Ruined swinging arm bearings

While in the throes of removing the swinging arm on a 1976 Honda Goldwing GL1000 to renew the bearings with one of our new kits, some pictures were taken to let you see what a complete lack of maintenance can achieve!

I would not be at all surprised if this swinging arm had never been off in it's entire life.

First thing noticed was that the rubber dust seals were so torn as to be totally useless.

The pivot collars had to be prised out; they were that stiff with the rust and muck.

The bearings were unrecognisable as needle roller bearings. A combination of old solidified grease and rust clogged up the rollers to such an extent that it looked like a solid surface. Even when washed out the rollers refused to roll.

The rusted and corroded pivot bolts were treated to a session with the wire brush and came out looking OK.
The machines surface sits inside the pivot collar but there is no rotation of the collar on it, so the fact that it is not a perfect surface doesn't matter. Just make sure it is well greased to prevent further corrosion.

The thrust bushes stayed on the collars as they were stuck to them with rust. One was already split, the other had a lump missing out of the edge. There was, in any case, no chance of getting them off the collars in one piece.
The picture shows the strange fibrous material that these are made from; very brittle and so easily broken.
We dispense with these in our GL1000KZ kits.

There was a ridge inside the bearing cavity both side caused by rust. This was cleaned out with a round file. The rusted outer face of the swinging arm was also cleaned up with a file as was the spigot area which the new seal fits over.

The paint needs to be made good after this to prevent a re-occurence of the rusting. This particular arm will have to be completely repainted, such is it's condition.