Rear Suspension Overhaul - Complete!

Finally after so many months I've complete the rear suspension overhaul on my Hei-Hei.
I think I got the bushing and bearing kit for the biker back in October, but I just haven't had the motivation to get this thing done. (I blame winter and the fact that I have a second mtn bike)

 Here is my starting point, the rear triangle is completely removed along with the pivots and rear shock. The rear shock was also overhauled but since the seals on it were in fine shape this pretty much accounted to re-applying the proper amount of shock oil.

The hardest part about this project was the lack of a proper bearing press. I basically made one up by taking a huge vice and various sizes of sockets to push the bearings in and out. The bearing case right above the bottom bracket was crazy difficult to work with. The bearings inside were crazy tight and it took me forever to find a good way to hold the vice and two sockets while simultaneously cranking really hard to remove the bearings. Once everything was off, I was ready for assembly.

Even if I hadn't been the one who took the bike apart, the reassembly would still have been pretty straightforward. All of the parts have an obvious spot to go to so there was no guessing required. Naturally I started in the exact opposite order of when I took it apart

 Pressing in the bearings this time was a cinch as it only required one socket - Pushing in the bushings on the pivot bodies was the same story.

Here's the bike with the rear triangle installed...

And now with the rear shock installed...

 Last step was to reinstall the rest of the drivetrain components. Unfortunately I lost the bolt that holds on the front derailleur. Once I get a replacement at work I'll be able to add it along with the chain and finally connect all the cables. She lives again! Now to overhaul the road bike - after 20,000km pretty much everything on that bike is shot to hell