You may remember from my last post that I was left feeling disappointed that the swing arm bearings would not come out. It seems that this is a common problem and that expert advice suggested that some ingenuity was required.
I was to be replacing the bearings and the swing arm pivot pin which gave me plenty of scope in terms of the old one. So the first thing I did was cut through the pin on each side of the swing arm with a suitably curved hacksaw blade and transfer the arm to the bench.
Once on the bench all attempts to remove the pin and bearing by the usual methods of pushing, pulling, swearing etc failed. It is particularly tricky challenge as the bearing is effectively fitted to a blind tube and can only really be pulled out. In my case the bearing had bonded itself to the swing arm.
By passing a hacksaw through the hollow pin, I was able to cut through the wall of the pin and the inner sleeve of the bearing. This allowed, with much effort, the pin and sleeve to collapse and be separated from the rubber section. Eventually all of the silent block rubber could be cut away leaving the thin outer sleeve firmly attached to the swing arm.
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Although not obvious, protective jaws were
used to grip the swing arm. |
The outer sleeve had to be removed with a cold chisel.
Here it is several hours later, removed.
