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Swinging Arm And Linkage


dr nick
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I had "slight" play, up and down ,(none noticeable side to side)on my swinging arm and it looked like the swinging arm bearings had worn on my 98 Techno

I stripped all the swinging arm and linkage down ,cleaned the bearings and bushes.They looked a little worn (not excesively though) especially the bushes.

Do I really need to get new bearings and bushes for the small amount of play that there is. :D

Or is it false economy ,and going to cause more problems somewhere else like chain/sprocket wear(which I`ve just had new)

At

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Nick, the easiest way to push the bearing out and the new one back in is to use your vise with two sockets. Choose one socket that is large enough ID for the bearing to drop into and the second with an OD just slightly smaller than the bearing race. Put the large socket one side of the link, the smaller one on the other (against the race) and use your vise like a press, clamping the whole assembly. As you wind the vise closed, the smaller socket will push the bearing race right out into the large one.

I also suggest you use the same method to push the new ones in.

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a small bit of play will be ok

this is how i get the crank bearings out of my model car engine (alloy block steel bearings)

put em in the oven at 200 deg c for 15 min take out tap on a bit of wood and the bearings fall out! put new bearings in freezer and alloy back in oven, then new ones will fall in!

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Thanks for the help ...

BTW - I found that the swing arm bushes on my bike left a little gap either side of the bearing,(because they touch in the middle)so I have made 4 plastic washers out of an old plastic milk bottle.

I placed these between the bushes and bearings ,with liberal amounts of grease,and then fitted the swing arm.(bit tight going back on)

it has filled the gap up perfectly to stop any water and crud getting in ,and is still free enough for the swing arm to move up and down easily.

Dont know how long they will last or whether its supposed to slide side to side .but the seals on the bearings didnt look adequate to me.

Regards

N

Edited by Dr Nick
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One thing that you can sometimes run into on older bikes is that they are sometimes fitted with other than stock bits and pieces.

On my '96 Techno (which I bought 9 months old and kept 4 years), there were no brass parts in the rear suspension. The swingarm had 2 needle bearings on each side. There were 2 hardened and ground flanged bushings (inner race) on each side. on each side, one went in from the outside and the other went in from the inside. They did meat in the middle. This allowed the swingarm pivot bolt to pull the frame/bushings/engine cases into a solid unit. When I needed to replace the bearings, I got them from a bearing supply house. Needle bearings are available in a variety of configurations. One of the main characteristics is the number of rollers in the unit. A full complement bearing has more rollers and therefore more load carrying capacity. In my experience, and contrary to popular belief, the bearings with a cage (and therefore less rollers) is better for our use. The reason is that there is more space for grease, and loss of grease is what causes failure, not overloading. Depending on the deal you cet with the bearing supplier, the dogbone bearings should be about 5 to 8 dollars US. I don't remember about the swingarm bearings.

I once had an '87 Beta TR34. I was getting ready for an event on a Saturday afternoon and discovered all of my dogbone bearings were shot.

(only had the bike a couple of weeks. Bought it 9 years old). I have machine tools, so I made bronze bushings and hardened steel sleeves for it. They worked so long that I never got around to putting the right stuff in it. I imagine the guy that bought it had a surprise when he rebuilt it.

DMX84, are you going to leave that goofy spaz guy there for ever. He is highly annoying, especially if you have a big monitor and can see 2 or 3 of him at one time. Maybe I am just being sensitive? :D

Edited by RonM
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DMX84, are you going to leave that goofy spaz guy there for ever. He is highly annoying, especially if you have a big monitor and can see 2 or 3 of him at one time. Maybe I am just being sensitive?

Ron--

I don't think you are "just being sensitive", that jerky picture is definitely annoying. Thanks for bringing the issue up.

Richard

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Hey Doc,

Good news is you found the bearings.

Bad news is you still need the inner race which is a tubular part. The bolt goes through the middle and the rollers ride on the outside. it must be hardened and very accurate. You probably will not be able to get this part from a bearing house. You will find that if the bearings are bad, these are too.

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Okay, okay, I’ll take spaz guy off. Sorry for bothering you with it. I thought it made the bulletin board a little more interesting. :D

DMX84--Thanks for listening. BTW, are you part of the New Mexico contingent and will you be coming to SoCal for el Trial de Espana?

Richard

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DMX84--Thanks for listening. BTW, are you part of the New Mexico contingent and will you be coming to SoCal for el Trial de Espana?

No problem, I want to make friends, not enemies. That

Edited by DMX84
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DMX84, and anyone else interested--

Sorry for getting off-topic, I'll throw this in and let the thread get back on topic.

el Trial de Espana is not a National event (where you should be an Advanced rider), but has lines for every rider level. Hope you can make it.

Richard

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