Don't know what bearings in it, but if the bearings are ptfe lined/hard chrome ball, no lube recommended

 

I do know the swing arm on my 77 Superglide by the manual is 2 lbs of force to move it up it down when adjusted properly... I would think yours should be close to the same if set properly...

 

If I remember the 1977 HD had timkins with a recommended preload.
I dont think there is a preload for the rubber glides..Plus the OP has installed a whole different setup.

 

I fully understand the differences... However I would rather have it a bit stuff than loose...

 

Yeah, I can move it with one hand, and really without any actual serious effort. I mean, it's probably something between 10 and 30 pounds of force needed. Hard to say for sure.

Hotrod's comment got me thinking, and I tried setting a 4lb sledge on the swingarm. That was the only thing I had handy that I knew how much it weighed. Didn't budge.

Angie got home from work. She was on a full lather. Fourth grade teacher. The kids were giving her nothing but trouble today. So I take her out to dinner. She's sitting there going on and on about all the crap the little ***** were up to, and I'm thinking about this swingarm as I pretend to pay attention.

Had what I thought was a revelation: Maybe I didn't have enough torque on the shaft when I set the bearings, and the races settled in too far apart from each other. Now the torque on the pivot shaft is making them bind up because of the side load as the ball part of the bearings are drawn toward the center. That would explain everything, and easy enough to check. So we got home, and I pulled the mounting blocks off, took the nuts off the pivot shaft and looked to see if I had any clearance between the bearings and the trans case. Thought for sure I'd see some, but no. Tight as could be. I beat on it a bit, trying to get any shift that might be there over to one side, and still couldn't get my thinnest (0.0015) feeler in there.

As it sits right now, I'm getting closer to the opinion that this is all in my head. I had assumed that the new bearings would result in swingarm action significantly looser than the stock blocks I took out. Maybe that was wrong.

I sent all this off to CCE earlier, and also to Jake at GlidePro. Haven't heard back from CCE, but just got an email from Jake asking me to call him tomorrow. Hopefully he clears it up.

Thanks, everyone, for the help. Much appreciated!

 

Yup, too stiff will get better.
Too lose will get worse.
But I would talk to the dude that makes them and see what he says.

 

Funny...... After reading about "going out to dinner and pretending to listen and then it hit me"... Is something I do a lot but when I do I usually get caught at "are you listening to me and then I really have to try but it's too late and the **** hits the fan.... Lol.. hope you got through that ok...

 

I'm lucky. Didn't take me long to figure out that the stories are pretty much all the same, and I've got a set of canned responses that always work and don't expose that I've been ignoring the details. Things like "If they listened to teachers more this wouldn't be happening" or "What do you expect? The parents probably can't read themselves" or "All the administration cares about is covering their asses", etc.

Just got off the phone with Jake. He seemed to get what was happening, but was basically as flummoxed as I am. The one thing he did verify is that the swingarm should fall pretty free if everything is correct.

So, I'm back to square one.

On a happier note, just got off the phone with Scott, and it looks like they'll be wrapped up this time next week, more or less.

 

I think I got it.

Short version goes like this:

First time mistake. Did not realize how critical the bearing positioning really was. Insufficient torque when I let the locktite setup the first time left the races too far apart from each other, which caused the bearings to bind. Won't make that mistake again.

The swingarm is still a little tighter than I expected it to be, but not nearly as tight as it was yesterday.

Now on to figuring out how to mount that battery...

 

Glad you are making progress.
I have that little 3 lb battery too (different brand ) They do work fine
But I have all that extra room so I am going to lower the frame in seat area about 3 inches.