Anybody Ever Polish a GS1100 Swingarm?

Old Man Rock wrote: Lowe's has the Brown Tripoli (medium cut) and White (fine cut) compounds and the buffing wheel. They way that looks now, most likely only need the white compound to Mirror/BLING it out.... All depends how deep scratches are.

Mothers or similar would be used to keep it shiny afterwards.

Feels good don't it to see what a little work transforms this old stuff to... ANd you did it yourself versus [paying someone $200 plus to accomplish.

Seriously, looks awesome!

I'm going to try and stop by Lowes on the way home. Thanks for the info.

It won't be perfect but it's not for a show bike anyway. The whole reason I went with the GS arm was to keep the cost low. The cheapest price to polish was $365! Glad you shamed me into it!

Got a question about mounting this swingarm. I bought 5/8" washers and they fit really well over the 16mm pivot axle. Each washer is about .0020 - .0025 thick. I used 4 thicker washers for a total of about 10mm. I had to tap the last washers in as it was a very tight fit. Now the swingarm doesn't move as easily as I thought it would.

My question is, how easily should the swingarm move? Can I have too tight a fit? All of the bearings and sleeves are brand new and greased. Not sure if the pressure of the frame/washers is causing the tightness or not? Maybe fewer washers would still bind because the frame tightens up when the pivot axle bolt is tightened? Thoughts??

Here is what I have now, on each side:

I'm also wondering exactly what parts should pivot with the swingarm? I'm thinking the only moving part should be the swingarm. The bearings, axle, spacers, and the dust seals on the ends should all remain stationary, right? You would basically have the swingarm rotating in the dust seals? They have a rubber liner inside so they swingarm would be rotating/rubbing on that.

Anybody ever noticed what exactly is going on at the pivot? I've never looked that closely.....wish I did BEFORE I removed the stock swingarm! :S

Here’s my understanding of how the swingarm pivot works; I am open to being corrected if I misunderstand it. In the diagram below envision the two bearings being pressed into the swingarm tube so they are flush or even recessed slightly within the tube. As the swingarm moves up and down the swingarm tube rotates and the outer races of the bearings will rotate with it because they are a snug fit inside the tube. Now picture the sleeve being just a little bit longer than the swingarm tube and installed inside the bearings. The ends of the sleeve act as the inner race of the bearings, so their rollers ride on the sleeve as the swingarm rotates. Since the sleeve is a little longer than the swingarm tube it protrudes slightly out of each end of the swingarm tube; this may not be noticeable because it is very slight. When the assembly is slipped into place on the frame the outer surfaces of the end caps will be in contact with the frame. When the pivot bolt is tightened, it will squeeze the frame against the end caps and they will be squeezed tight against the sleeve. Since the swingarm tube is a little shorter than the sleeve it should not be pinched tight by the endcaps. When the pivot bolt is tightened, the swingarm tube should be able to rotate without much trouble on the sleeve. There may be some friction between the swingarm tube and end caps, but it shouldn’t be so much as to prevent the swingarm from moving. Ed

650ed wrote: Here’s my understanding of how the swingarm pivot works; I am open to being corrected if I misunderstand it. In the diagram below envision the two bearings being pressed into the swingarm tube so they are flush or even recessed slightly within the tube. As the swingarm moves up and down the swingarm tube rotates and the outer races of the bearings will rotate with it because they are a snug fit inside the tube. Now picture the sleeve being just a little bit longer than the swingarm tube and installed inside the bearings. The ends of the sleeve act as the inner race of the bearings, so their rollers ride on the sleeve as the swingarm rotates. Since the sleeve is a little longer than the swingarm tube it protrudes slightly out of each end of the swingarm tube; this may not be noticeable because it is very slight. When the assembly is slipped into place on the frame the outer surfaces of the end caps will be in contact with the frame. When the pivot bolt is tightened, it will squeeze the frame against the end caps and they will be squeezed tight against the sleeve. Since the swingarm tube is a little shorter than the sleeve it should not be pinched tight by the endcaps. When the pivot bolt is tightened, the swingarm tube should be able to rotate without much trouble on the sleeve. There may be some friction between the swingarm tube and end caps, but it shouldn’t be so much as to prevent the swingarm from moving. Ed

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That sounds exactly like what I tried to describe above. With that being the case, the swingarm probably couldn't be "too tight" in the frame, right? I think all of the pressure would be on the sleeve and not the swingarm. The GS arm is slightly different....has (3) spacers that make up the sleeve, but the end result is the same. All (3) combined are just barely longer that the swingarm tube.
GS Arm:

Agreed. Looking at your diagram it doesn't look to me like the swingarm should be pinched too tight. As long as there's plenty of grease between the swingarm tube and the end caps (and in the bearings) and you can move the swingarm up and down without struggling things might loosen up a little as the bike is ridden. Ed

For the record, I swapped out one spacer on each side for a slightly thinner one. The fit it still very tight but looser than it was. I also added more grease to the inside rubber edge of the end caps. I properly torqued the pivot axle and it seems to move very smoothly with zero slop. Here's a couple pics of how things are looking. More details are in the build thread since this one is about polishing the arm, not installing it. The arm is a bit dirty from working on it so I'll hit it again with Mother's when all the work is done.





Here's the link to the build thread:
www.kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/590383...ild-mods#forumbottom

Looking good! My brother used to polish for a living, was in a few different magazines. He said nothing polishes better than Japanese aluminum. I will find out which roush polish he recommends.