Swing arm bearings

[diesel2607]

Hi

I have a 2012 evo and after a trial today I noticed I have a fair bit of play in the swing arm if I lift the rear wheel it goes up about half an inch to an inch on would say and clunks 

Do you think this would be solved by changing the swing arm bearings 

I am grateful for any advice 

[section swept]

Thats wheel lift and sounds more like suspension linkage wear. Swing arm play is side to side and if you had an inch play you would be wobbling about alot. Get someone to do the moving while you have a good look....its what most of us would be doing....sounds harsh but not meant to be🙂👍

[diesel2607]

8 minutes ago, section swept said:

Thats wheel lift and sounds more like suspension linkage wear. Swing arm play is side to side and if you had an inch play you would be wobbling about alot. Get someone to do the moving while you have a good look....its what most of us would be doing....sounds harsh but not meant to be🙂👍

It is definitely up and down movement it seems pretty solid side to side what would I need to replace if it's suspension linkage ware 

[diesel2607]

15 minutes ago, oni nou said:

A lot of play comes from the lower shock bearing normally followed by wear in the dog bones and knuckle joint .....change all those and it will tighten it all up although you will still have a little play....not a cheap job even if you do it yourself ...which is easy.

Thanks I am sure it is the dog bones and suspension knuckle how is best to go about getting the swing arm off i will order the bearings and try and do the job myself about £70 for the bearings i have seen 

[cangy1000]

I did my 4RT recently. I got it sat on a sturdy stand, if you can strap the bike to the stand all the better. Take lots of pics on your phone as you disassemble. Good luck 

 

[fantic240motor]

I own a 2012 300 4T and went through the same thing when I bought it last summer.

If you have the bike on a stand and get someone to gently move the rear wheel up and down while you closely inspect the linkage you may find the play is in the delta link/pivot. A millimeter play there seems to translate to 10mm at the wheel. The bolt holes aren't bushed so nothing to replace other than the pivot. When I had the pivot removed I discussed bushing the bolt holes with an engineer friend of mine to reduce the tolerance to a minimum. It is possible but I needed to refit the pivot to ride the bike that weekend and I've not bothered since. New original ones are available as is a copy by CSP for around £90.

I replaced all the swingarm and linkage bearings, top hats and seals including bottom shock bearing that come in the kit. They were all a little rusty but there wasn't play in any of these parts so this didn't help the rear wheel movement.

Yours may be in other parts, just sharing what I found...

 

[2stroke4stroke]

You may as well clean and grease the swingarm bearings while you're at it. However, you may well find that the lack of play there is due to a build up of crud and the bearings are siezed/rusted and need replacement.

[mcman56]

You should definitely include checking and greasing the swing arm bearings.  They don't use a lot of grease from the factory.  All Balls sells a swing arm bearing kit.