Swing arm spindle lube

Well, lack of according to my MOT tester.

Had the bike MOTed last week and it was one of the advisory's.
Its one of the SV's weak points and if its not done it will cause the spindle to make the hole it sits in oval and eventally make the swinging arm move side to side. (unstable)

Not sure if I have explained that right and not sure if all you orgers know this already but thought I might post it to help.

My spindle was dry as a bone

TTFN

Denise

[yorkie_chris]

The swingarm is held on bearings, these are a tube within another tube with lots of rollers in between like little pins to allow them to roll smoothly.

See the little rollers inside? Swingarm bearing looks much the same with another tube inside this.

These need grease to work properly, otherwise they will rust and fail. When they have siezed the suspension will either fail to work properly, or will develop play. This can manifest itself as a high speed weave or some interesting handling issues.

Suzuki, in their infinite wisdom do not apply grease as standard. If your mechanic has had the swingarm out and greased them then they will be fine for 25000 miles or so.

It is important not to jetwash the bike to avoid washing the grease out.

[northwind]

Yup. This is why master-link chains are sometimes bad, with continuous chains you have to drop the swingarm and this is basically the only time anyone ever services those bearings. So, with master links nobody bothers. Have to admit I trashed my own swingarm bearings just by neglect

[rictus01]

On the other hand, I greased mine after just 30 miles from brand new and that lasted 40,000 miles before being done again, the original bearings are still in it now with over 153,000 miles on them and good as gold.

A little care goes a long way.

Cheers Mark.