rear suspension pivot shaft removal the easy way

[skypilot110]

Steel is cold and unforgiving, but electricity is a stone cold killer!   The fwd pivot bolt was not gona budge from its place in the rear suspension after playing Uboat commander in Canada so much. Part of this is for reasons that are obvious to anybody who has had one apart. When you are hitting the bolt the inner bearing is being held back by 2 seals and a frame that easily flexes. You are not hitting steel to steel so there is little you can do to jar a very frozen inner race from the shaft. people sent a lot of good recomendations and I hit them all right down tot he Pnuematic Chisel. The shaft is $55 so I decided not to waist any more time. Drilling this is a fools game since it is too long to be acurate but a cut off wheel will eat through a 3/4" bolt in nothing flat. They are cheap too. http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/grinders-buffers/heavy-duty-4-1-2-half-inch-angle-grinder-91223.html I used a piece of wood that I keep handy for proping under the swing arm. see photos in the folder on center stands, https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/DSN_KLR650/files/KLR-stands/, I had the rear engine mount bolt loose so I put the wood against the inside of the frame on one side and sticking out the other side. Then I clamped the end of the wood against the inside of the other side of the frame effectively spreading the frame. With very little force I had a 3/8 gap between the frame and either end of the Pivot which exposed the shaft. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6fx58lc8la2yp01/2014-04-19%2014.05.58.jpg A minute with a 4.5 inch cut off wheel on an angle grinder, see link below, took the first side of the bolt out.. On the other side you will find you must cut through the inner race and the shaft. Still no issue for the cut off wheel and a few careful minutes later the pivot fell to the ground. https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9b6m6ue42tmweb/2014-04-19%2014.06.48.jpg The only cautionary note other than the obvious wear your goggles and dust mask stuff is this. Get comfortable and get situated so that you can hold your grinder steady. Make some practice passes with the grinder off too. You dont want to cut the frame no matter what. If you can not be that steady lean towards hacking up the pivot. Mine lists for well over $200 but cutting up the frame would be far worse. In the end I touched neither and only had to hose off the area well to rid it of the nasty cut off wheel dust and metal shavings.https://www.dropbox.com/s/deqzjivv7e3x48f/2014-04-19%2014.05.50.jpg Next time I see one that the bolt is frozen I will not waist any time with it. I will just cut it and order one. This was easy although the 3 weeks of trying to remove it and figure out what to do were miserable. If your bike goes in water and the pivot shaft hasnt been greased just order one now.. Your life will be better for it.