Last night I did the swingarm bearings, tonight I did the rocker arm bearings. It's probably easier to do both at the same time, but I didn't think about doing them last night. The good is that the rocker arm is still easily removable with the swingarm, rear wheel, and everything else in place.

Start by removing the lower dogbone bolts:





Remove the rocker arm pivot nut and bolt:



I recently treated myself to a set of those nice stainless steel IMS off-road footpegs that Bad Bear wrote about. They are nice and wide and comfortable, but the left one does interfere with removing the rocker arm pivot bolt, so I had to remove my left footpeg - you probably don't if you have the stock pegs:





After removing the dogbone bolt, tilt them down to expose the rear shock absorber lower mounting bolt. You can hardly see it due to the grime, sorry deej - it's not my fault, really more builds up here due to chain oil - that's my story and I'm sticking with it . Remove that bolt - the one you can't see because it is covered by grime:



Only those three bolts need be removed and the rocker arm comes free:



Clean it up in preparation for exposing the bearings:



For the larger two bearings, push the sleeve from the bottom and it will slide out - pull it the rest of the way:





As with the swingarm, the bearings are only very lightly greased - not much there at all:



Like before, squeeze and pack in as much grease as the bearings will accept - they had hardly any from the factory, but now they are fully packed which will provide lubrication and keep out any water that manages to get past the seals:



Clean off the sleeve good, then lightly grease it and insert it back into the bearing cartridge wipe off any excess:



For the smaller bearing, pry out the seal with a screw driver:



Remove the sleeve and the other seal to expose more undergreased bearings:



Pack these the same way and clean and lightly grease the sleeve, reinsert one seal, followed by the sleeve, followed by the other seal, wipe off any excess.

To put it all back together, "Installation is the reverse of removal:" - ha ha, I love that:



Again, this is another easy procedure, just need your torque wrench, no special tricks or anything and it goes pretty quick. You do need a jack or something to get the rear wheel off the ground.

So at this point, I think all the major bearings in the rear end have been serviced. Next up for me might be the steering bearings but Deej already covered that so I get to use his photos now.

 

Thanks for the photos Nobrakes...you make it look simple.
I'm really suprised at the limited grease from the factory.

 

Nice, Where did deej post showing how to do stearing bearings. I havent seen this. any links

 

search for steering head bearings

 

Deej's steering bearing post was in this thread:

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/m_77388/tm.htm

 

lol Brian I was trying to get him to search for it

"give a man a meal and you feed him for a day, show him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"

Cheers

 

I needed it anyway, so I had the link handy - sorry man, I messed up your lesson

 

Great job, NoBrakes! [sm=smiley20.gif]

With Brians' great documentation, I won't have to buy a service manual! And at the rate he's going, I'll be able to rebuild anything on my bike by Thanksgiving!!!

Mike

 

can some one repost the pics

 

The photos are still available, but smugmug is having problems right now, they should be back up soon.