Rear swingarm pivot

[XSLeo]

xjwmx, Your description of how the swing arm pivot works is wrong. The bolt clamps the pivot tube between the sides of the frame, holding the tube solid. The bushing being a press fit in the swing arm, move with the swing arm. The bushings pivot around the tube.
When you pump grease in the grease fitting it flows into the bolt, from the bolt into a groove around the inside of the pivot tube. Then the grease as it fills the groove flows out through the hole in the tube to fill the space between the tube and bushing. When the area between the bushing and tube gets full the grease flows out by the seal between the swing arm and frame. Some flows out the bushing to the center of the swingarm.
If you pump long ehough the grease flowing into the center of the swing arm will travel to the other side and follow a reverse course and fill the other side with grease.
I like to remove the zerk on one side, add grease to the opposite side until the grease comes out where the zerk screws in. The next oil change I do it from the other side.
Some believe this just pumps grease through the bolt and none goes in the bushings. This would happen if the bolt was drilled all the way through, it's not. The hole the zerk is screwed into only goes in a bit past the holes out to the pivot tube.
5twin's extra grease zerk won't hurt, I don't think it's really nessary. The factory fiber or the bronze bushings will be well greased using the stock grease fittings.
Adding the holes in the pivot tube where the red arrows are is not nessary either. Those holes well just let grease flow between the tube and bolt, grease isn't needed there.

 

[mikethedruid]

For those of you who still use WD40 to loosen rust siezed parts, I have never found it to work well at that job. In the old days I used to use a mixture of Liquid Wrench and Marvel Mystery Oil to do the job. I'd put it on, let it sit for a few minutes, often tapping it with a small wrench or something to aid penetration. It worked a lot better than WD40. Nowadays I use PB Blaster. It is definately better than either my old method or WD40 for loosening rusted parts. WD40 may be useful for displacing water on wet ignition wires, but that is about all I think it's good for.

 

[Travis]

... WD40 may be useful for displacing water on wet ignition wires, but that is about all I think it's good for.

No way.. WD40 rocks! It's good for removing sticker residue and cleaning ATV plastics. It's good for cleaning plastic on motorcycles too! I buy the stuff by the gallon.

 

[CDNTX650]

you will notice it smells an awful lot like kerosene.

 

[xjwmx]

The bolt clamps the pivot tube between the sides of the frame, holding the tube solid. The bushing being a press fit in the swing arm, move with the swing arm. The bushings pivot around the tube.

The more I tightened my bolt, the harder it was for the swing arm to swing, which says the ends of the swing arm were pressing against the frame rather than the pivot tube.

Or to write it more understandably.....
The more I tightened my bolt, the harder it was for the swing arm to swing, which says the ends of the swing arm were pressing against the frame rather than the pivot tube pressing against the frame.

 

[5twins]

You might need a new pivot tube. It's supposed to be slightly longer than the swingarm w/ bushings installed so when you tighten the pivot bolt, the sleeve gets pinched between the frame, not the swingarm. Another possibility is the grease seals. Some had shims in them from the factory to compensate for a too short swingarm/bushing assembly. If you installed new bushings, maybe the shims were no longer needed.

 

[xjwmx]

Actually, I used a new pivot tube and new bolt. It seemed like the bolt was a hair too short, so I bet what's happening is the bushings weren't as far in as they could have been. Wasn't a hard fit into the frame, though. But...have 10,000 miles on it.

Might be inhibiting the shocks. Is your swing arm free enough to just flop up and down?

 

[5twins]

I don't think it flops up and down. I think I torqued the pivot bolt so that the arm falls gently under it's own weight. You need the shocks and wheel off to test like that.

 

[CDNTX650]

mine was the same as you xjwmx. My bike was a low mile bike. and there was no freeplay in the swinger. So i greased it with moly grease and put it back together. Put everything in the way it came out. Definetly couldn't torque it to the high end of the spec.

 

[XSLeo]

On mine when the pivot bolt was torqued to spec the swing arm would stay where you put it. It didn't take much effort to move it. Maybe a couple lbs of force. If left loose enough to fall on it's own you can fell a bit of wiggle in the swingarm. This wiggle is from the pivot tube moving on the pivot bolt. Much less than the proper torque won't hold the tube tight in the frame. Letting the tube pivot around the bolt, not the bushings pivot around the tube.

