I know (from reading lots of posts on various forums about this) that I'm by far not the only person who has had problems removing the sleeve at the bottom of the rear shock on an FZ6 Fazer.
Well I've *finally* managed to shift the bloody thing!
So, if anyone else wants to remove their rear shock, here's how I did it.
First of all I tried Plusgas (pentrating oil), heat (blow torch) and mole grips, but that wasn't working.
Then I tried using a Dremel (rotary tool) to grind a slot in the right hand end so I could use a hammer and screwdriver to tap it out from the left side of the bike, but that didn't work either.
(NB the above methods have worked for other people, that's why I tried them first)
So eventually I used the Dremel to grind two flat surfaces on the sleeve and heated the right hand bracket with the blow torch for about five minutes, then clamped the mole grips in place and tapped them with a rubber mallet until I heard that lovely sharp "click" as it suddenly shifted!
By the way, it's a good idea to mark a horizontal line on the end of the sleeve with a Sharpie or similar so you can check that it *is* actually moving and you're not just rounding off the flats!
It took some time and lots of wiggling, but eventually it started to slide out, so it's a good idea to try to grind the flat surfaces so they slope up towards the free end of the sleeve, that way the mole grips won't just slide off the end when you try to wiggle it free.
Also the sleeve doesn't go through or into the left bracket, it just butts up against it, so heating the left bracket doesn't do anything and trying to use a "puller" like the Haynes manual suggests won't do any good either!
Anyway, that's how I got it to shift. Fortunately the replacment shock (from YSS) doesn't use the same stupid design, so I'm not going to have this problem again! (y)
Hope this helps someone else
