renewing oem swing arm bearings on GL1000

The procedure is as follows;

With the bike on the centre stand or supported under the engine and frame

1) remove rear wheel and tie up the brake caliper out of the way

2) undo right shock bolt

3) remove final drive pumpkin

4) remove circlip from inside splined joint and remove the splined joint

5) peel back the rubber boot from the arm at the universal joint

6) undo left shock bolt but leave bolt in to support the weight for the moment

7) remove the rubber covers from each side swing arm nut.

8) undo the two large locknuts. They are only locknuts so they don't need to be removed

9) put an axle stand or something similar central underneath it at the pivot end to catch the weight of the arm

10) with a large allen key unscrew the pivot bolt from each side. Again, they don't need to be unscrewed right out, you will feel the arm drop when each one is out far enough.

11) pull the left shock bolt out, pull the arm to the rear remembering that the prop shaft is still there.

12) catch prop and tie it up out of the way.

13) put your new bearings in the freezer while you do the next lot.

14) this is the bearing layout Image

ignore the notes on the image since you have already bought your bearings.

15) pull off the rubber bearing seals

16) slide out the pivot collars 52141-371-000. Check the condition of these as they form the inner race of the bearings. If they are damaged in any way replace them.

THEY ARE NOT AVAILABLE NEW OEM ( Well, not that I have found anyway, but I can now supply this part. Go to New Products page).

17) the pivot thrust bush 52109-371-000 is next. Be VERY carefull with these as they are brittle and break easily and guess what?

THEY ARE NOT AVAILABLE NEW. I was lucky and mine came out easily. ( Again, I can now supply an alternative to this part. Go to New Products page).

DO NOT TRY TO LEVER THEM OUT BY USING A SCREWDRIVER OR SIMILAR UNDER THE OUTER EDGE.

If they are tight I would do it this way.

18) warm the bearing housing with a propane torch or similar and using a punch that will go through the thrust bush punch one bearing into the swing arm. Retrieve the bearing from the shaft tunnel

19) using a long piece of round bar through the thrust bush GENTLY knock out the other bearing and thrust bush out from the inside.

20) carefully, using a socket or similar that just slides into the swing arm on your long bar or socket extension, VERY gently knock out the remaining thrust bush from the inside.

21) give everything a good clean

22) get new bearings from the freezer, heat up the swing arm again ( it only needs to be warm), tap the bearing into the housing using a suitable sized socket. It only needs to go in far enough so that the thrust bush sits against the swing arm, about 2mm.

23) repeat for the other side

24) lube the bearings with molybdenum disulphide ( MoS2) based grease such as used in auto CV joints

25) check the condition of the pivot bolt 90121-371-000. These are available new.

26) unless they are damaged, do not attempt to remove the pivot nuts in the frame that the pivot bolt screws through. They are fitted extremely tightly into the frame housing.

27) lube and insert the thrust bushes and the pivot collars and replace the rubber dust seals. If your seals, 52145-371-000, are damaged or missing they are very difficult to find new.
Randakk is having a mould made and we will be able to supply these shortly.

28) re-assemble swing arm by reversing above procedure

29) the adjustment of the pivot bolts is critical.

First, screw the pivot bolts into the frame with the locknuts on them such that there is about two threads of the pivot bolt showing to the outside of the nuts. Screw the right hand bolt in and tighten the nut so that there is only about one thread showing.

Screw the left bolt in and tighten to 7ft/lbs. Then tighten the locknut.

Check that the arm moves up and down freely. If not, slacken the left one off a fraction until it does.

30) When you put the final drive back on, put the wheel spindle in to line every thing up before you tighten the housing nuts.

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