Oil swinging arm Fastback 68

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One tip I picked up in another thread...to use STP Oil Treatment as the swingarm lube. This stuff seems to stay in better than 90/140 I had tried previously. Quite high viscosity.
 
Heinz Kegler told me that the factory specified 140 weight oil in the swing arm only in an effort to slow down constant leaks there.
The correct weight oil is such that would be thin enough to actually make its way down the tiny 1/16 holes at either end of the spindle and from there to hopefully provide a lube cushion. Heinz felt that regular motor oil stood a much better chance of doing so than too thick, in his opinion, 140.
 
If the seals are in good shape, regular engine oil works fine. I've been using it in the swingArm for over 10 years with no leak issues. BE careful if you use a grease gun type of device to put oil into the swing arm via the "grease fitting." You can blow out the end caps/strip the long screw. No need to ask me how I know this! ;)
 
Last evening I have see in the swinging arm and problably the mecanich that had repaired the bike had sostituite the oil with lubricanting grease
 
As you probably know, grease is wrong for the swingarm and will not probably lubricate the bushings. Unfortunately, once grease is used, there is no easy way to get it out and adding oil does no good because the grease won't allow it to seep into the bushings. I had the same issue when I first bought my current Commando in 2006 and had to disassemble the swing arm and clean out everything. I decided to install new bushings and swing arm clamps at that time.

I reassembled everything and then lubricated the swingarm using the fitting and a grease gun (with engine oil) whereupon I blew out the end caps and stripped the threads on the long screw. What a mess! :( When I installed the end caps and new screw, I lubricated the swingarm by removing the bolt at the top of the swingarm and used that hole to fill the SwingArm with engine oil. Once that was full I reinstalled the bolt.

An easier way is to orient the SwingArm end cap with the fitting so that the fitting is at the 12 o'clock position. Then, when you want to add oil, you can remove the fitting and use a hypodermic syringe to add oil as necessary. This method works fine though you can't add as much oil as you can via the bolt on top of the SwingArm.

ONE MORE method where you can safely use a grease gun (with oil) is to use the 'grease fitting" AND remove the bolt on the top of the swingarm so any pressure can be released instead of blowing out the end caps. It's faster than just removing the bolt and filling using the bolt-hole.
 
A very dense gear grease with a very dark red / brown color was used. Isn't it by chance an oil that has solidified over time?
 
The color and consistency sounds like wheel bearing grease. Maybe the mechanic thought there were needle bearings instead of bushings in the swingArm. OR he made the common assumption that the fitting on the swingarm is a GREASE fitting so he greased it! ;)
 
Gian85 said:
Last evening I have see in the swinging arm and problably the mecanich that had repaired the bike had sostituite the oil with lubricanting grease
Click to expand...

Clean out all the grease.

Periodic re-oiling of the pivot is intended to top-up the Oilite sintered bronze bushes.

As long as the oil comes into contact withe some part of the bush then it will be absorbed by the bush and distributed thoughout the porous structure. This is why it's totally unnecessary to supply lubricant directly to the bearing surfaces.

This is the reason OIL should be used and not GREASE.
Below is a time-lapse, each image taken one minute apart demonstrating how a pivot bush readily absorbs oil.
The bush completely absorbed the drop of 75w90 gear oil in about 8 minutes with no trace of oil remaining on the surface.
 
One other method to oil the bushings is to rig a small tube with cap at one end and leave it fitted to a barb screwed into the top fixing bolt or its hole. Then you can top up oil by filling the tube. If tube is clear you can monitor consumption. This idea I first heard from Hobot I believe.
 
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