Removing a 916 swing arm, drop the engine?

[Sagerider]

My Haynes manual says I have to remove the engine to remove the swing arm
from my 916. I have never done this before and I am just not seeing it.
I want to clean and put fresh grease in the swing arm bearings. Is dropping the engine required? It sounds pretty radical to me.

[chiarelloa]

Well for a first post, I am afraid it is going to be sad news... Having done it recently, you have to drop the engine to remove the swingarm. Thats because of those bushes that still hold the swingarm attached to the frame event though the axle has been removed (see pic)... I know its painful....By the way, my bearings on the 996sps were much in need of fresh grease, so its worth it.

Alex.

[Old Baldy]

Although I've removed the motor and s/arm a few times, I've never tried removing the arm without the motor. As mentioned above, you can't remove the swingarm pivot and expect the s/arm to remove as normal, but I'm thinking that if you remove the exhaust and intakes, and the swingarm axle and the closest engine mount to the s/arm, perhaps you can simply swivel the motor down at the rear, to make space to remove the s/arm spacers. Worth a try, compared to dropping the entire motor.

Hopefully someone will know for definite, if it's possible.

[DaDukeofOz]

Numero Tre,

Having done this aswell ... motor out first, then swing arm out.
The swing arm pin runs through the frame, through the swingarm bush/bearing, then the motor & then back out the other side in the reverse pattern.
The bearings run on or over the bush's & the bush's act as a locking device to hold the swingarm into the framewith out the motor.

The other alternative is to do what I did & hammer on the end of the swing arm pin (as it had frozen/rusted into the bush's) untill the frame opens up enough that the motor & swing arm fall out of their own accord ...

Either way ... it's usually easier to mount the motor onto a stand (leaving it at the correct working height) & then stripping everything else from around it.

I hope that all helps ...

[Sagerider]

I was really afraid it was true. Oh well, I have the time to do it, like all winter. Do it now or do it later when the swing arm bearings go south.

Thanks Again Guys!!!

[JeffKoch]

This comes up periodically, and the answer is still: No, you don't have to remove the engine, and OB is correct - you can just remove the exhaust, intakes, swingarm post, and rear motor mount, loosen the front motor mount, and pivot the engine down in the back so it clears the swingarm. It's not nearly as much work as dropping the whole engine, though it's still a fair amount of work.

You can in fact remove the swingarm with the exhaust, intakes, etc., in place by removing the swingarm post, loosening both motor mounts, and prying the frame off the swingarm with a big screwdriver or similar implement of destruction. I did this once, but I wouldn't recommend it because it's a fairly brutal procedure that can't help but scrape up the sides of the swingarm around the post.

[Sagerider]

Hey chiarelloa! Nice picture!! Very clear to what the situation is. Your first post is a winner!!!!!

Old Baldy, I was thinking I would give your idea a shot first as Jeffkoch also suggested. If I take the tank off, the air box, the two rear engine mounts and
loosen the front mount I might be able to pivot the engine down far enough to clear the bushings. I will be needing to drain the coolent anyway to get into the left side engine cover so I can take the coolent lines off with no penalty.
I already have the mid-pipe and up exhaust off. The rear suspension is also off. I will have to support the frame from up above while I lower the engine with the floor jack I have under it now. That would be sweet if it works out that way. All that I will have to do is build a small "A"frame to support the frame of the bike and I will be in. Whackola with the chop saw on some square tubing I have already, fire up the welder, be done in an hour. Pulling the seat, tank and air box is pretty straight forward, been there already. I hope it is all that easy. I have to be careful of wiring and those
little details that sneak up when you are not paying attention. Maybe the
oil cooler cover screen plasitc at the front cylinder and radiator possibly as well must come off.
I will let you all know how it goes.

[brad black]

pivot it down. works fine.

[rainman916]

hi as jeff said, it can be done that way i have done it a few times!! i just put a strap on the rear subframe,took out the motor mount bolts and swing arm bolt + the other items jeff listed and put a jack under the motor and then lifted the rear subframe with the strap that i had attached to the roof rafters in my garage,

[chiarelloa]

Thx Sagerider for the compliment .

I hope I can contribute more in the near future, as so far I must admit I only read and don't post...

