Check your Tenere 700 linkage bearings.

[Ktmmitch]

1 hour ago, A A Ron said:

Should we expect the swingarm to be lacking grease too?  That might be more involved.

Both Tenere's I've done swing arm pivots have been dry, they are easy to remove

[A A Ron]

6 hours ago, Ktmmitch said:

Both Tenere's I've done swing arm pivots have been dry, they are easy to remove

The service manual says to use a Yamaha specialty tool called the engine alignment tool (Yamaha 90890-11097) when reinstalling the swingarm.  That is on pages 4-78 and 4-79 of the pdf version I have.  Is that really necessary?  I'm not clear on the what the tool does.  The manual says to tighten the "adjusting bolt" to specification with the engine alignment tool.  But in the swingarm diagram the adjusting bolt appears to be a nut or collar of some sort.  Maybe the nut/collar is used to control bearing load.  

[bth2]

not having had a good look at the swingarm spindle yet. i would take a guess the special tool will be a length of rod to aid aligning the arm and engine  whist pushing the spindle in from one side. having had a peek at mt 07 sites i can see no special reason to use a specific tool....but you never know!

[Totti]

On 12/5/2020 at 5:06 AM, A A Ron said:

The service manual says to use a Yamaha specialty tool called the engine alignment tool (Yamaha 90890-11097) when reinstalling the swingarm.  That is on pages 4-78 and 4-79 of the pdf version I have.  Is that really necessary?  I'm not clear on the what the tool does.  The manual says to tighten the "adjusting bolt" to specification with the engine alignment tool.  But in the swingarm diagram the adjusting bolt appears to be a nut or collar of some sort.  Maybe the nut/collar is used to control bearing load.  

No need for this tool if You just take the swing arm off for checking/greasing the bearings.

[NeverMetThePope]

On 11/21/2020 at 6:23 PM, DT675 said:

Their is a way to get that bolt out. I just ran into the same issue, but not getting those bearings greased was not an option. I won’t suggest my method is safe by no means, but going slow and careful it worked Pretty good for me. 

With the bike on the center stand, I put the kick stand down and placed a jack under it (a wood block might be a more stable better idea) and I just lifted the bike up off the left side of the center stand just a tiny bit. This was able to get the pressure off the center stands mount bolts so I could remove that mound and get the bolt out. I then greased it up, re-installed the bolt, the center stand mount and it’s bolts and slowly let the jack down putting the weight fully back on the center stand. I went slow and it worked well. 

 

I thought the point of having an OEM centrestand was that you didn't have to balance your bike on a Jenga style podium...

 

I don't know if I'm more upset by the state of the bearings I can reach, or the fact I can't get to the front bolt without taking off the very thing designed to hold my bike up in order to remove those bolts... 

[DT675]

I felt the same way- wasn’t thrilled one bit. I suppose their argument would be that it isn't meant for getting at the linkage but for chain and tire maintenance.  For me the linkage is one of the reasons to have this Stand. But, doing the method you quoted does work pretty well. I never felt the bike was terribly unstable and it allowed me to get to that last bolt- at least on stable concrete floor anyway. 

[williestreet]

I picked up my T7 yesterday and removed the linkage and swingarm today.

Bike is new out of the crate with 0 km on it.

Every linkage bolt and the rear axle was bone dry, not a bit of grease.

Linkage bearings had very little grease, the swingarm bearings and collars were a bit better, but only had a little light oil on them.

Just wanted you to know even a new bike needs to be taken apart and greased.

The special tool mentioned a few post ago is just used to turn the adjustable spacer and keep the swingarm pushed tight against the left side of the frame.

It is nothing special.    15mm Allen wrench will do the job.  Or find a bolt with a 15mm head.  It can be inserted and turned to tighten or loosen the spacer.  

I noticed only the lower shock mount bearing used a bearing with solid grease.  My Super Tenere linkage used the yellow solid grease in all its linkage.  I was hoping this one would be the same, but no luck I guess.  

