Swing Arm Shim

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Anyone had to shim your swingarm? Where are you getting the shims? I know partzilla has them for 8.55 plus $10 shipping. Part number is 156-22127-00 Swingarm/Shim.
 
Remember, it needs to have an O.D. small enough to fit inside the grease seal but an I.D. large enough to fit over the pivot tube. It's for shimming the swingarm itself and rests against the swingarm bushing. I've only run across a couple in all the swingarms I've dismantled (maybe a dozen or so), so it wasn't needed or used very often.
 
Before I removed the swing I did notice side play. I need to look up the adjustment or spec for that side movement.
 
Yes, when you loosen the nut, the frame spreads apart a little and that puts play in the arm. As long as the swingarm will tighten up properly (drop slowly under it's own weight) within the speced torque range (36 - 58 ft/lbs), you don't need any shims.
 
McMaster Carr has shims, PN 98055A222 pack of 25 for $7.10, 0.5mm thick that fit PERFECT over the swingarm pivot, that's what I used on the SG and what I will be using on the TX-A.

Just looked and they went up from when I bought them in 2019, they are now $7.41...
 
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McMaster Carr has shims, PN 98055A222 pack of 25 for $7.10, 0.5mm thick that fit PERFECT over the swingarm pivot, that's what I used on the SG and what I will be using on the TX-A.

Just looked and they went up from when I bought them in 2019, they are now $7.41...
Thanks.
Bill
 
Yes, but you're not looking to shim the pivot bolt but rather the difference between the pivot sleeve and the bushing. According to a parts manual listing, the shims are 26 x 34 x .3mm thick. The ones you linked to only have a 16mm I.D.
 
What shim you need depends on where the excess play is. some frames have enough play between the bosses and the steel bushing that just about all the bolt torque is taken up just sucking the frame in to tighten against the bushing... leaving little left over to actually hold it in place. That is what has caused numerous instances of the swingarm bolt breaking. On my SG, the gap was about .065". The frame is extremely rigid in that area, so that's a lot to suck in.

If the side play is between the brass bushings and the steel bushing, then yes, the larger ID bushing is required to sit outside the steel bushing.


Swingarm shimming 1.png


Swingarm shimming 2.png
 
The play that I had is the 2nd issue Jim is talking about. I hear some have found shims stuck inside the swingarm seal to take-up this play, mine didn't have any. When I put the sleeve in the swingarm on the SG it stuck out past the bronze bushings enough that I figured shims would be required. With the bolt tight the swingarm would move noticeably side to side. (I measured but don't remember how much) I put in a number of shims, seems to me it was somewhere between two and four and after there was just a TINY bit of side play. This was done after installing new bronze bushings so maybe the head thickness varies enough to require shimming sometimes. I haven't gotten to this point on the TX-A so I will have to see how that fits. I figured Yamaha purposely left some play in the swingarm so that shims under the seals were generally required and hadn't thought about the opposite problem of pulling the frame in and shimming outside the seals but definitely makes sense and something I will be looking for.
 
My bad, it was two years ago and I was remembering it wrong so I checked the shims against the bolt and sleeve. Those shims are the same size as the sleeve, the ID is the same as the sleeve ID (very small clearance over the bolt OD) and the OD is the same as the sleeve. So with the sleeve and seals in the frame there must have been some clearance and these shims take that up so the bolt doesn't pull the frame in. Looks like Jim put his shim on the outside of the seal and I put mine on the inside. My apologies for the confusion.
 
All this makes me wonder what swing arm side clearance I ended up with after effectively making the sleeve longer. I remember measuring everything and calculating the shims I needed and that the side clearance was "OK" or at least it seemed to me that it was. I will have to check just for my own peace of mind.
 
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