250sx swingarm bearings

[rugman316]

I picked up an 85 Sx the other day and noticed last night the swingarm bearings need to be changed. I did quite a bit of reading and it sounds like you need to buy or make a few special tools to the job but I am still not clear about what all you have to take apart on the drive shaft side so this is what I am thinking. Disconnect brake lines and cables, unbolt the bottom of the rear shock. Now will the rear end come down enough that the drive shaft doesn't have to be disconnected probably not? I am hoping someboday who has done this before could maybe walk me through it a little better. Thanks

[ailll1]

You will need a locknut tool to remove the locknut on the pivot bolt on the right side of the swingarm and a 17mm allen socket. Like you said, disconnect the 2 brake cable and the little hose going into the drum. When I did it, I use a small pry bar to remove the driveshaft from the engine, you wont be able to remove it completly at the point. Once you got the pivot bolt out, the swingarm will need to be tossed to the right to clear the left side pivot. Now the fun starts: You will need to remove the old races from the swingarm. Most of the time they are rusted solid and will need a lot of penetrating oil, heat and ing
Here is the honda tool to remove the locknut but you can make yourself one out of a
1 1/8 inch if I remember right:

Hope this helps!

[Dirtcrasher]

I use a big punch/BFH to loosen the RH locknut and a 17MM bolt with a nut welded on it to loosen the pivot bolt.

It all has to come off, the shaft is in the way of the bearing. Have fun getting the outer races out, I knock out the caps and races, put in grease fittings in the center tube and tap in the new outside bearing race after a night in the freezer.

Not hard, but not fun either...............

Tons of posts on this but you may not be able to find them.

[rugman316]

I thought I read that the locknut has lefthand threads. Can somebody tell me what it is for sure?

[ailll1]

No lefthand thread anywhere to remove the swingarm

[tri again]

We found a 30203 bearing locally for 10 bucks with race and seals, for starters.

We blocked the machine with tons of firewood and blocks and rocks on a trailer and went at it. The machine has to be blocked and balanced so the swing arm can move back freely without the whole machine falling over when the center of gravity changes.
You'll also be mashing and twisting on it so make sure it's secure.

We Did NOT take off the cables, tires or a bunch of other stuff the manual said to because we are arrogant and essentially lazy and find joy in outsmarting engineers.

The swing arm will weasel back enough for you to get it all done.
The driveshaft simply prys back and falls off to get out of the way.
Do Not ruin the boot and make sure the boot goes back exactly the way it came off.
esp same rotational position.

Getting the races out is the big pita
We bought a small dremel type grinding wheel to get behind the races.
Apparently they are machined into the swingarm without regard of being able to grab them at a later time to pull them out.

Grind in a couple opposing spots behind the races, and find a solid drift, punch or similar with some heft and mass to tap them from the opposite side, so it has to be long enough to go all the way thru the swingarm.

You can also weld a nut into the races, or buy a puller but the above way was easier and the puller will still have nothing to bite onto, so you'll prob have to grind behind the races if you have the luck we had.

Find a bolt with a 17mm head instead of a pricy allen wrench for the axle and double nut it so you can use it as a wrench to remove that little stub axle.

We tapped on that funny lock nut with a regular punch and it came off before it got destroyed, or you can make the correct tool from a socket.

It;s really only a lock nut to keep the stub axle from coming loose but it may be hard to cross reference torque to blows when reassembling.

You'll feel so much better when it's done and you won't have to worry about it for another 25 years.

Some folks put in grease fittings and some do this as normal servicing.
If you do a 'search' and it works, you will get a concentrated blast of suggestions.

Don't forget to check and change your differential oil.

[Dirtcrasher]

Couple points:

If you over torque that pivot bolt, it puts more stress on the bearings which wears them out prematurely.

The outer races are a piece of cake - Smash through one cap behind the outer race (it's thin) and use a long punch to get out the opposing bearing. Now go the other way and smash out the other.
Now the caps are gone, tap the 2 holes in the bottom hole for a grease fitting. Your talking 15$ or less for a tap and 2 fittings.

Clean the center tube, Then cut a wood dowel to fit inside the tube before I closed it up; It displaces the open area so only a small amount of grease is used.
It won't rattle around once filled with grease.

Now either grind down the old outer race or use a suitable socket and tap in the new outer races you left in the freezer overnight.

The reason the whole swingarm is normally removed is because if those pivot bearings are gone (and especially an 85SX) It's a good time to check out the axle, axle bearings, differential etc. I've bought SX's for parts that had sheared splines on the axle from rust and wear...............

[rugman316]

Thanks for all the great info guys. I got my socket yesterday and am going to make my locknut removal tool today. I have been spraying it with pb blaster every day for a week now so hopefully it has loosened up some. This sounds like its going to be an interesting job anyway.

[Dirtcrasher]

If it's rusty, heat will help. When you do it, you'll understand everything said in the thread.......

Pack those bearings well, grease in you palm and drag the bearing into it. Just like an automotive wheel bearing

[rugman316]

About an hour with the dremel and one 5 dollar taiwan socket and I got the nut off. I used an impact gun and it came off without any heat. Now to get the bearings out. I was going to post a picture of my modified socket but could not get it to load.

[tri again]

The bearings are tapered like almost every wheelbearing and should fall off or fall apart.
and hopefully you can find them cheap.

. Pics of our fiasco are on my old dead computer or I'd post them for you.

The grease fitting suggestion is priceless and a nice cherry on top of
a pretty hefty project.

I tried to save an ebay picture of a swingarm with a dead bearing still on it but all I could post was a pic of the bearings.