GS1100 Swingarm Conversion Question

I am trying to put a 82 GS1100 swingarm on my 76 z1 frame. I have the proper pivot bolt for the swingarm (i think). The issue I am having is the needle bearings on the ends of the swingarm are huge (the ID) but the bushing inside the swingarm fits the bolt nice. It does however flop around inside of the arm. So my questions are:

Could the outside bearings be incorrect?

Is the inside bushing incorrect?

Am i missing some pieces that ride inside of the outer bearings?

Any help, suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!

- brian

There should be no slop in the setup. So, yes, it is possible that one of them is wrong. If the bolt is for the frame then you need new bushings to fit the swingarm most likely, or just bushings to fit the bolt to the bushing for the swingarm.

You are missing the inside races of the needle bearings. The needles do not ride on the bolt, if that is what you were wondering.

Thanks guys. I just managed to find a microfiche online and ordered the proper spacers for inside those bearings.

Talking about spacers, you will need to take up about 3/8" side to side. If you will notice the GS swing arm is narrower in the bolt area than the KZ swing arm. also make sure that you have the outside dust shields that cover up the bearing assemblies.

Those I have. I had a guy machine me spacers for the swingarm to frame and for the rear wheel to swingarm.

I actually had this one the bike and drove it, I didn't notice the missing spacers because i never bothered to run the pivot bolt through it before I tried putting it on. I know .. dumb move. I noticed I felt something torque when I gassed it so I took it off and that is when i realized it. Well now I have time to finish polishing it at least while I wait for parts.

Thanks for again for the advice and thanks for the follow-up about the spacers and dust shields.

LOL ... someone once told me these were bolt-ons! ha! I got so much work into this swingarm. I even modded it so it works with a rear drum.

brich wrote:

LOL ... someone once told me these were bolt-ons! ha! I got so much work into this swingarm. I even modded it so it works with a rear drum.

I hear ya there. I took me a while to get mine installed because I had to find the right sized spacers and cut them myself. Not easy to cut a spacer down perfectly without a lathe. I also had to buy shorter shocks, so I bought the chinese (cringe) ones that fit a GS1100 off eBay and they have worked great, except they are stiff as hell.

If you don't do this, you'll have to trim the frame where the exhaust mounts near the foot pegs. I didn't want to do that, and the GS shocks are just barely short enough to keep the swingarm from hitting when it is topped out. By barely, I mean like a credit cards width from the bottom of the swingarm to the exhaust mounting point on the frame. You might want to go ahead and start looking at this problem before you get your parts, so you're at least prepared for it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I can snap a few pics for ya.

i noticed it after i took it off. I had a mark on the frame and swingarm where it must have hit. I got some progressive shocks and it seems to have, like you said, a real little bit of space between. I have so far managed with all my mods to not mess with the frame and I would like to keep it that way. I may have to see what else I can do to create some travel there.

Thanks for the heads-up!

- brian