KZ900 Aluminum swingarm doesn't quite fit

I picked up this swingarm on e-bay and it was advertised as coming off a KZ900. Don't know the brand, maybe a Cal Fab or???

The length is right, width in the pivot area is right, shock mounts are right and it has a post to attach the brake torque arm.

Take a look at the pics and you can see it won't fit properly with the two triangles on the frame that hold the passenger pegs and the original exhausts.

It looks certain that I need to cut off the triangles. I plan to leave part of the right side triangle so that there's a place to hold the strap for the header.

Anyone have experience with a swingarm like this? If you have recommendations please let me know before I chop the triangles off.

I have got a couple of Calfab alloy swingarms,i went to fit one to a Z1b and i had the same problem .I was going to trim the exhaust brqacket and the horizontil support brace by slicing aliong the bracket and brace parralel to the swing arm making sure that i allowed for some clearance from the swingarm and then i was going to weld some sheetmetal to return the structual integrity to the brace.In the end i did not want to cut up my Z1b so i just got the original swingarm chrome plated,i will save the alloy swingarm for a Z1000 that i am building

Regards Dale

Are you looking for a longer swing arm for your Z1 and if so. how much over stock ? Are you keeping the drum brake ?

don

Yes the cal fab arms work easier on the 77-78 kz 1000 a1-a2 style frames

When I bought the KZ900, it had a 16" rear mag with drum brake. I don't know what bike the wheel came off originally, maybe a later model Kawasaki. Looks wise, in my opinion 16" rear wheel = cruiser and I wanted an 18 inch wheel to make it look like a performance bike.

By the way, this bike has an 1105cc motor and performance cams, it IS fast!

I bought an 18" KZ900 wheel on E-bay with a WM5 rim and put a 130/90 x 18 tire on it. It won't fit with the stock swingarm, the tire is too wide. So I bought the aluminum swingarm.

Today I cut the triangles off the frame, ground them smooth and primered/painted them. Next, I will put the swingarm on and figure out how to mount a strap to hold the header on, since the original mount is now gone.

could you heat and bend the brace out of the way? this way you get to keep the braces and the stock look and fuction.

The stock swingarm hits too, although the added height of your alu arm might be a problem.

4TheKZ1000 wrote: could you heat and bend the brace out of the way? this way you get to keep the braces and the stock look and fuction.

I already cut them off, too late now. It looks like the swingarm will work okay now, just need to fabricate something to support the exhaust.

Ya, what you've done is the easiest way to solve the problem. It's a shame to cut up a Z1, but it sounds like it's far from original anyway!

Sounds like a cool build!

who cut off the rear top rails from the swingarm? The weld bead that is on the back top of swing arm used to host a upper stiffener bar. Yours are cut off?

double post cleanup.

the sanctuary guys utilize a custom bracket and the top shock mount bolt to attach the exhaust.





or weld a couple bungs on and make a custom bracket to attach to them.





hth,
leon