400EX Swingarm Pivot Bolt Removal

Hey Guys, I'm sitting here with nothing to do, so I thought I might write this up, hoping it will get into the FAQ forum. I have noticed a lot of ways to remove the bolt, but I have tried them, without success. My bolt was in there for 5 years, and it has been ran in salt water before. This thing was stuck. The first thing I noticed that people do wrong is that they totally remove the nut, and then beat on the poor bolt. I went the the hardware store with my stock nut, and bought a steel one. I forgot the size, I'll check up on it later. I didn't want to beat on the stock nut since it is soft aluminum. What you do first is screw on the steel nut until it is almost flush with the bolt. Don't let the bolt stick out. Now, you can hit on the bolt, without screwing up your stuck nut and bolt.

Ok, here is another thing I've seen done. People have heated up the frame flanges, but that is not where most are stuck. All the cases I've seen were stuck in the bushings. It is a tight fit, and when the bolt rusts, it siezes itself right in. I soaked most of that area with PB Blaster, and let it sit for a day. That stuff has worked wonders for me on stuck lug nuts, so I knew it would help here. The key is to let it sit. Once you give it time, give it a good tap. I used a 8 lb sledge. I also put a small piece of wood between the sledge and the bolt, because it was such a hit. Even with this, the bolt was barely budging.

So I had another idea. I began to turn the bolt on the right side of the quad. I would give it a tap, then turn the bolt a couple revolutions. To make things faster, I got my cousin the some over, and run the impact, on reverse, while I was tapping! The bolt was easily pushed up to the nut. Once it was up to the nut, I took the nut off, and took an eight inch long 7/16 ( I believe) bolt, and lathed down the end, so it would fit inside the pivot bolt. You can also grind it down but make sure that you gind as flat as possible, so it hits flat against the bolt. I put the bolt I made into the pivot bolt, and tapped away. It came out farely easily after that. I cleaned the bolt up well, using steel wool, and got all the rust off. I cleaned and regreased the needle bearings, and stuck grease in the bolt hole, and shoved the bolt through both ways to coat it all up. I slid the bolt in, and put everything back together. Every month I slide it out, and it comes out very easily.

This is one thing I would keep the maintenance up on. Remember that this bolt holds a lot of things on, including your motor and swingarm. And remember to give the lubricant time to seep into the bushings! Good Luck!!!!

You can also buy a pin punch so you don't have to machine a bolt. A pin punch will have a portion that goes into the hole in the bolt so it doesn't slide around while you are hammering the bolt out.

Do not booger the bushings in the engine case. These are not replaceable from Honda. You would have to get a machine shop to make a set.



/Jon

Hi, i have an 02 and the pivot pin came out easy after 6 years!!!! After i was done riding i would put it on the side and pray pen oil, pb blaster down the bolt on the threaded side (bolt off)and let it sit. i did this for 2 months. when i put it on its side and hit it, it moved on the first try. i just smacked all the way down them put it on its wheels for the final blow. my bolt only had rust on about 25% of it (all you could see) i tried to turn it back in 04 after reading on here people were having to cut them out. i even used an impacted on it. so i have been dreading it ever since. i think putting it on the side really helped to take the weight off the pivot bolt.

My 2 cents on the pivot bolt delima.
I have tried most every option for stuck pivot bolts ever known to man kind. ALL FAILED ON MINE. Mine was practically fused to the bushings. ( a 10lb sledge failed to move it!) I had to strip mine down untill I could lay it on it's side with the swingarm as high as it would physically go, and take a pnuematic cutoff wheel and cut (carefully) a 5/8 " chunk out of the bolt/sleeve on the right side between the motor and the swingarm, then lift the frame and move the motor to the opposite side and remove another chunk of bolt/sleeve from the left side with the cutoff tool. This allowes you to remove the engine and after knock the remaining ends of the bolt inward to release the swingarm from the frame. You also my have to cut the head off of the bolt.
Sound like a lot of work? IT IS! But if you are like me, you neglected this part of the bike so you probably neglected the rest of it as well, so you may as well do a ground up restore on it while it is in peices.

If anyone has to resort to cutting out their swingarm bolt and mess up there engine spacers in the process I have new steel machined inserts available for $55 shipped to ATVRIDER members. I have them for $65 on ebay.

If interested getting up with me via email would be best @ spdracer71@yahoo.com

Mine is super stuck, I really don't wanna cut it so what do yall think about using an air hammer along with something so I don't chew the bolt up, I don't really wanna heat it as Im not sure where it's stuck because I could not get it to turn even with a breaker bar and 6 foot pipe, what do you all recommend I do? Thanks.

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Originally posted by 400exwhipper
Mine is super stuck, I really don't wanna cut it so what do yall think about using an air hammer along with something so I don't chew the bolt up, I don't really wanna heat it as Im not sure where it's stuck because I could not get it to turn even with a breaker bar and 6 foot pipe, what do you all recommend I do? Thanks.

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I would let it lay on its side and keep spraying a penetrate oil everytime you walk by for like a week or so.

Air hammer is going to put some sort of damage on the bolt no matter what you use in my opinion. I have also heard of guys lifting the whole wheeler into a big press and pressing the bolt out.

You got to keep in mind that when you hammer on the bolt it maybe flexing the frame out. I've seen people crack or bust a frame to getting the bolt out.

Good luck

So I still haven't gotten the bolt out, but I've got the whole collar the bolt sits in spinning, but the bolt is stuck inside the collar, it seems to me if I grind the three tac welds off the frame the washer will come off and those collars and the bolt should slide out right? How is this supposed to come apart like in an ideal situation take the bolt out then what, thanks for any advice in advance I've tried plans A-Z with no luck lol

Remember, that bolt is actually stuck in both bearing sleeves which are inside of each side of the swing arm. No matter what you do, those are where the problem lays. Unless you can get the bolt to slide out of those sleeves ( highly improbable) you are going to have to cut them out!

If you CAREFULLY cut through each of the sleeves on each side of the engine case, you can remove the engine and then after cutting or grinding the head from the bolt, each half of the bolt and sleeve will slide inward and out of the swing arm without harming frame. A lot of people end up damaging their frames trying to separate the bolt from the sleeves with a hammer!