 

 

 

[williestreet]

I was also a bit confused when I checked the swingarm bearings and found only one bearing on the right side.  

The 1 -bearing installed was very deep. and there was a huge space outboard of the bearing.  Initially I thought someone screwed up and forgot to install the second bearing, but Checked the service manual to find it was correct.  

There is no step in the collar and no reason I can see why a second bearing could not be installed.  

 

I will leave it as is for now, but unless someone can give me a good reason I will probably install 2- bearings in the right side when the time comes for a replacement.   

 

I should have measured, but actually I think there is room to install 3 bearings in each side if you really wanted to.  

[camargodave]

Great advice!  At 260 miles my rear tire found a nice 3in bolt in the roadway, so I removed the rear wheel.  While wheel was removed I remembered this tip.  If my bikes linkage pieces had any grease on them, I couldn't feel it on my bony fingers.  Applied a proper amount of Lucas red grease.  Again, great tip!

[WRXer]

On 3/12/2021 at 7:43 PM, williestreet said:

 

On 3/12/2021 at 7:43 PM, williestreet said:

 

 

Using these pics as an example....

Is that not a solid lubricant that is meant to lightly oil the bearings?  Its the new way instead of packing with grease.  Koyo, SKF, & NSK make them & are common Japanese OEM suppliers.

See here...

Technical Articles - MicroPoly

---

View and download technical articles about MicroPoly from various authors and writers.

Solid Lubrication Technology

---

Koyo Bearings Europe

Bearings with solid lubricants - Bearings and Components for Engineering - Coroll

---

Vyberte si v nejvìt�ím skladì lo�isek NSK ve støední Evropì. 25 let zku�eností, technické poradenství. Rychlé dodání. Garance kvality.

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by WRXer

[williestreet]

29 minutes ago, WRXer said:

Using these pics as an example....

Is that not a solid lubricant that is meant to lightly oil the bearings?  Its the new way instead of packing with grease.  Koyo, SKF, & NSK make them & are common Japanese OEM suppliers.

See here...

Technical Articles - MicroPoly

---

View and download technical articles about MicroPoly from various authors and writers.

Solid Lubrication Technology

---

Koyo Bearings Europe

Bearings with solid lubricants - Bearings and Components for Engineering - Coroll

---

Vyberte si v nejvìt�ím skladì lo�isek NSK ve støední Evropì. 25 let zku�eností, technické poradenství. Rychlé dodání. Garance kvality.

 

Only the lower shock mount bearing has the solid grease.  (The one with yellow). 

My previous Super tenere had all linkage bearings as solid grease, with only the swingarm bearing as normal caged bearings.  

 

I was hoping the T7 would be the same but no luck.  I still believe in adding some grease to the  solid grease on anyway.  I prefer Never seize on the bolts to make removal easier.  

[WRXer]

What do you contend the gray material is if not solid lube?  It is not a normal plain needle bearing.

[williestreet]

On 4/16/2021 at 12:44 AM, WRXer said:

What do you contend the gray material is if not solid lube?  It is not a normal plain needle bearing.

Why do you say it is not a normal needle bearing?

 

Gray material is the bearing cage.

Needle bearings are available with and without bearing cages.  Most of my previous mx bikes used needle bearings with no cage, and that is what I expected to see on the T7.  

 

The pic above is the swingarm bearings.  But your question has me questioning my memory on the other 2 linkage bearings.  If I get a chance I might pull the link to confirm my comments. Thanks.

 

Pics of caged and uncaged needle bearings.

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by williestreet

[WRXer]

The gray material doesn't really look like metal in the pics to me & I don't recall seeing caged needle bearings in a swing arm or linkage before.  They are always the loose kind where the needles fall out all over the place.

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by WRXer

[Toei]

Any T7 swingarm removal tutorials out there?  

 

Edit: I went ahead and removed the swingarm pivot bolt, but the swingarm still seems solidly held in place.  Is the collar holding it in?  It looks like the collar can only remove from the right side, after removing the 15mm hollow adjustment bolt?  But the collar looks like it would be difficult to fish out of there, it's in so far. 

