Swing arm service gone wrong.

MikeinNZ

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Sep 27, 2018
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NZ
Don’t you hate it when you start a swing arm bearing service and it turns in to a big pile of crap.
I had to split the universal joint so I could get a drift in to drive out the pivot bolt.
Somehow I think the previous owner skipped the swing arm service ☹
AEA1BA87-B2AC-4819-BAA0-7344E3323736.jpeg202D6966-8C30-4E3B-8F48-E851FAACEF46.jpeg
 

MikeinNZ

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Sep 27, 2018
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122
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NZ
The other linkages are fine thank goodness... $165 USD for new bearings, seals, bush and bolt. Hopefully they will arrive in the middle of a pandemic lockdown otherwise the old girls dead for a long time :(
Major job getting the bearings out! No way to back drive them due to an internal shoulder. I ended up spot welding the bearings to shrink them out of the swing arm.
 

MikeinNZ

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Sep 27, 2018
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NZ
Man that's a bummer Mike! My habit is to do chassis service at the same time I do suspension service.
Great idea...I noticed on my last outing that it was a bit squirrelly in the corners and now I know why. The strange thing is it had no side play on the center stand until I disconnected the linkage and lifted the arm. Then I got that sick feeling.
 

RCinNC

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Aug 30, 2014
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North Carolina
can i ask whats involved with a swing arm service

cheers

rob
I have a step by step breakdown of the procedure, with photos, that I put together using stuff from on this forum plus the service manual. If you want, I'll make a PDF copy of it and email it to you.

Edit: On reflection, I'm going to stop sending these to people. After I sent a few out I figured that I'd better go back and check the guide for any changes I might want to make based on my previous experience at doing this task. I realized when I looked through my old guide that some of the photos, which I'd downloaded from various sites where they'd been posted, had copyright marks on them. I initially made the guide to help me when I did the maintenance task, but I don't want to be infringing anyone else's copyright on the photos by sending them to others. Sorry everyone.
 
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~TABASCO~

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WOW ! I’ve never seen it that bad before :eek:
 

Alexander

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Mar 8, 2020
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Yikes! Glad you found the problem / got it apart.

Are these parts (including the shaft drive splines/etc.) pretty well greased from factory? Seems the factories are usually pretty skimpy on that to begin with, at least they were on my Suzuki bikes, but wasn't sure about Yamaha.
 

Top Ten

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Aug 24, 2018
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Rockwall, Texas
I have a step by step breakdown of the procedure, with photos, that I put together using stuff from on this forum plus the service manual. If you want, I'll make a PDF copy of it and email it to you.
I wouldn't mind having that PDF also.
 

stutrump

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Jul 25, 2013
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london uk
Wow...that sleeve looks really rusty. Some of you may have seen my recent thread doing mine. Even after 130,000 miles mine still looked way cleaner than that.
Pleased you got the sleeve and bearings out eventually
 

MikeinNZ

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Sep 27, 2018
Messages
122
Location
NZ
Looking inside the pivot housing there are two holes that go through to the hollow swing arm! This is a poor design as it allows any dust/ water and dirt from inside the swing arm to enter the pivot bearing cavity. I will be sealing these up with sikaflex and I suggest you all do to.
The rubber bungs in my swing arm are hardly water tight and it also has a drain hole down where the pumpkin attaches. With the amount of river crossings I do I’m not surprised it is all stuffed!689358BF-68F9-45B3-B258-7D1A90E2B161.jpegCFE6D95A-BFB4-45FB-A828-E3B20FE3D25B.jpeg141172B2-83E6-4479-838B-8DDE81EA8F63.jpeg
 
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