Swing arm spindle

Stephen Hill said:

At the risk of taking this thread in a different direction....
A while ago I helped a friend remove a swingarm spindle from his Commando.
Previously he had tried to drive, push, heat, pull, pound, and generally remove the spindle from the cradle. I wasn't there for this but everything he tried made sense. But no success.

As a last ditch effort, the cradle was removed from the bike and brought to my place. We used a lot of heat, some heavy duty pullers, and big hammers. Nothing!
The cradle ended up on my hydraulic press. The cradle is an awkward shape, and not the flattest object. But it was as well supported as it could be.
By the time the spindle came out, the cradle was beginning to look like a banana. The friend didn't care as he had a few more to choose from. I on the other hand don't like damaging good parts.

My point, if there is one: Has anybody else had this problem? And if so, how did you remove it without damage?

Click to expand...

Spindle with no flats. Cradle drilled and nuts welded on for 1/4" UNF bolts to bear against the spindle, all without removing the spindle I'm told. All oil leaked out many years before.

Took massive torque on the draw bolt to pull it out. Swingarm survived - the rest was trash. This is just how the pull started - had to keep coming up with things to keep pulling as it only actually became loose at the last 2" or so.

Had to come out - swingarm rear moved 1/2" side-to-side due to worn spindle and bushings.

One other time when pulling did not work, I ended up cutting the cradle tube and spindle out on both sides inside the cradle then drove the remaining spindle ends inward. Saved the swingarm but of course, everything else was trash.

Thanks Greg. Sounds like sometimes the spindle will be so frozen that destruction of the cradle and spindle is the only option.

Stephen Hill said:

At the risk of taking this thread in a different direction....
A while ago I helped a friend remove a swingarm spindle from his Commando.
Previously he had tried to drive, push, heat, pull, pound, and generally remove the spindle from the cradle. I wasn't there for this but everything he tried made sense. But no success.

As a last ditch effort, the cradle was removed from the bike and brought to my place. We used a lot of heat, some heavy duty pullers, and big hammers. Nothing!
The cradle ended up on my hydraulic press. The cradle is an awkward shape, and not the flattest object. But it was as well supported as it could be.
By the time the spindle came out, the cradle was beginning to look like a banana. The friend didn't care as he had a few more to choose from. I on the other hand don't like damaging good parts.

My point, if there is one: Has anybody else had this problem? And if so, how did you remove it without damage?

Click to expand...

As it is disassembled, could the spindle be drilled from both sides? After drilling it out as far as is comfortable, then use a welding tip in an oxy/act torch and heat the spindle through the drilled hole until red. Let it cool completely. As the spindle expands from the heat, it will push against the swingarm and cradle, but be held in place as those parts are not heated. as it cools it will shrink a bit from the original size and loosen its grip.
I've not done this to a spindle, but use it often with bolts that don't want to move and I don't want to snap off the head. I heat just the bolt head only, to just red, then let cool until I can place a bare hand on it. usually it works. That is why using a welding tip is important as a cutting tip will have too large of a heat source and heat the adjacent area, causing it to expand also.
Another way would be to use the welding tip and wash a line along the inside of drilled hole. Adjust the flame a little oxygen rich. Heat the spindle to burning temp and let the extra oxygen burn out the steel ahead of the flame. A line all the way through the spindle will releave the pressure and make it easier to remove.
As I had said, I didn't use these techniques on a spindle, but I have used them in my work and projects.