Most bikes have 4 bearings stashted in their swingarms and then another 4 seals, but Yamaha decided to cut the cost down by replacing 2 roller bearings with 2 plastic bushing and then placing only 2 normal shaft seals only on the inner side and fitting some nonsense that seals nothing on the outer sides… it’s a joke really, and bikes that are built for reliability should not have such a construction.

**Picture:** *Standard setup for 1 side of the swingarm (minus metal cap)*

Two small needle roller bearings is not enough, and metal end caps on the outer sides of the swingarm do basically nothing as they rub to the bushings – metal to metal and do not form a good seal. Water gets in, bearings corrode and wear out even quicker… Thank you Yamaha.

Anyway, while changing bearings on my swingarm, I realised that there is something that can be done to fight such unfairness, and that’s as simple as replacing plastic bushing with normal bearings! And while the swingarm is out, add extra 2 dust seals on the outer sides too.

**Picture:** *Standard (with plastic bushing on the left) VS Mod (Bushing replaced with bearing Plus extra seal)*

It really works wonders especially when used with waterproof grease, as bearings are sealed, water can’t get in so easily anymore, and extra surface to rub against on those extra rollers means bearings have a much easier life then before!

What I have used for this swingarm bearing mod

While rebuilding my swingarm, I have used a kit from OffTheRoad.de (Swingarm pivot kit ONLY), and ordered extra 2 needle roller bearings size 22x28x20 (SKF KK2220) and extra 2 seals size 22x28x8 from my local bearing shop and obviously waterproof grease for all of them.

And that’s about it! Hardly can be called “a mod” as it’s just a slight change for the better!

Quick tip: that big nut on the right side of the swingarm – the one that takes up all the slack and side to side movement – can be un-done with the same 14mm allen key that is used for the front axle, just need to place a couple of cable ties to make up for the gap or alternatively a right size bolt with over tightened nut on it (or welded) will do the trick! Saying that just because it’s very rare for people to have some ~16mm allen key lying around. Oh, and it only needs to be tightened to 8nm! Yeah, just 8nm!