View single post by Jensenman
 Posted: 03-07-2009 09:23 pm
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Jensenman

 

Joined: 04-14-2005
Location: Columbia, South Carolina USA
Posts: 156
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 Are you referring to the lower inner pivot bolt? If it's stuck (seized or rusted) in the bushing sleeve then trying to press it out will do more harm than good, it'll damage the crossmember.

This method saved a motorcycle frame for me once. The swingarm bolt was seized inside the swingarm bearing spacer 'sleeve' and also inside the engine's rear mount. It's slow and tedious but it saves expensive and sometimes irreplaceable parts.

Mark the center of the bolt head as exactly as possible. Grind the threaded end flat and mark it in the center as well. Use a center punch to mark the center point with a dimple.

Now drill at the center starting with a 1/8" (3mm) bit (the dimple keeps the bit from 'walking') and keep redrilling with successively larger bits until the head comes off of the bolt. Don't go any larger than 7/16" (11 mm) as that's the bolt hole diameter in the crossmember. Do the same on the other end, then slide the control arm out of the crossmember. Now you can remove the bushing by burning out the rubber or by 'walking' a sharp 3/16" drill bit around the rubber. Use a hacksaw to *carefully* split the outer sleeve and it will come right out.

Hint: when you put everything back together, use copper based anti seize compound (not the silver colored stuff and definitely not grease) inside all of the bushing sleeves. That way the sleeve won't seize to the bolt and can be removed easily in the future. The upper bolt has been known to seize inside the crossmember tube so I'd antiseize that as well.

 

Last edited on 03-07-2009 09:26 pm by Jensenman