Topic: Cb500 swingarm bushings. Done.

[alacrity]

So the old ones didn't wanna come out.  I heated the swingarm, I banged on the bushings with the little bit of purchase I could get with a long punch... nada.  SO I thought, "OK I gotta go buy a special tool..."

Ah, but grasshopper, this is where the magical joy of the sohc4 braintrust comes into play.  A tickle to ol' Mr. google, and voila, up pops the genius/simple solution of a homemade "tool" that would allow me to bang the bushings out by spreading the impact (almost) all the way around the bushing face. 

I sourced a superfat washer of the correct diameter from my box o' crap ad sliced the sides off with my angle grinder.  Dropped it in lengthwise, caught it from below with a screwdriver tip and manipulated it till it laid flat on the bushing. Then I beat the crap out of it with a long bronze drift and the bushing hit the floor.  When I say "beat the crap out of it' I'm not exaggerating.  I have a 5lb dead blow hammer and had to swing it down, hard from straight overhead with a two handed woodchopper's whack and my body fully engaged in it.  More lumberjack than mechanic in this move. But it didn't distort the swingarm.  #2 went the same way.  I thought, "maybe I should have gotten it warmer, but then again, maybe the thing wall metal of the swingarm is just transferring the heat to the bushing and they're both just getting fatter in unison. Anyway, they came out.

The new bronze ones I bought via another reference in here were waiting in the freezer for me to figure this out.  I cleaned the swingarm receptacles, warmed them with a heatgun, retrieved the frozen pieces from under the Ben & Jerry's... and when I went to place them before grabbing the aforementioned hammer, they JUST DROPPED RIGHT IN!  Like magic. Immediately I could see the color change a bit darker on the bushing as the heat transfer took place from outside to in.

In seconds, the too-hot-to-touch swingarm made love with the too-cold-to-hold bushing and they both became joyously lukewarm -- conjoined tightly and forever.

Fookin' "voila" indeed.

Thanks to all who have tread these paths before and are willing to share their knowledge, making this more of a walk in the park for first timers than the moto version of the Bataan death march. (Apologies to anyone who was on the Bataan death march for my clearly insensitive reference).

(yes I see the bubble in the powdercoat in pic3)

[73CB500K2]

Very nice description of how to remove and install the bushings in the swing arm. I to have a CB500K2 and it needs new bushings the OEM plastic bushes are still in there with about 1/4 in of play.

Where did you buy the bushings for your cb500? and how much did they cost?

[goldarrow]

i will need to do mine also in the near future, can you share where you got the bushing from and what price?  i'm working on my 550k1.  thanks.

[73CB500K2]

Here is a Great Source for the Bushings we need.

grcamna2 recommended Bob Franzke with CBX Performance for the bushings and after a quick email to Bob he responded with good news.

He has them and the price is right at under 50.00 delivered.

After a lengthy phone call (Honda Talk) I placed my order with him he sounds like a great guy.

Contact Bob here  franzke @ attglobal. net   he returned my email within 24hrs. sorry about the spaces the site wont let me ad links outside of the forum.

[alacrity]

Thanks.
I got em here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-CB750-CB500-Bronze-Swingarm-Bushing-Set-New-/160790539330?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item256fdcec42#ht_573wt_1151

Very nice description of how to remove and install the bushings in the swing arm. I to have a CB500K2 and it needs new bushings the OEM plastic bushes are still in there with about 1/4 in of play.

Where did you buy the bushings for your cb500? and how much did they cost?

[ncstatecamp]

So the old ones didn't wanna come out.  I heated the swingarm, I banged on the bushings with the little bit of purchase I could get with a long punch... nada.  SO I thought, "OK I gotta go buy a special tool..."

Ah, but grasshopper, this is where the magical joy of the sohc4 braintrust comes into play.  A tickle to ol' Mr. google, and voila, up pops the genius/simple solution of a homemade "tool" that would allow me to bang the bushings out by spreading the impact (almost) all the way around the bushing face. 

I sourced a superfat washer of the correct diameter from my box o' crap ad sliced the sides off with my angle grinder.  Dropped it in lengthwise, caught it from below with a screwdriver tip and manipulated it till it laid flat on the bushing. Then I beat the crap out of it with a long bronze drift and the bushing hit the floor.  When I say "beat the crap out of it' I'm not exaggerating.  I have a 5lb dead blow hammer and had to swing it down, hard from straight overhead with a two handed woodchopper's whack and my body fully engaged in it.  More lumberjack than mechanic in this move. But it didn't distort the swingarm.  #2 went the same way.  I thought, "maybe I should have gotten it warmer, but then again, maybe the thing wall metal of the swingarm is just transferring the heat to the bushing and they're both just getting fatter in unison. Anyway, they came out.

The new bronze ones I bought via another reference in here were waiting in the freezer for me to figure this out.  I cleaned the swingarm receptacles, warmed them with a heatgun, retrieved the frozen pieces from under the Ben & Jerry's... and when I went to place them before grabbing the aforementioned hammer, they JUST DROPPED RIGHT IN!  Like magic. Immediately I could see the color change a bit darker on the bushing as the heat transfer took place from outside to in.

In seconds, the too-hot-to-touch swingarm made love with the too-cold-to-hold bushing and they both became joyously lukewarm -- conjoined tightly and forever.

Fookin' "voila" indeed.

Thanks to all who have tread these paths before and are willing to share their knowledge, making this more of a walk in the park for first timers than the moto version of the Bataan death march. (Apologies to anyone who was on the Bataan death march for my clearly insensitive reference).

(yes I see the bubble in the powdercoat in pic3)

do the new bronze bushings take the place of the felt ring, pivot thrust bush or anything else?

[alacrity]

I have yet to install the swing arm in the frame.  Not quite sure which of the OEM parts will be used.  At least the felt I would guess

[ncstatecamp]

when i took out the caps and things (still working on the old bushings) my felt was beyond repair. Can i just make a circle fit of felt or is this a ring auto parts stores would normally stock?

[alacrity]

the point of the simple (thin) felt ring is to keep dust from migrating in past the bearing to the greased shaft, and gumming up the works in there... and also, vice versa, to help sop up any extra grease from squishing out (not a technical term) like if you're a bit to triggerhappy with the grease gun on the zerk fitting. You don't want warm grease spooging on your rear tire.

The pieces are CHEAP - I got em for like a buck from BikeBandit.  You could probably spend a half hour searching and another half hour cutting little circles to match the stock size and thickness, but if you could earn more than $1 an hour doing something else (or just enjoying life for that matter), I don't see how it makes financial sense to not buy the NOS pieces that are still available.

[ncstatecamp]

I'll check bike bandit then thanks. On new bronze bushings are they needed seeing as they have a lip unlike the stock?

[alacrity]

I just FINALLY (!!!!) got to the point where I was ready to reinstall my swingarm.  The stock felt rings push the endcaps out too far for the swingarm to slide into place.

As it is, I had to loosen the engine mounting bolts, and then it just BARELY slid in.  It's a very good snug but not locked up fit right now. I'm hoping the grease will find its way between the swingarm pivot shaft and the end cap and the end of the swingarm bearing, so there's no metal/metal contact as the swingarm travels through its arc.

[Don R]

   I've been removing the stock zerks then drilling, tapping and screwing in 1/4x28 modern zerks.