2001 S4 swingarm removal and re-fit

[Desmo Dreaming]

Hi Guys, I am thinking of getting my swingarm powder coated and was wondering if there is a guide to doing it or does anyone have a workshop manual (in electronic format) I can follow so I dont feck it up.

I have tried to find a step by step guide but my googling is obviously not up to the required Jedi level to find such info.

Any advice would be great!

Cheers

[mintyhit]

littlejimmy did his very recently so I am sure he will be along to help.

I have the workshop manual, pm me your email address and I'll send it to you.

[the_adam]

Sorry to hijack the thread :look: but I could do with the same for the s*r swingarm if anyone is able to help?

[gary tompkins]

Albie's been there, done it and bought the S4/S2R conversion tee shirt

So he should be able to help out as well

[Albie]

Its easy enough once you loosen the clamps on the front pivot shaft. But you may have issues with knocking the pivot out if there is no grease in there like mine was. I turned up a special drift with the correct diameters so not to damage the end.
I doubt you will have a problem but be aware thats all. It should be very straight forward.

[littlejimmy12]

And here I am - PM sent

[satan916]

Yep, ended up hammering the living sh**e out of mine but surprisingly didn't end up lunching the bearings, just as well cos you really don't want to have to change those!

[Desmo Dreaming]

Well that's the swingarm out today!

It all went very smoothly to be honest. Although I do admit to forgetting all about the retaining 'pinch' bolts (no idea what to call them TBH) either end of the pivot shaft.

I took the circlips off and gave it a little hammer and nothing moved. "Bugger" I thought, I then spotted the bolts and after half an hour trying to work out how to get them out, I had a moment of clarity and the lot was stripped and on the floor.

The main shaft came out lovely, still loads of grease on it and the bearings looked fine.

On the whole a good day's fettling was had, now I just hope the guy doing the powder coating knows what he is doing and doesn't feck it up and the re-fit goes as well as the strip!

[pptom]

Whenever I get any powder coating done I don't leave anything to chance. I do all of the masking myself - find some old bolts to screw into any threaded holes etc.

[Desmo Dreaming]

Hello again, I have now got the swingarm back from powder coating, what a complete nightmare that was.

If you are in Powys (Llanidloes specifically) and need powder coating done, do not go to Min Wales Welded.

I went to pick it up and the smiling woman in the office said "yeah its all done, go down to the spray shop and pick it up" so off I go across the yard, I walk in and the cheerful chap that does the spraying/coating happily handed me the swingarm.

My immediate reaction was WTF is this ****e! I didn't know whether to cry or punch him in the cock. The finish was bad, really bad. There were bubbles all over it and it was heavily pitted. I was in shock that they handed over to he thinking it was an acceptable finish not to mention I had driven 15 miles to pick it up. Jesus I was mad but fair play they re-did it and while not as perfect as I would like, it is finally done and ready to re-fit.

So onto the 'ask an expert' bit....

I have a massive 5kg tin of Rocol BRB-1200 heavy duty anti-friction bearing grease that was given to me by my dad and I was planning to use that on the shaft and bearings. Do you think it would be ok or does it need a specific lube on it?

I know it may seem a little anal/over the top but I dont want to put the wrong stuff in.

The bearings look perfect and there was still a fair bit of grease inside so anything I add will just be a top up anyway. The other thing is, do I pack a ruck of grease into the middle part of the casing? There seems to be like a cavity inside (smack bang in the middle of the casing) and i thought maybe it would act as a reserve of grease for the shaft. I guess it wouldn't hurt and I thought that may be what it is for. I dunno....OCD kicking in again.

Any advice would be great.

Cheers!

[Desmo Dreaming]

Morning peeps,

I am in the process of re-fitting the swingarm however while I was working on the bike I knocked over the box containing the shims.

I did have them in the box the matching the way they came out. Now I have two thick shims and two thin shims and I have no idea which side each goes on!

I remember there was at least one thick one on the left hand side (looking at the bike from the rear)

I have looked at the workshop manual and it just shows a shim on each end and doesn't sort of mention the thin shims.

Does anyone know what the crack is with these shims please?

I could do with some suggestions ASAP as I am trying to get it sorted today as I have 'garage time' allowed by the boss (the misses)

[Capo]

You should shim to align the sprockets.

[littlejimmy12]

You should shim to align the sprockets.

I had to do as above, after pcoating I had to file off the extra paint.

[Grumpy]

I don't know if this will help, my S4 had a thick and thin shim on each side.

[Desmo Dreaming]

Cheers for the info guys, I have only just had chance to get online now to check for help, I have put one of each on each side but I will check the alignment of the sprockets once the rear is ready to go back on. When I looked at them, the thicker washer/shim looked like it was made out of standard steel where as the thin ones looked like they should go against a contact point as they were shiny, almost spring steel (sort of) so I put the thin shims on the inside where they make contact with the engine. Cheers for the heads up chaps. I will re-check once the rear sprocket is on though.

[zhango]

This is what workshop manual says for M1000 so is probably same for your bike unless anyone knows differently.
It sounds like you are right to have one of each shim per side.
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/5024/swingarmshimms.jpg