Question about swing arm installation

[billday]

Hi Everybody,

Just had the swing arm off on my XS400 (twin cam, monoshock). Happy to find (aftermarket?) needle bearings in there in good shape and only needing a cleaning and fresh grease.

But when I reinstalled the swing arm, it binds when I torque it anywhere near what the book says (65 nM). Does this mean I need more thrust washers between the bearings and the dust caps? Or should I just ignore the torque spec and just tighten as much as I can before it binds (which is what I suspect the PO did)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[16VGTIDave]

You are on the right track thinking the thrust washers might not be correct. Make sure that the bearings are pressed into the swingarm fully. The thrust washers should bottom on the bushing before touching the bearings or swingarm. Also check that you have the current washers installed correctly.

Be sure to grease everything excessively, including the bolt! The bolt on my bike rusted to the bushing and took many hours of effort to grind out...

 

[billday]

Thanks Dave I'll take it back apart and give everything a look.

Judging from all the parts marked OBSOLETE on this page

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1982/XS400J/SWING ARM - SUSPENSION/parts.html

I better figure out how to make it work with what I've got.

By the way -- I'm checking out all the lighting on your bike. My OEM headlight has about the lumens of a kerosene lamp -- plus it gets brighter and darker depending on engine speed. What ever did you do to your electrics to support all those lamps? (I'm planning on putting in a matchbox headlight relay

http://www.culayer.com/Matchbox.htm

think that will help?

 

[16VGTIDave]

I had problems finding the parts I needed to repair my swingarm at reasonable prices, so I went with newer parts. The parts are out there, though difficult to find at times.

That lighting relay is neat if you are going to stick with an incandescent headlight, but what you really need to do is to increase your idle speed a bit (to increase the alternator output at idle) and dramatically reduce the load on the charging system. LED bulbs everywhere! Then convert your headlight to a Halogen bulb at the very least, or better yet an HID. A 35W HID conversion produces less heat and 3x the light of a 60W halogen bulb. Compared to a stock sealed beam headlight, well, there is no comparison!