Servicing the swingarm

This is an important, but often neglected, part of your bike's maintenance. One reason that this operation is so important is that Kawasaki is sometimes stingy with the grease in this area (one member said the factory lube felt like a light coating of machine oil). If you let it go too long, the lack of lubrication could lead to dried-out and/or rusty swingarm bearings. This does not make for a well-suspended bike.

The service schedule calls for lubrication of the swingarm pivot every 6000 miles.

Please note: The service schedule calls for the suspension linkage inspection/lubrication to be done at the same time. You will have to consult your service manual for this part, as we do not have an FAQ writeup for that at this time.

Tools/supplies needed

• 22mm, 19mm, 17mm, 14mm, 12mm sockets and appropriate ratchet handle and/or wrenches

• Kerosene (or low flash point solvent)

• Kerosene-safe container

• Plenty of clean, lint-free rags
• Torque Values list

• Molybdenum disulfide grease (specified in the manual, but any moly bearing grease should be fine)

Make sure you use cheap labor as much as possible. Why should you get your hands any dirtier?
They may even appreciate the bonding experience... in 15 or 20 years.

1) Remove mufflers using a 12mm (header pipe) and 14mm socket (footpeg bracket) (this step can be skipped, but it makes it possible/much easier to get a torque wrench on the appropriate nuts).

2) Remove rear wheel (instructions located here). Make sure to tie your brake caliper out of the way and ensure there is no pressure on the hydraulic brake line.

3) Remove nut from swingarm pivot (22mm), lower shock mount (19mm) and upper tie rod arms (19mm), but do not remove the bolts/pivot shaft.

4) Remove the lower shock bolt and upper tie rod bolts while holding the swingarm up.

5) Support the swingarm (with your hand is fine) while removing the pivot shaft. (It helps if you push the shaft through from the left with your finger first, so you can grab the shaft and pull from the right).

6) Untangle the swingarm from the chain and shock by pulling back on the swingarm until the bottom of the shock clears the crossbrace. Then, rotate the swingarm to the right to unhook the chain and remove it. Be sure your brake lines are disconnected from the swingarm.

Remove the rubber chain guard from the swingarm, and wipe off any crud from it and the swingarm.

7) Remove the plastic rings from either end of the pivot shaft and clean them. They pop out easily with your fingernails.

8) Remove the pivot shaft from the front of the swingarm by sliding it out one end of the front of the swingarm.

9) Wash the pivot shaft, pivot shaft sleeve, and needle bearings with kerosene and dry thoroughly.

10) Try to wipe as much old grease out of the front of the swingarm as you can. A dowel rod with a kerosene soaked rag was pushed through the front of the swingarm a few times to get most of the grease, then a kerosene soaked rag on a finger was used to clean the bearings in place. Ideally, the bearings should be pressed out, cleaned, and pressed back in, but the risk of damaging the bearings seemed the greater of two evils.

11) After all parts are dry, inspect for wear or damage. Minor wear signs are normal, but discoloration of the shaft or bearings is not. This discoloration isn't a problem; it's an indicator. You have too much heat because you have too little lube.

If you have rust, such as in these photos, you have a problem. For very light surface rust, or if you are really cheap and not particularly concerned with your safety, you can sand down the shaft and hope for the best. The real answer is to replace the rusty parts. You can probably find them on eBay, or in a motorcycle wrecking yard. The parts can also be purchased new from the usual sources.

Note: The rusty parts shown above are from a bike with only 15,000 miles on it.

12) If bearings, sleeve or shaft need replacing, replace bearings and sleeve as a unit.

13) If everything is okay, pack the bearings with moly grease with your finger. Lightly grease the pivot sleeve and re-install through the bearings. Re-install the plastic rings after wiping any crud off of them.

14) Reinstall the swingarm by supporting the swingarm with one hand and feeding the pivot shaft through from the right side of the bike. Be sure the rubber chain guard is on the swingarm before doing this. It's easily forgotten, and is a major time-suck to take apart again if you forget it. Put the nut on the swingarm shaft a few turns, but do not tighten.

15) Install the upper tie rod and lower shock bolts, and put the nuts on them, but do not tighten. Be sure the bolts are installed in the same direction as they came off. There is a lip on the swingarm mounting point to keep the nut from turning on the upper tie rod bolt, which can't do its job if the nut is on the other side. This lip will not hold the bolt head, so you will know if you have the bolt in backwards.

16) Tighten the pivot shaft nut to 65 ft-lbs/88 N-m. Tighten the lower shock bolt and tie rod bolts to 33 ft-lbs/44 N-m.

17) Reinstall the rear wheel, being sure to align the sprockets, adjust the chain slack and torque all fasteners to the proper specs. You might as well clean and lube the chain while you're there, too.

18) Reinstall the mufflers

19) Test Ride with a smile of satisfaction