This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Couple of swingarm swap problems

R

Rich

I've spent most of today swapping the dented arm from my RSVR for one I bought from here. After spending ages cleaning all the caked sh1te from around the front sprocket area, then splitting the chain and wrestling with one of the rear downpipe nuts, the arm dropped free. However, it was then that I noticed the lower mount on the Ohlins shock was seized solid and the top hat spacers were partly crumbled away through corrosion :eek: I managed to get them out and free the ball joint off with some WD40 and grease and they are just about reuseable but will need to replaced. However, the top hat spacers and seals don't appear on the parts list. Does anyone know where I can get them? Arrowed in yellow
ohlins.jpg


Anyway, I fitted the replacement arm and the linkage that came with it as it looked ok and bearings felt good. However, upon lowering the bike off the stand and onto the side stand, it was obvious the bike was leaning over way more than normal as the back end was higher :eek: I measured the linkages and both the dogbone and sideplates are different to the R ones.

So, are the linkages different between the std Mille and R? Or did they change during the model run? I'm really hoping that if I refit the R linkages to the new arm it will sit properly. Otherwise, it means taking it all apart again and refitting the dented arm which I really don't want to do :roll

Anyone know?
 
Last edited:
As far as I know 98-00 and 01-03 are diferent, doesnt matter if its a R or not. Swingarm stayed the same for all models.

Check here for serial numbers.
 
Thanks for that. As long as the swingarm is the same then the mounting point for the linkage will also be the same, meaning if I refit the old dogbone and side plates all should be well :thumbup

I notice the top hats and seals are available from Aprilia for the std shock - are they the same for the Ohlins?
 
Just remembered the other thing that went wrong - the pillar that sticks out from the bottom bolt of the clutch slave cylinder, well the allen bolt that holds it on has rounded out :angry Stupid design (deep set head) means you can't get a driver bit down the tube so I had to use the wrong end of an ordinary allen key, and being the ball ended type it didn't work :dunno

Any idea how to get it out?
 
Rich said:
Thanks for that. As long as the swingarm is the same then the mounting point for the linkage will also be the same, meaning if I refit the old dogbone and side plates all should be well :thumbup

I notice the top hats and seals are available from Aprilia for the std shock - are they the same for the Ohlins?
Click to expand...

Hey Rich

Will be trying to find out as well, the Ohlins I just bought for mine seems to be seized as well?? Will let you know how it goes.......

ohlins.jpg


Cheers Pete
 
rich

swingarms are same 98-03

speak to harris performance, k-tech
someone like that about replacements

can't remember if you can split them apart from one another or not
i know on my 04 race shock i can as i adjusted the width to suit my needs


It is one area on a mille that unfortunately gets neglected in the cleaning process

I've seen far worse on my mates 02

as for the bottom slave bolt/tube think you'll have to come up with something there
 
Rich said:
Just remembered the other thing that went wrong - the pillar that sticks out from the bottom bolt of the clutch slave cylinder, well the allen bolt that holds it on has rounded out :angry Stupid design (deep set head) means you can't get a driver bit down the tube so I had to use the wrong end of an ordinary allen key, and being the ball ended type it didn't work :dunno

Any idea how to get it out?
Click to expand...

I had to drill out the bolts on mine when I was changing my front sprocket

Still only got 2 out three bolts holding the clutch slave cylinder on , oops !

Miff
 
Thanks guys. Well, I've swapped the linkage back and all seems well (I think). However, just to make sure it's sitting at the correct height, please could someone measure the distance between the right hand bobbin thread on the swingarm and the rear footrest mounting bolt? I made mine 475mm.
Thanks again :thumbup
measure.jpg
 
cheesy said:
rich

swingarms are same 98-03

speak to harris performance, k-tech
someone like that about replacements

can't remember if you can split them apart from one another or not
i know on my 04 race shock i can as i adjusted the width to suit my needs


It is one area on a mille that unfortunately gets neglected in the cleaning process

I've seen far worse on my mates 02

as for the bottom slave bolt/tube think you'll have to come up with something there
Click to expand...

Don't bother to talk to Harris unless it's aftermarket ohlins - I've tried dealing with them for the ape ohlins stuff and they couldn't give a toss, they'll just tell ya they don't deal in the inferior stuff :jack

K-Tech however were incredibly helpful. :thumbup
 
Deacs said:
Don't bother to talk to Harris unless it's aftermarket ohlins - I've tried dealing with them for the ape ohlins stuff and they couldn't give a toss, they'll just tell ya they don't deal in the inferior stuff :jack

K-Tech however were incredibly helpful. :thumbup
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'l give K-Tech a ring. As a last resort, I could probably get some machined up at work but that would probably mean a long wait as the machine shop guy is always really busy
 
keep an eye on the rose joint in the bottom mount mine seized and ended up snapping the height adjuster bolt bit this in turn stripped the threads out of the upper bit which in turn is part of the chrome rod . so it has a sachs unit on at the mo a firm called kias suspension quoted £140 to service and replace all the bits very helpful . harris were **** never called back
 
camngetit said:
keep an eye on the rose joint in the bottom mount mine seized and ended up snapping the height adjuster bolt bit this in turn stripped the threads out of the upper bit which in turn is part of the chrome rod . so it has a sachs unit on at the mo a firm called kias suspension quoted £140 to service and replace all the bits very helpful . harris were **** never called back
Click to expand...
Cheers - rose joint is free now, I put a bar through the ball and worked it round with WD40 and it freed up. It's now nicely greased up. Do you know if the top hat spacers are the same for the Ohlins and Sachs shocks?
 
concerning your ride height have you put them on wrong way round ??????? this may be why it was sitting different???
 
Exactly the same thing had happened to an Ohlins shock that I bought from Ebay - the spacer is sort of flaking?

You'll probably need a press to get it out/a new one in.

I took my shock to an offical Ohlins service centre, Steve Jordan Motorcycles nr. Dorking.

They ordered up the parts from Harris (I suspect that Harris being the Ohlins agent for the UK is the only place you can get them from).

However, the part from Harris (according to Steve Jordans) took ages to arrive and as a consequence I turned up to pick up the shock having been advised that it would be ready on that date, only to be told that the part hadn't come in :roll Not what I considered to be particularly good customer service since I had taken a morning off work, and driven for 1 hour + each way, to collect it.

I have to say that I paid more for the service+parts from them than I paid for the shock, however the action and responsiveness from the reworked shock was a revelation.

Might be worth a few people checking the top mount on their shocks (Sachs unit included), as when I came to replace the Sachs with the Ohlins, the top mount on the Sachs had cracked almost all the way through, which would have led within a few hundred miles to complete rear suspension failure :eek:
 
Hi, check out this post for details of the Onlins lower spacer. They are a tight fit but do come out with a bit of persuasion. I was advised to avoid Harris, and am glad I did. K-Tech were brilliant.

As for the ride height issue, I refitted the original linkage and all is well :thumbup
 
×

Similar threads

Rizla
2012 Tuono V4 / rsv4 hybrid
Replies
4
Views
2K
Aldo
Aldo
golightly
Early Gen1 Rear Shock Issues 98
Replies
1
Views
905
golightly
golightly
G
Polished Swingarm
Replies
0
Views
621
GeoffH
G
C
Want To Ask About RSV 1000R & 1000R Factory
Replies
3
Views
3K
celicaizpowe
C
D
Yamaha TDR 250
Replies
4
Views
2K
Dalmatian
D

New Posts