swinger project pics

[Louis Mielke]

My new swinger for the 500R, under construction.

[84honda200s]

jeez man that thing looks like it weighs a ton. but still at least it shouldnt fold in on its self like ive seen some crap ones do.


looking good man

[Louis Mielke]

Its aluminum dude, they're stock arms cut up.
shouldn't be too much heavier than a stock TRX450R arm.

[Mike_Ham_250R]

jeez man that thing looks like it weighs a ton. but still at least it shouldnt fold in on its self like ive seen some crap ones do.


looking good man

n00b.

Looking good Louis.

[Jason Hall]

Louis, what was the length on your old setup?

[Louis Mielke]

approx +5 from stock 400ex length. i think it was in reality about 27-29" total. This arms going to be about 24.5 total. a stock arm as best I could measure is 22"

These measurements are from tip to tip. Not center to center.

This arm is also being built from a 450r swinger instead of the 400ex.
I'm trying to work up a jig now, Billy's gonna try his hand at welding it for me.

I know you're the master builder around here, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm also trying to figure out how to bolt some 450r pegs to the frame without too much cutting and welding. Probably not going to happen.

[Jason Hall]

The only worry I would have Is your shock linkage mounting point Is exactly where your joining the 2 swingarm sections. That will put lots of strain on the weld's, so make sure It's good & strong. I heard you were having trouble turning, so that much shorter on the swinger should really help.

When we mounted Derricks peg's on the Z, I welded some thick flat stock to the frame & bolted them babies right on. Then gussoted the plates up good. No matter what you need something flat to bolt the pegs to. So some welding will be needed.

[84honda200s]

n00b.

Looking good Louis.

yup thats me ...... well to the suspended trikes anyway. ill learn sooner or later.

[Louis Mielke]

The only worry I would have Is your shock linkage mounting point Is exactly where your joining the 2 swingarm sections. That will put lots of strain on the weld's, so make sure It's good & strong. I heard you were having trouble turning, so that much shorter on the swinger should really help.

When we mounted Derricks peg's on the Z, I welded some thick flat stock to the frame & bolted them babies right on. Then gussoted the plates up good. No matter what you need something flat to bolt the pegs to. So some welding will be needed.

HA! You only heard I was having trouble turning? Don't be so nice. You were on the track with me, I looked like a clown out there in the monster class. The long arm isn't so bad for general riding/trail riding but it was terrible on the track.

I'm going shorter on the swinger, wider on the axle and the sub-frames getting dropped 2.5". I think I'm gonna run shorter bars and I'm gonna try to put some different seals in the forks myself, maybe heavier springs, I don't know if I'm having problems cause I can't keep the oil in the forks, or if the springs are actually too light. I've given up shipping them out. I'm just gonna stumble through doing them myself.

[Jason Hall]

If you take the forks apart, you will see they are very easy to do. Then you'll kick yourself for not doing them yourself to begin with lol. I have learned from talking to the Ohio boys & my own forks that you will want to replace the bushings and use OEM seal's. Are the seals just blowing out, or do they leak oil out slowly? We have found out even with our big Inverted forks we need very stiff springs. I hope you can get heavy enough spring to do the job.

[BigGreenMachine]

Those cuts leave quite the gap. Lots of welding.
The concept is cool though.

[Louis Mielke]

Those cuts leave quite the gap. Lots of welding.
The concept is cool though.

The gaps aren't as bad as they look and I have some more cutting to do. The sides are getting plates for strength anyway. Alot of the area that looks like it creates gap won't exist any longer. Also the pictures are deceiving. The main join areas actually mate up pretty tight.

Trust me, more work to be done before welding.

[Louis Mielke]

If you take the forks apart, you will see they are very easy to do. Then you'll kick yourself for not doing them yourself to begin with lol. I have learned from talking to the Ohio boys & my own forks that you will want to replace the bushings and use OEM seal's. Are the seals just blowing out, or do they leak oil out slowly? We have found out even with our big Inverted forks we need very stiff springs. I hope you can get heavy enough spring to do the job.

The seals that were put in them last were OEM. Billy has directed me to a KTM forum and it seems pretty unanimous that the stock seals are terrible and that a company by the name of Synergy makes seals that won't leak on the KTM forks.

The last two sets of seals were good for about a day and by the end of the day they were weeping very badly, so I don't know what the story is. i do know that I could have gone much farther on the clickers. I really hadn't figured out how to set them right. i started at the bottom and went up, I guess I should have started at the top and went down. Could I possibly be shooting my own foot by not having the compression set high enough? Don't laugh if thats half my problem, I'm not all that smart. :-P

I'm sure when I finally tear them apart I'll have more info. I think I'm gonna hafta go to the .46 springs and cut them to fit. Billy's Z seemed pretty stiff up front.

I know I'm slow, but I'll get it right eventually. I wish I had the time and money to just go all out but I don't, so I can't and I wont. Gota be responsible etc etc...blah. Its sucks.

[Red Rider]

The seals that were put in them last were OEM. Billy has directed me to a KTM forum and it seems pretty unanimous that the stock seals are terrible and that a company by the name of Synergy makes seals that won't leak on the KTM forks.

Louis, my KTM forks were leaking also after the inverted fork conversion process, most likely due to all the heat from the welding, but they leaked none the less. I bought a set of the synergy seals, installed them myself, and haven't had a problem since.

[Louis Mielke]

Excellent! I'm very glad to hear that. How hard was it to change those out. Did you bother to re-spring yours?

Also how do you have your clickers adjusted? I'm gonna get these things right if it kills me.