Swing Arm & Drive Shaft Maintenance - *Pics* UPDATED 2-22-07

[Spok]

I've been fretting over the swing arm maintenance on my bike since 7500 miles (nearly 18k on the ticker now) and when I was gonna get it done. I checked with my local shop to ask how much they wanted to do the swing arm and driveshaft....well, their answer convinced me to do it myself ($400 - $500).

edit - 2-22-07
CaddmannQ is a forum member, and the person the Caddmann Mod is named after, he has an addendum to the swingarm bearing maintenance and drive shaft lube. red the inserted quote post below

Originally Posted by CaddmannQ

Hey, guys, long time no post, eh?



Recently I changed the "defective" U-joint in my 2004 Nomad, and have posted details and some photos here:



http://forum.motorcycle-usa.com/defa...319693#m319693



Look for the posts starting "day 1268", about half way down the last page.



(This does not include the driveshaft removal as that's been well covered elsewhere.)



Anyhow, this would save you about $250~$300 + labor over having a dealer do this, as they will only change the entire driveshaft.



Of major interest is the reason why I changed the joint: It appeared to be getting stiff on one axis, and I thought the needles hadn't been properly lubed at the factory.



In fact the cups were binding on the spider a bit, as one of the cup bores in the front yoke had not been properly de-burred at the factory. When the circlips were installed it sucked the cup in just a bit tight causing the bind.



Disassembly of the original U-joint revealed the bearings to be still perfect condition and well lubricated.

Much Much Much thanks goes out to the laymans write up on Gadgets site for;

Rear Tire Removal
http://www.gadgetjq.com/reartireoff.htm

and

Swingarm Removal
http://www.gadgetjq.com/swingarmremoval.htm

I also used my Clymers manual for thier pictures to cross reference with Gadgets write up. The two together made for a easy job.

So lets get to the process

First I stripped my bike of its seats, bags and side covers, got it up on the lift and strapped down good and tight. In this Picture you can see I still had on the bag support brackets and the right side cover, they were soon off.


Next I removed the rear brake caliper by removing the two allen bolts that hold it in place, then I swung it out of the way Note - Allen Bolt Toruqe - 24 ft lbs


Next, I removed the bolt holding the calliper bracket in place and loosened the castle nut on the axle Note - Caliper Holder Bolt - 47 ft lbs


Here you can see the bracket loose, notice the spacer (yellow arrow) be careful to not damage or mess up the spacer


Here I am removing the spacer


To loosen the castle nut on the rear axle, sorry, forgot to take a picture, silly me. There is a bolt on the left side, on the final drive case that you have to hold while your loosening the castle nut. Here you can see the drive shaft loose and pushed out the left side of the final drive Note Rear Axle Castle Nut - 80 ft lbs


Next the rear tire came off. It takes a bit of wobbling it back and forth the get the hub off the drive spline. Here you can see the final drive unit without the tire. Notice the yellow arrow, it is pointing out the rear axle and spacer inside the final drive.


Next step is to loosen the left side shock from the final drive, right side comes off later tho I dont think I got a picture of that....easy to do, just one bolt below. I also loosened the upper bolts so that the shocks were free and easy to move out of the way when needed. Note: Shock Nut Torque - 25 ft lbs


Now it was time to remove the final drive case. loosen the 4 acorn nuts, as the nuts come loose, the drive will move towards the rear of the bike, this is ok and expected, there is a spring in there to keep pressure, it pushes as you loosen the bolts. Note - Final Gear to Swing Arm Nuts - 25 ft lbs.

Final drive is off and in my hands. There is a vent hole on the backside of the casing so be careful how you handle the unit so you don't spill gear oil all over the place.




***Continued***

[Spok]

Here is the end of the driveshaft peeking out the drive shaft cover. Notice the gear oil leaking out. not sure if thats suppsed to be in there or not, I didn't overfill the last time I changed? anybody care to tell me?





Next, I removed the rear exhaust pipe so I could get to the swingarm bolt. Let me tell you, I almost quit so I could go buy an impact wrench to loosen this thing, it was on TIGHT. The bolt is shown with the yellow arrow Note Swing Arm Pivot Shaft 94 ft lbs





Swingarm bolt is out and the swing arm has been pulled back. The yellow arrow shows where the swingarm bolt goes thru and the spacer that you have to move to get to the bearings.





Now you can see that the swingarm is all the way down on the ground and out of the way. I had to open the clips that hold the brake line in place so that I could get extra slack to get the swingarm out. Notice the driveshaft hanging, look for the yellow arrow.





