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need to relace bearings from the rocker arm. Any special trick?
I assume heat and a good pounding should work?
To install new ones I don't have the "special" bearing tool (who does); would a 20 mm socket (same size as the bearings) work?

A socket and a simple two-jaw puller worked for me. Heat helps too! Good luck!

I use a couple of sockets, a little heat, and my bench vice to push the old ones out and the new ones in.

I use a ball joint press in conjunction with the right size socket and a little Map Gas heat to get mine out. Beating them out works also. For easy removal clean well and apply some PB Blaster. You want to heat the aluminum to make it expand a bit and the races will usually come out real easy. The key to the heat process is to heat the aluminum and NOT the bearing. Once the heat transfers to the bearing it makes the race expand and becomes tight again. You have a small window of time from the point that the aluminum is heated and expanded to the heat transfer and expansion of the race. They will still come out if you miss the window, just not as easy. After bearings are removed, inspect and clean surfaces well. I Use 400 black oxide to smooth out any ridges or imperfection that might hamper bearing install. Sockets can work to drive bearings in but you are more likely to damage bearing with a socket. I put a thin coating of grease or assembly lube on surfaces before installing. Then I use the heat window theory. dont over due it, no need to ruin the finish. I use a small piece of 1/2" plate aluminum and a ball peen hammer to gently tap to get the bearing started. They must go in absolutely straight and even or bearing will bind and possible mash the race into the needles or damage the aluminum. On some bearings, the old grease seal and sleeve work well to drive the bearing home. The grease seal even acts as a depth gage for you. OBTW, a good vice with some aluminum jaws or wood to protect your parts is a must to hold your work steady. If a race is really seized, I will remove the needles and cut a few slots in the wall of the race using a hack saw blade(the part that the ends of the needles ride against). Just be careful not to let the blade hit the aluminum. this process compromises the integrity of the race and makes it come out much easier. Hopefully this will not be necessary. I recently did a bearing replacement on a severely neglected 02Cr250. I had to cut the swingarm pivot bolt in four place and then heat and beat the pieces out. Needless to say, all of the bearings were a pain to get out also.

Re: 'I put a thin coating of grease or assembly lube on surfaces before installing.'

I like anti-seize there. Certainly grease it with something.

If 'beat it out' is your choice for removal..you're going to have a hard time getting at least the lower shock bearing centered in the knuckle. Enough of a tap to move it is likely also enough to move it too far.

Use a vise, as mentioned, with the grease, as mentioned, and you will be able to move the bearing teensy bits at a time.

Now is a good time to get one'a those double sealed bearings for your shock bearing. Seal machining is required for fit.

canyncarvr wrote:Re: 'I put a thin coating of grease or assembly lube on surfaces before installing.'

I like anti-seize there. Certainly grease it with something.

If 'beat it out' is your choice for removal..you're going to have a hard time getting at least the lower shock bearing centered in the knuckle. Enough of a tap to move it is likely also enough to move it too far.

Use a vise, as mentioned, with the grease, as mentioned, and you will be able to move the bearing teensy bits at a time.

Now is a good time to get one'a those double sealed bearings for your shock bearing. Seal machining is required for fit.

CC,

Tell me more about this double sealed shock bearing& Seal machining process.

There are pics in my gallery...part numbers and such. Bearing comes from McMaster-Carr. I don't have a spec for the seal material removal. I took the old and new to a machine shop, he made the required adjustments. The double sealed bearing (natch) is wider, so OEM seals won't fit.

I took about six seals in so he could modify a number of them once he got the required arbor made. I'm set!

I've always had rotten luck with the OEM setup. It didn't matter what grease I used (I tried a spendy Hydrotex product, Belray waterproof..some others), it really didn't matter how often I maintained it (as often as 4X year..every three months), that bearing went bad.

The OEM bearing off the shelf is junk. Look at one! The rollers are so sloppily fit, they're sideways to start with.

I've run the double sealed bearing for well over a year before it needed to be replaced.

Still use the same sleeve..and that isn't too great a material either.

The pics are in the 'in thread' folder, page 11:
HERE!

A couple of other pics on page 10. Note the double sealed bearing is caged. The reduced load bearing capability hasn't been an issue.

Wasn't there a place that sold ceramic bearings? I thought I saw something a while back, anyone?

I can have them permanently lubricated but they are not ceramic. Actually the next time I change them... I am going to have it done. The company I work for has a contract with the company that does it.

What does 'permanently' mean? ...and how does that take place?

If the bearing lives in a bad place (like the lower shock bearing) and has a hard life (again, like the shock bearing) how does 'permanently' resolve those issues?

Or...is it 'permanently' as in 'for the life of the bearing'?

I tried some Delrin, too. That didn't hold up. Crushed it.

Just the lubrication part CC. It is not going to fix bad design.

myt lower shock bearing seems to be holding up just fine. Granted I have not disassembled it yet this fall. I pump it full of fresh grease, VIA the Zirk, before each ride and after each washing to force out any moisture that may have passed the seal & grease burrier. It doen not take long for grease to begin to break down and flow from heat/friction and bearing actuation leaving air pockets for moisture to find a way in and make itself at home.

What was your zerk process?

I'm bumping this thread up because I pulled the severely neglected swingarm on my 92 apart yesterday and I had a terrible time getting the outer races out of the swingarm. I ended up using a socket and a hydraulic press to push them out.

My question is how do I know how far to press them back in when I get the new bearings? Will the new bearings go in a little easier with some bel-ray waterproof grease. I'm thinking I just center the race so that the two outer collars fit in there but I'm not sure that's right.

some of the linkage bearings have free space between them. the manual actually tells you what that space is. But, you are mostly correct in that they need to be sunk enough for the seals to fit.

I use a hydraulic press to get them out and put them in.

'Member to put your bearings in the freezer for awhile

and set the swingarm in the sun? seems like the two together might give me enough to work with.

Don't know about the 'E', but the 'H' does have two bearings per side with a space between like CM says. If you're replacing the bearings with aftermarket stuff (PivotWorks for example), their kits come with a wider bearing..but there is only one per side.

They go in much easier than the stuck, corroded, rusted ones come out. You're actually re-using the old bearings? If they're good enough to re-use, they couldn't have been stuck THAT bad.

It's not uncommon to have to cut the swingarm pivot pin to get the arm off the bike when things are really stuck.

What a lucky duck to have a press to put in swingarm bearings! That will make the job a whole lot easier.

Sun? What's that? Come to think of it, I DID see some glowing thing in the sky this weekend.........


Oh...at the very least grease the outer race well when you install your bearings. I use anti-seize on mine.

Thanks for the tips. It was 80 degrees here last week two days in a row but today the high is 38. VA has some crazy weather.

No, I'm not reusing any old bearings. I bought new swingarm bearings and new linkage bearings. I'll grease the outer race well before putting it in and then I'll grease the needle bearings between they and the inner race, slap the collars over them and call it a day. Let's hope that the swingarm isn't actually out of alignment and it doesn't eat this set of bearings.

Does anyone else have a weld down one side of their swingarm about 3-4 inches back from the pivot point on the outside of the arm?

'outside' meaning on the large(r) flat part of the box?

Where your kickstand used to be?