Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Hey Everyone, I just started my first attempt at doing a resto on my 1980 CR250. Everything coming apart pretty easily until I got to the swing arm bolt. It turns freely inside by it won't budge. I've used a piece of wood and beat it with a hammer but it's stuck in there. Any ideas, or is there something else I'm not seeing? Thanks

Heat? Penetrating fluid - lots of? I suspect the bolt is welded to the sleeves that sit inside the swing arm bearings and/or the needle bearings have come apart and jammed. Worst case you may have to spread the frame and saw through the bolt...

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

+1 on the heat (use plenty of it!) and penetrant. Since your bike uses relatively short bearing sleeves instead of a full-length one, you might get lucky.

My MR swingarm uses a full-length sleeve, and I tried on and off to remove it for nearly three years (orange-hot heat, penetrant, freeze spray, power chisel, sledgehammer, etc.). I finally drilled out both ends of the pivot bolt and hammered a chisel between the frame and swingarm to cut off the hollowed-out bolt ends. It took about 3 hours, with no frame damage at all.

Ray

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'74 CR125M (175cc), '75 MR175, '82 RM250Z, '08 YZ250F, '14 Zero FX electric, '14 Zero MX electric, '18 Alta MXR electric