Anyway hope you have luck removing your swingarm, I had to do it when I decided to ship my 996SPS from France to Canada (who says I am crazy ) and the best way was to send it as parts to avoid customs issues as the bike is not legal here (only used for trackdays so thats no prob).

Alex.

[Ironbutt996s]

Unfortunately I've had to remove my swing arm three times. The first time I followed the instructions is Haynes. It took some time but I managed through it.

The second/ third times I used some time saving advice (thanks Eric) to wedge the frame open by the rear motor mounts and leave the engine in place. It really doesn't take a very big wedges to open the frame up enough to drop the swing arm. It makes the job go much faster.

[Sagerider]

I got the hoist frame built today and the bike is hanging from it now. It looks pretty good too. I will be going the long route and rotating the engine down
which does not look real bad at this piont. There are a lot of things that need to come off but what the hell I have the time. I am not working at the moment so I have as much time as it will take. As soon as I get some fresh batteries for my
scum sucking battery eating digital camera I will post some pictures.

[Ducshop]

Years ago I modified the ends of a turnbuckle to C shapes and with the pivot bolt and two engine bolts loose you put it between the footpeg points and spread the frame just enough to slip the arm out.

[Sagerider]

This is a picture of the 916 on the lift with the overhead support I built
yesterday. This should do the job for pulling the swing arm. The "C" clamps
will go and be replaced with two bolts going through the side of the lift.
After sand blast and paint the support will look pretty nice.

[ANGUS]

Hey ...nice lift !.....

[Sagerider]

Angus: Yup, it is a nice one. Got it from Pace tools. $938.00, shipping included, with side pannels for working on the four wheeler too.

Well I got the damn swing arm off and it was not pretty. The pivot bolt for the swing arm was jammed up solid with dried out rotten grease. I didn't think I was ever going to get the thing out. The pivot bolt is hollow so figuring out how to knock it out of there was a real challenge. It took hours to get it out, no kidding. I am really glad I took the time to get this done as it really needed
to be taken apart and cleaned up. All of the seals are dried up just like the grease is so they will be needing replacement. For anyone who has a 916 series I would highly recommend taking the time and trouble now before it gets as bad as mine.
I use the swing the engine down technique and it worked just fine, I hope I can get it back in there OK. I did have to pop the throttle bodies loose and remove the rear cam belt cover. There were the standard items taken off like hoses and other obvious items. The over flow tank in the middle was real fun figuring out how to get it out. I did find some wear on the shock pivot shaft
the other day so I ordered a new center shaft and bearings along with dust seals. I will tear into the eccentric maybe tomorrow in the morning, naa, I am going to sleep in.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!

[superbike2001]

Glade to see you get it out. I had the same issue with my 97 916. But the pivot finaly came out and I gressed the crap out of it in case it has to come back out. Nice set up in the garage!

[HDTony]

I keeping doing search's and this is the thread that pops up. How int he heck do I get this pivot shaft out? I took the bolt out, but I cant get the shaft to budge? any tips.

[Sagerider]

HD Tony
Hey, you have gotten to the fun part now. I used the bolt that fits in the end of the pivot shaft to whack on. Unscrew it about two threads and with a socket on an extention on the bolt give it a whack with a nice sized hammer, the extention I mean. This should get the damn pivot shaft to start moving. Read through this post as the information is all here.
If your pivot shaft is hosed up like mine was you will just have to struggle through it just like I did. Stop, Think, Act and Review, little tricks in the Nuclear Industry to keep you from destroying stuff. Before you do anything STOP, then THINK about it and figure out what you are trying to do and ask yourself with the plan you have will you damage anything, like your frame, the threads of the pivot shaft. Will you mushroom the end of the pivot shaft and then there will be no way to slide it out through the bushings, stuff like that. ACT, do what you figured was the right thing but don't get carried away with it. REVIEW, did what you figured would happen happen?? Did you forget about the nutral switch wire and mash the crap out of it??
HAVE FUN!!!!

[HDTony]

Ugh, I was able to get it to spin the other night with a 14mm allen but thats about it. Now it's time to start playing hard ball I guess. I'm so glad I'm tearing this thing down tot he ground it's amazing the things you find from old owners. I found my radiator was only held in place by one bolt.