Swingarm bearing question

RCinNC

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Have any of you (especially the higher mileage riders) ever had to replace any of the bearings in the swingarm components based on excessive wear? I have 85,000 miles on my 2014 and so far, I've the only bearing I've had go bad was a rear wheel bearing. I don't have any symptoms of a problem, but I was just curious if anyone here has had a swingarm bearing fail, and at what mileage?

I've attached a diagram, so you can reference which bearing failed.

Also, if you did replace a bearing, did you also replace the bushing? Are bushings like the races on a headset bearing, and should be replaced as a set?

Swingarm Master - for posting.png
 

Cycledude

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Since no one seems to be responding to your question about all I can say is my Goldwing currently has 576,000 miles on the original swing arm bearings and as far as I can tell there doesn’t seem to be any issues yet.

I think former member Balistic Chris took his apart at pretty low miles to grease those bearings which I thought was a waste of time especially because he never even rode in any water or mud.
 

RCinNC

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Thanks Cycledude. I last took my swingarm off in April 2019 when the bike had 55,000 miles on it, to do what was supposed to be the every two year service (I was a little late LOL). I greased the bearings with Belray waterproof grease when I did the service. I'm not sure how much difference that makes, since the bearings were impregnated with some sort of yellow rubber-like substance which I believe is some type of lubricant.
 

Tenman

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Since no one seems to be responding to your question about all I can say is my Goldwing currently has 576,000 miles on the original swing arm bearings and as far as I can tell there doesn’t seem to be any issues yet.

I think former member Balistic Chris took his apart at pretty low miles to grease those bearings which I thought was a waste of time especially because he never even rode in any water or mud.
The same guy that said you need to replace your brake lines every 4 years
 

SparrowHawkxx

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Have any of you (especially the higher mileage riders) ever had to replace any of the bearings in the swingarm components based on excessive wear? I have 85,000 miles on my 2014 and so far, I've the only bearing I've had go bad was a rear wheel bearing. I don't have any symptoms of a problem, but I was just curious if anyone here has had a swingarm bearing fail, and at what mileage?

I've attached a diagram, so you can reference which bearing failed.

Also, if you did replace a bearing, did you also replace the bushing? Are bushings like the races on a headset bearing, and should be replaced as a set?
The only bearings I've replaced were the steering bearings at about 75,000 mi. I'm now at 130K
 

~TABASCO~

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Ive taken this all apart about 200 + times LOL.... I dont recall replacing the bearings before on the Tenere. I would say that the vast majority of bikes are bone dry and defiantly need lube. Here are just a few examples of the swing arm pivot and the steer tube. Typically they need to be cleaned up and lubed and that's basically it. If they need to be replaced for SUPER rust issues that is not really a problem. For the folks that have never taken a look or serviced these areas before I highly suggest that you do, "if you plan to keep the bike".

Also Ive mentioned before that on 2014+ models check the "square" of the top steer tube race to make sure its properly seated. Ive come across quite a few that are NOT, and the bearing is only riding on 30-40% of the top race and they are dry. MOST of us ride on the rain or off road with dirt, wet, grit, water, so on- Take a look at these major areas and clean and lube them up.

The one bolt in the photo is the rear brake pedal that was "a bit sticky"..... ya think ? The pedal bolt felt like it was lubed up and installed with JB-Weld and Super glue before I got my hands on it. And some people wonder why the pads are toast so fast ! (on SOME bikes / a few people). Take a look at your equipment folks !

For the 1000th time, check the shifter bolt, make sure it's snug. I see so many loose and even missing.... Seriously...
 

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pilleway

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Tabasco, thanks for the advice!
your are correct we should take care of our toys, we can not trust on the mechanics, we should look over their shoulders, we should know our bike better than anybody else!
In this forum there is all the information and help needed to know our bikes! also there is a lot of information in the WEB, using the GOOGLE motor tool and Youtube too!
 

Jdomperez

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Is there a trick to get the splines of the shaft to mate and move forward to the u joint? I'm having difficulty getting my to seat fully and don't wanna use the mallet unless that's the trick, haha.

