ok tried unsuccessfully again to remove the bloody rear shock bolt after 2 weeks of soaking it with oil, its definitely going to shear after ruining another socket . Is it fairly straightforward to remove the swing arm and get my local engineer to mill it out?
Not had multi one out, but isn’t it a bolt? So you can cut or drill out? Can’t see why you would have to remove swingarm
Mine is stuck fast too, I had Snell in Alton try + they got in the 'Thread Dr' who after 2 hrs couldn't remove it!! Derek on here had the same issue, he used a recip saw to cut either side of the shock, on cutting both sides, he found the head of the bolt was seized solid & required a 4lb lump hammer to remove it, the threaded part undone when he started drilling it out with a LH drill bit! I am going to go this route before removing the swing arm.
Not quite a 4lb lump hammer, it was just a 2 lb ball pein but it did need a couple of hefty whacks. Be aware that the hole in the swinging arm is just that - a hole. There is no shoulder at the bottom for the bolt to bear against. The head of the bolt butts against the top hat bush in the spherical bearing. Once you have cut through the bolt at both sides of the shock and lifted the shock out the remaining bolt head can be drifted through.
You think so? The head of the bolt has a much bigger diameter than it's shank and a bigger surface area so the bond is much harder to break.
If the new replacement bolt has the head coated with CopaSlip or similar before it is inserted, will that ensure the problem never recurs, do you think @Derek ? And if so, perhaps Ducati ought to do the same on the assembly line at the factory.
One would hope so Pete. I gave mine a liberal coating and plugged the outside of the hole with grease for good measure
Well it ain’t moving so rather than shear it off and not have the bike I have stopped. A couple of engineers won’t touch it because it’s too much of a pain to make a jig to hold it and would cost a fair chunk. I therefore propose to buy a second hand swing arm and butcher my old one to get my shock off without damaging it. Unless people who have had it done can give me the name of the machine shop where the work was done and I might consider that option. If anybody has a swing arm for sale then get in touch please
It is unlikely to shear. It's the bolt head that seizes in the hole in the swinging arm not the bolt into the threaded portion. Once I cut through the bolt and removed the shock the remaining portion screwed out quite easily.
Can you post up some photos of both sides of the shock mount / bolt / nut so we can see and maybe offer some advise. If as Derek says there is no thereaded hole and its a nut and bolt then sheering it off would not be a bad thing. Once its sheared assumin the head is sheared you can then use a drift and hammer and knock it through. You may be able to do the same from the back - but not sure there is access. Also - you could try drilling out the centre of the bolt starting with a Centre drill and a 3mm drill then increase 1mm at a time drilling the core can allow it to collapse in a little and make it easier to knock out.. Also if you have an oxy acetelene torch with a fine nozzle - you could directly heat the head to try and loosen the bolt rust with the thermal expansion. A new swing arm is a pretty drastic / costly option I would think...
I didn't say there is no threaded hole, the swinging arm on the opposite side of the shock is threaded for the bolt to screw into but in my case at least it unscrewed easily. As I've been saying above, it was the bolt head that was siezed into the swinging arm
