Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Hey everyone, i don't know anything about this swingarm, i need to replace the needle bearings but i don't know who sells them.
Also, is the switch out procedure for the bearings just pound in and pound out?
( when i tore it apart, the needles all fell out, it was rusted beyond belief so i don't even know the diminsions...) Or do i have to take off those metal plates on both sides of the hole where you bolt it onto the frame, it looks like they are pressed on???
Anything would help! Thanks,


Wrench

The needle bearings are still available from Honda. Check out the diagram below. The assembly consist of a
caged needle bearing (#24), a sleeve (#11), end caps (#10) and dust caps (#12). To disassemble, remove
the dust caps and the end caps with a punch or screwdriver and a hammer. Now for the hard part, remove
the sleeves and then the needle bearings. If everything is rusted and corroded beyond belief (as usual), you
can attempt the work yourself if you have a hydraulic press or heat and a lot of persuasion. Or you could
save yourself some grief and take the swingarm to a machine shop to have the sleeves and needle bearings
removed. When you get the swingarm back, clean up the bores with a dremel to prep them for reassembly.

Depending on how many parts you can salvage, expect to spend between $36 (bearings only) to $175
(everything was junk) if you get the parts from Honda.

This is evidently a common problem due in part to a poor design and helped by poor maintenance practices.
My swingarm was in similar shape and all I could salvage was the end caps.

dogger

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1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R

All Balls sells a swingarm bearing kit for the Red Rockets as well. I don't think you can get the #11 sleeve, which is pretty critical, from Honda for this model anymore, unless you find it NOS from an independent or find a match with another part number.

elsinores.com sells a whole kit with sleaves an seals. Its expensive. I just had the same thing happen to me and i made my own bushings out of a plastic called thordon, i eliminated the sleeves all together. SHould work well, you could do the same thing with brass as well, i also drilled the pivot bolt for grease, it just happens that the hollow hole through the bolt is the perfect size for 1/8" npt thread so i pluged one end and put a zerk in the other, also, with my bushings i doubled the bearding surface in each housing since i went full with from seal to seal with my bushing. also for the record, my bearings and endcaps where rusty junk. I did not need heat or a hydraulic press to remove them, a decent arbor press should do the job for you. I hit everything with penetrating fluid first though.