swingarm honda special tools...

[hubcapsc]

I got some half-chatty/half-tech thread going on over on the other side... here's a picture
that might be worth adding here so it can get searched on...

Here's some keywords  swingarm bearing special tool pivot driver



It doesn't count as a honda special tool, but you need to have a 17mm allen wrench too if you
want to take your swingarm off...

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

Here's what the swingarm bearing races look like at 52K...



I can't feel these index marks, just see them. The bearings look OK too. Still... now that it is all
apart and I have the new bearings/races/grease-retainers on hand, I'll put the new stuff in...

When you search the tech archives for "indexed" you can see some of the pictures that
Daniel Meyer posted of indexed steering head bearings... don't know if you could run your
finger over those index marks and feel them either... ?

-Mike

[Hellcat]

Bearings on motorcycles are outside my experience (so far), but in the bicycle world we use a ballpoint pen to feel whether races are smooth or pitted.

[Oyeaa]

I have had the swing-arm off 3 different interstates all between 20 and 60K and the outer race mounted in the swing arm looked like that on them all and it is not an issue.

If that was in the steering stem and was detrimental enough to cause noticeable indexing or you could "feel" the indents while turning the handlebars it may be an issue depending on the rider and severity of indexing.

The swing arm bearing, however, functions quite differently.

They do support an enormous amount of weight, see huge momentary pressure spikes and the bearing mostly sits pretty stationary and does not rotate (yeah it does move about 30 degrees or so)  it makes this indication all the more reasonable and not an issue.  To impede the movement of the swing arm or cause premature bearing failure the indications would be much more severe.

SO this type of indication is not a big deal.

It would have to be very serious Brinneling to cause it to be noticeable in the swing arm,

This is what it would look like if it was serious

http://www.emersonbearing.com/fail_falsebrinell.htm

[hubcapsc]

Brinneling... cool...

I cannot feel these index marks... this Brinneling... with a ball point pen...

I am reminded of the the mantra if-it-aint-broke-don't-fix-it... I will again closely inspect
the bearings, which on first inpection seemed to be in the same condition as the new ones,
and perhaps be satisfied with just inspection, which has been a fun learning (Brinneling, ball point pens)
experience...

Now that I look, there's a lot of information about brinneling (and even different kinds of brinneling)
to find with google...

-Mike

[PAVALKER]

Well, what was the outcome of the swingarm bearings???  Did you remove and replace or just inspect and retorque?  Any issues or results you care to share??? 

[hubcapsc]

Well, what was the outcome of the swingarm bearings???  Did you remove and replace or just inspect and retorque?  Any issues or results you care to share??? 

I repacked, reused and retorqued. The whole "maintenance shot" is not over yet, so I haven't
ridden it yet. The tools made getting the swingarm off easy... the tools I would have used to
replace the races seemed like they would have done the job...

I'm just back from West Virginia where I was surprised not to see Ron Snedegar walking around
at the TOOT, I worked on the bike some in the rain today, more tomorrow...

-Mike