video of the unknown

[Smitty]

I just thought some would like to see the swing-arm off, the drive gear, and the drive shaft and u-joint. Just in case your thinking of working on it.
https://www.facebook.com/video/video...ideo_processed

[wnt2ryd]

Good info!

[Bud2rat]

I serviced mine 4 weeks ago along with mounting a new rear tire. I left on June 19th for a 10 day trip. Ending up shorting the trip by 3 days due to an unknown vibration through out the bike. One minute you could feel it in the floorboards, the next minute it would be in the handlebars. After getting the bike home, I removed the front tire and checked bearings, brakes and rotors. Next, I removed the rear tire and swing arm to recheck the bearings, brakes, rotor, and driveshaft. Well, it ending up being a bad U-joint. I ordered a new U-joint. I will be putting everything back together today. Hopefully, I'll get to ride some today. The weather has been terrible this week (rain and more rain). So, if any of you are thinking about servicing the rear, be sure to checkout the U-joint. Mine appeared to be OK 4 weeks ago, but apparently not.

[Smitty]

I know how you feel about not riding. It just goes to show you can do all the service you can and things still happen. Why this has gone bad on mine with only 23,000 miles alway had oil changed 3,000 miles with synthetic is beyond me.

If anyone wants to see something I didn't show just post and I'll see if I can film it for you while it's apart.

[markclark57]

Thanks, I'm taking mine apart later today. Its time to do all the grease/oil/seals/rear tire replacing.

[VulcanE]

I've almost got mine back together, did the fork oil, swing arm, and made some spacers to go on the swing arm to take all the slop out of the side play. Replaced the pinion seal in the final drive, and mounting a set of stock 103" HD touring mufflers to my V&H header pipes.

[macmac]

great video..... The gears though are splines gears walk around one another, cogs get turned by a chain, and splines fit one another but never walk. They stay on constant mesh. never the less they will gaul like a bastard if they are left dry.

What i mean by gaul is easy to see where metal is slightly damaged where grease has worn away and left metal flaking which is part dried grease and small metal bits.

Going for way too long a time parts like this will either seize or 'worry' to the point the splines go away completely.

last week I did the grease on my triple tree, changed fork oil, and installed a new ft tire.

I also changed the coolant.

After this weekend I need to tear the down the rear end to check the U Joint and mostly to replace the rubber drive shaft boot again... 3rd one. Maybe it's NH, or maybe that rubber is crap. better check yours for cracking and getting dry.

After that I need to dump all the BF and install my first new spark plugs. Closing in on 28,000 so plugs will be a point as will chain extenders.

The rear end will be a day's labor for me working alone as i an fussy about clean.

The rest will be another day sometime, and probably not an all day deal, but it might be with the clutch BF.

[macmac]

Originally Posted by VulcanE

I've almost got mine back together, did the fork oil, swing arm, and made some spacers to go on the swing arm to take all the slop out of the side play. Replaced the pinion seal in the final drive, and mounting a set of stock 103" HD touring mufflers to my V&H header pipes.

Well that's and idea I didn't think of..... Got specs on the spacers?

[Bud2rat]

My bike has 39,000 miles on it and the swing arm doesn't have any side-to-side play, it was tight putting it back together.

[VulcanE]

Originally Posted by macmac

Well that's and idea I didn't think of..... Got specs on the spacers?

The OD is 1.380"
The ID is 1.103" (you can double check by measuring the sleeve that rides in the bearing, and adding .001" to the measurement)
and my thickness was .052" ( I got that by adding the length of the 2 sleeves and the center spacer together, then subtracting the number miked over the frame, including the seals, and dividing by 2)
It is a good snug fit with no side play at all. I used a pry-bar to see if it would shift to either side and it don't, but the swing arm still moves freely up & down. It did make a notable difference in the feel of the bike when cornering.

[macmac]

Originally Posted by VulcanE

The OD is 1.380"
The ID is 1.103" (you can double check by measuring the sleeve that rides in the bearing, and adding .001" to the measurement)
and my thickness was .052" ( I got that by adding the length of the 2 sleeves and the center spacer together, then subtracting the number miked over the frame, including the seals, and dividing by 2)
It is a good snug fit with no side play at all. I used a pry-bar to see if it would shift to either side and it don't, but the swing arm still moves freely up & down. It did make a notable difference in the feel of the bike when cornering.

