Broken swing arm
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,897
From: Bedford UK
Also that each rejuvenation is a lot cheaper than changing bikes! My latest project is fitting a 2009 6 gallon tank to my 1990 Glide. Who needs a 2009 bike?!
Tourer
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 353
Likes: 5
From: Beasley Texas
pgpn, the axle spacers that BoomerBob bought are probably about $50 from custom chrome and should work fine, then go to home depot or Lowe's buy yourself an 3/4" fender washer , take your pulley side spacer and grind the thickness of the spacer off of it, then put the washer on your axle and then slide the spacer onto it against the washer and weld the two together, this is a cheap home made version of ride str8's design , changing the swing arm is great but I know guys with 80,000 + miles on their bike with the ride str8 design without failure, on my 2001 I pulled the swing arm and put Sta- Bo bushings in it $200 + the Ride Str-8 adjusters $200 and have never had an issue, what I like about the ride str8 adjusters, tho they are over priced being stainless steel you can grease them up , put them in the swing are and they will never corrode and always slip easily
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Intermediate
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 31
Likes: 2
From: Rio Linda
Swing arm is off. Nasty break. Glad I didn't go down.
Now to the install.
Custom Cycle Engineering has a kit to covert from stock Cleve Bloc style swing arm bushings to Spherical bearings.
Wondering if anyone has an opinion on Spherical bearings vs. Bushings.
Now to the install.
Custom Cycle Engineering has a kit to covert from stock Cleve Bloc style swing arm bushings to Spherical bearings.
Wondering if anyone has an opinion on Spherical bearings vs. Bushings.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 3,121
Likes: 489
From: sunny florida
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2,106
Likes: 12
From: SoCal
The other option that myself and others have used are the ones from MotorcycleMetal. Same kind of thing, poly bushings that allow you to keep the OEM swing arm shaft. I found the poly bushings to have a buzz for about 500 miles.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,928
Likes: 1
From: Desert S. West
Hard to believe someone at HD engineering signed off on that design.
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Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,897
From: Bedford UK
The Cleve blocks are part of the rear steering problem, so best dumped for something better! Harley uses the spherical type, certainly up to 2007 if not today. Personally I prefer a simple plain bush and have a True-Track Trackula kit on my bike. Came with bushings, new rubber mounts all round plus a third stabilizer and mounting brackets. Transformed the bike!
I am not sure if the spherical bushings will fit an older swingarm. They may be slightly smaller in diameter than the Cleve blocks. Certainly when I swapped from my 1990 swingarm to a 2007 and removed the sphericals (I have them right here) the internal machining of the two swingarms is different.
Just checked, the Harley sphericals are too small for the early swingarm. Perhaps that kit has a sleeve to make up the difference or a different spherical.
I am not sure if the spherical bushings will fit an older swingarm. They may be slightly smaller in diameter than the Cleve blocks. Certainly when I swapped from my 1990 swingarm to a 2007 and removed the sphericals (I have them right here) the internal machining of the two swingarms is different.
Just checked, the Harley sphericals are too small for the early swingarm. Perhaps that kit has a sleeve to make up the difference or a different spherical.
Last edited by grbrown; Jul 3, 2010 at 04:35 AM. Reason: Spelling!
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
Likes: 2,897
From: Bedford UK
Bob, There are hundreds of thousands of these around out there. I don't believe many of them have actually failed and most that have are due to using lowering blocks. It is not a great design I grant you, which is why I fitted a 2007 swingarm to my old bike!
Last edited by grbrown; Jul 3, 2010 at 04:43 AM. Reason: Grammar! Added photo.