So umm...it's a good thing I bought another swing arm

[YOURADHERE]

So I finally became fed up with the crap chain adjustment on my Z400 and bought an aftermarket swing arm.I was pulling my G Force axle from my stock swing arm when I flipped it over and found this.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/YOUR-AD-HERE/b3206e33.jpg

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/YOUR-AD-HERE/2d5e601a.jpg

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/YOUR-AD-HERE/874d2daf.jpg

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/YOUR-AD-HERE/e75ce5b3.jpg


It's cracked....and not just a little bit as you can see. The last pic if you put your finger underneath you can feel the crack going back atleast an inch towards the linkage mount. If you look inside the swing arm you can see cracks that aren't visible in the pictures. Keep in mind that I don't jump often and when I do it's nothing harsh. About the harshest I can recall was flat landing from about 3ft. Just last year my brother's Z had a hairline crack form on the top near the factory welds. We drilled the crack and had it welded and has since been fine. My swing arm showed no signs of cracks on the top, this is just on the bottom. So I decided to check his out last night.


No where near as bad as mine and I was able to get a pic of the crack on the inside. Mine has this same crack as well. The last picture is how the first crack on the top of his swing arm was repaired.


http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/YOUR-AD-HERE/dbb55675.jpg


http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/YOUR-AD-HERE/ba9cfb32.jpg


Here's where the crack was repaired.


http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w25/YOUR-AD-HERE/a8f6c932.jpg


Both bikes are 07's. Both see very little jumping at all. This is unbelieveable.

[400EXRAY]

when I was looking into buying a sport atv I was warned that the sazuki and the Kawasaki 400, which is about the same thing. have a swing arm issue, which you post just confirms.

[400exrider707]

All of the extra welding on there more than likely just made it happen faster. All of that welding actually just stiffens the swinger up and makes it crack easier instead of flexing. It probably should have just been replaced when it cracked the first time, but I can't say I wouldn't have tried welding it either.

Obviously the swingers just are not going to hold up to your riding style, so a forced upgrade is always fun though!

[HondaPohl]

man good thing you caught that! Could have sucked!

[rollie]

you say you don't jump much, so i assume you trail ride? hard trail riding can and is just as tough on stuff, smashing the wheels off tree's and all the side to side motion and the suspension working all the time with the swinger flexing must have taken it's toll, as much as it sucks, it's always kind of cool to know your riding hard enough to actually tear stuff up, if that makes any sence :p

[YOURADHERE]

Originally posted by rollie
you say you don't jump much, so i assume you trail ride? hard trail riding can and is just as tough on stuff, smashing the wheels off tree's and all the side to side motion and the suspension working all the time with the swinger flexing must have taken it's toll, as much as it sucks, it's always kind of cool to know your riding hard enough to actually tear stuff up, if that makes any sence :p

I never looked at it that way. I do trail ride fairly aggressively but everything here is very wide and no rocks and no close trees. In 4 years I can only recall bouncing off a tree once and that's been quite a long time ago. Pretty much trails and open dues are all both of these bikes have ever seen. I ride more aggressively than my brother so that may explain why mine is cracked alot worse. Had I not pulled the swing arm to replace it with a Houser I may have never caught this until it was too late. I'm going on a ride this weekend with another guy with a Z400. He rides like a pansy but I'll check his out too.

[madskrillz2]

Yeah those swingarms are terrible. I used to have a z400 and that was one of the first things I replaced.