11-29-2019, 07:22 AM
Hello Dave, There is a tolerance when the swingarm is assembled to facilitate quick installation.
I'm doing this from memory so there could be mistakes in what i say, the installation includes a dustcover on the lefthand side of the swingarm, this also affects clearance, so if the design has a thicker dustcover than the one at hand at the time of assembly that would affect the clearance.
The needle bearings don't run on the bolt ( or should not ), they ride on the compressed hollow shaft.
in my case the long bolt was done up tight but there was just a little clearance left ( yes, sliding back and forth along the bolt but by a minute amount, say 0.1 mm ) that probably got bigger over time ( at 7000 km ), enough to keep the frame from compressing the bearing shaft ( the hollow part where the bearings run on), when the long bolt was undone the gap was 0.7 mm. measured with a feeler gauge, i had some 0.6 mm material and produced a shim ( washer ) that just fitted in the gap and when the bolt was done up loosely it already eliminated all sideways play.
So when the long bolt was tightened up properly it had "locked" the hollow pipe in place so it could now act as an inner race for the bearings to run on as it was designed.
Exactly as with the front wheel bearing where the hollow shaft compresses the inner race of the bearings, the spacer in between the inner bearing races and both spacers on the outside of the shaft where the dust seals ride on is compressed by the bolt on the right hand side of the front wheel.
As you can see in the video the long bolt had been acting as the bearing judging by the wear marks on it.
To my knowledge wisedrum has had the same issue but he just torqued up the long bolt until the play had disappeared, same thing but i had a look at the frame and decided that a shim would also do the job so that's what happened.
It did not affect the ride and i only noticed it when i had a close look at all the mechanical parts after i got the bike, like a pilot's pre flight checks, as some might affirm; new does not mean good.
I'm doing this from memory so there could be mistakes in what i say, the installation includes a dustcover on the lefthand side of the swingarm, this also affects clearance, so if the design has a thicker dustcover than the one at hand at the time of assembly that would affect the clearance.
The needle bearings don't run on the bolt ( or should not ), they ride on the compressed hollow shaft.
in my case the long bolt was done up tight but there was just a little clearance left ( yes, sliding back and forth along the bolt but by a minute amount, say 0.1 mm ) that probably got bigger over time ( at 7000 km ), enough to keep the frame from compressing the bearing shaft ( the hollow part where the bearings run on), when the long bolt was undone the gap was 0.7 mm. measured with a feeler gauge, i had some 0.6 mm material and produced a shim ( washer ) that just fitted in the gap and when the bolt was done up loosely it already eliminated all sideways play.
So when the long bolt was tightened up properly it had "locked" the hollow pipe in place so it could now act as an inner race for the bearings to run on as it was designed.
Exactly as with the front wheel bearing where the hollow shaft compresses the inner race of the bearings, the spacer in between the inner bearing races and both spacers on the outside of the shaft where the dust seals ride on is compressed by the bolt on the right hand side of the front wheel.
As you can see in the video the long bolt had been acting as the bearing judging by the wear marks on it.
To my knowledge wisedrum has had the same issue but he just torqued up the long bolt until the play had disappeared, same thing but i had a look at the frame and decided that a shim would also do the job so that's what happened.
It did not affect the ride and i only noticed it when i had a close look at all the mechanical parts after i got the bike, like a pilot's pre flight checks, as some might affirm; new does not mean good.