Swingarm Bushings

[grizld1]

Oops! Sorry, Scotty, my addled brain produced three goofs in one post--got your post confused with Gary's, misinterpreted the photo, and slipped a decimal place!

Anyway, your repurposed torque plates should put your side play right without pinching the frame as much as before, but I'm not sure that will buy you much. Another spec: torquing the swingarm axle down, I like to see least 40 ftlbs. on it, and 45 is better. At that torque the swingarm should still drop under its own weight, with a light nudge at most. I suspect that most swingarm axle breaks are caused when insufficient torque aggravates frame flex. My favorite chassis lube is BelRay Waterproof Grease.

 

[Scottie]

that's okay, Griz...I have to write my name tag in mirror image so when I see myself, I know who it is!

I installed the SwingArm. I could only fit 1 re-purposed seal/shim. I like that word, re-purposed, my wife says if only I had a purpose, I could be repurposed too! Here a couple of pics of the re-purposed seal/shim:



The Honda Moly 60 is used by Honda and BMW (yep they sell this stuff at a BMW shop!) on all the shaft drive slip joints.

I intended to torque the Pivot Bolt to 47 lb-ft but did so in stages as several have indicated, including Griz and Leo. In my case I torqued to 30 lb-ft and the SA dropped slowly under its own weight. 35 lb-ft and it held level and crept down. 40 lb-ft and it didn't move. I kept checking the side-to-side motion and also the twist and I could not detect any slop at all. Even at 30 lb-ft, the seals did not rotate. I did the final torque at 47 lb-ft. The SA is very smooth and without any lateral or twisting play. Pic below, you can see the one seal/shim on the left side. That is not the thickness visible, but the edge of the cupped rim of the seal/shim.


As you all know, this stuff is a little fussy to measure. I am not sure where my error was, but I measured between the bosses by using a threaded rod with two nuts snugged to the boss faces. I then measured that distance with a machinist's rule: 7 29/32". Today I use the same rule to measure the seal to seal face while holding the seal snugly in place: 7 30/32". Interesting.... When I put the SA in place there was a clear gap between one boss face and the seal face when holding the SA firmly to one side: 3/32". Yet when I tried to insert two seal/shims, I'll be jiggered if I could get them both in. It really didn't matter anyway as the gap with one seal/shim was very minimal. Still, I can see no reason why not to use a shim between the bosses and the SA seals. It won't hurt and probably will help secure the Pivot Tube from rotating at best.

thank you all for your help and guidance. Scottie

 

[5twins]

Keep an eye on your chain tension. If it gets too loose, the chain will rub on your new shim. That's why those end caps have rubber on them, besides for holding the grease in.

 

[Michaelo]

That was a good read, must check mine now.....it's always interesting to see what you find after someone else has had a go at being a "Mechanic" with out any idea to what they are doing.....
I am new too, finding there is a wealth of knowledge here on this site.....this is a good thing

 

[5twins]

I should have mentioned this in my earlier post - if you look at the pic you'll notice the grease fitting is located near the edge of (and through) the gusset plate on the swingarm. You need that added thickness from the plate or the fitting may protrude too far into the arm and rub on the pivot tube.

 

[Scottie]

Welcome to the forum Mich! These are a great bunch of riders with a wealth of knowledge and the willingness to share it. There are riders of all sorts of skill level so read all you can about a subject and sort the wheat from the chaff. And you can see from this thread that if you ask questions, you'll get answers. I am very grateful with all the responses and interes.

Twins, if my chain is going to rub the new shim, it is going to rub through the seal first as the shim is lower - by the amount of rubber removed, but, yes, the chain will rub the seal and shim if it is too loose. I put the shim on the chain side because I could only fit one shim and I thought it best to keep the disc brake side unaltered. It would self adjust I know, but that was my reasoning. On the grease nipple, I had noted in your original thread that you place the fitting on the gusset for the thickness it offered thereby preventing the fitting's threads from interfering with the Pivot Tube. I had a variety of grease fittings, some with short threads and some with long. But the 45 deg one had long threads. I simply ground the threads off to the proper depth and ran a die over the thread end (they are tapered threads on a grease fitting, like a pipe thread). The Pivot Tube has an outer diameter of 0.864" where it sits in the bushings, but a diameter of 0.844" between the bushing lands...or 0.20" extra space where the zerk fitting goes. My grease fitting is 0.010" proud of the inner diameter of the SA. I also offset the zerk fitting to the left (actually 2.5" from the left end of the SA) so as to prevent interference with the frame center post and yet not be bothered by the chain.

 

[Michaelo]

Welcome to the forum Mich! These are a great bunch of riders with a wealth of knowledge and the willingness to share it. There are riders of all sorts of skill level so read all you can about a subject and sort the wheat from the chaff. And you can see from this thread that if you ask questions, you'll get answers. I am very grateful with all the responses and interes

Thanks Scottie for the welcome, appreciated, have to remember imperial measurements again, I worked in the USA for a couple of years, had to do it back then too.....

 

[fredintoon]

Thanks Scottie for the welcome, appreciated, have to remember imperial measurements again, I worked in the USA for a couple of years, had to do it back then too.....

Hi Mick,
yeah, I had to learn Metric back when we were co-ordinating with Dassault on the Concorde project.
All their drawings were in millimeters. I don't remember the Concorde's nose to tail length but it was a twentyfivepointfournicating lot of them.

 

[Scottie]

Yessir...so much confusion. Mine started with the Brit's Whitworth on Triumph TR3s, MGA, and a Peerless if anyone knows what that was. Then the VWs...crimeney, we just used crescent wrenches on those! And hammers!! And the Imperial spanners were much different than the SAE American type wrenches...I still have most of what I used back then and every now and then find a use.

 

[fredintoon]

Hi Scottie,
at least all the socket drive systems are fractional inch, eh?
Mr Stupid gave all my Whitworth wrenches to my Pa-in-law when I moved to Canada.
My first car in this country was a VW so off to Peavey Mart to get bargain metric open end wrenches and socket heads.
Then I bought a Royal Enfield. You ever tried to get Whitworth wrenches in North America?
You'd swear they were cast from solid gold the price of them so yeah, back to crescent wrenches and the BFH.
Didja ever work on a 1970 BSA? A unique mix of Whitworth and A/F sizes as they used up the old frame parts.

 

[Scottie]

No Fred, never got the chance on an Enfield. Tiger Cubs, Bonnes and a Triumph 500 were my fare. Right on on the drives! Same with spark plugs and (mostly) lug nuts...go figure how all that came about. I think I was the only one of my friends who knees Whitworth...they all just busted their knuckles.
Bet you wish you had the Royal Enfield now.