Rubbing Rear Fender

I have a friend with a 1976 KZ900 that he just put a extended swing arm on it and now the 16 inch rear tire rubs on the under side of the fender and is starting to take the coating off of the wires that run to the rear light. I don't know how much the swing arm is extended. What shocks can be put on it to keep the tire from rubbing the fender ? Is he going to have to remove the rear fender ? Get rid of the shocks all together. Any information would be appreciated.

look under the filebase there is a templete you can make easily to move the fender back some hopefully to gain enough clearance. If that aint enough you might have to get longer shocks or run struts like me. I got my chrome fender removed also.

I not sure if I want to remove the rear fender. If I decide to keep it, how do I figure out how much longer the shocks need to be ?

I just went out and looked at the shocks and they appear to be adjustable. I was told that they are shocks that came on the KZ900. Are the stock shocks adjustable ?

The critical figure is length eye-to-eye when the shock (with spring) is at full compression.

The compressed length eye-to-eye may vary between brands, even where the length eye-to-eye is equal when extended, due to different suspension travel afforded.

For example, 13" Brand A shock may have a longer or shorter travel than 13" Brand B shock.

The question should probably be what replacement shocks will provide sufficient clearance at full compression.

Could remove one existing shock, for purpose of more easily measuring eye-to-eye on the other shock at full compression.

Compare the eye to eye distance of the attached shock at full compression when something hits the tire with the eye-to-eye distance between the removed shock at full compression.

The replacement shock should add the necessary distance eye-to-eye at full compression.

If the replacement shocks are the same brand as the existing shocks, the additional eye-to-eye distance at maximum extension is likely very close to the additional distance needed at full compression.

Good Fortune!

BIGKEVIN wrote: I just went out and looked at the shocks and they appear to be adjustable. I was told that they are shocks that came on the KZ900. Are the stock shocks adjustable ?

Oem shocks on KZ900 LTD were Boge Mulholland, with pre-load adjustments as the rider might prefer.

It's probably difficult to find a rear motorcycle shock that doesn't have pre-load adjustments.







Good Fortune!

Increasing the shock pre-load might or might not relieve tire rubbing against inside of the rear fender.

Won't hurt to try.

Good Fortune!

When the bike is at rest and your friend sits on it, how close is the tire to the inner fender? If it is a reasonable distance but it hits the wiring when he hits a bump increasing the preload may help or the shocks may simply be worn out. If the shocks are the originals believe me they are worn out, because the original shocks on these bikes didn't last more than about 10,000 miles before they needed to be replaced. Ed

I will try adjusting the preload to see if that will help. I'll have to find soemthing to turn it with because the spanner tool is long gone.

Run the tail light wiring on top of fender instead of under,cut a small groove in the rubber under tail light bracket then run wires straight up under tail piece.