How To: Ohlins TTX36 Shock Spring replacement

It's been raining pretty much continuously since I brought home the bike Wednesday so I went ahead and swapped shock spring last night. I'm going to a lighter spring based on Jarel's recommendations. I ordered front and rear springs from Ducati Omaha.




1. Place bike on paddock stands.



2. Remove rear hugger, four bolts, 3mm hex. The bolt closest to the chain has a small spacer underneath the hugger, don't lose this. Put a rag between the swingarm and the pipe to fill the gap, it helps keep you from dropping a bolt into a location that requires surgical tools for removal. I learned the hard way.

3. Remove shock cover, 3 bolts, 4mm hex. There are little spacers on the back side that fall out as you remove the cover.

4. Place a scissor jack between the rear tire and the subframe, put something soft over the top of the jack.



5. Remove the black plastic cover that goes over the front shock bolt. It has tabs that pop out at the locations circled in red. You access the bolt through the hole with the yellow arrow.



6. While the shock is still on the bike use spanners to back the preload off to the edge of threads. I marked my preload adjusters with black dots so that it was easier to count turns.



7. Remove front and rear mounting bolts. Use the scissor jack to take all the weight of the bike off of the shock. This will help keep the bolts from binding. Break both of the bolts loose. I felt it was easier to remove the rear bolt first since the linkage will support the back of the shock while you remove the front bolt. You can also see in the first pic that the preload adjusters are all the way to the end of the threads.



Part II Coming.

Part II

8. The shock should now look like this. Make a mark on the end bushing. break the blue jam nut loose then count how many turns it takes to remove the end bushing from the shock body. In one of these pics you can see the piece of painters tape that I put on the edge of the fairing to protect it while working on the front shock bolt.



9. Now finish removing the two preload adjusters. The top one will spin off by hand. The bottom one is easily removed while holding the shock in your lap by holding the end of the shock and a spanner. You'll hit the point of being able to remove by hand after just a few turns.



10. At this point you can now lift the spring off the top of the shock body.

11. Reassembly in reverse order is pretty straightforward. Make sure that you count the turns on the end bushing as you reinstall it so that your ride height is in the same ballpark. If you want to be very exact make sure that you measure your ride height before you start and then adjust it to match when you're done. Attach the front mounting bolt first. Then use the jack to adjust the spacing until the rear bolt holes line up perfectly. Torque for front and rear bolts is 45 Nm (33 ft/lb).

Total time for everything was just under an hour and that included taking pics. I could probably do it again in 30-40 min now.

Awesome! Thank you for the write up.

One of the mods should rename the thread n make it a "How To".

Nice write up. I paid $20 to my local shop to remove and install the spring after i got it powdercoated. I'd pay $20 again over doing that myself but i installed my exhaust myself though. Go figure.

slickwill said:

8. The shock should now look like this. Make a mark on the end bushing. break the blue jam nut loose then count how many turns it takes to remove the end bushing from the shock body. In one of these pics you can see the piece of painters tape that I put on the edge of the fairing to protect it while working on the front shock bolt.

View attachment 13628View attachment 13627View attachment 13629

9. Now finish removing the two preload adjusters. The top one will spin off by hand. The bottom one is easily removed while holding the shock in your lap by holding the end of the shock and a spanner. You'll hit the point of being able to remove by hand after just a few turns.

View attachment 13630View attachment 13631

10. At this point you can now remove lift the spring off the top of the shock body.

11. Reassembly in reverse order is pretty straightforward. Attach the front mounting bolt first. Then use the jack to adjust the spacing until the rear bolt holes line up perfectly. Torque for front and rear bolts is 45 Nm (33 ft/lb).

Total time for everything was just under an hour and that included taking pics. I could probably do it again in 30-40 min now.

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Thanks mate for taking the time to go thru all the steps with photos. cheers

i knew it, you don't need a spring compressor to remove the spring on this shock. I feel so stupid paying some guy to do it, he had to put it in a spring compressor.

jyli19 said:

i knew it, you don't need a spring compressor to remove the spring on this shock.

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Nope, no compressor needed.

they are easy to swap out hey...awesome.

from memory when I did mine you don't need to remove the eye end, undo the preload nuts, and there's a circlip inside the spring seat...remove that and it slides over everything

Thanks for taking the time to do the write up and pics.
Am just curious as to why you are doing this so early in ownership and with the fact that due to rain, you havent had a lot of seat miles yet.

I will have finished the full running in this week and the bike will go on track for the first time next friday (weather permitting). As of yet I havent even adjusted a clicker, front or rear. Will do my first set of sags and clicks then, but to be honest, at the level of riding I will be doing (fast inters), it doesnt feel that I will need to go as far a respringing etc.
What has shown up with the bike so far, that made you decide to go down this route before really getting to know it?

Nice write up. I'm looking to swap a shock myself. How stable was the scissor jack?

ruley said:

from memory when I did mine you don't need to remove the eye end, undo the preload nuts, and there's a circlip inside the spring seat...remove that and it slides over everything

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Very possibly true but I didn't even bother to try dealing with circlip because pulling the eye bushing only took about one minute and that allows you to pull the preload adjusters too, not necessary, but easier IMO.

990Glen said:

Am just curious as to why you are doing this so early in ownership and with the fact that due to rain, you havent had a lot of seat miles yet.

What has shown up with the bike so far, that made you decide to go down this route before really getting to know it?

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I weigh 150# on a heavy day so I knew from the start the bike would be oversprung for me and got recommendations for my weight and riding style from Jarel and ordered the springs right from the start. I live right on a nice mountain road so I'd had a chance to get a general feel for the bike and it was very stiff and felt that I was riding at the top of the stroke. Right now I am getting the correct sag up front with the stock springs so I'll wait until after my first track day (2 weeks) to decide if I need to swap them.

Iamtom said:

Nice write up. I'm looking to swap a shock myself. How stable was the scissor jack?

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Absolutely stable.

Ahh, ok, a hell of a lot different to my 210 before riding kit.
No doubt your's will be faster due to the better power to weight ratio

990Glen said:

Ahh, ok, a hell of a lot different to my 210 before riding kit.
No doubt your's will be faster due to the better power to weight ratio

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Yeah, that 60 pounds helps in more ways than one I'm going to go back out today and remeasure everything just to verify all of my numbers.

I didn't trust the jack so went with a make shift weights bench and ratchet straps on the hooks under the seat. Worked a treat and not as much of a cowboy job as it sounds - compared to the last time we did a mates r6

I'm 182lbs with gear, what spring rate is recommended? 170 or 190 lbs rate?

I got told that they like to be lightly sprung on the rear. I'm 16 stone and am going to try the 90 that came with it (usually use 100 on Kawasaki or yams) so I might need to go to a 95

Steveo said:

I'm 182lbs with gear, what spring rate is recommended? 170 or 190 lbs rate?

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Send a PM to Jarel with your weight and intended riding type and your estimate of your pace.

slickwill said:

I weigh 150# on a heavy day...

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I checked today for the first time in months. 142# today.

Is there a way to refresh the photos in the OP? They're not showing up for me

double0 said:

install the spring after i got it powdercoated. .

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Hi Double0,

Don't mean to hijack the thread but how did the powder coating go with the constant movement and dampening of the spring. Any cracking issues in the surface finish?