04 chopper swing arm bent ??

[nobozos]

I picked up an 04 chopper I beleive it to be a rolling thunder frame 5th digit in vin is N ? The rear tire started rubing the belt after only riding it aprox 250 miles. Bike only has 1300 on it know. after some research I noticed there was no bushing at the pivot point/bolt and my swing arm was bent. I had this staitened at a local frame shop installed the bushing and ended up with new spacers to center the tire, only .200. the rear adjusters never did line up right but we got the tire and pulley riding true to the tranny. I took it out and bent it up again withen 60 miles and yes I rode it hard at the end thrue 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th. I heard these frames may have a weak spot and crack but I do not know were to look? any help would help LOST

 

[Moespeeds]

Where did it "bend"? I could see how you could bend the swingarm pivot bolt, but the swingarm itself? Please post some pics.

 

[Nomad2day]

A similar post I just read on this as well...
Neil

http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/technical/18596-long-term-problem-finally-solved-i-hope.html

 

[KnotSo]

http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/introductions/16532-all-important-first-post-intro.html#post270617

 

[nobozos]

yes it was realy the arm, it was bent on the left side on the flat plate that is moon shaped and when I looked in from the right side with a flashlight toward the left side I could see there was no bushing and were the bushing should have been, the hole that the pivot bolt went thrue was way off to one side like the bolt went to the side of the hole. after removing the arm it was visibly bent ? thanks for taking intrest

 

[nobozos]

thanks nomad2day that was interesting

 

[mobsta]

my 04 mastiff had a bent swing arm from the factory,it was removed and sent in for repair so i was told,this was supposed to be the cause of my squeaky belt,yea right

 

[nobozos]

I received a response from rolling thunder frames today and it reads as follows-

Hi Paul
BIG DOG HAD AN ISSUE WITH SWING ARMS TWISTING THAT YEAR WE NEVER FIGURED OUT WHY IT HAPPENED BECAUSE ONLY CERTAIN ONES TWISTED. ANYWAY THEY CAME UP WITH A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM AND THAT WAS A SPACER THAT THEY INSTALLED ON THE PIVOT TUBE WICH SLID INTO THE BEARING CUP. THIS SPACER WOULD ELIMINATE ANY TWIST THAT WOULD WANT TO OCCUR UNDER ACCELERATION. I DO NOT KNOW THE NAME OR PART NUMBER BUT I AM SURE IF YOU CONTACT TECH SUPPORT AT BIG DOG THEY CAN HELP YOU.
I HOPE THAT HELPS ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS BUT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME WITH ANY OTHER QUESTIONS THAT YOU MAY HAVE IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE TO SERVE YOU.
THANKS
SAM

this came from rolling thunder [RT FRAME] and has answered some of my questions and I do not see how big dog can any longer deny the problem exists, wow what a pain this has been
I will be sending my swing arm to big dog with a copy of the email.
I will be letting everyone here know what happened and will post email addreses of the people that helped.
If I had some pics of how bad this was origanally bent I would gladly post them. Sorry moespeeds I know better now and will take pics from now on whenever I work on my dog.
I am going to be continueing to look for more info such as bump stops and such that I found here, thanks every one

 

[MARV]

below is for 05's.

its all a known issue. says it all right here in the NHSTA recall.

http://nhthqnwws111.odi.nhtsa.dot.g...s/Public/Recalls/2006/V/RCRIT-06V389-4751.pdf


be aware BD monitors this site.

 

[Chris04Masitff]

hey Mobsta my recall history has same thing on swingarm... repair order shows it was repaired . before i got it though- 1200 miles on bike .

 

[mobsta]

i dont think it was a recall,i believe it was a service bulletin,i also think it was bs,they did this for the belt squeak,i got it back 100 times worse because the idiot teck didnt realign the wheel,but still have squeak

 

[lee]

I have a bad feeling my right side bolt may have broke. It looks as though my belt shredding might have been caused by it losing alingment and heavily rubbing on the front pulley cover and I cannot get that bolt out. I hope not.

 

[MARV]

I have a bad feeling my right side bolt may have broke. It looks as though my belt shredding might have been caused by it losing alingment and heavily rubbing on the front pulley cover and I cannot get that bolt out. I hope not.

was thinking that when i read your thread.

you need to relieve the weight off the swingarm to get the bolt out.

 

[KaptinAmerika]

God I remember this issue with my 03 chopper and the rolling thunder frame. They didn't have a fix back then so I ended up tearing down my rear end and having a custom bushing fabricated for the inside pivot point that had no support. It wasn't cheap but it solved the issue. Of course then a whole new set of issues started after that and ultimately BD bought the bike back as a lemon but I won't go into that negative trip because I have an 06 K9 done up the way I like and she rollin sweet. I would post pixs of what I did back then but I had them on a server that crashed and I lost all my data.

 

[nobozos]

Marv thanks for the info but I am working on my 04, and Rolling thunder says they still beleive there is something big dog called a bearing spacer not just the bushing that should have been there that was not. I installed their bushing and it bent again and big dog is not being any help as of yet, I am now considering building the swing arm up with gussets and webbing, I am at a loss of what to do, big dog seems to be taking months for anything and rolling thunder wants 850.00 for a new arm and can not garauntee it will not bend. I have allready waited almost two years to fix it do to the economy, I wanted to pay it off first and now all this.