It
bothered me that there is nowhere to grease the swinging arm
bearings. You have to take the thing apart. You have to have the
proper tool for the job. The proper tool costs about £45.
Never mind - I'm saving a fortune in bills from the local bike shop, so I bought one.
The swinging arm comes off easily - but the bits that you have to take off to get to it properly all take time. I took the petrol tank out to get at the brake pipes. Rear wheel, silencers, final drive housing (which needs emptying of oil). Had to buy a set of MASSIVE allen drivers to fit a half inch drive wrench. The suspension needs to be unbolted - the arm is heavy - and needs support here. You won't do it much damage, but there is now so much space under the rear end, that at least one part of your body will have moved so that it is exactly where the end of the swinging arm will fall. Either that or where the cup of coffee is, that you've just had brought out by your loving wife - who wonders if you still live at the same address as her.
The arm is not in bad condition, but paint is flaking off and it needs a clean. Cleaning with a stiff wire brush reveals more flaking paint and I'm feeling glad that Ive caught it in time. De-flaked, de-greased and roughened up, I chose to paint it with Hammerite. It went on well and seems to do a good job on exterior metal work. I'll have a good look during the Summer and see how it is lasting.
The bearings are fine. I cleaned them with parrafin, and then under the hot tap with washing up liquid. They're perfect, spinning freely and no roughness. The tapered surface in the arm is also smooth. I expected a little notchiness, but no. This after 38,500 miles. WD40 to get rid of the water, then gently melted grease in an old Fray Bentos tin to get the grease back into them again. Probably unnecessary, but the Pan has no chain and old habits die hard.
No problems putting the arm back on. Drive shaft well greased. Followed the instruction in the Haynes Manual to get the torque right. Arm moves freely and is easy to check for lateral and vertical movement with no petrol tank in place.
These pages relate to my first bike after a 17 year lay-off. Bought in 2000 with 28,000 miles on the clock. Traded in for a 2000AY version in Sep 2003 with 60,000 miles on the clock. The pages were intended to provide information to a prospective buyer, but are maintained here as information for anyone who may be interested.