5 series sportster rear shock solution
 

I had an issue a few weeks a go where I found the rear shock mounts don't line up. I spoke to marlin who said I needed spacers however with the required spacers there was not enough thread left on marlins thread adaptor to protrude through the nut as you can see below
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps172c8af0.jpg

What I ended up doing was remaking the threaded adaptor with a longer thread for the shock. I turned down a 7/8 whit worth high tensile bolt to make the adaptor
As shown below
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps72vk8lth.jpg

The lower shock mount looks like this now
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...psubnjxbva.jpg

I had to use a larger spacer on top to bring the shock out a little to square it up
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...psnvtzm87m.jpg

With everything all bolted up the rose joints allow to shock to move. I know people have said about bolts bending but using spacers should stop this as the bolt will have to stretch through the spacer to actually bend. And all bolts are 1/2 unf and high tensile

Looks like a great piece of fettling Craig, well done!

Did you have any issues with the length of the top bolt and did you take these pictures with the car on or off the build stands?

The spacers you have are different to the ones Marlin sent me and I added a few washers to my set up. I'll check my arrangements over the weekend and get back to you.

Cheers

Cammy

I don't have wheels at the moment. So on the build stands. But I did fit the shock without the spring to allow me to excercise the wishbone up and down with the shock bolted in place and everything moved nicely and the rose joints allowed the shock to change angle slightly with the change in hub height. I changed the top bolt for slightly longer ones than marlin supplied. The shear strength of a low grade 1/2 inch bolt is around 6 tonnes. So I can't see there being any problems with this set up. However I will take some measurements and pictures and ask some of the design engineers at work to have a look tomorrow!