Sent from my DE2118 using Tapatalk
 

SkunkWorks

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I took my swingarm bearings and bushings apart and greased them shortly after 20,000 miles, but I ride through water frequently so I wanted to make sure they were good.
They were fine when I took them apart, and didn't really need to be disassembled at that time.
I cleaned everything and added grease. They should be fine for quite some time.
 

ErictheBiking

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I'm not very handy so had a mechanic perform my swingarm lubrication.

Got him to install a grease nipple - so once a year I give it a few pumps with the grease gun - job done.
 

TeneKym

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I did mine like the book says at 50,000 km and just needed to add grease and reassemble.


I took my swingarm bearings and bushings apart and greased them shortly after 20,000 miles, but I ride through water frequently so I wanted to make sure they were good.
They were fine when I took them apart, and didn't really need to be disassembled at that time.
I cleaned everything and added grease. They should be fine for quite some time.
 

RCinNC

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I'm not very handy so had a mechanic perform my swingarm lubrication.

Got him to install a grease nipple - so once a year I give it a few pumps with the grease gun - job done.
Any chance you could post some photos of where the mechanic installed the fitting? I'm removing my swingarm soon, and I'm considering this.
 

gv550

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Good idea but a grease gun puts out thousands of lbs of pressure. Potential seal blower. Be careful
There is a vent hole in the swingarm pivot area going to the arm, so any grease pumped into the pivot area would simply take the path of least resistance..... through the hole and into the arm until it flowed out the hole at the back of the arm. I doubt any grease would enter the bearings. And any water that enters the swingarm, through the bottom vents or past the rubber plug, can also enter the pivot area and contaminate the bearings since there are no seals on the inside.
MikeinNZ posted some good photos in another thread of this vent hole(s) and how water did get to and destroy his bearings.
 

ErictheBiking

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Centre of pic - bit hard to see - has a rubber valve cap on it.
Mechanic said he kept pumping until he felt some resistance.
Good point about blowing seals; I hadn't thought of that.
1656820753285.jpeg
 

RCinNC

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To commemorate passing the 90,000 mile mark on the S10 during a ride up in Virginia in late June, I did my overdue swingarm maintenance today. Here she is, in the midst of being temporarily eviscerated:



There's one thing about the service that I wanted to ask someone more knowledgeable than I am. In the service manual, it makes a point of saying that you have to remove the swingarm pivot shaft plate before you loosen and remove the pivot shaft. This is the thing they're talking about



Now, the first time I did the swingarm service many miles ago, that tiny socket head screw on the bottom of the pivot shaft plate stripped out, and the screw is frozen solid. So, I've never been able to remove the pivot shaft plate, and I've never had a problem getting the pivot shaft either in or out of the bike. It doesn't seem to make any difference that the pivot shaft plate remains in place, so does anyone have any idea why Yamaha says to make sure that it's removed?

Oh, and as you might have surmised, all was well with regard to the swingarm components. After 90,000 miles of riding in all sorts of terrain in all sorts of weather, all the bearings in the swingarm and relay arm are still really smooth. Everything got some extra grease, then buttoned up again.
 
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holligl

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The first and last time I did this I replaced the seals as recommended in the Service Manual. I recognize some recommendations in the manual may be overkill. How many of you reuse the seals as long as they look fine? I am on covid quarantine, so I figured this might be the time to do it, but don't have parts on hand. While money isn't a problem, I was surprised to see the current prices (RMATV) just for seals $8.57x6, 5.31x2. The issue is more time to get here.

Likewise on muffler and header gaskets? (I did not pull the exhaust to get the last bolt fully out the last time.)
 

RCinNC

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I didn't change any seals when I did mine. What seals are you referring to? I did coat the insides of the swingarm dust covers with waterproof grease to help keep the dirt out; are those dust covers what you were referring to?

I reused my exhaust gasket this time. If you're careful, you can get the pipe off and back on without damaging the donut. I did loosen the header bolts so I could get some clearance to remove that bolt from the relay arm, but I didn't completely remove the header pipes. I reused the old gaskets on the header pipes. Everything was apparently leak-free when I got it back together, so reusing the gaskets didn't appear to be a problem.
 
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