What to do with grease in the swing arm bushing?

A PO on my early 850 had filled my swing arm bushing with grease. Since I don't have play in the bushing, should I simply flush (with solvent) out the grease (completely), renew the o-rings and fill with 140 gear oil?

yes sounds like it would work but taking the spindle out may be better as its the 2 very small oil ways in the spindle that get clogged by the grease, without taking the spindle out you could never be sure they were grease free. The MK3 850 went for rubberised washers instead of the O rings, they may be better but have no experience in use.

Yellow_Cad said:

A PO on my early 850 had filled my swing arm bushing with grease.

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When you say "bushing" do you actually mean the PO has filled the hollow spindle with grease?

If so, then grease will not find its way through to the bearing surfaces, as the Commando S/A bushes/bushings are made from Oilite (sintered bronze) which is porous. The lubricant has to soak through the bushes in order to get to the bearing surfaces.

If you clean the grease out of the spindle and then refilled with EP oil, I'd think that would probably be OK, as the EP oil should dissolve any traces of grease that are left behind? If the EP starts to leak out, then it's probably getting through OK.

Oilite is virtually self-lubricating, and should only require an occasional drop or two of oil.
Oilite does not need to be "wet" with oil in order to be sufficiently lubricated.