11 subframe removal

[skid jackson]

pulling the rear shock to send it off for a service. iirc on my 06 300 I could disconnect all the wiring and pull the whole subframe off w/o too much grief. on the 11 the connector for the rear light is buried under the black fender liner and worse the connector for the ignition is too big to fit through the hole all the wires run through on the way to the front of the bike. Is there a way to pop that side panel to get that plug out? It doesn't appear to just pop out. right now I'll be doing the lay it over the rear tire routine

[PEB]

That must have changed in 07 because i noticed the same thing on my 07 recently. I might install a couple connecters while it is out.

[GMP]

You don't have to remove the entire subframe to remove the shock. Just loosen the upper mounts and airboot clamp, remove the lower bolts, silencer, and pivot it up. Just make sure there is enough slack in the harness at the joint. You can also remove the pipe, silencer, wheel, pull rods, and wiggle it out the side with the subframe on. Tricky but possible.

[andoman]

Just removed mine: pivoted subframe up, removed top shock bolt, and lifted the swingarm high enough to remove lower bolt.

[gasgasman]

Took my shock off in 7 min yesterday. No need to touch the subframe at all.

[rgranger]

Yeah, I was able to remove mine without doing the subframe, you kind of have to do an odd shuffle with the shock reservoir. but it will come out, true story!

[skid jackson]

Originally Posted by GMP

You don't have to remove the entire subframe to remove the shock.

I know ... I sort of did the same thing .. loosened the bottom bolts, remove the top and rotate back and pull the shock up through the top. I was kind of hoping there was an easy way to disconnect the wiring. Its nice to remove the whole thing every now and then for a primo cleaning. You don't have to worry about knocking stuff into the carb ..

[skid jackson]

Originally Posted by gasgasman

Took my shock off in 7 min yesterday. No need to touch the subframe at all.

I tried this once on my 06 300 and got nowhere ...
please give us the play by play ...

[gasgasman]

I can't confim if it will work on the '06 and earlier bikes.

1) Remove rear wheel.
2) Remove pipe and silencer.
3) Remove rear dog bone link bolt-pivot down.
4) Remove lower shock bolt.
5) Raise swing arm as high as it will go and secure with a tie down looped over the seat.
6) Remove upper shock bolt.
7) Lower bottom of shock over to the left of the swing arm linkage.
Pivot top of shock out to the right and extract.

[skid jackson]

finally got around to using the gasgasman method .....
Took 22 minutes to get the shock out
that included fishing for the right size sockets and fighting with a balky exhuast pipe mount bolt and a few other time killers.
Took twenty minutes to get the shock mounted up, swing arm ready for the tire .. stopped the clock there because I had to swap out a rear sprocket and a few other details.

upside was not having to mess with the gas tank and shrouds to pull the shock up and out.

with some practice I bet you could get it down to 10 minutes

verdict .... I approve of this method!!