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Yeah so the time to check those bearings was BEFORE removing the swinger. You can either put it back on (with the shock disconnected) and check that way or just replace them cause they're probably hosed anyway. Don't forget the linkage bearings! Your jacking setup is amazingly thoughtful and overbuilt btw, nice work.
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Oct 6, 2021 03:41
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Yeah i realized that after pulling the swingarm. Ill put the swingarm back on for a sec tomorrow to check play but I think i’ll just pack them with grease unless they feel super crunchy and just do a replacement when riding season is done. Its probably been in its current state for years so another month won’t be the end of the world. And thanks. I had a few unsupported blocks of wood at first but it was very precarious so I figured it would be not much more effort to put it together such that its less likely to shift or slip.
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Oct 6, 2021 03:51
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You want to check for looseness and play, especially side to side, similar to how you would check head bearings. By the time they get rough and grindy they've already been hosed for a long time, looseness and play is always the first symptom. Also hook the shock up and check for up and down play in the linkage bearings/bushings.
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Oct 6, 2021 04:08
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So with the shock attached, with the suspension fully unloaded and off the ground, the whole thing felt rock solid. I did do a little wiggling of it before I unbolted the linkage. Not sure why I didn’t think to do the same after the linkage was disconnected but I’ll try that today.
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Oct 6, 2021 11:30
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What did you do to your ride: post your jacking setups
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Oct 6, 2021 11:40
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Gorson posted:What did you do to your ride: post your jacking setups 
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Oct 6, 2021 11:48
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Martytoof posted:I’m going to see if the swingarm bearings are OK. If it’s apart I might as well buy a replacement set if they’re bad, but I’m not really sure how to tell other than “if it feels crunchy it’s bad”?? I’m pretty sure the DRZ has needle bearings in the swingarm rather than roller bearings? It’s been long enough I don’t remember anymore though Either way if they’re roller bearings then just replace them since taking the swingarm off isn’t something you’ll probably ever have to do again and you’ll kick yourself if you put the old bearings back in and they poo poo the bed in two weeks.
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Oct 6, 2021 13:10
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It's a valid point but it'll take at least two weeks to get replacement set in the mail given my recent experience, so I'm guaranteed to remove the swingarm at least two weeks from now 
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Oct 6, 2021 19:09
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Gorson posted:What did you do to your ride: post your jacking setups
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Oct 6, 2021 21:17
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Gorson posted:What did you do to your ride: post your jacking setups Nice one, punchy
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Oct 6, 2021 21:28
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More "character building" experiences with this suspension. Bearings feel OK and there's no play but honestly everything is so sludgy and the seals are kind of ratty that I'll just spend the hundred bucks on a kit and replace everything. BUT This piece of poo poo bolt is fused.  And I mean fused. Like the two pieces are now inseparable, as far as I'm concerned. I tried everything to get it to come apart and it's just not. The final straw was when I used two 17mm wrenches with pipe extensions as cheater bars and the nut just started to round.  So at this point I'm kind of ready to grind this one off, just order a new bolt and wait the two weeks it'll take to get here. Guess this suspension job is going to take longer than I anticipated. Which I guess is fine, just means now I get to learn how to press out bearings without a press. All the same, gently caress that bolt.
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Oct 6, 2021 23:32
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You can use a socket and hammer to remove them, use a vice and socket to gradually drive the new ones in. That bolt will be absolutely fused to the bearing bush too.
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Oct 6, 2021 23:49
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Decided to just get both kits, swingarm and linkage. Picked up the bolt and nut online too though I guess I could have just asked my suz dealer to order one, but if I'm going to wait I may as well wait for the whole thing. In a few weeks this bike will be like 60% new parts, probably. BUT the good part is that now that I know I'm getting new bearings I can just go to town cleaning this swingarm and linkage. I kind of washed around the seals and things because I didn't want kerosene to get in there. Guess I"m going to try and press the existing stuff out tomorrow. Right after I take a dremel to this nut. I desperately don't want to gently caress up the linkage body so I guess I need to figure out how to do it carefully.
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Oct 7, 2021 00:07
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Martytoof posted:In a few weeks this bike will be like 60% new parts, probably. This is just how it goes. It's like plumbing, starts with a leaking faucet and before you know it you're digging up the front lawn.
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Oct 7, 2021 01:55
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I’m gonna say this — I think, all told, I will probably have put more money into this “cheap” DRZ than buying a SIGNIFICANTLY newer and “better” model, but I am genuinely enjoying working on it. I think if I didn’t I would probably have stopped and left it as is, but there’s something that’s making me dig in and look for excuses to do things to it. Like I’ve been around town on this — it rode fine. I had no problems with the rear suspension. I could have left it in place, but here I am digging through layers of grime for fun
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Oct 7, 2021 02:49
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But then by the end of this, your cheap drz will basically be a brand new one, while a more expensive less tired machine might strand you at the worst time because you haven't had it in bits and don't know what's hosed.
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Oct 7, 2021 03:20
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Freshened up old suzukis are hard to kill.
