Hello, and a question about the swing arm...

Hello all,

You got to love the internet! I've had a 1971? Norton project bike for about 5 years now, sitting in storage, aching to be restored and I am finally getting to her. So I do a quick Google search, find this board, and already I know 500% more than I did an hour ago. Thanks for all of you guys who are willing to share your info with all of us new guys!

I am in the process of a complete disassembly, and have gotten hung up on the swing arm. Long story short - the project bike had been "raked" in order to be chopped, so I just bought a new frame. This frame has no swing arm, so I need the old one off the project bike in order to get everything to the powdercoater so I can have a nice clean start. I plan on starting from a nice new base and building it up as I go. I'll get into more of what I have and don't have as the project progresses.

I was moving along like gangbusters on the disassembly until I got to the swing arm. The Clymer and Haynes manual are kind of vauge, and it looks like there is kind of a trick to removing this bad boy. I removed the left side bolt and it looks like you either need a special tool or a trick to get the thing to release. I am sure this is a simple task to you Norton experts, but I figured I'd start out with an easy one...

Any advice from you seasoned gearheads would be greatly appreciated! Please feel free to email me directly as well as post to the group.

Nice to say hi to all of you and look for losts of stupid questions on my part in the coming weeks as I happily restore this classic!

W.J.

Hi WJ,

I too have a 71 750. I replaced the swingarm spindle on my bike back in April when I bought the bike. Old spindle was shot although the bushings were ok.

Anyway, to get the swingarm off you have to remove the lockscrew on the top and then remove the spindle from the right side. After you remove the end cap you can screw a 1/2-20 bolt into the spindle and hopefully pull it right out. Then the swingarm slides off to the rear.

If you're lucky the spindle comes right out. If you're unlucky it's frozen in place due to corrosion and lack of lube. I hear they can be a real bear sometimes.

hope that helps,
Debby