So there are no 'thrust washers' made of anything to back up the seals?

I am not sure I understand what stops the swing arm from moving to the sides. I am aware that what ever is done to one side must be done to the other.

I sort of have CRS even though I have done this job several times for me and others.

[VulcanE]

Originally Posted by macmac

So there are no 'thrust washers' made of anything to back up the seals?

I am not sure I understand what stops the swing arm from moving to the sides. I am aware that what ever is done to one side must be done to the other.

I sort of have CRS even though I have done this job several times for me and others.

Mac, the way things are made on our Nomads (and I think it's a flawed design), when you tighten the pivot bolt of the swing arm, it locks up against the 2 hardened sleeves (that ride in the needle bearings) and the center spacer. This dimension is set, and the swing arm will float from side to side till it hits the rubber coated seals that are being wrongly used as thrust washers. I had an old set of seals that the outside rubber coating had been worn away, so I thought I'd experiment with them. I installed them and miked the distance from one side to the other, and it was .106" less than what the 2 sleeves and center spacer totaled up to be. So the swing arm will flop .106" from side to side butting up to the bearing seals. I made 2 equally thick shims (.052" thick to give .001" clearance per side) that would fit over the hardened sleeves, and butt up against the naked side of the seals (thin coat of moly-60 lube between them) to take up the extra space. The swing arm is plenty wide enough to get over them, and as you torque the pivot bolt, it does squeeze the swing arm together captivating the spacer over the sleeve, and against the seal. I put these on before I left to go on my 3,300 mile New England trip, and earlier this week, I tore it down to inspect how well it worked. I rode in some pretty extreme conditions, ranging from massive pot holes to heavy down pours, all pulling a loaded trailer and with a passenger, and I like how it held up.
If the sleeve doesn't go thru the spacer, you don't change anything except the width of the swing arm, and the side play will still be what it was before you started.

[macmac]

Ok so there IS thrust washers you made. I got lost in the terms, and have forgotten the how to of how that set up work exactly. I had considered nylon HDPE, bronze and oil bronze spacers, at 1/2 the slop.

I just haven't gone that far. My 01 1500 (long ago stolen) had a slop of 0.136! You could feel it lunk over over in curves.

I recall coming to understand the 'thrust washers' needed to mount on the bearing sleeve spacer OD, but could be a larger diameter then the OD of the seal, and of course split the difference of the slop gap so one thrust washer was on each end of the swing arm.

Do you know how the seal backs are holding up now? There must still be wear happening on the back side.

Also from reading this I wonder if your thrust washers are more U shaped in ID than complete circles? it almost reads like you insert these just before you tighten the long bolt.

The image i sort of 'see' is like old fashion front end alignment shims.

I had wondered about any 'Kit' too that would be sort of standard, but it would need to be more than 2 piece as a thick shim and a series of thin shims for both end of the swing arm in order to work on all the 1500' and 1600's.

0 slop is good so long as the swing arm can still go / down. Most bikes i know of that have taper cage roller bearings like the goose neck does at the swing arm are usually pre-loaded and backed off to be set to 0.002, or 0.001 per side of center.

I hope this makes sense 1st post of the day.. Thanks for the reply.

[VulcanE]

The back side of the seals are holding up good. They are a light press into the groove they fit in, and they don't rotate. The new shims are a perfect circle on the ID & OD. I made them on a Mitsubishi Wire EDM machine. I centered the sleeves and spacer in the cavity of the frame, left & right, then set the shims over the exposed edges of each sleeve. The Moly-60 grease holds them in place while you position the swing arm (with a little Moly on the surfaces of it too). The shims are sandwiched in Moly-60, and I was going to use the oil-lite bronze bushings, but decided to use stainless instead.

[kmaysob]

thanks for the video! ive been planning to do this job once it cools down again. had the bags off this weekend and meant to change the final drive oil while i was there, but i guess i got too excited to see how the exhaust sounded.