Suspension linkage??

[levert]

Has anyone else had the two Ibeam looking bars in the rear linkage have their holes elongated.
I was regreasing the swingarm and linkage and noticed that there was a lot of slop in the linkage.After tacking the two ibeam bars off,I noticed their holes had become elongated?This is weird considering they where torqued up right, does anyone else have this problem and is there an aftermarket part which is not so flimsey.These things are just stamped steel, not very hard at all.

 

[canyncarvr]

Likely your suspension wasn't put together correctly the last time.

If it was, then 'flimsy' isn't the problem, it's lack of maintenance that was the culprit.

It's easy on the oem linkage to tighten the pull rods against the shoulder of the bolt as opposed to correctly having the shoulder of the bolt go through the rod. After a couple of bumps the rod gets knocked off the shoulder of the bolt, then you have enough slop in the assembly that will very quickly elongate the pull rod holes.

Yes, there are aftermarket parts that are 'not so flimsy.'

Again, it's not a matter of flimsy. If you had an aftermarket rod in the same put-together state as the oem rods, they would get wasted, too.

But, the aftermarket rods I use (Devol makes a nice set that is adustable in length too!) require KX250 bolts that are considerably longer than the OEM bolts. Primarily that is because the Devol rods are aluminum and so are quite a bit thicker.

BTW, the Devol rods do not come with the required bolts and shims required for their installation. The Devol folks have the part numbers you need, but they don't (didn't awhile back anyway) sell you the hardware. That will have to come from your local Kawi dealer or a web site like RonAyers.

The lack of maintenance part would figure in if the assembly was so in need of service that it effectively had no bearings in it at all. The force of the rear wheel banging on it all the time could not only take out the pull rods, but take out the entire unitrack knuckle as well!

In any case, be prepared to replace the bottom shock mount bearing. It's toast most of the time. The Kawi replacement bearing isn't worth a hoot..the pins are sloppy-loose in the cage just aching to fail. And fail they do!

Use the best grease you can get. Belray grease for marine applications has been reportedly used to good effect. Your one-each moly-di-sul chassis lube is a waste of time and effort.

I use a Hydrotex product which is a combination of a bunch of stuff...a semi-syn grease called Hydrosyn. It's expensive...about $10 a tube, but it works!

Besides that, it's a pretty color!!

Gotta have that!!

 

[levert]

I've ripped this apart every year,this is the first time I noticed this.probably I did overlook something, all the bearings are fine.I agree with you on the use of high quality grease , I use the BMW grease for use on linages, expensive but worth it.

All this comes down to ,to many bikes and you eventually overlook something.I used to be fixing everyone elses bike, this year I'll just look after my own and not make mistakes.

 

[canyncarvr]

Missing the bolt shoulder part isn't hard. Well...it wasn't hard for me, anyway. ;) I luckily caught it after a short warm-up ride (WHAT is that noise?) so I fixed it before it caused any damage.

It's also a main reason I got the Devol links.

After you clean and regrease everything, the seals now being full of grease make it quite difficult to get the bolt shoulders into the rod. I ended up using a c-clamp to put some pressure on the junction until I could get the nut on far enough to hold the shoulder in place. (Don't squeeze it hard enough to bend the rod!)

Keep correct torque values in mind. The pull rod-to-unitrack/swingarm nuts I believe are 61ft.lbs. Check your manual to be sure.

Didn't intend to take you down a notch for lack of maintenance. Seems to me no matter how often I take mine apart....has been as often as 4X/year...there is something wrong. Besides, like I said, I've had the problem myself (missed the shoulder).

Cheers!