1980 GS550L swing arm bearings

[Guest]

Doing maintenance on rear wheel.

Even though the swing arm pivoted fairly easily, I decided to remove it.

Pivot bolt came out with a little help from a hammer and punch.

But after removing the duct cover, the inner part of the bearing came out.

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I assume it should not. Looking inside could see long bearings that were very rusty.

[Guest]

I think the bearing needs replaced.


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On the other side the inner part of bearing does not move at all.

[Guest]

Also can anyone tell me if bearing fits all the way inside the tube or is there a rim that sits on top of the tube?

If you look at photos there seems to be a line that goes all the way around the tube.

[GRAND ROUGE]

The needle / roller bearings have an outer 'housing' . The "inner" part of the bearing you describe is supposed to come out...it is a spacer.. (part #4) Proper punch and maybe some heat...maybe a lot of heat;-) will help to get em out of the swingarm. This parts fiche I think is pretty self explanatory.... Part #2......long spacer keeps bearings located outboard in swing arm and probably is re usable,....Part #3 roller bearing assembly.....you need two of those guys for sure.....and Part #4.....seen protruding a bit in first photo....2 required......ya might be ok depending on condition of the bearing surface. If I am reading your post correctly, sounds like one of the Part #4 spacers is welded /corroded and maybe now a part of the bearing...….

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/su...r-swinging-arm

[Guest]

Appreciate the information.


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Managed to get the part 2 spacer cleaned of rust so I can reuse.
Both the part 4s are very rusted so will be replaced.
Will be working on getting the bearings out tomorrow.

[GRAND ROUGE]

Getting there, yes?;-) The shorter spacers are the inner race for the bearings.....so...clean and clean and clean.....make smooth. and I figure you already know that. Dang....lots of moisture got in there over the years. Don't know what others might recommend....when I have serviced the bearings on my GS 1100E I use "Marine" Grease..... What have you got in mind?

[Guest]

The shorter spacers are shot. Very rusty. So new spacers and bearings are in order.

The bearings slowly disintegrated as I attempted to remove them. The needle bearings and cage came out so all that was left was the inner race. Tried heating and knocking it out but the rims started breaking off. Finally took dremel and grinding stone. I ground a groove into the outer race until it was thin enough to break with a screw driver and a few taps of a hammer.

I have a tube of BELRAY waterproof grease I am going to use when I put it all back together. May get new dustcaps to help keep the water out.

[Guest]

I think the bearing needs replaced.


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On the other side the inner part of bearing does not move at all.

Good Lord. That thing looks like it lived much of its life in the Gulf of Mexico. Did you have any funky handling to go with the rusted solid bearings?


Mark

[Cipher]

those spacers are quite pricy. But man those are well good and shot.

[Guest]

To tell you the truth, I did not notice any handling problems. But i consider myself a novice in riding. The arm moved freely when I grabbed it to remove it.

I am in PA Do not ride in winter. Last winter was garage stored but previous years stored outside and could not seem to keep cover on it.

[Cipher]

did you notice the chain side had more wear than the other? Its usually due to chain washing with solvent. You can flip those bearing races if not too much is messed up

[Guest]

Both were very rusted out so I did not notice a lot of difference.

[Guest]

I decided to replace everything but the long spacer.

I also repainted the swingarm.

I froze the bearings and tried to push them in but not successful. I was concerned about ruining the bearing by striking it so I used a threaded rod and fender washers to draw them in. Used coating of grease inside swingarm tube and on outside of bearing to help.

[Guest]

picture

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Here is painted swingarm with bearing installation setup.