I snapped the adjuster bolt on my swingarm!

[mycatwon]

it's an '02 CRF450r....i am wondering if anyone has a trick to removing what is left (about 3/8" of the bolt showing) It is seized in there really hard.

Or, does anyone know if an 08 swingarm will fit on an 02? They look the same to me.... but I think each year (02 thru 09) has a different part number.

[hoffman910]

Try getting a swingarm buddy. You drill out what's left and put the swingarm buddy in it's place. I had to put one on my01 cr250 and it worked for me!

[Shawn_Mc]

Get some acetone and some ATF. Mix it 50/50 and soak the adjuster it and work it out with a pair of vice grips.

Its either that or the swing arm buddy.

For the life of me I dont know how people do this. One of the first things you gotta do is pull those adjusters and put anti-sieze on them. But first and foremost, youve gotta loosen the axle to adjust the chain!!

[hoffman910]

My 250 was used and the first time I had the wheel off I went to grease them and SNAP!! Haha. Both my 450's I did as soon as I got them so I woulnt have to deal with that again! The swingarm buddy is basicly a rig job, but $25 vs. New swing arm ain't bad IMO

[MotorMan1515]

IMO the best thing to do if you can't get the seized bolt out is to put a time-sert in place of the old threads. Then just purchase a new chain adjuster bolt from your Honda dealer. I believe the bolt is a 8X1.25mm bolt. Most of your dealers should have those time-serts, and could probably do it for you then way less than a new swing arm, or try to get a kit yourself. Still better than a swingarm buddy.......

[skip #7]

my 02 broke a bolt like yours,took it to my local machine shop had some kind of sonic machine for a better word,the cut it out and didn't damage the threads.

[madore 127]

heat the bag out of it an move it lil by lil it happend 2 a buddy of mine

[NMdesertRacer]

same thing happened on my 02 CRF450. I just cut the bolt off were it goes in the swingarm. Then drilled a tiny hole in middle of the bolt. and gradually got large size drill bit. I just drilled the threads out on both sides and went down and got two bolts and nuts. The bolt will slide freely in and out in the swingarm. then you just hold the bolt with a wrench and adjust the chain with the nut.

[CR2CRF]

Same thing happened to my 02 CR250. Bought it used. Got it home and started pulling things off the frame to go through and regrease everything. Got to those and snap! Ultimately ended up buying a swing arm for an 03 on Ebay. I had nothing sticking out.

Do the soak like Shawn suggested. Then, freeze the thing for an hour. Now you have to do these next steps fast.

When you pull the swing arm out, hit the side of the swing arm right by the chain adjuster bolt with a torch, heating it up really quick. Then hit the broken end of the adjuster with a hard object. I would use a 3/8 socket extension and a sledge hammer. Hit it end to end, like setting a finish nail with a nail set.

The point is, the aluminum swing arm will expand faster that the steel adjuster. When you hit it with the sledge and extension, it might break loose the adjuster. Do this a few times. Then freeze it again and apply a good set of vise grips on the part of the adjuster sticking out and try to turn it out. It may work. I have used this to extract other broken parts in a simular situation. Don't be afraid to bang it really hard.

[BobFromOmaha]

Make that one more in the "it happened to me" category.

had about the same length sticking out as well.

Took a dremmel with the cutting wheel attachment and cut a slot right down the middle. Then took an impact driver with the straight blade attachment. With a little heat and some good whacks with a hammer, it came right out.

Good luck!

ps. use anti-seize like other said. Also, a buddy of mine replaced his stock ones with stainless.

[Shawn_Mc]

Make that one more in the "it happened to me" category.

had about the same length sticking out as well.

Took a dremmel with the cutting wheel attachment and cut a slot right down the middle. Then took an impact driver with the straight blade attachment. With a little heat and some good whacks with a hammer, it came right out.

Good luck!

ps. use anti-seize like other said. Also, a buddy of mine replaced his stock ones with stainless.

Stainless is a bad idea in that area. Aluminum and stainless together cause electrolysis between themselves and that white powder that grows between the two will bind that bolt into the swingarm like nothing you can imagine. Ive seen that white crap actually split a bolt hole out on the ignition cover on a jetski. To get the cover off, I had to cut all the heads off the bolts, then bang on the cover with a hammer. Thank God Id put silicone on the threads and was able to back the remnants of the bolts out with a pair of vice grips once I got the cover off. But that white crap just between the bolt and the cover under the heads of the bolts held the bolts tight enough to allow me to twist two of them right off and hold the cover tight in place until I could free the thing up with a damn hammer...