Here's a picture from the leftside showing the driveshaft





Here's a picture from the rear, see the driveshaft, notice where I am pointing, this is where the swingarm bolt went. right next to the driveshaft, you can see a spacer being pushed out, its silverlooking. the driveshaft must be removed to get the spacer out to get access to the bearings.





Here's a closeup of the swingarm bearings, they looked clean and still had good grease in them, I applied more grease just because.





Here you can see the spacer how it comes out on the left side, notice the driveshaft is missing





Here is a shot of the spline off the rear of the transmission, Stupid me, forgot to get a shot of the shaft removal. Its not hard, just have to have a sharp awl to insert into a small hole and depress a pin that will allow the shaft to slide off. BE CAREFUL, WHEN SLIDING THE SHAFT OFF, THE PIN HAS A SPRING BEHIND IT AND WHEN THE SHAFT CLEARS THE PIN, THE PIN SHOOTS. put you hand up to keep from losing it. I greased these splines.





Here is the Driveshaft removed. I cleaned up end that attaches to the final drive and put grease on the splines.





***Continued***

[Spok]

Here is a rear shot of the swingarm on the ground. if you look close you can see the clips that i had to open to allow the breakline loose so I could get the slack i talked about.





Here I am, cleaning the splines that connect to the driveshaft on the final drive. I took that spring off and cleaned it, cleaned the splines, put the spring back on.





one last shot, here I am torqing down the axle bolt to 94 ft. lbs.







Thats it! Simple as pie. The reassembly is reverse of the disassembly. Total time for this for me was about 4 to 4 1/2 hours. I am no Joe Mechanic at all but I found this to be very easy and I worried for nothing.



The hardest part really was getting the splines on the rear tire hub to match up to the final drive, this took a bit of wrestling, wobbling, moving too and fro...but it eventually went on. sorry, forgot about pictures there too. my hands were greasy and I was getting anxious to get it all back together.

[Targetbuster]

Very good write up Mr. Spok... Looks like we should call you Scotty! Also looks like the swingarm could have gone another 10K or so without trouble. Good to know.

[kingofwings]

Nice Dave.... should be a "stickie" for sure.

[skip]

Very good illustrations and tech tips. Will use your post as a guideline when I do my rear end! Thanks Spok

[Spok]

Originally Posted by skip

Very good illustrations and tech tips. Will use your post as a guideline when I do my rear end! Thanks Spok

make sure you print out the gadget links above, those step by step directions made it so easy.

[Tod]

If I ever get a meanie or a classic, I'm comin to your house so you can do mine.

Good job!

[Spok]

Originally Posted by Spam

If I ever get a meanie or a classic, I'm comin to your house so you can do mine.

Good job!

I'll give you the dealer special....$300

[Spok]

Oh...forgot to say, I took it out for a testride, and it works...imagine that. Didn't hear any gawd awful grinding noises or nuttin....got her home and looked for any left over pieces, parts missing or oil on the ground and nope...none of that at all.

i'm pretty please with myself right about now.

[Tod]

How bout $150 and I supply the Beer and Bar-B-Que.


...I'll help a little too.

[Spok]

Originally Posted by Spam

How bout $150 and I supply the Beer and Bar-B-Que.


...I'll help a little too.

hmmmm....beer AND BBQ?....plus a little help? How do you look in a skirt?

[2WheelFun]

Nice job David! Amazing how easy it is, isn't it?

[Spok]

Originally Posted by whistle clean

Nice job David! Amazing how easy it is, isn't it?

yep, its easier than anything i ever thought. so simple even I can do it. Preparation is key, read the directions, look at the clymer for cross reference and its pics then have at it with an open mind and a helper helps. thanks to tyler for his support...I didn't even get too many cursewords out either, thats how easy it was.

[2WheelFun]

Originally Posted by spok

yep, its easier than anything i ever thought. so simple even I can do it. Preparation is key, read the directions, look at the clymer for cross reference and its pics then have at it with an open mind and a helper helps. thanks to tyler for his support...I didn't even get too many cursewords out either, thats how easy it was.

Knowing how many curse words you said during the project may be helpful to others. We might say...this project is a "three curse word" project.

[Spok]

Originally Posted by whistle clean

Knowing how many curse words you said during the project may be helpful to others. We might say...this project is a "three curse word" project.

a new 5 point scale for all our BTK projects. the curse word scale.

[Tod]

Originally Posted by spok

hmmmm....beer AND BBQ?....plus a little help? How do you look in a skirt?

Better than this guy...yeesh.