Swing Arm - Damaged Collar and Dog Bones (Leveling Links)

[RedRider]

Am doing my first service on the swing arms bearings. There are only 140,000 miles on them (and they have never been looked at - whoops).

 

One of the bearings was rough, so I replaced them both along with the seals. Easy peasy.

 

However, while cleaning and lubing the shock/support pivots, I noticed something troubling. The leveling links / dog bones holes have been pounded oblong. One of the links was also slightly bent. This isn't good. I pounded the link back flat and went to reinstall. It turns out the bolt is bent. Pounded it back straight also.

 

OK, this is odd. Went to clean up and regrease the collar/bearings where the shock linkage attaches to the swing arm and found ---- That bolt is bent also. Took the collar (inner race sleeve) out of the swingarm and it was cracked. It appears the needle bearings are still in good shape.

 

Not sure what caused all this damage, but I am guessing the leveling links were not of sufficient hardness and they were pounded out of round. Things went south from there. The OEM shock went out at about 110,000 miles and I have been running a Baron replacement. Didn't notice the problems when I changed the shock out, but I didn't really look closely.

 

Am purchasing new bolts and collars along with new leveling links. Guess it will be next weekend before I can button up winter maintenance on the Venture.

 

RR

 

P.S. Looks like some of the bearings need replaced also.

 

[eagleeye]

Jeez, this is stock yamaha stuff, right? Not good.

It's good that you found it now.

[cecdoo]

Ya do know that you are supposed to keep off-road riding and jumps to a minimum on the RSV, rite ;-)

 

Craig

[Du-Rron]

These are sum sure tuff bikes.

[WildBill1]

Appears to be a lot of pot hole and railroad damage to me. Just my observation.

[Flyinfool]

Lubrication is optional??????

 

Did you pay attention to the direction of the bent bolts and damage to determine the direction of force that did the damage.

 

Is it possible that maybe you bottomed out hard when the shock was bad?

[RedRider]

Jeff, I didn't notice the problem until I had it all apart. Therefore, no idea on the orientation.

 

It is entirely possible this was caused by bottoming out. When my shock was bad, I believe I was heading back from Texas. Bottomed out hard enough for the rear brake caliper to put a small dent in the edge of the rear fender.

 

New dogbones from DiamondR showed up today (included the bolts but I am ordering new ones from Yamaha anyway as I'm not sure of the hardness of the DiamondR bolts).

 

Allen from DiamondR put a note in the box to pass along the word that they only have a few sets of leveling link dogbones left. Due to slow sales of this item lately, they likely won't remake any more. Will start a separate thread about this to let everybody know.

 

RR

[GeorgeS]

As to " dog bones" . Anybody having trouble finding them. It is very easy to Manufacture your own dogbones. Just buy some stock metal,

and use your drill press to drill the holes.

I did it, to Raise my Rear end. Took more time to replace them, then is did to manufacture them.

 

See: the Maintenance section, there is posting there with photo's as to how to do it. Not a big deal.

[Flyinfool]

What I am wondering is with the home made links if the hardness of the metal is correct to prevent the holes from elongating.

 

Any one here have access to a hardness tester to test a stock Yamaha link vs an aftermarket leveling link vs a chunk of strip metal from the hardware store?

 

Next questions/thoughts;

The links in the pic look like they were worn to the oblong shape as opposed to pounded to the oblong. The metal is gone it is not displaced.

When the bolts are tightened is the link clamped in place of is that hole a hinge point.

I would think the link hole would make a very poor bearing and that it should be clamped solid. But your show obvious movement. Is it possible the the bolts have been loose for a long time?

Were these aftermarket leveling links or the factory links?

 

Sorry, I'm being an engineer again, failure analysis is fun............

[RedRider]

Jeff, I am an engineer also, so I understand.

 

They were clamped solid with a washer between the link and the pivot.

 

Let me look at these more closely in the morning. It should be fairly easy to determine wear versus displacement if examined more closely.

 

BTW, I have the OEM links and this set of damaged links (and a set of new DiamondR links - currently uninstalled). I would be very interested in a hardness test.

 

Anybody have a test gauge we can use?

 

RR

[eagleeye]

A good tool and die shop should have a hardness tester.

My guess is that NO links are heat treated. However you can buy 1/4 hard, 1/2 hard, etc - metal.

[Flyinfool]

Jeff I knew that you were also an engineer, That is why I had to and

 

I sure wish I had access to a hardness tester........

[Dano]

So we're to a different part and model in re-engineering these bikes???

 

Gotta LOVE this group:bighug:

[V7Goose]

Really appreciate your posting this info with pictures. This is REALLY worrisome to me, since it is not something that we routinely check, but I damn sure will now! I have put very few miles on my 05 in the past several years since moving to the mountains with all the mud and snow on the 2 miles of dirt road leading to my house, and I am considering selling it this spring - gonna have to make sure nothing like this is hiding in there for the new owner...

[vzuden]

As to " dog bones" . Anybody having trouble finding them. It is very easy to Manufacture your own dogbones. Just buy some stock metal,

and use your drill press to drill the holes.

I did it, to Raise my Rear end. Took more time to replace them, then is did to manufacture them.

 

See: the Maintenance section, there is posting there with photo's as to how to do it. Not a big deal.

 

i made mine according these instructions and they have 50,000 miles on them with no unusual wear. I'm not sure the source of the metal as it come from my bin of scraps. It was easy to work with so it most likely was nothing special

[eagleeye]

OK, if I was still working I would have checked the hardness on our hardness tester. But I'm not so I had my friend check the hardness on the RC scale for me. The dark, longer ones are the stock links from my RSTD and the other ones are lowering links for my DL650 Suzuki.

I knew what the outcome would be, but now you can see what it is:

 

They are both soft metal as I suggested they would be.