[NMdesertRacer]

you have to use titanium bolts!

[armourbl]

Just went through this on my 2004. And I had put anti-sieze on it before. In my case the bolts literally just fell out. Ended up drilling out the holes and putting in a recoil kit. It was a pain the in ass to tap the threads since the tap wasn't long enough to extend past the end of the swing arm.

Didn't know about the stainless and aluminum thing. Turns out, the only thing Fastenal had in stock for hex head bolts with full threads was stainless. I guess I'll be replacing those real soon. I bathed them in anti-sieze, so hopefully I have a little time to correct this.

Oh yeah, also broke a drill bit in the swing arm when drilling out the holes. That was fun to get out with a part of needle-nose vice-grips.

ben

[mycatwon]

Thanks for all the tips guys!

What do you think of welding a 1/4" socket to the remaining part of the screw so I could use an impact driver on it? I would first soak it as mentioned above and also use heat and bang on it some to loosen up the rust.

[Jrs Turn]

Thanks for all the tips guys!

What do you think of welding a 1/4" socket to the remaining part of the screw so I could use an impact driver on it? I would first soak it as mentioned above and also use heat and bang on it some to loosen up the rust.

Bingo! We have a winner. When mine broke off we welded a washer to the stub (gives more surface to weld to) then welded a 3/8" bolt to that. Some heat to the swingarm in addition to some penetrating oil and out she came. Good Luck! Larry

[ThumperRookie]

OK I just did this on my 09 crf. So my question is when drilling it out how do you know u have drill out the entire bolt and nothing is left inside the swing arm? I would think the bolt is longer then the threaded part in the swing arm. So while drilling the bolt once you get pass the threaded part the bolt would just fall off inside the swing arm. Or is the threaded part longer then the bolt. I have about 75% of the bolt left inside the swing arm.

 

My course of action is to take the bike to a shop

 1. Some how remove the bolt, (pilot hole and use a reverse drill bit) and hopefully threads are good still

 2. Or have them drill it out and helicoil it? So I can use the stock size bolts. I heard the swing arm buddy kits use standard size bolts instead of metric.

 

My main concern is getting 100% of the bolt that is inside the swing arm as I don't want it to rattle around once is drilled out.

[HRC27]

One of the first things you gotta do is pull those adjusters and put anti-sieze on them. But first and foremost, youve gotta loosen the axle to adjust the chain!!

Great advice. I use waterproof grease. Just brush the threads with an acid brush.

[HRC27]

OK I just did this on my 09 crf. So my question is when drilling it out how do you know u have drill out the entire bolt and nothing is left inside the swing arm? I would think the bolt is longer then the threaded part in the swing arm. So while drilling the bolt once you get pass the threaded part the bolt would just fall off inside the swing arm. Or is the threaded part longer then the bolt. I have about 75% of the bolt left inside the swing arm.

My course of action is to take the bike to a shop

1. Some how remove the bolt, (pilot hole and use a reverse drill bit) and hopefully threads are good still

2. Or have them drill it out and helicoil it? So I can use the stock size bolts. I heard the swing arm buddy kits use standard size bolts instead of metric.

My main concern is getting 100% of the bolt that is inside the swing arm as I don't want it to rattle around once is drilled out.

Cut a slot in that with a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. Heat the swingarm and remove boltwith a straight slot screwdriver. May take a minute or two of heat with a propane torch, less with map gas.

I wouldn't use an Easy-out as those can snap and then you're really screwed.

Edited February 24, 2016 by HRC27

[HRC27]

BTW, anytime you put a steel bolt in to aluminum, brush some anti seize/grease on the threads to avoid these kind of problems with dissimilar metal corrosion. Good to do on tank inserts too.

[Excitable]

BTW, anytime you put a steel bolt in to aluminum, brush some anti seize/grease on the threads to avoid these kind of problems with dissimilar metal corrosion. Good to do on tank inserts too.

best bet to go along with what you said is depending on what type of riding is mid season remove/clean and re grease/anti seize them.

 

dusty conditions are not too bad, its the humid/wet times that make the corrosion/rust happen, an ounce of prevention kind of thing.