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!!!!