The Hodaka Club Forum

I have a Super Combat that I trying to remove the swing arm. The bolt is stuck inside the swing arm and will not budge. I have wracked on it with a big hammer to the point of destroying the nut but absolutely no movement.
Any suggestions?

One way, which saves hammering, heating, penetrating oil, etc, although some cursing may still be required -

Carefully drill out both ends of the bolt, down to the swingarm, starting with small drill bits working up to the size of the bolt. That gets the swingarm free from the frame. I think there's a grease fitting that already centers your drilling on one end of the bolt, isn't there?

Then remove the wheel, shocks, etc. Take the swingarm to any shop that has a shop press, and have them press the bolt shaft out.

just my 2 cents, based on experience

-Stever

I did try penetrating oil. I will try applying heat next. Drilling seems like it would be the last resort but if that’s what it takes then so be it.

Does the swing arm move on the frame? Victor

Yes Victor the swing arm moves on the frame. The bolt is stuck inside of the swing arm. I have had stuck swing arms before but I’ve always been able to get them apart eventually. This one is winning the battle so far. I have tried lots of penetrating oil, heat, big hammer, sweat and cussing but it won’t budge. I have ruined the the bolt so I don’t care about that anymore.

Can you drive the bolt in both directions? Is there any possibility the bold is bent or the bore has a big ding in it? If neither of these is the case, going both directions thermally can really help. Freeze Your Nuts Off is a penetrating oil aerosol with a coolant in the formula. The best is freon for the cooling cycle.

If all else fails and you resort to drilling, here is just a little more detail on drilling out. This applies to the swing arm bolt, but I mainly learned this from watching how a friend drilled out bolts that had broken off in a threaded hole, where the threads in the hole really needed to be saved. Works better for me than a reverse bit or easy-outs, which I tend to break.

You don't need to work up all the way to a drill bit that is the same diameter as the bolt, which might be impractical, especially in the case of the swing arm bolt. Go big enough to make the remaining walls of the bolt thin, and drill deep enough to go into the bolt half inch or so past the frame. Then use a pointed punch or awl to cave in the thin walls, punching them down into the drilled out hole so the bolt clears the frame.

In the case of a bolt broken off in a threaded hole, drill the entire length of the bolt, so what remains of it is kind of a threaded thin tube (this also allows penetrating oil to get past the end of the bolt and work from the bottom), then carefully deform it inward with an awl, etc. to get it loose. Then work it out of the hole. Probably a very confusing description, but simple in practice.

-Stever

Check the SC parts list showing the swingarm assembly. There is a spacing collar between the bushings. This may be stuck to the shaft. Your heat and penatrating oil may need to be concentrated on this area.