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Swingarm bushings/bearings??

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Nortwestrider

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I was just cleaning my chain when I grabbed the rear wheel to spin it I noticed that my swingarm moves side to side about 1/8-1/4" !!!. It seems the bearings or bushings are loose or shot !!.The bike only has about 8,500 miles on it,but we did just come back from Alaska so it's going to the dealer for a warrenty claim.Anybody else have this happen ??.


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Same thing on mine. I checked the swing arm pivot bolt to make sure it's tight and it was. That was 10k miles or so ago so I'm going to roll with it until an issue arises.
 
Yes mine still has the same movement his has. I checked the torque on the swing arm and it was and still is correct. The movement appears to be normal on this bike. It has not caused an issue in 18k miles for me. This is the first bike I have ever had a center stand on so I'm not sure if this is normal for all bikes or not. But if you think about it a bike that is raised by the swingarm will not show movement side to side because the swingarm is resting on the stand. A center stand bike has free movement on the swingarm because no pressure Is applied to the swingarm. So this could be normal for all bikes with center stands or just this one maybe...?


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My wifes 1994 GS500 has NO play in the swingarm when on the centerstand.
I can't believe it's ok for it.when you move it and spin the wheel the chain makes noise on the rear sprocket like it's binding up.I took it for a ride after I noticed the play and I can't feel it while riding.


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The NC700X swing arm has both bushings, bearings, spacers, and a bolt that needs proper torque. Please let us know which one we all need to check.

Picture: Swingarm.jpg

You are doing the right thing by taking it to the dealership!
 
Hmcp88 said:
Yes mine still has the same movement his has. I checked the torque on the swing arm and it was and still is correct. The movement appears to be normal on this bike. It has not caused an issue in 18k miles for me. This is the first bike I have ever had a center stand on so I'm not sure if this is normal for all bikes or not. But if you think about it a bike that is raised by the swingarm will not show movement side to side because the swingarm is resting on the stand. A center stand bike has free movement on the swingarm because no pressure Is applied to the swingarm. So this could be normal for all bikes with center stands or just this one maybe...?


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Click to expand...

The swinging arm should have no detectable play at all - it would be like having a hinge in the middle of the bike, not good for handling or steering.

If there is any free play in the swingarm take the bike to the dealer immediately as Nortwestrider is doing. More than likely the bearings are shot.
 
Would not pass a MOT needs looking at.
sounds like end float rather than bearings.
 
Last edited:
I would think you would feel this side to side play your describing if it was bad. My old Honda I recently replaced my swing arm bushings because it was whopped out, and you could feel it while riding.
 
Ralph said:
Would not pass a MOT needs looking at.
sounds like end float rather than bearings.
Click to expand...

What end float do you mean?

The assembly is made up of internal bearings (2 needle and 1 roller from what I can see) and a couple of dust seals and sleeves - then torqued to 98Nm. There should be no detectable side to side movement of the swinging arm when all is assembled and torqued correctly.

In any case the problem is serious enough to get checked out whatever the cause. I'd expect a rider to notice something odd in the handling but I've never ridden a bike with a wonky swinging arm so can only guess at exactly how it would feel - probably a bit like riding on a flat or badly worn rear tyre.
 
If the bearings are worn you will get side play but at the bearing end it will be as though the swinging harm is pivoting
around the centre of the shaft, if it's end float the complete swinging arm will move sideways if it's doing this then it's
likely a wrong spacer or non at all was fitted, it's very unusual for the bearings on a Japanese bike to go at so low a mileage
but you don't expect assembly mistakes ether.
 
Thanks - I understand what you mean now. But it would be very unusual for the factory assembly to be wrong (not totally impossible though) they tend to try and use poka yoke to make it difficult to impossible to assemble wrong.

Bearings wouldn't normally fail either on their own - but if the dust seal fails due to damage or other problems then bearings will go in the next thousand miles or two with water and dust ingress.

I'd suspect damaged seals to be the problem but that's not the point - it's a potentially dangerous fault that needs checking out ASAP on any bike with such a problem.
 
It will go to the dealer next week some time.My wife is going out of town for 2 weeks so I will need to find a ride and the dealer is about 20 miles away and I work till 5pm.Maybe next Saturday and I will just take a bus home.


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At Dales shop right now dropping off the bike,he will look at it on Wendsday.
ubuha3y5.jpg

yjyvyqus.jpg



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I had to sign the work order stating that if it's NOT a warrenty I will pay $95 hour to fix it.I siad it BETTER be covered with only 9,000 miles and only 5 months old.If it's not covered me and American Honda are going to have issues.?


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