Swing Arm Removal.

[VoyKimmer]

In the service manual for swing arm removal it states while holding the swing arm pull out the swing arm shafts using a suitable bolt or screw. Does anyone know the size of the bolt I will need to do this? Also what type of grease should I use to lubricate the swing arm bearings and propellor shaft?

[Chris near Kansas City]

I want to say it's an M6 thread. Can't recall for sure. I had some bolts laying around and they happened to fit. Don't have them handy (bike is at home, I'm at work) so I can't check right now.

[Airtrax]

Kim,

The bolt size is 6x1.00mm. You can take a look at an earlier post of mine on this subject when I took mine out. I incorrectly stated the bolt size there as 6x1.25mm. However, you may be interested in the photos of the shafts I pulled out of mine. See the post at http://www.amervoyassoc.org/forum/viewt ... ?f=3&t=328

Regardiing lubing the drive shaft: Don't use wheel bearing grease. It will harden up over time. Get a small tube of molybendum disulfide (?) from your local bike dealer for a few bucks. It's a black grease that's made for this sort of thing. They will know what it is.

Not sure what to recommend about the swing arm bearings. Best to ask a mech about that.

Bruce

[Chris near Kansas City]

Wheel bearing grease should be fine for the swingarm bearings. It's cheap, most people have it laying around, and it should lubricate and protect the bare metal as well as anything. When I pulled mine, the crusty residue stuff resembled something that might have been a wheel bearing type grease at some point, so that's what I used after I cleaned everything.

[VoyKimmer]

Thanks for the info. I will gather up all I need and will tackle this this weekend.

[TaiwanJohn]

Wheel bearing grease should be fine for the swingarm bearings. It's cheap, most people have it laying around, and it should lubricate and protect the bare metal as well as anything. When I pulled mine, the crusty residue stuff resembled something that might have been a wheel bearing type grease at some point, so that's what I used after I cleaned everything.

Wheel bearing grease is the reason everything became "Crusty". That's why it didn't last from the factory. Cheap, low cost grease.

Make certain everything is clean, and splurge on the moly grease, and you won't have to do this chore again. You should be able to buy the grease less expensively at your local auto parts store than at a dealer.

[Chris near Kansas City]

I'd bet it got crusty more from age, than the type of grease. The junk that was there when I pulled them out, was put in at the factory 15 years ago. I suppose it could be the type of grease, but more often than not, whenever I run across the crusty stuff, it's usually cause of the age of the unit (or how the unit has been used), than the type, or quality of the lube. I'd have to check the manual to see if/what they recommend for service intervals, but I'd hanker a guess that if the bearings were serviced on the scheduled time, that the grease, whichever was used, wouldn't be dried up.