Swing Arm Bearings - again

Shajota

Shajota

Hero member
Location
Whitsundays Qld
Am in the process of changing the swing arm bearings and noticed the bushes are marked with impressions of previous needle rollers. Mostly the surface feels smooth but a couple of areas it feels rough if you brush finger nail across. Presume new bushes required??? or can I get away with a light sanding.
Thanks
 
Replace the bearings as well.  The inside of the outer race will have at least the same amount of wear and/or corrosion as the bushes.  Replacing the bushes only means you start off with already half the service limit slop.

The swing arm needle bearings are a sub-optimal solution, fitting plain bushes with a good supply of fresh grease is a much better proposition in this application.

Only way to get a longer service life from the needles is to better seal them from the elements, then only their actual inadequacy to carry the load remains... :D

piet
 
Always thought that needle rollers in that application were crap, they're intended for circular movement not a few degrees.
 
If i would turn my own bushes, what material is suitable, bronze?
Another thought, the way I see it, making the bushes slightly undersize and then use some locktite to secure them in the swingarm would prevent the inner diameter of the bush from being distorted. Reaming them when they are in place might be a solution to. Thoughts?

David
 
I replaced the bronze bushes in my Ducati swing arm a couple of years ago, after having the pivot shaft hard-chromed. Knocked out the old bushes, pressed in the new ones, then took the swinger and shaft in to a general engineering workshop to have them ream the bushes to fit the shaft. When I went to pick it up, the shaft was a nice fit in each bush, but wouldn't slide right through both of them. Turned out that the bloke who reamed it did each bush separately rather than reaming through both of them. The bores ended up misaligned

Bloody engineering shop wouldn't accept responsibility. They said I should have told them I wanted them line reamed ... WTF did they think I was going to do, saw the shaft in two and poke half in from each side? Idiots ruined a pair of new bushes.

It's like Keith says. You have to speak slowly  ::).

Cheers,
Cam
 
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