At some point I gotta learn to say “No”. I was just gonna freshen up the cockpit - the next thing I know . . .





It’s gonna be a busy day today . . .

one thing always leads to many

About 50 million people in the world today appear to suffer from some type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. . "Many who exhibit compulsive behaviour will claim it is not a problem and may endure the condition for years before seeking help". Good luck with the resto, I'm sure it'll be amazing when its all done!

Earlier today I found myself WD-40-ing the old rear wheel bearings from the latest AT I'm working over...right before I installed the new set.
No, I do not have OCD. Not at all. Why do you ask?

So this bike was truly a barn find, and the machine shows a lot of fallout from that. The motor side covers are very discolored and will take a ton of wor, or possibly a resort to paint, to look decent. For grins I checked, and could not believe it! I can still get ALL of the outer motor covers new from Yamaha!

The down side is it would cost $180, but at least it would be free shipping! If this was a restoration, I could see going that route, but this will be a rider and it will get some elbow grease.

So the saga continues.

The rear swing arm was not moving smoothly, so after loosening the bolt it moved fine. Hmmm. Pulled the pivot bolt, no corrosion or rust. Carefully removed the long pivot shaft the bolt goes through and it was still nicely lubed. Hmmm.

looking at the parts diagram I see part #4 - 401-22127-00-00 - which does not seem to be there. (The wrong part is circled in yellow so ignore that!)



Looking more closely I see the remains of one of the shims on one side, and nothing on the other. This is the spacer needed to let the arm actually pivot on the inner bushings. So back to the parts ordering which puts this one probably out until next weekend for assembly.

The good news is that this will make me take more time on the other stuff and it should turn out better.

It's all good.

It's been a while since I had one apart...

Doesn't #4 have a hole big enough to fit over #2?

If so, adding another #4 will make the swingarm tighter.

IIRC, #2 needs to stick through the bushings (#3) just enough to solid seat on the outer washers #5.

If #2 is too long, then the swingarm will have side to side end play even with the bolt tight. That's when you add a #4 (often just to one side) to take up the end play.

I've found on an old bike the outer washers get dented or grooved by #2 and you need to remove the #4's and sometimes even add a thin shim/washer (same ID/OD as #2) to the end of #2 to keep things from getting sticky when the bolt is tight.

Hope that makes sense... if I'm way off base and not remembering how the parts go together... well... ummm.... then "nevermind".

#2 is slightly smaller diameter than the hole in #4. When you tighten the bolt the space added by #4 on eac side allows #2 to pivot freely.

I suspect this could be the cause of many a poor suspension on the old bikes. Rarely serviced or even greased (even though on these they did add a grease zero!). Kind of like steering head bearings . . .

If the shim/washer #4 fits over the inner shaft #2 I'm pretty sure adding a #4 will reduce clearance and make the swingarm harder to pivot with the bolt tight.

(#4 needs to be added as needed to reduce excessive side clearance with bolt tight)

And yes, you are correct... basic maintenance of swingarm pivots and steering bearings makes a world of difference!

However it works, it specifies the shims so they’re going back in