Pivot pin grown to the pivot bearing

[jaak]

Hi Gents,

Has anyone encountered the issue when one of the pivot pins has rusted to the bearing?
I'm having trouble with the left one where gearbox meets swingarm (the one with the collar nut). Tried penetrating oil and heat but it's almost as welded together. As a last resort I'm considering cutting the pin into two just to get the swingarm off.
Oh and why I'm doing it is because that same bearing needs to be changed.

Br,
Jaak

 

[Mac Henderson]

Have you used enough heat? If its as it left the factory, they use a hell of a lot of thread lock on the pins. I just had my final drive off to change the FD input seal (thanks Mikeyboy!) and both pivot pins were fully covered in the stuff. You need to get the pin up to 120 degress C to soften the thread lock - check out the Chris Harris video on Youtube for a blow by blow account: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0_j8SuiFQI.
As the pivot pins are aluminium, its unlikely its rusted into the steel bearing race.

 

[jaak]

I have removed the pins before and when reinstalling I don't use any threadlocker on them.

 

[jaak]

I have the wheel and shock off again and took some pictures. The pin is frozen to the bearing. There seems to be some rust involved. I'm afraid to break the gearbox if a breaker bar is used. All bright and even not so bright are most welcome!
As a last resort I'm willing to cut the pin to get the swingarm off.

Br,
Jaak

 

[topcat2006]

I had this one - ended up cutting the pin with a hacksaw blade to get the shaft out and then drilling out the pin and luckily being able to "unwind" the remnants of the pin from the threads in the gearbox.

 

[Hay Ewe]

have you tried heating the area as per the maintenance manual?

how about drilling down the center of the bolt with progressivly larger drills and the cutting out what left - carefully - with a saw?

 

[jaak]

Thanks guys. Sadly it's the case where the last resort is the only one.


Br,
Jaak

 

[Hay Ewe]

what is your last resort?

 

[(RIP) trickytree]

what is your last resort?

PX for a KTM. Or a Harley. It's all the rage don't ya know.

Sure Mr. Steptoe has a post on this somewhere.

 

[Steptoe]

FFS, get a slide hammer in the pivot pin and whack it out. Most likely feck up the pin but it'll enable you (and us) to get on with your life.

 

[jaak]

YES, there's still hope. The last option would have been to cut the pin in half.
A lot of penetrating oil over night and it's moving. The rest will hopefully happen tomorrow:
(I also made a protector from sheet metal to keep the turning pressure of the bearing away from the gearbox wall. Otherwise the bearing race would have chewed itself into the gearbox.)



Br,
Jaak

 

[jaak]

Conclusion

This ended quite nicely. Made a bearing puller for the remaining old race and got it out in no time. Then the new bearing to the freezer and at the same time warmed up the appropriate part of the swingarm to ~50C. It was nice to hear the click when the new bearing fell to it's socket.

Br,
Jaak