Rear suspension linkage play on my VTec?

[Val]

 Rear suspension linkage play on my VTec?

I am enquiring whether anybody has had experienced with very slight play in the rear suspension linkage?

My recent MOT highlighted an advice note, that on following placing the bike on the centre stand

and levering under the rear tyre, a very slight movement upwards was felt.

I was surprised at the result as my new recent second purchase had done only 6000mls.

 Taking advice to regrease everything and try again, as Honda has been known it be very sparing with

their grease and they were, I now find that the slight play has reduced.

I wondering how much movement is acceptable, and look forward to your responses, and should I now

 be thinking of renewing the brushes in the pivot bolts to the linkage plates and linkage?

Cheers

 

[vegaquark]

I'm concerned too about this. The other day checking things i noticed this... There is no play on the rear wheel bearing but it seems to be in the suspension linkage... Maybe i'll diassembly the swingarm and regrease/check everything.

[Loftust]

Applying grease will only temporarily 'fill the gap' where there is mechanical play.

 

There are a number of bearings that could be culprit, but I'd start off with those at the front end of the swingarm, although where the play is should be identified before disassembling the back end. 

[Val]

Many thanks for your reply Loftust.

On further inspection, and on levering the rear wheel, one cannot obviously see the movement in the bearings, but u can just feel it with a finger on the connection.

That's why I was asking what was norm?

This is my forth VFR and previous mileage include up to 47000mls on the last bike and I have not experienced this problem before.

All the bikes basically using at the same MOT garage and I recall this MOT inspection on the rear suspension on previous bikes with no movement.

Look forward to your comment and is this a simple job to do - pressing out the bearings?

[VFRpwr]

How many millimetres or thousandths of an inch is 'slight'?  This is the stage gate for "it's nothing" vs. "stop everything and fix it".  For the sake of entertainment, let's go with it's less than 1.0mm/0.040"; sounds like the garage couldn't find anything obvious and easy during your MOT inspection (c'mon don't you know to leave something for them to pick at and bitch about) so they were left with picking their noses and poking at the SSSA "Ain't never seen one of these before - it MUST be suspect" - substitute "suspect" with whichever homespun epithet best suits your geography.

Sum all the clearances and multiply by three and that's the amount of 'total play' in the rear suspension.  But under load (the bike weight and the rider weight) these mean nothing, unless you are constantly jumping the bike (I think we all want to see the video) the suspension is never totally unloaded and this is nothing to consider.

[Loftust]

20 hours ago, Val said:

Many thanks for your reply Loftust.

On further inspection, and on levering the rear wheel, one cannot obviously see the movement in the bearings, but u can just feel it with a finger on the connection.

That's why I was asking what was norm?

This is my forth VFR and previous mileage include up to 47000mls on the last bike and I have not experienced this problem before.

All the bikes basically using at the same MOT garage and I recall this MOT inspection on the rear suspension on previous bikes with no movement.

Look forward to your comment and is this a simple job to do - pressing out the bearings?

 

No worries 

 

Being able to feel movement is a precursor to greater wear that is noticeable by other means, and will eventually lead to total failure.

 

The bearings are surprisingly easy to replace once the swingarm is off. The Service Manual and Haynes should tell you how to do it, although I recall merely using the right size socket and mallet to drift them out/in. 

 

Have a good look at how the bearings are seated in the swingarm before removal, particularly how far in they need to go in; there are no stops as such.

You'll need new seals as well - take a look at Lings/cmnsl etc for the part numbers.

 

Multipurpose grease will suffice when packing the new bearings - take a look on youtube for the best ways to squeeze the grease in there...you'll definitely need some latex gloves! IIRC, one of the bearings is a needle roller and only needs to be liberally lubrictaed rather than packed like a conventional bearing.

[Val]

Many thanks for your replies and advice, and will get them replaced

 

Happy riding.

[Auspanglish]

I don't know if a very slight UPWARD movement is a problem. Lateral yes, vertical not sure.

[Val]

Hi again,

Been talking to others, this little movement seems quite a common occurrence – u have it and not!

I have now fully greased the roller bearings and things have a little improvement – there was only a covering of very slight original grease from Honda.

Following talking to others, I am going to leave be – as I know of two others who have replaced these bearings and u still end up with this little movement under the rear wheel, when on the centre stand.

Further, I know of a Suzuki owner with a 2month old bike, who went back to his agent and they replaced the bearings with no improvement. Following much argument with the main agent, eventually they said this little movement was within tolerance, and they were not going to do any further work on his bike!!

I look forward to any responses

cheers

[vegaquark]

This looks like a tolerance amplification problem... As our bike has the suspension really near to the axel of the swingarm, any play on the suspension or axle bearings will amplify on the tire itself, but if the suspension where located near the center of the tire at both sides like on a honda cb, it would be less noticeable being the same play.
This would be our bike:

And this a cb 750 in example: