rear swingarm nightmare

[petejw]

also check the steel seal cover.

[Patrick]

No missed spacers sorry! they are all in place, it is a mistery 2me too. going to have another look after work 2day.

[Patrick]

Before:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2900128...in/photostream

after:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2900128...in/photostream

clymer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2900128...n/photostream/


I hope this works.

[crazy steve]

I wouldn't worry about it too much; the main thing to check is how easy the rear axle goes in. I've had to 'tweak' the brake side of the arm on a few of these to allow the axle to go in without binding or forcing, get it right and you can push them in by hand.

Best way to check is with the wheel off the bike. Push the axle in through the arm and into the final drive; if it slides right in by hand, the swingarm is 'straight'. If the axle binds on the rear side of the hole, it's too wide. Front side, too narrow. If the axle is binding on the top or bottom of the hole, the swingarm is twisted and may need to be replaced. It's not easy to move the arm, I use a small sissors jack to spread it if needed. To close the arm, pad it with a piece of wood and give it a big whack with a heavy hammer; don't beat on the final drive, you can damage that. Go slowly, it doesn't take much movement to correct this. You should have a small gap between the caliper bracket and the swingarm once everything is installed, that can vary in width.

[crazy steve]

OK, you posted those pics while I was typing (yes, I'm slow...)

Not good; you have seriously warped your swingarm. It's bent out and up, that will need to be fixed. Your best bet will be to pull the arm, and try beating it back into alignment using the method outlined in my prior post. Remove the final drive while beating on it, then reinstall to check; yes, this will take some time. If you can't get it to move far enough, a replacement will be in your future...

[Patrick]

Sorry its not bent upwards, that is the wheel leaning to the side but I will try a little persuasion with a jack to get it back in. the axle need a little tap to go trough the final drive (binding on the back end). I will keep you updated when I have done this in the weekend. Thanks again for all your help

[DAVINCI]

OK, you posted those pics while I was typing (yes, I'm slow...)

Not good; you have seriously warped your swingarm. It's bent out and up, that will need to be fixed. Your best bet will be to pull the arm, and try beating it back into alignment using the method outlined in my prior post. Remove the final drive while beating on it, then reinstall to check; yes, this will take some time. If you can't get it to move far enough, a replacement will be in your future...

Steve, where are you going? It appears that he simply took a picture with the axle removed...he's already had it together so it can't be as drastic as you make it out to be..

[crazy steve]

Sorry its not bent upwards, that is the wheel leaning to the side but I will try a little persuasion with a jack to get it back in. the axle need a little tap to go trough the final drive (binding on the back end). I will keep you updated when I have done this in the weekend. Thanks again for all your help

If it's binding at the back, the arm is wide; you need the hammer.

Randy, I've found that spending a bit of time 'aligning' the swingarm makes wheel/axle installation a whole bunch easier. They're usually not that far off, one or two good whacks will generally do it. I can push my axle in by hand, no tapping needed...

[James England]

To me, that looks like a seriously bent swinging arm. I'm wondering if the enormous force applied to the pivots has squeezed in the swinging arm at the engine end and therefore splayed the wheel end outwards, with the crossbar of the swinging arm acting as a fulcrum.

I know we get gaps at the rear end which close up once the axle's in and tightened but, based on thepix posted, that is a very large gap indeed and I've not seen anything like that before...

[trbig]

??? All it looks like to me, is a wheel that's hanging there because there's no axle, and that he tightened the heck out of left side of the swingarm first, which will move it that far left. When the swingarm is correctly centered and the axle is in, I'm betting everything will line back up just fine.

I imagine that if you put a loose swingarm in a hydraulic press and smashed that pivot tube enough to really deform it... especially in the area between where the legs of the swingarm attach.. then you could change the aspects of the legs, but no way is someone going to change them by overtightening some bolts on the outside of that pivot tube. Especially not with a measly few dozen foot pounds.

[trbig]

OK.. Thinking about things more.. (off work early and had a couple already...) tightening the swingarm left or right won't increase the distance in between the swingarm. Duh. Disregard my last post and carry on..

[James England]

If he's tightened the left side up too much first, then the whole swinging arm moves to the right...including the FD, wheel etc....correct? Everything just sideshifts and each component remains in the same relative position to the other components. It wouldn't result in there being a gap at the right hand side of the swinging arm as in the pic.

The pic that's been posted shows a large gap on the right side of the arm. That would not be caused by a non-centralised arm (ie "tightened the heck out of the left side") or even incorrectly adjusted arm. It's more likely to be a missing spacer (bearing cover version) that's on the left side of the axle, resulting in the wheel hub, caliper bracket and spacer on the right side of the pic being too far LEFT and producing the gap we see. Put the spacer back and the wheel, caliper carrier and spacer (but not the arm itself) all move to the right and the gap we see would disappear.

If, as he says, he's checked and the spacers are in place correctly, then the gap that can be seen in the pic is a sign that something is seriously wrong. And that's not an incorrectly aligned arm.

[James England]

OK.. Thinking about things more.. (off work early and had a couple already...) tightening the swingarm left or right won't increase the distance in between the swingarm. Duh. Disregard my last post and carry on..

My previous post hit the forum just seconds after you retracted your earlier theory......

Re the beers..... have one for me, will you? I've not touched alcohol for 9 years after liking it rather too much and having to stop.

Better to have a few and be than

[trbig]

"Never trust a man that doesn't drink." W.C. Fields


How about if I drink enough trustworthiness for the both of us then! Cheers!


Heck, Greg (BA80) is trustoworthy enough for the whole lot of us! lol.