swingarm play vertical
 

Changed the tyre 2 days ago and thought I'd check the swingarm bearings. Theres is very noticeably vertical play. Not sure though if this is normal/does not matter that much and maybe its just side to side play that should be worrisome. Read somewhere that it could be from the rear shock. I have installed a rear shock from germany.

video

Always something new to discover about the lovely xt :)

Ye well you move the camera and move the swingarm up and down, measure what play you have.

It looks like play in the suspension linkage and should be fixed asap, it is only going to get worse and cause more damage and would be a MOT/TUV/safety test failure depending where the bike is registered.

try to increase the spring preload

You need to find where the play is.

Most of the time, it's in the bush at the top of the shock.

Also be aware, that you can get movement within the shock itself FROM NEW.

I MOT bikes. It's not always a reason for failure. A bit of movement would be a minor fail. Not a serious fail. And again, it depends where !!

If you find an assistant to help you... Place your fingers on the different joints whilst they move the swing arm up and down. You can generally feel the movement.

dont know what model you have but in my xt600e there was a an accumulation of play in all the linkage bearings that was quite a disaster. not nice to say, but yamaha really cut corners here.
spent a day with the lathe making some thin walled sleeves that solved most of it but it's essentially a bad design, TT's are much better in that sense

What grade of steel are you making your sleeves from ?

I've just bought a lathe and I'm learning fast. I assume a high carbon bright steel. Polished ?

mild steel, have a small lathe with not much power, it cant handle the real tough stuff, but i think the stock bushings were also mild steel, just tons of tolerance. to arrive to exact internal diameter use a boring tool, not a drill. after you got the ID right then do the outside diameter, easier that way.

dont have the sketches, but i designed the sleeves and collars so i could use a proper bolt to tight the shock properly instead of the stupid plain pin and cotter in the bottom shock mount, most of the play was there.