Swing Arm Pivot bearings

[Griff 1,556]

Some of our colleagues on the International NC forum have been coming across some significant wear in the Swing Arm Bearings. There is fairly low mileage involved. I see 9000 in one instance. In one or two instances the swing arm bolt just needed torqueing but there were others with shot bearings. Anybody on here have similar experiences ?  

 

 I will check mine shortly. No centre stand though.

[trisaki 2,029]

Took mine apart when I changed rear shock , lack of grease probably main culprit as the shock linkage

[bazza 3,629]

whilst my back wheel is out I would like to check my grease n bearings  - but feel slightly concerned as the suspension is all connected.Advice please!

so I ain't

 

bazza the bodger

[rjp996 1,091]

Took swing arm off at 10,000 to fit endless chain and again at 16,000 when changed shock - both times bearings felt good on mine.

[trisaki 2,029]

Bazza shame you are so far from me otherwise I would come up and rip it apart for you , main thing is to get bike securely jacked up take off the footrest plates either side and then slowly and methodically take wheel out suspension links out and then dropping swingarm out enough to clean and relube and then doing as Haynes manual say,! quite straight forward as long as you don't rush

[Griff 1,556]

I managed to jack mine up this evening using one of the centre stand mounting points. The bearings seem good on a preliminary check albeit the situation was cramped. I will have a better look later in the week. I often spray some lube on the shock linkage seals especially before washing the bike. When doing so I also spray some onto the swingarm pivot seals even though they are well recessed under body work and not easily accessible. To date this has paid dividends .  

[embee 7,288]

I had the swingarm out of the Integra at a few thousand miles. The bearings were clean and in good condition, there was some grease but not as much as I like. For reciprocating bearings like a swingarm or steering head I always fully pack them, as much as they'll take, not something you should do with a continuously rotating bearing since the grease churns, overheats, and will break down. The design is quite nice really, a simple sound concept.

The thing I didn't like was the amount of endfloat clearance when the swingarm was offered into the frame. I know why it's like that, to make assembly easier and there are a stack of tolerances to accommodate in the various components, but it means the frame sides are being sprung inwards when the spindle is tightened. On mine I measured (feeler gauge) about 0.7mm clearance. This means that quite a bit of the spindle torque is taken up simply closing the gap, reducing the eventual clamping load.

I made a steel shim to be a slip fit and fitted it on the brake side (easier access). Now I know in theory this will offset the wheel slightly, but assuming it was bang on central originally (which it probably wasn't considering how much clearance there was) it would only offset the wheel by half the shim thickness, so around 0.3mm, which in my mind is negligible for wheel alignment. I checked the sprocket alignment as best I could and was satisfied it was fine. The gearbox sprocket has end float on the splines anyway.

If you have a centre stand it is pretty straightforward to take the swingarm out and grease it all, well worth the effort.

Edited February 21, 2016 by embee

[djsb 493]

Is it possible to replace these bearings without using a hydraulic press? Are there any tools available that will work with these bearings

 

BEARING, NEEDLE, 17X24X30

BEARING, BALL RADIAL, 20X37X9

BEARING, NEEDLE, 30X37X20

 

That are on this page.

 

http://www.bike-parts-honda.com/pieces-honda-detail-71541-71541-NC750XDE-2014-F_26-NC+750+X+ABS+DCT.html

 

Also can anyone enlighten me as to what the dimensions of the bearings above refer to (i.e diameter, width, depth or whatever) as I'm not familiar with how these bearing are measured. If I understand the dimensions of the bearings then maybe I could figure out a way to cobble together a simple bearing remover/press or at least buy a tool that will work with these bearings. Can anyone help? Thanks.

[embee 7,288]

Bearing dimensions are usually (by convention?)  given as

 

d x D x B

Inside bore diameter x Outside diameter x Length (breadth)

 

see http://www.bearingsrus.co.uk/bearings/needle-roller/drawn-cup-needle-roller-bearings for example,

and one of them is

http://www.bearingsrus.co.uk/bearings/needle-roller/drawn-cup-needle-roller-bearings/hk3020-skf

and the ball bearing is

http://www.bearingsrus.co.uk/bearings/deep-groove-ball-bearing/metric-deep-groove-ball-bearing/61904-skf

 

They don't seem to list the other needle roller, maybe it isn't an industry standard?

 

You may find better prices elsewhere.

 

I'd recommend using branded bearings only, SKF/Koyo/FAG etc rather than "budget"

 

Note that the ball bearings come in different clearance grades, a larger clearance version is designated C3 and is for high speeds etc, you don't want the C3 for swingarm (or wheels for that matter).

 

I have removed needle rollers before using a thick washer of the right diameter which I file 2 flats on so it will drop through the bearing, then turn it 90deg so it sits agaist the inside of the outer drawn cup, but it depends on spacers etc allowing this. I haven't done a swingarm TBH. Looking at the diagram, if you remove the circlip you should be able to press the ball+needle set on the brake side out using the spacer plus a suitable extender through the chain side bearing, then turn it round and use a suitable washer or drift onto the chain side needle.

 

Without a press you can usually use a long threaded rod ("studding") and suitable pieces of pipe or large sockets etc for spacers, depends how inventive you are!

 

Just to be clear, bearings 21 are for the linkage, bearings 22, 23, 24 are for the swingarm. The dimensions for 24 don't seem to be given for some reason.

Edited March 6, 2016 by embee

[djsb 493]

Thank you for the clear explanation. Just hope mine don't need doing anytime soon. I've got enough work dealing with the repair of the recent (Nov) accident damage.

[Guest DelBoy]

Took mine apart when I changed rear shock , lack of grease probably main culprit as the shock linkage

I am just about to do exactly the same (at 14k) seems daft not to do a complete rear clean/re-grease when fitting a new shock.

[Guest Kenww]

Hi

Torque settings when reassembling?