifting the rear up in the air. This will help prevent the bike from falling off of the stands if it is bumped. Possibly on top of you.
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Alright now, we all know that the rectifier has to be turned around so that the 636 shock's reservoir doesn' hit the plug.
This is pretty simple, first unbolt the rectifier from the bike, then turn it around in it's bracket. Easy as pie.
Then you need to reroute the wire harness.
Remove the right side cover and pull this little doo hickeymajigger off of it's hangers. It just slides right off so just pull it.
Now you should be able to pull the rectifier harness out so that you can put it right back in, just in a different spot. It takes a little finagling but it will come out.
I used a screwdriver to pry up on the battery box to lift it high enough to slip the plug through. Put a little effort into it, but try not to break anything.
When you get the plug through there the harness should come out from under the battery box like so...
Don't forget to remove the plastic loop that held the wire earlier or it may get in the way.
Now just bolt the rectifier back up and plug it in. I forgot to take a pic of this so I stole this one! HAR HAR HAR!
Alright, now to the fun stuff. Support the bike so that the rear wheel is hanging freely.
IMPORTANT: Do not use a swingarm stand! You have to support the frame of the bike with jackstands or some other suitable method so that no weight is on the swingarm and shock.
First remove the lower bolt from the shock, there will still be some tension on the bolts so I used a screwdriver and hammer to tap them out once the nuts had been removed. The tension jammed my screwdriver in the bottom hole but after removing the top bolt the same way I could get both screwdrivers out easily.
Pull the shock out from the top. I forgot to take a pic of this too, but you should be able to figure it out, just pull it out.
Then remove the bolts that hold the linkage and dogbones to the frame and pull the linkage out.
One thing to note about changing the linkage. In order to get one of the bolts out, the muffler has to come off. No biggie though, two bolts and 30 seconds is all it takes.
This is why I think it's easiest to use zx6 linkage. As you can see, the 636 linkage is just a teeny bit narrower than the z750 linkage. Which appears to be entirely due to the rubber seals and possibly the metal sleeve inside. So if you wanted to buy these parts, you could use the Zee's linkage. But if you're buying parts anyway, why not get the linkage for cheap on ebay? Another reason to use the zx6 linkage is because the zx6 shock is about a quarter of an inch longer than the zee's shock eye to eye. And the zx6's dogbones are about an eighth of an inch longer. The zee's shorter dogbones will force the shock farther up, effectively increasing your preload, decreasing your static sag and increasing ride height. You'll notice that my preload is set all the way out with only one thread showing and my rider sag was only about 20-25 mm. So increasing preload isn't what you want to do on an already stiff spring. But I'm not a suspension guy so I may be wrong, some of the other guys on here may be able to tell you better. Anyway, here's the pics.
Also, the zx6 dogbones are aluminum rather than steel, or whatever the zee's are. Hey, ounces matter too.
Now you're just going in reverse. After bolting the linkage in, drop the shock in from the top and put the top bolt in first. When you try to put the lower bolt in, you will need to pry the shock up a little bit in order to get the holes to line up.
Now just tighten everything up and do a quick safety check.
hmm... is it normal to have a couple of bolts left over???
Oh well, I'm sure it's fine.
Finished!
Now to take advantage of the sunny and mild Georgia winters and take it out for a test ride.
Crap, maybe not.
Well you guys have already read the reviews on how it performs anyway so I guess I'll leave it at that.
