learned a valuable lesson about swingarm

[Razorback]

well, i've had my 400 for a little more than a year now and finally got the guts to take the rear end apart to lube everything. all the shock sub-assembly went fine, no problems. not doing the bearings because i'm getting a RAD carrier any day now.

the problem came with the swingarm pivot bolt. this dang thing is frozen completely. i got the nut off no problem, but tried to turn the bolt using the bolt head on the right side and it wouldn't freakin' budge. i tried spraying everything real good with wd-40 and let is set for a while, then tapping the bolt with a sledge hammer. still no luck. so, started hitting it a little harder and the end of the bolt started to bend. i quit pounding it at this point so i could still get the nut back on it. of course i don't know what i'm worried about because i don't think that thing is ever coming out. i'm ordering a new bolt and bearings, seals, etc., then i'll go back at trying to get this one out.

i read through an old post about a few tricks to get it out, like using PD spray (not sure what this is, if someone can please let me know, i would appreciate it.). also, using an air hammer was another trick - don't have one, but i do have a compressor, so i'll check out the cost on these. the other main solution was to just beat it until it comes out and replace the bolt.

i don't really know what i'm going to do, because i'm afraid by beating the bolt with a hammer will just bend it to the point where it won't slide out through the swingarm. i guess i'll end up cutting it out somehow, but i don't know how i'm going to do that either. <sigh>

if anyone has any further assistance or tips, i would greatly appreciate any feedback. also, since i'm mx racing now, i know i will have to get a new swingarm at some point. does the bolt and bearings come with a new swingarm or do you use the stock parts?

so...the lesson is, don't wait to lube the swingarm pivot. i'll be lubing mine once a month from now on.

Most swingarms come with everything except the bolt..

This is the start of a good thread if answered by all the right people,,I too have tryed removing my pivot bolt and she didn't budge so I left it alone,,I was just tryin to see how hard it was. So hopefully we'll get some good replies and I'll throw the sucka in the FAQ forum.:D

[Evan]

Well I had the same problem on my R. I finally went ahead and said to heck with it and hit it pretty hard with a solid hammer. It finally came out after I had tried everything from sticking a punch in it(work ok but cant get the punch out) to try to pry it out. When I got it out I took a grinder and smoothed the threads and got the nut to go on but I went ahead and bought a new one anyway, I think it was 20-30 dollars from service honda, alot better than what most people were asking about 50 something. So right now I have a spare but dread the day I have to take the 400s out. Let us know how you get it out.

[Razorback]

so the end of your bolt didn't bend at all? mine bent pretty quick. maybe i should have tried a regular hammer instead of the sledge.

i ordered the bolt this morning, $19.15 from service honda (www.servicehonda.com). as soon as i get that one in, i'm going to go at the old one. like rico said, if we can get some good posts from those who have been through this process, this thread would be great for the FAQ.

[whiteknuckle]

just curious but how would you lube the swingarm bolt? i know other quads like the banshee have umpteen greese nipples on the but our 400's dont! so where would ya put the lube! and also what kind of a lube do you guys use for this kind of application???

[Evan]

I am gonna use anti seize compound on mine when it goes back together.

Originally posted by whiteknuckle
so where would ya put the lube! and also what kind of a lube do you guys use for this kind of application???

First off you have to pull the bolt out to lube it up,,which isn't an easy task and only needs to be done I'd say 1 time a year if your a hard rider.

And the lube I use is mobil 1 synthetic lube,,,not cheap but good stuff..

[Razorback]

correction on the spray i mentioned earlier. it is PB spray for breaking loose rusted nuts/bolts/etc. i just bought some at o'reilly's and the guy at the counter said it works great, so we'll see how that works.

[knighttime]

can someone post a pic of what we are talkin' about. I'm lost :confused:

[Razorback]

here is a picture. the bolt #23 is what we're talking about.

[Tommy 17]

when i took my motor out of my frame to get the motor work my bolt came right out like nothing.... all i did was this...

i unscrewed the bolt almost till the end of the treads and then left the socket on the screw... i then got a rubber mallet and just hit the socket one time and it pushed the bolt out the whole way that the screw would let it... i then unscrewed the bolt the whole way off... now on the other side behind the lip of the head on the bolt i could fit a adjustable wrench... i then found a leverage point on the motor and frame and pushed and the bolt slid right out with no trouble at all... it was easy... thank god!!!!!

when i put the bolt back on i made sure i gave it a extra good coast of BELRAY water proof grease... and hopefully its fine from now on....

[whiteknuckle]

hey rico is there anywhere else we need to be lubing on a regular basis? im used to the grease nipples on my 2-stroke! little new to my 400! thanks!

[barbwire44]

Ok first off before you remove the nut just loosen it up maybe one turn then use a brass hammer or a 2lb hammer and a piece of wood and strike the nut just to see if it is gonna come out and you won't damage the threads. 2nd if it doesn't move the best thing to use is a 3/4 impact wrench on the opposite side and see if it will spin if it spins it will come out! If you don't have an impact use at least a 1/2 drive breaker bar and try to free it. And if that doesn't work you are gonna have to use a firewrench (torch). The bolt isn't stuck in the swingarm it is stuck in the frame. So just heat the frame around the bolt and don't over due it, It doesn't take much heat to expand the metal enough to free the bolt. When reinstalling the bolt the best mix I have seen is a synthetic greased mixed with anti-seeze. I wouldn't go through the hassle of removing the bolt just to lube it once a month if it really concerns you I would just loosen the nut and spin it a few times just to make sure you will be able to remove it when you need to.
I have only seen one instance where the bolt wouldn't come off and that was a 1985 tri-z 250 that had the original swingarm bearings in it. We tried removing the swingarm bolt in 1998 needless to say it would not come out ended up cutting it off and pressing what was left out of the engine with a 40 ton press and alot of heat it finally came out. But you wont have that problem with a 400ex unless you park it in a swamp for a few month's.

[RED121572]

Like most, I had the same problem. I used a hammer and a long, but skinny phillips head screw driver to drive mine out.

[Ben]

The first time I removed my 400's pivot bolt (1 year after it was bought) it was a little stiff. I just placed a jack under the swingarm where the bolt runs through and firmed it up a bit. Then I took a regular hammer and long solid metal rod and drove it out. Just as an aside, PB's really works - we used to use it on 75 year old natural gas line bolts/clamps and it worked like a charm. :)

[honda400zx]

mine was like butter:D my quad is only 10 months old tho

[Ex'r Marlin]

Originally posted by 400ex21
when i put the bolt back on i made sure i gave it a extra good coast of BELRAY water proof grease... and hopefully its fine from now on....

That is what I use and has worked great for me. I recently removed mine with no problem..... Probably because I lube it once a year.:)

I'll admit though, the first time I took it off I needed to back the nut off some and hit it with a hammer..... Then used my 6" extension from my 3/8" socket set and pounded the rest of the pivot bolt through.

[Quadfather]

I must be lucky. Mine came right out. I coated it with Mobil1 grease, and put it right back in. Whole process took mybe seven minutes.

[NVR2L8]

I just yanked the entire swingarm out on my 400EX this weekend, to replace the rear bearings and lub up the swingarm needle bearings. My bolt wasn't too hard to get out after removing the nut though...I just made sure I turned the bolt a few times before using a large phillips screwdriver as a punch. :p After I got the bolt out I noticed that the culprit wasn't a lack of lubrication though, but rust. So in my opinion, corrosion is what is making most of your bolts hard to get out. Rather than use grease on the bolt, I opted to use a rust inhibitor I found at a place that sells nuts/bolts, machine shop tools, etc.--it's an industrial product called LPS-3.