SV650 K3 swing arm bearing replacement - remove exhaust?

So here we go again...

The bike went for an MoT the other week and I notice a very small amount of side was movement in the swing arm at the back end of the rear wheel(About 1/4"). I have checked it is not the wheel bearings by holding the wheel at 6 and 12 o'clock, and then checking of any movement on the spindle. There was none, so that was okay.

My questions are:
1. Can the bearings be changed without removing the exhaust?
2. Bought replacement bearings (pattern items - needle rollers which sit inside a solid plain bearing) and noticed that there was a small amount of movement when the needle rollers sit in their housing. Should I be concerned and send them back or will packing with grease eliminate the problem?
3. A lot of the fasteners which are relate to the exhaust have seized. They have been soaked in WD40, but still some have snapped (Left mount under the frame; Front clamp linking downpipe to collector box), and others refuse to move at all (Front cylinder clamp to downpipe at cylinder head).
Considering that this bike has a recorded mileage of just 22K, it seems extreme! Plus there are other signs of extremeness (Oil cooler stone guard, front discs all look worn and tatty).
4. Why is it metric Allen keys do not fit a lot of the fasteners. They are either too big or too small, but imperial Allen keys seem to work. Is this a sneaky trick by the Japs, or again another sign of not a true mileage?
5. Where is the best place to buy these small items online? Need to get this done before next Saturday. (Lots of dry roads apparently and 3 days off, so wife wants her bike back by then).
6. The rear damper to the shock absorber is shot to hell. Is this normal on a bike for this amount of mileage?
7. One last question. How the bloody hell are you meant to remove the swing arm with no centre stand???

Hope someone has the knowledge to help me overcome this.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by daffyduck1962

So here we go again...

The bike went for an MoT the other week and I notice a very small amount of side was movement in the swing arm at the back end of the rear wheel(About 1/4"). I have checked it is not the wheel bearings by holding the wheel at 6 and 12 o'clock, and then checking of any movement on the spindle. There was none, so that was okay.

My questions are:
1. Can the bearings be changed without removing the exhaust? Yes
2. Bought replacement bearings (pattern items - needle rollers which sit inside a solid plain bearing) and noticed that there was a small amount of movement when the needle rollers sit in their housing. Should I be concerned and send them back or will packing with grease eliminate the problem? No, should tighten up once torqued up.
3. A lot of the fasteners which are relate to the exhaust have seized. They have been soaked in WD40, but still some have snapped (Left mount under the frame; Front clamp linking downpipe to collector box), and others refuse to move at all (Front cylinder clamp to downpipe at cylinder head). They all do that, buy some decent Mikalor stainless ones
Considering that this bike has a recorded mileage of just 22K, it seems extreme! Plus there are other signs of extremeness (Oil cooler stone guard, front discs all look worn and tatty). Depends how its been looked after
4. Why is it metric Allen keys do not fit a lot of the fasteners. They are either too big or too small, but imperial Allen keys seem to work. Is this a sneaky trick by the Japs, or again another sign of not a true mileage? No, its not a sneaky trick by the Japs, has someone replaced them with Imperial ones, some Jap ones are different thread pitch
5. Where is the best place to buy these small items online? Need to get this done before next Saturday. (Lots of dry roads apparently and 3 days off, so wife wants her bike back by then). Wemoto
6. The rear damper to the shock absorber is shot to hell. Is this normal on a bike for this amount of mileage? Yes, they're knackered well before this. Get a proper replacement
7. One last question. How the bloody hell are you meant to remove the swing arm with no centre stand??? Buy an ABBA stand, with adaptor set so you're lifting it by the footrests, as the normal ABBA adaptors use the swingarm pivots

Hope someone has the knowledge to help me overcome this.

..

[maviczap]

You need to read this, as Pointies have an issues and its not the bearings at fault

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...=swingarm+play

Thanks for that. Very helpful.

Just a couple of questions in relation to your answers.

1. Can the shim be fitted without taking the swing arm away (e.g taking exhaust off)?
2. How do you get bearings out without taking off the exhaust?
3.You mention specialist bolts. wher ecan these be bought and any tips on removeing downpipe clamp bolts from cylinder head?

You meet the nicest people on this site.

Thanks again

[maviczap]

1. No, the shim goes between the swingarm & frame if I remember Bibio's thread, you shouldn't need to take the exhaust off to take the swingarm off, although to get to the linkages you might find it easier with the exhaust out of the way.
2. Take swingarm off, as bearings are inside the swingarm, you can't get to them without taking off swingarm
3. These are the adaptors for the ABBA stand that you use in place of the standard adaptors





4. You can soak the nuts in Plusgaz for a few days, which might help, heat them, but they are a sod and if you put a spanner on them and they don't loosen easily you will snap the stud, which is a pig of a job to fix. So gently gently