Winter maintenance and upgrades

You can see a more detailed description of my swingarm maintenance here

Happy New Year everyone. When I last saw ya'll before Christmas, my biked looked like this:



Since then I sent my suspenders off to Travis @ Go-Race.

I spent almost a whole dollar on this super ultra mega high tech mod:


Replaced my bashed up foot pegs with some heavy duty wide units. They seem VERY sturdy, but there is a weight penalty.


Installed 12T front sprocket, MSR Quicksteel swingarm, lubed swingarm bearings and replaced chain guide


46T rear Supersprox, Primary Drive Gold X-ring chain and fresh D606


DRC heavy duty silicon hoses


Flatland Racing radiator bash guard


Zeta folding levers, fresh grips and an aluminum throttle tube


Go-Race goodies
were returned fast! Very impressed. Performed a few other small mods
and lots and lots of cleaning followed by generous amounts of Bel-Ray
grease. I was amazed at the places I was finding dirt and mud, but more
importantly WATER! I promise I will never power-wash my bike again.



Got it all back together and I have one 6mm bolt left over. It is not a
shiny fastener, it looks serious and was slathered with Locktite. Has
me a little worried, sorry I didn't snap a pic of it. Several of you
could see it and tell me where it goes.

Meeting up with Pete (WRR) and Chris (X-Challenge) at 7am for an Ozark
Forest trail ride. Need to start scouting trails for the SLAP ride
coming up. HighFive and the Krabill are gonna want to see something new
and they don't like the sissy stuff, so I plan to hit it hard tomorrow.
I guess I'll find out just how important that missing bolt is!

Late tonight:


After a few hard miles, I'll post up my thoughts on the Go-Race suspension treatment.

Do I spy an NSX?? Huge honda fan - post pics! :)

The bike looks good.
There's nothing like a freshly-maintained bike. :)

I want to hear about how your suspension works.

nice job Justin (except that one bolt). did you pull the bearings to clean them? if so, did you use a bearing puller? i've removed seals and bearings the old fassion way, but was glad i wasn't reusing them either. i'd like a cheap mothod of removing seals/ bearings without destroying them.

No need to remove the bearings or oil seals unless they're going to be replaced.
They can be cleaned and lubed while in place.

after looking over my bike i see no need to remove the swingarm for more lube. i'm not an aggressive washer. i can't imagine cleaning the bearings with the seals in the way though. how do you do it? so i bought a Tusk Bearing Remover Tool for when i decide to tear into it.

First, in my opinion, yes, you do need to take the bike apart to do this at least once a year.
If you're a mud turtle, I'd do it at least twice a year.

Don't kid yourself because the bike looks clean, dry, and shiny on the outside - the grease that was on the bearings, bolts, oil seals, and collars when the bike was built won't last forever.
If you let it go too long and put enough time on it, you will be taking it apart to replace the parts, not just lube them.
That is, if you can get it apart - the big bolt that goes through the swingarm will eventually corrode in place if it's not removed periodically to be cleaned and regreased.
If this happens and you need to get it apart, you're in for a world of hurt.
Been there, done that.
We're talking steel bolt up against steel spacers and collars.
They WILL rust over time.
Same goes for the bolts and bearings and oil seals for the suspension linkage. :)

The reason you don't have to remove the bearings and oil seals (unless they're worn out) is because you can easily access them in their natural resting spot.
On a WR-250R or X, the oil seals are actually built into the thrust covers that cover the ends of the swingarm, too, so that takes care of the oil seals being in your way.

Even on bikes where the oil seals stay in the swingarm (like my 2009 WR-250F and the 2009 DR-Z400SM I had), the bearings cas still easily be reached without wasting time and (probably) wrecking them just to get them out.

On top of all of the above, the whole idea is to do this way before things deteriorate to the point that you're getting contamination in there and metal-to-metal wear.
If you do it before things go to hell and get all rusty, dirty, and dingy, all you need to do is wipe any old grease off the parts and slather new grease on all of the parts.

i know all about an ounce of prevention. thanks for the good write up too. i do have my suspension off and there is greese where it should be. it is no where near as bad as Justin's bike and i have over 4000 miles on it.
so i can just pull the swingarm bolt and throw some greece in?

Remove the swingarm and remove the long spacer that goes through the bearings.
Don't forget to grease the oil seals, too, as well as the bearings and seals for the linkage.