How To Remove Motorcycle Swingarm

01-03-2010

It'southward January…….  In Maine……..  I am in the process of replacing my absorber lever and swingarm bearings on my 2007 DL-650.  I accept 62,885 miles on the cycle and I have never done any maintenance in this area.

I decided not to social club my bearings ahead of time before I started this task.  I wanted to fully disassemble the back end of the bike earlier I placed an society for parts to make sure my list was complete for the parts that I needed.

There are ii "special" tools that are needed, (to purchase, or to make), to remove the swingarm pivot axle.  The price of one of those tools is betwixt $50 – $90, (a socket to remove the pivot axle locking nut).  The other tool is a 19mm, (3/four″), hex caput, (Allen wrench), socket.  The hex head wrench costs around $xviii – $twenty at a local Napa store.

The left side of the swingarm pivot axle is a 15/16″ nut which is fairly straightforward.

On the correct side of the bike, the pivot axle locking nut and the pivot axle itself, have to be removed.

This is what the "working relationship" betwixt the two look similar.  The locking nut is threaded on to the pivot axle.  The pivot axle is threaded into the frame of the motorcycle. (What looks like "goo" or grease around the nut is actually dried silicone.  I utilise silicone to go on the left and right rubber, pivot axle covers in place.).

I purchased a 1/2″ drive, one 3/sixteen″ impact socket from Napa.  It cost me, $8.78.

I wrapped masking record around the rim of the socket and so that it would be easier to mark where I needed to make the modifications to it so that I could remove the pivot locking nut.  I checked the fit…..

…..and, made my marks.  The depth of the "teeth" but need to be near, 3/sixteen″ – one/four″ deep.

I cut verticle "kerfs", following my lines, with a hacksaw.

I used a Dremel tool to cutting out the spaces between the "teeth".

Dremel has a cobweb reinforced wheel that works perfectly for this type of a chore.  The wheels come in 5 units per packet, (Dremel #426).  I burned through two wheels to consummate the cuts I needed to brand.

I checked the fit of the socket again and "tuned" the teeth with a mill file.

Hither is a photo of the finished homemade pivot axle locking nut removal tool.

I snapped the socket on to my 1/2″ drive ratchet, slid my trusty copper piping "cheater bar" over the ratchet'due south handle and gave it a tug.

The locking nut broke free and spun off, (there is thread-locker on the threads).  Here is a photo of the locking nut and the socket I modified.

Adjacent I needed to brand a tool to remove the bodily pin axle.  I accept several old sparkplug sockets lying around.  Frequently you will notice that, smaller sized sparkplug sockets have a "hex head" and by coincidence, they fit perfectly.  The i in the photo beneath is from the very first socket kit I purchased to work on my 1969 VW bus I bought dorsum in 1979 as my first automobile.

I accept heard that, others that have called to go this route say that, they could slide a ratchet extension through the sparkplug finish of the socket, and have it lock into the drive portion, (doing exactly the opposite of how you would normally use the sparkplug socket and extension).  Out of the half dozen sparkplug sockets I had on hand, simply one would allow me to do this.  There is a "metallic barrier" between the drive side of the socket and the working stop of the socket.  An extension can't pass through the body of the socket and reach the bulldoze finish portion.  The extension is blocked by the excess metal.

You lot can see the "bulwark" down inside the drive finish of the sparkplug socket.

Using a hacksaw, I cutting the drive end of the sparkplug socket off just above the metal bulwark.

I knocked off left over burrs with a mill file and snapped my new 19mm hex head wrench on to my ratchet.  (I used a 1/two″ bulldoze to iii/8″ drive adaptor).

I slid my copper pipe cheater bar over the end of the ratchet handle…..

…..and gave the wrench a tug.  The pin axle broke free, (there is thread-locker on the threads).

I pulled out the pivot axle and removed the swingarm.

You will notice that at that place is non a centerstand, or a jack holding my motorbike upwardly in the air.  That is because I chose to hang my bike from my garage ceiling rafters.  Yous run into, the exhaust system too needs to exist removed to get the swingarm off of the bike.  That besides means my skidplate, and mounting hardware had to exist removed also.  Therefore, in that location was no way to support my motorcycle from underneath.

I drilled ii holes through the ceiling joists and made some loops out of large battery cablevision wire I had squirreled away in a box.  I added some thread-locking "D-rings", some rock climbing webbing and a come-a-long to lift the dorsum stop of the bike upwards in the air.

I didn't similar how the bike swayed back and forth, pivoting off of the front wheel, so I added, left and right "stabilizing straps" to the crashbars; utilizing standard ratchet straps.

Since starting this project on New year'due south Day, I moved the original "pick up" point from the rear of the bike to the passenger footpeg brackets.  The original setup put too much strain on the rear of the wheel.  I couldn't unlock and remove the seat.  The passenger footpeg brackets work better.

Nice, unencumbered style to work!

Source: https://blacklabadventures.com/2012/04/04/fabricating-homemade-swingarm-removal-tools/

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