home made lowering plates

[Miles Long]

The plates I have installed are a true 1.5" drop. I have a second set also that are a 2" drop. I moved the shock back along it's radius, and raised the swingarm up an inch and a half. Took some measurements, and made a cardboard template.

Sounds good!
Looks like I'll be doing this mod next. I may have some questions for you , once I get into it.
Will that Mod Monkey ever leave me alone?????
Cheers!

 

[Ratt1eHead]

Sorry this took so long for those who were waiting for me to upload my drawings of my lowering plates, but here they are. The setup I have on my bike is the 1.25" plates and a 2" progressive spring lowering in the front. When I did these plates I had my bike up on a lift, and didn't take into consideration the weight of the bike on the rear shocks. Initially I wanted a true 1.5" and 2" drops. But what I have works great... I might one day put on the 1.75" plates to see how they work but I'm happy with the way the bike handles. Now remember also, you will need to weld nuts to the backside of the plate for the shock bolt to screw into, and on the right hand plate you need to weld on a small piece of 1/8" thick and about a 1/2" wide steel for the axle crimp bolt to go through. Any other questions let me know. One other thing, I scanned these docs and had a machine shop cnc these for me, these uploaded pics are not going to be on a 1:1 scale.

 

[KJShover]

Awesome, Thanks for sharing unk:

 

[Traumahawk]

Thank you very much for posting. Well I know what one of my next future projects is gonna be.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Just now saw this.

Nice work!

 

[Miles Long]

Great work, very precise. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Miles Long]

I would be interested in doing this mod for two reasons.
I have already installed 12" shocks to replace the stock 13" ones. I'm sure they will work great (haven't had the bike out yet), BUT they created a big disadvantage.....with shorter shocks, there isn't enough room to remove the axle, because it hits the OEM r.h.s. exhaust can. The shocks have to be disconnected, either top or bottom, to allow the swingarm to drop down and give clearance when pulling the axle. Because both mounting points use studs, removal of the shocks is a pain.
With the use of a lowering block arrangement, the lower mounting point uses a bolt. Disconnecting the shocks would be a piece of cake.
In addition to easier shock removal, it would also be nice to be able to lower the bike even further. As noted in the template description, this would depend on where the mounting hole is drilled.
Cheers!

Got 'em done, lads!
Because I sometimes have a trunk, bag mounts and saddlebags on my bike, removing both shocks to take off the rear tire would be especially inconvenient and time consuming- bad enough already if the shocks are exposed. So I thought lowering blocks, or in this case "bolt mount blocks" would be a useful mod.
Because of the close-fitting bag mounts, I had to take a different approach to the construction of these blocks. Instead of the flat plate design of the ones described, I had to "step" each side, in order to move the shocks outward from the original stud-mount surface as little as possible - which is the thickness of the plate used (6mm)
I did drill and tap the shock mount holes so that the rear end is 8mm(1/2") lower, so that both front and rear have been lowered 1 1/2". Together with the re-shaped seat, I can now flat foot in my bare feet- not that I ride that way!
For the bolts, I used 5/8" diameter, the same size as the mounting holes on the Progressive shocks. No need for any bushings. A lock nut and cotter pin should keep them secure.
In order to make room for the plate on the Venture final drive, and still use the original axle, metal had to be removed where the axle comes thru.This would not have to be done with a v max drive, which is not as thick in this location.
Again , thanks to Ripinanroarin and Rattlehead for posting this modification.
Cheers!

 

[Ratt1eHead]

You're welcome Miles, glad the mod worked for you. I was lucky enough to get my hands on some 12" Progressive 412's from a bike that I'm flipping. I'm gonna use those with the lowering plates, chop the kickstand, and slam that ***** to the ground! I'll post some pics when I'm done. The only bummer is I have to remove the drag bar and put the oem bars back on so I can raise the front shocks in the triple tree to match the rear. I really liked the feel of the drag bars, gonna miss them.

 

[wildweasel_pt]

I have a lowered kickstand ready to bolt if you like

 

[Ratt1eHead]

Thanks for the offer, but I grabbed one from ebay for $16 shipped. Gonna do the chopping and welding on that one. If it wasn't for that I'd take you up on it Fred.

 

[Ratt1eHead]

Well here is the lowered bike. She's down as far as I want to put her. I love the look. An added bonus was that I didn't have to change out the drag bars to move the shocks up into the triple tree. I was able to move both master cylinders over enough to let the shocks pass.

 

[Griffyn]

Looks like a perfect ride height to me. Well done. I saved your diagrams so that I can work on this in the near future.

 

[Ratt1eHead]

Looks like a perfect ride height to me. Well done. I saved your diagrams so that I can work on this in the near future.

Thanks Griffyn. If you have any questions when you get into the project, hit me up.

 

[fullhouse]

Starting to make 2 sets of these today!! Thank you for the diagram

 

[fullhouse]

how mine sits with them in


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Miles Long]

My bike with 12" shocks and lowering plates. The plates were drilled and tapped to lower the rear another 1/2", to now match the 1 1/2" internal lowering of the forks.
Very comfortable now, with my 30" inseam mini-legs.
I did have to cut off the leading edge shoes of the centerstand - still very usable, although now a tad hard to raise bike if alone.
The best feature of the plates is that the shocks no longer have to be removed completely when taking off the rear wheel. Only the lower bolts have to be taken out.
Once again, GREAT mod, Mr. Rattlehead!
Cheers!