Topic: swingarm

[cd811]

i was cleaning my bike when I notice my swingarm bolt and nut needed tighting up.now either it "settled in" or it loosen up or it wasn't tight enough in the first place. how tight should it be?torque #?
and...
how do ya greese it? I see the fittings on both end, but they don't look like regular greese fits.
and...
I also painted my front end

[bwaller]

Re the grease fittings, I have the special grease gun for those so never changed mine, but if this is the "off season" for you the best advice I can offer is to remove the swingarm to clean any old hard grease, and check for wear which may be the case if you haven't been able to get any grease in those original fittings anyway. Pull out the old fittings out of the swingarm pivot bolt and find a suitable replacement and tap the hole to accept the new ones.

My service manual says 72-94ft/lbs. torque for the nut, but if you remove the arm try this instead. When you re-assemble apply a layer of grease to all moving parts, and tighten the nut until the arm falls very slowly under it's own weight from the uppermost point of travel to the bottom in one motion. Once you have the right adjustment finish greasing the arm with your gun. A Honda service rep showed me that trick.

The whole job won't take too long especially if it's cold outside.

[dpen]

Hey cd811, that is a good looking bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cb(r)]

Hey cd811, that is a good looking bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also I like the lights.  do you have any info on them and are higher on the bike for looks or does it brighten the roadway better?  either way looks good

[superchode]

i'd like to do a little thread hi-jacking if i could...

i'm curious about your explanation, bwaller. i have my swingarm apart (along with the rest of the bike, atm) and would like to sort the procedure before it comes time to put it back together.  how would i interface with the existing grease nipple? i don't have a grease gun and if i'm going to pick one up - it may as well be one that fits on this swingarm - i wouldn't use it for anything else.  you say grease tighten the swingarm until the motion is set as explained, then grease it via the nipple to finish it off - but how do you know when it's finished off? how much more grease would one be looking to add before the swingarm would be set up properly?

another anomaly on my bike is that i only seem to have a rubber spacer on one side of the swingarm... am i missing a piece or is this the design?

[Pirate Gonzo]

Sweet Bike! I love that head light, so I will also ask... where did ya get it? or what did ya make it out of?

[bwaller]

superchode,

There should be a seal at both ends of the swingarm tube sounds like you're missing one. They are steel with a double rubber lip seal inside. While you have the pivot bolt removed pull the original zerts and clean all the grease out of the bolt hole so you can completely remove any metal fillings from tapping the hole. Just find an appropriate sized small threaded grease fitting and thread the hole to suit. You may need to enlarge the hole slightly first, it depends, there are lots of different sized fittings available. When you refit the arm you can't have too much grease in there the bolt will just push it out, so lightly lube all contact surfaces, adjust the nut accordingly, and when the tension is right grease both ends with your gun while working the arm up & down until you see the grease just start to escape the seal. Leave it at that, don't over do it the grease will probably ooze out of the seal the first few miles of your first ride. I have the grease gun the dealers ended up with from Honda I quess, but it's an oldball, newer style fittings are far better.

Good luck, your swingarm (and your ass!) will thank you!

[cd811]

the project was put together recently so there aren't many miles on(500 at most),anyway the swingarm bolt was cleaned and lubed good and adjusted like your honda rep said...but somehow something loosen up...I'll try the torque #...dam I wish I would have updated the fits while I had it apart...hindsite...how hard is to take out stock fits?...no problem for me to adapt new fits if I can get old ones out...I gues I was hoping there was some trick to using what I got

about the lights...they're just utility auxilary lights...walllyworld sells them...I got mine from my local farm supply place...ther're have rubber/plastic housing which has some flex, so they don't blow(hardly)...if they do , it's a standard bulb that available everywhere...they 're bolted to some 1 in angle (aluminum) and then it bolted to the upper tree...they are wired together then to as toggle...just on/off...no high/low...inspection stickers are a joke in ms. so it's legal

had those lights on my last project

[bwaller]

Hey cd811,

Here's a picture of the tip of my greasegun, sorry everything but that is in focus. I wonder if you could just pick up a cheap hose end for yours and take it apart so you end up with something that will fit the original zert. It's only a pressure fit to insert grease with this thing so it might be an easy solution. To tap into the bolt hole without removing/cleaning might just introduce a mess of fillings where you don't need them!

By the way- sharp bike

[mick750F]

i'd like to do a little thread hi-jacking if i could...

i'm curious about your explanation, bwaller. i have my swingarm apart (along with the rest of the bike, atm) and would like to sort the procedure before it comes time to put it back together.  how would i interface with the existing grease nipple? i don't have a grease gun and if i'm going to pick one up - it may as well be one that fits on this swingarm - i wouldn't use it for anything else.  you say grease tighten the swingarm until the motion is set as explained, then grease it via the nipple to finish it off - but how do you know when it's finished off? how much more grease would one be looking to add before the swingarm would be set up properly?

another anomaly on my bike is that i only seem to have a rubber spacer on one side of the swingarm... am i missing a piece or is this the design?

Superchode...If your swingarm is from the bike in your avatar then you have only a single grease fitting. The fitting on my '78F is for a regular sized US fitting. I don't know if it was standard on the '77-'78Fs or if mine was retrofitted by a PO. The easiest way to check yours would be to simply unscrew it and take it with you when buying a grease gun.

   When greasing the swingarm you'll know when it's full. The grease gun will offer resistence and grease will start to force itself out at the fitting/gun connection.

Mike

[bwaller]

Hell yes Mick you're right, this whole diatribe was for the pivot bolt with the odd grease fitting at either end. Thanks.

[superchode]

ah, good. thanks for the tips.

[cd811]

thanks for the advice...I'll try to figure out someway to work with what I got, if not I'll pull the bolt and update it