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Oct 7, 2021 03:47
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For sure. I am much happier with this route IMO. My wallet might not be, but you can’t take it with you, so. I’m going to go craigslist scouring for a 6-8” bench vise this weekend. I’ve wanted one for various odd jobs anyway, and I think I’d rather spend money on that than a bearing press tool now. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Oct 7, 2021 |
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Oct 7, 2021 04:47
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Martytoof posted:Decided to just get both kits, swingarm and linkage. Picked up the bolt and nut online too though I guess I could have just asked my suz dealer to order one, but if I'm going to wait I may as well wait for the whole thing. This is the right way. Knowing bearings on dirt bikes are often the most neglected items, it will feel significantly better when all the bearings, fork oil/seals etc are all new. Things will roll smooth without slop or play and suspension will feel buttery. It's a necessary evil but the few extra bucks are worth doing it right away knowing it's all fresh down there.
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Oct 7, 2021 07:25
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Martytoof posted:For sure. I am much happier with this route IMO. My wallet might not be, but you can’t take it with you, so. Protip: some alloy jaw inserts are extremely useful and widen the potential tasks it can do drastically.
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Oct 7, 2021 07:37
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Honestly I was looking at vises on craigslist and people want stupid money for them. I got the biggest one at harbor freight. It rotates and has a pipe clamp on the bottom. I bought some aluminum angle stock and cut some soft jaws to fit. A vise is the tool you need most in a garage that you can't easily replace with another.
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Oct 7, 2021 07:54
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Workholding is next to lighting in the Garage Heirarchy of Importance ™️
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Oct 7, 2021 13:25
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Slavvy posted:Protip: some alloy jaw inserts are extremely useful and widen the potential tasks it can do drastically. Replaceable jaws are number one on my hit list  Verman posted:Honestly I was looking at vises on craigslist and people want stupid money for them. I got the biggest one at harbor freight. It rotates and has a pipe clamp on the bottom. I bought some aluminum angle stock and cut some soft jaws to fit. Yeah it's ridiculous. The Canadian equivalent is Princess Auto and their vises seem to get some poor marks for longevity and endurance w/r/t head fractures so I'm looking at Lowes. They have a 6" for $150 which is probably also lovely chinese potmetal but at least it'll come with a warranty and I can be a karen and argue with an underpaid exploited high school kid until I get a replacement. At $150 it's on the border of "eh if I need something better I'll eat the cost down the road".
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Oct 7, 2021 13:41
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I bought a vise and pressed out my swingarm bearings. I’ll be honest, I think these bearings were fine. At least if the way they feel is “bad” then I don’t know what a “good” bearing feels. BUT I’m not too fussed, I think given the questionable state of the swingarm and other components it was probably 50/50 that they were knackered and it’s a safe and easy replacement so I’m not too worried being out a hundred and something bucks. For fun I threw the old ones into some kerosene, then into the ultrasonic for a few minutes. Now I have some spare “probably good” bearings for whatever hobby project I come up with down the road. Worst case they sit in a box unused unloved for my nieces and nephews to throw away in 50 years. The vise made really short work of sliding everything out, I’m really pleased with my new toy. Haven’t tackled the linkage yet — waiting for my new bolts to come in, as well as the actual replacement bearings before I take an angle grinder to the piece of poo poo bolt making my life miserable.
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Oct 12, 2021 01:15
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Pulled my subframe for fun while I wait for my bearings to show up. Just wanted to see was under there and maybe clean my airbox a little. Should have been a simple job but I missed two connectors so I was swearing up a storm while I’m balancing an unwieldy metal frame in one hand and trying to unclip connectors one-haded with the other. You know, instead of putting the frame back on like a normal person might and taking the time to double-check that I’d gotten everything this time around. I also took a minute to clean up the 3x3 hole the PO had done to the airbox. It’s a little more like 4x4 now (let’s be honest, it wasn’t even close to 3x3 even before I cleaned it up) but at least now I’m not in danger of gouging my hand every time I stick it near the airbox. And uhh, ehh, the DRC tail light backet the PO had in there is for Japanese spec plates. I sketched out a quick little adapter backing plate and I’ll see if I can get some time in the student machine shop at the university to just cut it to size and drill the required holes.
