Well, there is something to be said for living in Africa and having no salt on the road...most likely this bolt has never been out before. I started soaking it about a week ago in penetrating lubricant and over the last week have disassembled the bike to get the rear shock out, then today I pulled the rear wheel and then had the swing arm bolt out in 20mins - just used a 16in long 1/2in drive breaker bar then drove the bolt through with a drift. Heres the bolt as it came out:



obviously the penetrating oil doesn't 'do excatly what it says on the tin'!!!

just mild surface rust that a wire wheel will sort out.

well, i'm off to do a bit more cleaning!

Regards
SkidMark

Result Mark, and not a moment to soon either, left much longer and I think that may have featured in the "woe is my shaft section "
Mike

Looks good ,assemble with a good quality graphite grease and all will be okay. For real peace of mind drill the arm and put a grease nipple in.

MarkF12 wrote:Looks good ,assemble with a good quality graphite grease and all will be okay. For real peace of mind drill the arm and put a grease nipple in.

will defo be putting a good quality grease in - thought about a grease nipple but decided against. They work well with bearings as there is a cavity to fill with grease but with a bushing the thicker grease doesn't tend to distribute over the whole contact area very well. Rather I will make sure I pull it out annually (remember I am in africa with no salt on the road) and regrease it. Will be worth me making a 'bullet' so I can remove in in situ without stripping everything down.

Regards
SkidMark