Swing arm needle bearings

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Kev Rev
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Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:10 am

Swing arm needle bearings

#1 Post by Kev Rev » Sun Feb 05, 2017 1:21 pm

Anyone with experience of removing the
Swing arm needle bearings for replacement?
If so how did you go about removing them?
There is very little gap at the rear of the bearing
To get a decent drift on it from the opposite
Side?
Thanks

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Speed Freak
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Re: Swing arm needle bearings

#2 Post by Speed Freak » Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:32 pm

Not really easy to get them out.

At first remove the needles from the bearing.
Then you can insert a thick steel washer with 2 flat sides (diameter = biggest diameter which fits into the area where the needles were before) into the bearing, then turn it around.
Thats now your surface where you can put the force on.

Heat up your swing arm to ~80-100°C, the aluminum will expand twice as much as the steel parts and the press fit is reduced.

Good luck ;)
My bikes:
RD500 YPVS 1GE
RD350 YPVS 31K 1985
Honda CBR 1000 RR SC57
Yamaha R1 RN04

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ixe13
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Re: Swing arm needle bearings

#3 Post by ixe13 » Sun Feb 05, 2017 3:10 pm

Speed Freak , I don't see how you can pull out the needles without spreading the Iip on one side . I pulled 4 of these bearings lately without scraping them , no real need to pull out the needles if you use a threaded rod with a nut at the end to hold your washers . A $15. sliding puller as used in automobile body repair will get them out with some heat as Speed Freak wrote .

Kev Rev
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:10 am

Re: Swing arm needle bearings

#4 Post by Kev Rev » Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:44 pm

Thanks for the advice

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Speed Freak
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Re: Swing arm needle bearings

#5 Post by Speed Freak » Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:38 pm

You only need to destroy the cage (screwdriver), then the needles will fall out.
I can`t see another reason for removing this bearings from the swing arm than replacing them, so for me it doesn`t matter in which condition they are after removing.

And 30€ should not be a problem for new bearings.
My bikes:
RD500 YPVS 1GE
RD350 YPVS 31K 1985
Honda CBR 1000 RR SC57
Yamaha R1 RN04

silverstrom
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Re: Swing arm needle bearings

#6 Post by silverstrom » Sun Feb 05, 2017 6:15 pm

Like SF, I just bend the cage and then pull the bearing out. No need to delicate about it. Once you have one out you can easily get access to drive the other one out.

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ixe13
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Re: Swing arm needle bearings

#7 Post by ixe13 » Sun Feb 05, 2017 10:04 pm

Ok for sure if you want to replace them , I had a butchered swing that had to go in the bin but the bearings were brand new and I was able to get them out without any harm .

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