afpreppie04
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So I'm not sure if someone has already made a how-to thread for this, but as I was upgrading my swingarm to one from a 2008 I decided to snap some pictures and write up a thread on it in case someone is unsure of anything.
1. The first thing to do is put the bike up on the centerstand. It is fortunate our bikes come with one as this is really the only way to do this unless you have a motorcycle lift.
2. Next loosen the axle nut. If you have the actual wrench the right size feel free to use it, I use my two wrenches from the toolkit.
3. Loosen the chain adjustment nuts (when I did this I discovered that I was actually missing the locknut on my right side), slip the rear axle out, drop the wheel down, and move it out of the way. You can hang the rear caliper and chain over the swingarm for now.
4. Remove the rear hugger. There are four 10mm bolts and one pushpin up front. To remove the pushpin, push slightly in the middle of it and the center will push down. Then you can pull the whole thing out of the hole.
5. Remove both the left and right relay covers/side pods. There is a 4mm Allen bolt under the seat and then they push in sideways into rubber grommits. Having these off will make for easy access to the exhaust and shock bolts.
6. We will need to remove the mid/cat pipe. My exhaust is somewhat unique so it won't be exactly the same, but it uses the stock cat pipe so you can see what is being removed.
Remove the clamp where the slip-on portion meets the cat pipe (it is a T-bolt clamp in my picture, the stock clamp is different but in the same location.). In a stock setup there will also be a bolt going through the small tab on the frame and threading into the bracket on the cat pipe.
On the lower side of the cat pipe there is another clamp. Loosen this bolt and you should be able to remove the cat pipe (once you have loosened the exhaust mounts under the seat).
With the cat pipe removed you gain a fair amount of space under the bike, but more importantly the only thing left in the way of the swingarm is the shock.
7. Now we will move onto the rear shock. It has to come all the way out to get the swingarm out, so it is a good opportunity to lube the pivot points as well. Here you can see the lower mount, there is a nut and bolt going through a metal bushing/race and bolting into the swingarm. Remove the nut and bolt and you can slide the race to the right and out of the swingarm.
The shock also mounts via a nut and bolt at the top. Fortunately Yamaha thought to make the right side have a seat for the nut so you don't have to attempt to get in there with a wrench to hold it from the right as you unscrew the bolt from the left. This view is through the left of the subframe, you may have to remove your underseat storage area to get a straight shot at it.
8. Head over to the right side of the bike and remove the swingarm pivot nut. It is a 27mm nut, though a 1 1/16" will also work in a pinch. Some people have reported problems finding a local place that stocks a 6 point 27mm socket; my local Sears only has a 12 point chrome socket, but they have impact sockets, which are 6 point, in 27mm.
After you take the nut and washer off, tap the bolt through to the left side. I used my rear axle along with a rubber mallet to softly tap it to start; when the bolt got flush with the frame I switched to a Philips head screwdriver that was just big enough to sit in the pivot bolt's center hole without going into it.
This is what mine looked like after 19k miles.
It was dry and nasty, but the more important part is actually inside the swingarm. The inside of the swingarm has two sets of roller bearings, one on the left edge, one on the right. Then there is a race which rides on the bearings. It is a long metal tube that sits inside the swingarm. Finally is the nasty pivot bolt we just removed.
Once you have the pivot bolt out the swingarm is free to (and probably will) fall on the floor. With the swingarm out you can pop the sealing caps off either end to remove the race from inside the swingarm. This is what it looks like; you can see where it rides on the roller bearings at the outer edges.
Lube up the bearings and the race (I used Belray waterproof grease) and put it back in your swingarm (or into your new one if you are upgrading).
1. The first thing to do is put the bike up on the centerstand. It is fortunate our bikes come with one as this is really the only way to do this unless you have a motorcycle lift.
2. Next loosen the axle nut. If you have the actual wrench the right size feel free to use it, I use my two wrenches from the toolkit.
3. Loosen the chain adjustment nuts (when I did this I discovered that I was actually missing the locknut on my right side), slip the rear axle out, drop the wheel down, and move it out of the way. You can hang the rear caliper and chain over the swingarm for now.
4. Remove the rear hugger. There are four 10mm bolts and one pushpin up front. To remove the pushpin, push slightly in the middle of it and the center will push down. Then you can pull the whole thing out of the hole.
5. Remove both the left and right relay covers/side pods. There is a 4mm Allen bolt under the seat and then they push in sideways into rubber grommits. Having these off will make for easy access to the exhaust and shock bolts.
6. We will need to remove the mid/cat pipe. My exhaust is somewhat unique so it won't be exactly the same, but it uses the stock cat pipe so you can see what is being removed.
Remove the clamp where the slip-on portion meets the cat pipe (it is a T-bolt clamp in my picture, the stock clamp is different but in the same location.). In a stock setup there will also be a bolt going through the small tab on the frame and threading into the bracket on the cat pipe.
On the lower side of the cat pipe there is another clamp. Loosen this bolt and you should be able to remove the cat pipe (once you have loosened the exhaust mounts under the seat).
With the cat pipe removed you gain a fair amount of space under the bike, but more importantly the only thing left in the way of the swingarm is the shock.
7. Now we will move onto the rear shock. It has to come all the way out to get the swingarm out, so it is a good opportunity to lube the pivot points as well. Here you can see the lower mount, there is a nut and bolt going through a metal bushing/race and bolting into the swingarm. Remove the nut and bolt and you can slide the race to the right and out of the swingarm.
The shock also mounts via a nut and bolt at the top. Fortunately Yamaha thought to make the right side have a seat for the nut so you don't have to attempt to get in there with a wrench to hold it from the right as you unscrew the bolt from the left. This view is through the left of the subframe, you may have to remove your underseat storage area to get a straight shot at it.
8. Head over to the right side of the bike and remove the swingarm pivot nut. It is a 27mm nut, though a 1 1/16" will also work in a pinch. Some people have reported problems finding a local place that stocks a 6 point 27mm socket; my local Sears only has a 12 point chrome socket, but they have impact sockets, which are 6 point, in 27mm.
After you take the nut and washer off, tap the bolt through to the left side. I used my rear axle along with a rubber mallet to softly tap it to start; when the bolt got flush with the frame I switched to a Philips head screwdriver that was just big enough to sit in the pivot bolt's center hole without going into it.
This is what mine looked like after 19k miles.
It was dry and nasty, but the more important part is actually inside the swingarm. The inside of the swingarm has two sets of roller bearings, one on the left edge, one on the right. Then there is a race which rides on the bearings. It is a long metal tube that sits inside the swingarm. Finally is the nasty pivot bolt we just removed.
Once you have the pivot bolt out the swingarm is free to (and probably will) fall on the floor. With the swingarm out you can pop the sealing caps off either end to remove the race from inside the swingarm. This is what it looks like; you can see where it rides on the roller bearings at the outer edges.
Lube up the bearings and the race (I used Belray waterproof grease) and put it back in your swingarm (or into your new one if you are upgrading).
