Ok, so while my carburetors are stalled out, I went back to my swingarm. I got my swingarm all clamped up in my vice and laid out my all thread, fender washers and nuts and got ready to install my bronze bushings. I will admit to being reluctant to start this job , on BOTH of my bikes because I’ve read some stories of guys really struggling to get things right. Most notably establishing the proper end play clearances.
I would like to say, right now, thanks to Yamadude for writing a very easy to understand and comprehensive article on the subject , with lots of good photographs to help me wrap my lizard brain around this. It was mentioned earlier in this thread but it bears repeating.
http://www.xs650.com/threads/installing-bronze-swingarm-bushings-and-setting-sideplay.51077/
My bronze bushings were smeared with grease, put in a baggie and thrown in the freezer two days ago ( much to my wife’s chagrin) , so today after setting everything up, I began to heat one end of the swingarm.
View attachment 116994
Then I ran inside and quickly grabbed one bushing and assembled my all thread and fender washers and began to crank away. I should note that in an effort to make everything glide easier, I greased the all thread, washers, and the inside of the swingarm.
View attachment 116993
I had a couple of false starts because the bushing kept trying to get cockeyed and go in crooked, but once I got it started, it just wound right in. After reading Yamadudes post, and seeing that he struggled with trying to do both sides simultaneously, I did this one side at a time. It cranked in actually pretty easy with no problems.
Then I just repeated the process for the other side.
I would also like to thank Jim here for a good tip, he told me that before these bushings seat fully, to check for any bronze shavings getting between the bushing collar and the swing arm and preventing a tight fit. I didn’t see it at first. But I did what Jim recommended and on the second one, it had indeed shaved a little off and it was stuck in the grease and it would’ve done exactly what he warned me of. A quick wipe with a rag , shavings are gone and I finished cranking it home.
Next up was to test fit the pivot tube. It was snug but slid right in. So far so good.
View attachment 116995
With the other end pushed up flush, this end protruded just .022 , by re using just one of my two original shims I can close that up to .010 , I’ll take that all day long!
Next up I drilled and tapped for a zerk fitting.
View attachment 116996 View attachment 116997
You can also see , on the left side, where I filled the grooves made by the chain with JB Weld.
So nothing left to do to this except clean it, sand and paint it.
Oh and Jim......the bear ate me on the carburetors, but I got him back on the swingarm baby!
View attachment 116998