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Oct 13, 2021 02:49
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Well four posts in a row so either I have nothing better to do or everyone else does. Working on the suspension on this bike has been both the most frustrating and educational experience in my short years of owning a bike. I finally got that loving bolt off my linkage. Nothing I did would move it so I resorted to just taking the angle grinder with cutoff wheel to it. I decided to start with the nut end because, hey, maybe I’ll weaken the nut and just chisel it off. Well I was getting nowhere quick so I tried to see if I could just cut it off relatively flush. About one second into it I realized I was going to destroy my suspension links so I aimed a little higher and cut off the bolt maybe 2mm above the surface. Well cut off the bolt was what I imagined happening in my head. What happened in reality was that the angle grinder somehow fused the bolt and nut into a new somehow even more indestructible metal, now completely flat with no gripping surface, and only 2mm high. So you know, I thought “OK this was a bad idea” and moved on to the head of the bolt. Maybe if I cut it right down the middle I can kind of lever it so it the head breaks in half and leaves just the round middle. So I cut the bolt in half, down as low as I possibly dared so as not to mar the links. I examine my work, take a pair of vice grips and try to compress the head to see if it bends or gives way. Nothing. I’m defeated. In frustration I throw the bolt head in the vise and kind of spin the links around while I think of what to do, and suddenly I see that the links are spinning a little free-er. I spun everything around for a minute or two, not exactly sure what was happening but then I saw a faint outline of a circle show up on the perfectly flat nut side. The indestructible metal fusion had started to give way. I quickly grabbed the angle grinder and cut an X groove on the smooth side, took a chisel and started to punch the nut around a little, as well as grabbed my drill to put some small strategic holes on the faint circle lines to weaken the material. Anyway bla bla bla, really long story short the loving thing finally gave way and I wept tears of pure joy. I obviously de-suh-troyed whatever bearings the linkage contained along the way but I have new ones coming so no big deal. The links themselves have some superficial scratches from when I donked with the chisel and it skipped, but altogether in good condition otherwise. I think I escaped this one by a hair. I was ready to hit eBay and look for a replacement linkage, not going to lie. I’m not sure what I learned today, but I think it was that an angle grinder sounds like a perfect solution to a lot of things but probably requires a little more foresight. Ok well thanks for coming to my amateur DRZ lower suspension TED talk
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Oct 14, 2021 00:47
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Many of us have been there. Violence is the answer but not the whole answer, you gotta direct it carefully. Good work!
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Oct 14, 2021 01:33
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When I first started working on cars my wife had serious doubts about my rubber mallet usage, but thankfully that was a trick I learned early on and I don't think you could work on vehicles without that. Never had any problems with it, exceptSlavvy posted:Violence is the answer but not the whole answer, you gotta direct it carefully. when my friend's old Accord had an oil filler cap that was stuck so I broke it loose with the mallet. It worked, but it also cracked the cap down the middle so it was off to autozone. I was tapping it gently but it was the original cap so just old and brittle.
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Oct 14, 2021 01:54
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Martytoof posted:Well four posts in a row so either I have nothing better to do or everyone else does. You start off thinking it will be a lot like working on a motorcycle then you spend a day figuring out exactly how the parking brake works.
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Oct 15, 2021 14:14
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Ulf posted:My wife bought a Can-Am Spyder and I’ve been fixing it up but I don’t talk about it in here for… reasons. (personally) I think Spyders are badass and I would love
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Oct 15, 2021 14:16
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In that case enjoy a taste of Spyder PO fuckery: "I asked the tire guy if they could just swap the two since there's so much tread left, they wouldn't do it" (as you can imagine the alignment on this thing is making it hunt around like a rat terrier)  "I think I had the brakes done before parking it last time"  other than that, I feel like I'm getting a taste of what it'll be like to work on a goldwing. It's the touring model so full fairing, and I keep finding things like this "PTT" button that I thought at first was a flash-to-pass on the left controls. I look it up and of course it's the push-to-talk for the CB radio (which is probably installed, though we'll never use it)
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Oct 15, 2021 15:55
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 Naturally I did this before calling ahead to check if my local bike shop actually does tyre changes, which it turns out they don't. Now I get to spend the rest of my afternoon calling round places to find out who does.
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Oct 15, 2021 16:13
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I feel you there. I've called my local shop, confirmed availability of tires in my size, taken the wheels off, borrowed a car, driven them to the shop, only to hear that it was a mistake by "the new guy" and they're not in stock. Then I had to decide whether to put the old wheels+tires back on or tiptoe around an unstable bike in my garage for the next three days (I think I ended up putting the wheels back on). Even when you're not doing your own tires it's such a pain in the rear end, especially if you don't have a car (it's the only "mundane" bike work that you want a car for, though sometimes I'll bring them to the shop on a bicycle trailer).
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Oct 15, 2021 16:36
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And even if everything goes right and you get your tires mounted at the shop without much trouble, sometimes it turns out the guy pinched the tube and the tire doesn't sit straight  and now you get to go back and hope he fixes it properly, or try to reseat it yourself without unmounting it
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Oct 15, 2021 16:53
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At least I usually remember to check the rotation direction before I leave the shop now.
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Oct 15, 2021 16:59
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or they mount your directional tire backwards on wheels that are also directional so you can't just flip it
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Oct 15, 2021 17:47
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Holy poo poo that alignment
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Oct 15, 2021 17:53
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I guess tire wear like that makes a little bit of sense if you don't have enough tires to be able to rotate them
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Oct 15, 2021 18:37
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Dog Case posted:I guess tire wear like that makes a little bit of sense if you don't have enough tires to be able to rotate them they should've been swapped between sides well before the wear pattern looked like that. PO was an idiot, as Ulf is finding out
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Oct 15, 2021 19:41
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Ulf posted:In that case enjoy a taste of Spyder PO fuckery: Can you please do a thread
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Oct 15, 2021 19:43
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