200X swingarm pivot bolt stuck. REALLY stuck.

[TheRadBaron]

I need to get the swingarm out of my new-to-me '83 200X so I can change the bearings but the pivot bolt is SERIOUSLY stuck in the swingarm. I got the nut off and I couldn't get the bolt to even budge whacking it with a hand sledge (with the nut threaded onto the end to protect the threads). I stripped the trike down to the bare frame figuring that I could put it in a shop press and press the bolt out. I soaked it down in Kroil for a few days and tried to press it out yesterday.
Looking at the frame, if I use a piece of pipe to support the other end of the bolt so that the round head of the pivot bolt just fits inside of the pipe and the pipe rests against the chain adjuster, I should be able to apply a lot of force without risk of tweaking anything.
I gave this a shot yesterday but the only pipe I had handy was some 1" EMT (thin wall) steel conduit that clearly wasn't strong enough. I still applied a lot of force with my 20-ton hydraulic press before the pipe buckled but the pivot bolt didn't budge. I'll get some heavy-wall pipe and try it again but I thought that I'd check here to see if anyone had any slick ideas that would help. I've had stubborn swingarm bolts before but nothing like this.

[DohcBikes]

I'll get some heavy-wall pipe and try it again
You've already answered your own question. The only thing you can do is keep at it. I've had better results with a sledge than a press, you just gotta set it up right. I dont know how far you are threading the nut on, but i like to leave just the tiniest space between the nut flange and the frame, then hit it hard, real fng hard. Once you get that tiny gap to close, back the nut off two threads, and hit it real fng hard again, and so on. Once it starts moving at all from the heavy impact, the press will pop it right out.

Carefull with that 20 ton, this bolt is not worth getting hurt!!

[blue27]

I pressed one out before in a small Harbor freight press, had to take the top off the press and slide the frame down into the press and bolt it back together and use a lot of heat (torch).

[ONEBAD350X]

pneumatic air hammer and heat also work great

[xrider]

Heat, Penetrating Oil, and a BFH

[pipeline triker]

they are sometimes awful. I have had a few lately that I have had to cut and 2 that were junk when they came out. My liquid R soaked for 2 months and still had to be beat out. be carful with that press, as DOHC said get it moving with a sledge and then use the press if still needed.

[Motorgidd]

I did one of these with a buddy a few months back on his 85 200x. We soaked that thing with Kroil for at least 2 weeks and never did get it to budge more than a 1/16th of an inch. We tried using a hammer and punch, air hammer/chisel, heat, cussing, threatening, nothing worked. We didn’t have a press big enough so the last option was to use a sawzall.

We took the sawzall and cut the swing arm bolt on the inside of the left and right side of the frame. Make sure you have a few new high quality steel cutting blades, maybe a few different sizes as well. If I remember right we used a fairly long blade. We had the trike propped up off the ground with the swing arm propped up as well. We did end up scratching the frame a little bit on the inside but nothing bad. After the left and right of the swinger bolt are cut it will drop out of there with no problem. If you go this route take your time and stop and check to make sure the blade isn’t cutting into the frame. Good luck!

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[rdlsz24]

Sawzall worked for me, and I could see on the frame where somebody had to do the same thing sometime in the past. After I went through all that and got the new bolt installed I would remove it and re-grease every so often

Rob