x57 frame and Manitou Swinger 3: how to?

[whisperdancer]

Hi all.

I just bought (on the cheap side) a Manitou Swinger 3 (200mm eye to eye, 55mm stroke) which I would like to try and assemble in my x57 Animal frame.
According to my LBS and after disassembling, my NR-4 has a scratch in the shaft (although I can't see any - maybe inside the shock) and I am currently using an NR1 from a K2 1000 spare frame I have.

I know 200mm isn't the better option. It should have been 190mm I2I, but for the price...
You can see both of them (Noleen and Manitou side by side):





I'm sorry for all the questions I'm going to make, but I want to know some more from people who know best.
I don't know how to make the adapter. I've seen some over the years in the forum, all based in the rotation of the shaft of the shock.

Would it be possible to make a outer thread in the end of the shock (in the eye area) so it would go into a threaded adapter?
I could make some thick round bushings for it, thread them in the outside all together and have a threaded adapter. Or can I thread the shock directly (I don't know if it's hollow in the bushing area)? Or is the other way better (shaft rotation)?

As I have a 200mm shock, I don't have much margin to work for - the adapter should be fairly simple - and the shock end should be as close as possible of the conical strut hole.

With the extra lenght of the shock, will I have problems with the front derrailleur and the swingarm?


As for the assembly, I only have two options:


This one:




Or this one:




In the second one, it seems almost impossible to put the shock in (large frame), and I would have to cut a significant part of the frame.
In the first one, it seems when the shock uses it's full stroke, it will touch the frame, which means I would also have to cut it:




So, for all of you that used or have seen a Swinger 3 in a x57, what is the best way to put the shock in the bike?


I've seen some one in the forum that modified the strut, and had two plates where the shock bolted (with the shaft rotated at 90º).
Is this the best option? This is much complicated for me to do, as I only know one person hat can do that, but I don't have a spare strut to work on (in case something goes wrong...).

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!!!

PS: I've checked the last posts about this, and Terry already gave me some feedback a while ago. My main concern is about cutting the plates in the frame...

[kiwi]

have you searched the forum.In the distant past there was much much debate aboutr fitting different shocks....not being nasty just saying

[whisperdancer]

Yes, I did a quick search, but didn't find much information about cutting the frame to fit the shock.
I believe I can't fit the Swinger without cutting a little bit... which scares me a little!!! 

[shovelon]

Yes, I did a quick search, but didn't find much information about cutting the frame to fit the shock.
I believe I can't fit the Swinger without cutting a little bit... which scares me a little!!! 

As you might see from this photo, I did not cut the plates as much as clearancing with a dremmel sander. You could avoid this by inverting the shock but in my case I wanted a cleaner look and mud shedding. Works fine.

[jeffhop]

i thought about making an adaptor for the strut type of bike when i had one, basically both ends of the shock are turned then milled to give them the flats which are then drilled for the mounting points. if you take one end and measure the diameter without any hardware in it, get someone with a lathe to turn a piece of ally with a hole slightly bigger (no more than a couple of thou`)  and deep enough to be able to put a bolt through the shock hole to keep it solid (may need a bush machining for this)  with a taper  machined on the end, the whole thing could be achieved by only being 10mm bigger on the o/all length. ill print off a pic of your swinger and draw on it  and post it back up to show you what i mean.

[Colin]

........ ill print off a pic of your swinger and draw on it  and post it back up to show you what i mean.

I think you'll have to! <GRIN> Confused? No, I always look like this!

Col.

[jeffhop]

its hard to explain properly what i mean so ive drawn a rough sketch and i hope you get the idea



im convinced this would be the best solution for the fitting of a standard shock to a strut bike although i know not all shocks will work but there would be plenty that did.

[orange]

that's exactly the approach I took, but is yours circular? Mine was square and it worked fine, you just had to mount it at 90 deg so it didn't pivot.

[whisperdancer]

Interesting.
But if the hole is circular, it would be better to puth some thin washers to give it a tight fit.

I also thought about opening a thread in one of the shock ends and make a threaded adaptor, but I don't know what is the thickness of the shock at that particular point.

About cutting the frame gussets, I believe I will have to cut them, one way or another...

[jeffhop]

mine would be circular to encompass the entire bottom of the shaft like a sleeve, infact thats probably the best way to describe it, there would be no worries about side loads or having to twist the shock 90 degrees as it wouldnt need it. now if only i hadnt moved jobs and had an x57 frame to practice on 

[whisperdancer]

You have a point. The shock body has a larger base where the adapter could seat, taking the pressure out of the bolt that goes through it.
I'm starting to get the idea...
I should use aluminum, right?

[jeffhop]

i would use ally without a doubt, wish i still had the xpx so i could try it.