OK... I felt that I "needed" to check my swingarm and shock bushings before a busy riding season. It is just one of those sixth-sense things! I bought the bike used and it now has 13760 miles on it. I know the last almost 7k miles of mine have not been easy, but I have no clue what the first owner rode it or maintained. So I started into the job thanks to great tutorials from BWC and GregThePole from here at the forum.
http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=7138.msg121456#msg121456
http://thetenerist.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/swing-arm-lube/
I have gotten all the way through the removal and am stuck with getting the final bolt out of the bracket that holds the lower shock mount. I want to make it happen without having to remove the pipe all the way to the headers if possible. See pic below. Does anyone know any tricks for sliding this bolt out? It is a tad bit longer than the distance between it and exhaust pipe. I can flex the exhaust pipe but not quite enough to get the bolt out.
Now onto the grim reality of what I found. Not a single bolt down there had ANY grease on them - swingarm bolt or any of the shock bolts. Not a good sign.... This is what I found immediately upon pulling everything out. Click on bar at top of image for a larger view.
The swingarm bolt and lower shock mount bolt are grotesquely rusted and pitted badly. The bushing for the swingarm bolt has grease only at the ends and that grease if stained red with rust. Below is what they "cleaned up" to look like...
The two bolts are pitted beyond what I feel comfortable reusing. The bearing has imprinted marks from the needle bearings that one can feel by touch. When you look into the needle bearings that are pressed into the swingarm (both for swingarm bolt and the rear shock bolt) you can see that whatever minimal grease is there is fully caked with rust and dried out. In short, these bearings are shot. And I cannot get a photo of it, but if you look down into the bearings in the swingarm bolt hole, they are offset. By this I mean you can see the races on one side and not on the other. So the bearings need to come out. They are pressed in so I gotta figure that out.
Does anybody know the recommended interval for swingarm bearing check and regrease? I want to say that I have heard somewhere here at the forum that is is around 20K or more miles but I may be making that up. My plan for now is to take the swingarm by the dealer to see if the YES warranty will cover the damage. There was obviously little to no grease placed in here from the get go. Will let ya'll know what they say. Not expecting them to go out of their way but it never hurts to ask before doing it all myself. I have looked at the online parts fiche and it is close to $200 in parts that I will need.
But this is fair warning for all the other SuperTens out there. I am sure that mine is not an anomaly. There are likely many more out there - and with considerably higher mileage - that are just as bad. Check them now before the riding season gets into full swing.
http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=7138.msg121456#msg121456
http://thetenerist.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/swing-arm-lube/
I have gotten all the way through the removal and am stuck with getting the final bolt out of the bracket that holds the lower shock mount. I want to make it happen without having to remove the pipe all the way to the headers if possible. See pic below. Does anyone know any tricks for sliding this bolt out? It is a tad bit longer than the distance between it and exhaust pipe. I can flex the exhaust pipe but not quite enough to get the bolt out.
Now onto the grim reality of what I found. Not a single bolt down there had ANY grease on them - swingarm bolt or any of the shock bolts. Not a good sign.... This is what I found immediately upon pulling everything out. Click on bar at top of image for a larger view.
The swingarm bolt and lower shock mount bolt are grotesquely rusted and pitted badly. The bushing for the swingarm bolt has grease only at the ends and that grease if stained red with rust. Below is what they "cleaned up" to look like...
The two bolts are pitted beyond what I feel comfortable reusing. The bearing has imprinted marks from the needle bearings that one can feel by touch. When you look into the needle bearings that are pressed into the swingarm (both for swingarm bolt and the rear shock bolt) you can see that whatever minimal grease is there is fully caked with rust and dried out. In short, these bearings are shot. And I cannot get a photo of it, but if you look down into the bearings in the swingarm bolt hole, they are offset. By this I mean you can see the races on one side and not on the other. So the bearings need to come out. They are pressed in so I gotta figure that out.
Does anybody know the recommended interval for swingarm bearing check and regrease? I want to say that I have heard somewhere here at the forum that is is around 20K or more miles but I may be making that up. My plan for now is to take the swingarm by the dealer to see if the YES warranty will cover the damage. There was obviously little to no grease placed in here from the get go. Will let ya'll know what they say. Not expecting them to go out of their way but it never hurts to ask before doing it all myself. I have looked at the online parts fiche and it is close to $200 in parts that I will need.
But this is fair warning for all the other SuperTens out there. I am sure that mine is not an anomaly. There are likely many more out there - and with considerably higher mileage - that are just as bad. Check them now before the riding season gets into full swing.
