kz650 swing arm sleeve hard to get in?

On the bike? I can tighten my bolt on the bike and the arm won't move.
Steve

swest wrote: On the bike? I can tighten my bolt on the bike and the arm won't move.
Steve

Is it supposed to do that? I'm concerned because I'm thinking when I hit a bump obviously the swing arm goes up and down with the shocks. So if it's tight and won't move without forcing it to move, won't that effect how the rear takes a bump? Do you know what I'm trying to explain?

No the swingarm is not supposed to get stuck when you tighten the swing arm bolt. There can be a bit of resistance, but it’s not supposed to get stuck.

But let’s start from the beginning.

1. You cleaned out the swing arm tube from all old grease and dirt and there was no damage done inside the tube.
2. You made sure the pivot tube was not pitted or damaged in any other way. No fragments of steel sticking out, and you made sure it was soft as a toddler but.
3. You checked the pivot tube is strait, you can check this by rolling the tube over a perfectly flat surface. If the tube is bent, replace it.
4. You made sure the new bearings slid on the pivot tube just fine and you could rotate the bearings without any problems.
5. You fitted the bearings into the swingarm without use of any brute force.
6. Greased everything up.
7. Slid the pivottube in. (wiggle, turn, wiggle) and you made sure you could still rotate the pivottube within the swingarm with the use of your thumbs.
8. Fitted the outer dust caps. (They are there to keep the grease in and dirt out).
9. Fitted the swingarm in to the frame.
10. Put the swingarm bolt through (The swingarm bolts is not to always 100% strait, but it’s usually no biggie. You can check the same way as with the pivot tube.
11. You tighten the swingarm bolt, thigh but let’s not overdo it.
12. The swing arm can stay in an up position, but you should be able to move it up and down without excess force.
If it still doesn’t work, post some pictures of all parts for me and Steve to diagnose.

Except for that I can only think of an old Swedish saying that my buddy’s mechanical engineering teacher always said.
- Man kan inte köra häst kuk i kattfitta.
Google translate will be of help to understand it.

/A

scubaanders wrote: No the swingarm is not supposed to get stuck when you tighten the swing arm bolt. There can be a bit of resistance, but it’s not supposed to get stuck.

But let’s start from the beginning.

1. You cleaned out the swing arm tube from all old grease and dirt and there was no damage done inside the tube.
2. You made sure the pivot tube was not pitted or damaged in any other way. No fragments of steel sticking out, and you made sure it was soft as a toddler but.
3. You checked the pivot tube is strait, you can check this by rolling the tube over a perfectly flat surface. If the tube is bent, replace it.
4. You made sure the new bearings slid on the pivot tube just fine and you could rotate the bearings without any problems.
5. You fitted the bearings into the swingarm without use of any brute force.
6. Greased everything up.
7. Slid the pivottube in. (wiggle, turn, wiggle) and you made sure you could still rotate the pivottube within the swingarm with the use of your thumbs.
8. Fitted the outer dust caps. (They are there to keep the grease in and dirt out).
9. Fitted the swingarm in to the frame.
10. Put the swingarm bolt through (The swingarm bolts is not to always 100% strait, but it’s usually no biggie. You can check the same way as with the pivot tube.
11. You tighten the swingarm bolt, thigh but let’s not overdo it.
12. The swing arm can stay in an up position, but you should be able to move it up and down without excess force.
If it still doesn’t work, post some pictures of all parts for me and Steve to diagnose.

Except for that I can only think of an old Swedish saying that my buddy’s mechanical engineering teacher always said.
- Man kan inte köra häst kuk i kattfitta.
Google translate will be of help to understand it.

/A

Well I can tighten the bolt and I can move the swing arm up and down but not effortlessly either as stated elsewhere. I know for a fact tho that the bearings went on the sleeve fine but the sleeve didn't go in easily and I know the sleeve won't turn inside the swing arm either. I greased the shit out of the swing arm. I connected a grease gun to the zirk fitting and filled it with grease.

Some swingarms have gone years without seeing a grease gun,When the old bushings or bearings get beaten into submission and stop moving it can do bad things like warp the sleeve or pivot tube.
Thats why I like to spend a few bucks and have the pivot tube checked/line honed by a machine shop if theres any doubt in it being straight,Sometimes its easier to just buy a flee bay swingarm and start over.
Or you could check kz650.info to see if somebody has spare thats in better shape.

Hopefully you didn't mung it up too bad. They're supposed to be snug so I would ride it then check it again. If it works, grease it one more time.
Steve

As KZB2 650 stated, with the mags on the bike, you must have a C (or D) model swingarm.
I believe the B models use the same bearings though.

There are different sleeves for the models that use bushings, and those that use bearings.
Parts 5 and 5A in the diagram:

The swingarm, when installed, should move easily.