Rear Shock - Upper mount question

O.K. Here's one for the brain trust!

I tore down, cleaned, and re-greased my swing arm/rear suspension. I'm now in the process of re-assembling the bike.

My question is regarding the upper shock mount. Unfortunately, I'm too stupid to upload pictures ...so I'll try to describe my question/issue.

When I was removing the shock (after I removed the lower bolt....and was about to remove the upper bolt), I noticed that the shock was "fixed" and unable to rotate. In other words, if I grabbed a hold of the bottom of the shock and tried to push it forward or pull it toward the rear of the bike, it wouldn't freely rotate (in fact, it wouldn't move at all) around the upper shock bolt.

Since the manual shows that the upper bolt should be greased, I assumed that the shock should be able to rotate. Should it be able to rotate??

Looking closer at the diagram in the owners manual (Page 4-53), it appears that there is a "bushing", with a flange on one side, that fits inside mounting hole at the upper end of the shock. Is this bushing "press fit" into the shock mount hole?? or should this bushing rotate via grease inside the shock mount hole??

Mine is either press fit....or totally bound up. I tried tapping on it with a rubber mallet...but it didn't budge. Really didn't want to smack it any harder.

Any help with clarifying these questions would be greatly appreciated.

By the way, my bike has just a little under 9k miles on it...about 80% off-road. Bearings were packed full of grease from the factory and were in good shape. Since I had it tore apart, I cleaned and re-greased.

Yeah no the shock should be able to swing pretty freely at the upper mount if memory serves. Time to get the hammers, solvent, and grease I think.

The Breeze, what you're experiencing sounds perfectly normal.
That's because, unlike rear shocks on lots of other bikes (ones that cost more), there is no needle or spherical bearing at the top shock mount.
There's just a bushing pressed into the shock body, a bushing made-up of inner and outer metal parts with hard rubber sanwiched in the middle.
This is what you find on bikes like Yamaha's WR-250R and X, XT-225, TT-R230, XT-350, TW-200, as well as old twin-shock bikes.
It's low cost.
It's simple.

The bushing will flex a bit while riding and allow the shock body to pivot the small amount that it needs to do as the shock gets compressed and extended.
Greasing the upper mounting bolt will prevent corrosion and galling of the parts as long as you take it apart and grease it again on a regular basis.

There is a plain-looking collar that sits inside the shock mounting bolt hole, and if memory serves, it is on the right-hand side of the bike.
Myself, I did not grease it as it sits out in the open, unsealed.

Much thanks for the responses .

After further study of the exploded diagram, I'm leading toward YZEtc's description. What threw me off, is that they show the bushing as a separate part. BUT....it doesn't have a separate number or qty in the table below.....which seems to confirm YZEtc's comments. Lastly the diagram doesn't show any internal bearings or lube requirements for the upper shock mount (except for the bolt!).

So for now, I'm going to grease up the bolt...torque the nut....and call it a day.

Thanks again,

The Breeze

Just a follow up....

Since Travis, at Go-Race, had re-built my shock (about 6k miles ago!) I had a call into him regarding this issue. He called me back today and confirmed what YZEtc had said. In other words....the bushing is press fit...and non-serviceable.

Just thought I'd let you all know.

The Breeze

P.S., If you haven't had your shock re-built, you need to have it done....makes a world of difference.