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Suspension Linkage Bearings


voleurz
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I run 660 bronze bushings with the Sherco inner steel sleeves in the dog bones. There are no seals. There is room to install 90 degree grease fittings pointing down on the front of the dog bones and straight ones pointing back at the rear. A grease groove in the bushings distributes the grease. After 1 1/2 years, I did manage to break off the rear fittings. A easy-out made for a simple repair and inspection showed no degradation of the bushings or sleeves. A dealer somewhere on the US east coast had advertised something similar for Gas Gas and I basically copied the idea. I expected to feel some stiction but notice no difference.

When replacing the lower shock bearing, I looked for one drilled for a grease fitting but they were only available on the next larger size. I notice that some Japanese dirt bikes come with needle bearings and grease fittings on the suspension. Is there any chance one of those would fit the dog bones?

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I run 660 bronze bushings with the Sherco inner steel sleeves in the dog bones. There are no seals. There is room to install 90 degree grease fittings pointing down on the front of the dog bones and straight ones pointing back at the rear. A grease groove in the bushings distributes the grease. After 1 1/2 years, I did manage to break off the rear fittings. A easy-out made for a simple repair and inspection showed no degradation of the bushings or sleeves. A dealer somewhere on the US east coast had advertised something similar for Gas Gas and I basically copied the idea. I expected to feel some stiction but notice no difference.

When replacing the lower shock bearing, I looked for one drilled for a grease fitting but they were only available on the next larger size. I notice that some Japanese dirt bikes come with needle bearings and grease fittings on the suspension. Is there any chance one of those would fit the dog bones?

Well,that is indeed an interisting uptake on this topic! From one who has actually done it!

Was always tempting, now even more so!

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I have just replaced the top and bottom shock bearings and have about the same amount of play as before. About 3 to 4 mm.

The new bearings from Sherco have play in them from new. A mate of mine has a Gas Gas shock bearing that he hasn't installed yet and it's really firm with no play, just like you would expect.

I've had another look and it seems to have play in the swingarm bearing and the dogbone bearings that bolt through the frame.

Getting rid of all the back end play in a Sherco is like trying to find the holy grail.

My 08 only took a month or two to clearly show play in the back.

After spending a fortune on my old 2000 on the full bearing kit and bolts and still not completely getting rid of all the play, I tend to just live with it.

If anyone know how to keep the a*** end of a Sherco nice and tight PLEASE give us some tips.

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  • 1 month later...

Howdy Folks, been lurking for a while and learnt lots. I'm on my 3rd sherco now a 2009 290R, over the last 2 bikes (a 2000 and a 2007) I've had my share of "loose rear ends" so to speak, done most jobs including linkages, new delta links, new spherical bearings in shocks etc. My '09 however has decided to add a new twist, at around 9mnths old with a couple of linkage lubes (mainly for spring and then shock changeover) the swingarm bearings have cried enough and decided to create yet anothe place for that magic bit of play to infiltrate!! so there's a new place to feel whilst someone wiggles your bike, had us guessing for a little while. Not all that surprising with this particular machine it's also had a set of steering head bearings, in that case when I pulled the bottom one, it had a special blend of grease mixed with a ground up end of a machinists tap ....nice. It will be interesting to see what I'll find when I pull the swingarm, which I wont do till I've got 4 bearings and a couple of sleeves in stock. Got to say it's a bit disapointing with a new bike, one of the reasons I traded up from the 07 was beacause all these jobs were coming up to be done. On the other hand it's an awesome bike to ride :) about 1000 tme better than me in fact then again so was the '07 :P

My 2c

BT

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, mine has play too. But..I have my links off so thought I would share a picture of the bushings with grease fittings. Rather than experiment with the originals, I made up a pair to play with. There is nothing special about them. The only tricky part is to get the angle of the front grease fitting correct so that it can be filled from the bottom. I also did a pair of these for an 02 GG. The GG did not have space for the angled grease fittings so I used a needle type fitting facing down.

To eliminate play, has anyone tried the GG links on a Sherco? I don't know about length but GG deals with the offset in the link casting where Sherco uses those top hat inner bushes.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/mc...rco/linkpic.jpg

linkpic.jpg

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Mmmmm, the mind reels here! Seals are the main problem with the stock setup, they are crap, allowing water and corrosion into the(roller) bearing.

The plain bronze bearings in themselves are not prone to it due to material alone. Only the steel bushings are succeptable. Reaction with the opposing bearing is nil.

This factor alone may suggest a much longer service life even without additional lube or fittings.

More thoughts later, :o

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  • 4 years later...

I know this is an old thread, but I am having the same problem with my new to me 2013 3.0. I just replaced the all of the linkage bearings, upper and lower shock joints, and put new DU/plain bushings into the dog bones and I still have a good bit of play in the rear end.....so the same situation quite a few people have been in.

All felt good on final assembly, except for the DU bushings in the dog bones. I come from and mountain bike background, and we use DU bushings in the upper and lower shock eyelets of our bikes. Once the DU bushing is pressed in, the collars take a good bit of effort to get in also. When I went to put the collar in for my Sherco, it literally fell out the other side. I also noticed that was where the visiable play was coming from on the rear end. I did not order new collars, and i was told the collars is not the wear item, the DU bushing is. So my though it is, should I try ordering new collars and see if they fit tighter, or if the new collar has the same result, maybe taking the dogbones with the bushings installed to a machinist and have them possibly machine a better fitting collar? Any thoughts to that?

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The collars/sleeves will be your problem, they aren't very hard standard. I made a set out of tool steel & had them nitrided at 1 stage & they lasted really well, currently in the older needle roller bearing setup I'm using a All balls/moose racing kit which has through hardened sleeves

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I know this is an old thread, but I am having the same problem with my new to me 2013 3.0. I just replaced the all of the linkage bearings, upper and lower shock joints, and put new DU/plain bushings into the dog bones and I still have a good bit of play in the rear end.....so the same situation quite a few people have been in.

All felt good on final assembly, except for the DU bushings in the dog bones. I come from and mountain bike background, and we use DU bushings in the upper and lower shock eyelets of our bikes. Once the DU bushing is pressed in, the collars take a good bit of effort to get in also. When I went to put the collar in for my Sherco, it literally fell out the other side. I also noticed that was where the visiable play was coming from on the rear end. I did not order new collars, and i was told the collars is not the wear item, the DU bushing is. So my though it is, should I try ordering new collars and see if they fit tighter, or if the new collar has the same result, maybe taking the dogbones with the bushings installed to a machinist and have them possibly machine a better fitting collar? Any thoughts to that?

These things are not tight when new and some slack would be considered negligible, same as the HK roller style in prior years and on other bikes. You can chase this all you like, but your money would be better spent on fuel!

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