 

[gggGary]

Here goes; I did the swing arm on my 10,000 mile 83 I could grab the rear wheel and wiggle it back and forth. So my bushings were toast and I built a bushing driver to get em out

The end of the pipe has a chamfer on the inside the nut has a chamfer ground on the end.
Insert the pipe through one bushing then tighten the exposed nut, the other nut expands the pipe so it contacts the end of the far bushing then drive it out.
Using a chunk of threaded rod, washers and nuts allowed me to easily press the new bushings in without danger of deforming them with hammer blows.
But the big thing I found was that the insides frame bosses were about 3/16" wider than the assembled swing arm. Torquing the shaft nut hard enough to bend the frame sides in to take up that much slack will force the bushings out of alignment causing the swing arm pivot to bend and most likely causing swing arm binding as well as premature wear of the bushings. Yamaha sold a spacer (washer) to take up excessive slack, it is to sit inside the swing arm end cap(s) The swing arm should be a slip fit between the frame bushings before tightening. On the old board many (several?) members reported swing arm shafts snapping off at the base of the thread. MikesXS sells a shaft with a larger threaded end and nut to alleviate that problem.

There that is my 2 cents.

 

[sandersg]

I'm either doing something wrong, or I have the grand daddy of stuck rear swingarm shafts.

I read through all the postings on removing the rear swingarm. I can drive the shaft till it's flush on the RH side, but it won't move beyond there. This moves it far enough that I've been able to use a crescent wrench and piece of pipe to turn the shaft. I have soaked in PB Blaster and I'm using a 3 lb hammer. I can drive it back and forth, but only the 1/2 inch or so until it's flush on the RH side. I'm using a piece of rebar as my "suitable drift."

I admit that I managed to bung up the threaded end when trying to drive it initially, but I've ground off any peened area so I don't see what could be hanging it up.

I'm planning to remove the rear wheel and shocks, prop the swingarm up, soak again, drain, add heat, and get a bigger hammer. I'm thinking about cutting the head end off (outside the stop on the frame) with a hacksaw and trying to drive it from the left side.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[gggGary]

"3 pound hammer" There's your problem you need a REAL hammer. Along with a big hammer you need the frame braced against something solid on the LH side so the blows do something other than shake the bike. Don't worry about the threads they are smaller than the hole and that pivot bolt is already toast.

 

[jayel]

just keep working it, it got a rust ridge hanging you up, not good to drive those bushings in with a hammer to easy to beat up, a lenght of threaded rod, flat washers and wrench them in (poormans press) like gggGary pic

 

[pumps]

You say you PLAN on removing the wheel? If you haven't,try getting the wheel off now. Possibly having one side loose and the other not is somehow binding because of the weight of the wheel? Just throwing out what comes to mind. Good luck.

 

[gggGary]

Good catch Pumps, that rear wheel should have been off FIRST. Uhh the chain needs to be off too,

 

[sandersg]

"3 pound hammer" There's your problem you need a REAL hammer. Along with a big hammer you need the frame braced against something solid on the LH side so the blows do something other than shake the bike. Don't worry about the threads they are smaller than the hole and that pivot bolt is already toast.

Thanks to all responders - yup, just needed a bigger hammer. It's apart now. I did have frame braced braced laterally with a short board to a metal post. I used an 8 lb sledge. Actually bent one of my drifts. I went to a short piece of rebar (5 inch or so) that would just fit in the hole. So, the combination of a bigger hammer and stouter drift did the job.

And, yes, I already have a new axle as I assumed I would destroy the old one.

Thanks again.

 

[Austblue]

I have a question on this though I think I know the problem... - I installed the bronze bushings and buttoned it all back up with new seals and when I greased it up within a couple of pumps the grease was spooging out the inside of the seal between it and the s/a. Have I not torqued the s/a bolt enough? I figured if I torqued it too much it'd bind it in position but I haven't checked the spec yet so I have a feeling its rtfm and tighten more. Is that about right?

 

[gggGary]

There is very little void to fill, it does not take much grease, it has to go somewhere. Relax you are done. Do NOT over torque that nut, the stock pivot bolt is known to break at the base of the threads. This is a pet cause of mine I have seen frames where the inside of the pivots is wider than the swing arm assembly, I have also seen the bolt over torqued to draw the frame in to hold the swing arm. It is my belief that this is a very bad thing to do, if the frame is wide, add a shim washer to take up the gap, then tighten the bolt. This is a whole different thing than setting the end clearance between the bushings and the sleeve with factory shims.

 

[XSLeo]

rtfm?
My book calls for 71-79 ft/lbs of torque.
As mentioned earlier in this thread you need enough torque on the bolt to squeeze the frame against the pivot tube. This holds the pivot tube solidly in the fame so the swing arm pivots around the pivot tube. If you don't have enough torque the pivot tube will pivot around the bolt. This will give a loose fit of the swing arm and cause handling issues.
Grease coming out between the seal and swing arm means the pivot tube isn't getting squeezed as much as it should.
Leo