 

The pivot bolt had a decent amount of grease on it, unlike the linkage bolts and rear axle.  Maybe I should leave well enough alone.  Just wondering about those bearings.  Then again, l'll have to remove the swingarm someday anyway to replace seals/bearings.  

Edited May 9, 2021 by Toei

[williestreet]

The adjustment spacer just needs to be turned counter clockwise slightly to open up the space slightly and allow swingarm removal.  

 

Look in the right side and you will see the adjustment spacer is not completely round.  It has 6 little notches where a hex tool would be used to turn it.  If you don't have a tool just find something to turn the spacer.

I used the head of a bolt inserted from the right side.  1 turn or less and the swingarm had enough play to be removed.  A bolt with a 14mm or 9/16 head will work.  If not big enough wrap the bolt head with a wrap or 2 of electrical tape.  Vise grip on the threaded part to turn it.

When the swing arm is replaced you turn it back clockwise to add preload and push the swingarm towards the left side.

Edited May 9, 2021 by williestreet

[Toei]

@williestreet Thanks for the explanation!  I have a 15mm hex bit en route for the adjustment spacer.  

[SpankyPineapple]

On mine, the bearings and sleeves were just fine on grease, but it was the interior of the sleeves and the bolts that were pretty dry.  There just wasn't enough grease (left, there was still some) and water/grit ingress started wearing off the plating on the bolt it looked like.  Some fine sandpaper or scotchbrite and some new grease and its just fine.  17000kms/10000+ miles of rain, dirt, salt, desert dust, etc.  They really weren't all THAT bad, and I'd probably only do it when the wheel comes off for new rubber or something, or you're doing spring upgrades.  

[advrallymoto]

Is there anything keeping us from adding zerk fittings to the linkage?  I know some bikes have them.  Was it cost savings or something structural keeping Yamaha from adding them on the T7?  What about greaseable bolts? I'd prefer to put it on the body of the linkage but it's probably fine either way with the proper grade of bolt. 

 

I haven't pulled my bolts out yet to check but I'm betting they're dry.  

Edited June 21, 2021 by advrallymoto

[Canzvt]

4 hours ago, advrallymoto said:

Is there anything keeping us from adding zerk fittings to the linkage? 

There probably isn't any reason why YOU can't. Likely the reasons the factory doesn't would be cost, and warranty repairs. In my experience as a mechanic (almost 30 years ago now), you have 2 general types of customers - those who don't maintain their equipment and those that do. If zerks were fitted, the customer who doesn't care won't have a problem (until much later). The customer who does care will grease it weekly (because they care, and likely overgreasing it, as more is better, right?, because they don't fully understand how little grease is required to due a proper job) thus damaging the seals, allowing debris, sand, water etc to enter the bearing, and then complain when it fails resulting in a disputed warranty claim and a pissed off customer. I saw it tens of times (maybe hundreds, can't remember) back in the trike/early quad days. At least those of us that care will spend the time to take it apart and not damage it putting it back together.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Canzvt

[TeabagInsurance]

My bike has 1200kms and I just checked it today. Was hoping this was addressed on newer bikes, but sure enough, everything on mine was bone dry as well. All of the linkage bolts, the collars and bearings, and the swingarm and rear axles. All taken care of now, but pretty ridiculous that this is so common.

 

To anyone who is pondering not checking it because you are lazy - DO IT!

[Louis]

The customer who does care will grease it weekly (because they care, and likely overgreasing it, as more is better, right?, because they don't fully understand how little grease is required to due a proper job) thus damaging the seals, allowing debris, sand, water etc to enter the bearing, and then complain when it fails resulting in a disputed warranty claim and a pissed off customer.

As @Canzvtexplains, there really is a thing as over service! Excessive grease will also restrict rollers in bearings rolling freely! On a vehicle with  over greased wheel bearings, they'll overheat and ultimately failure is premature. Sadly these over servicing geniuses cannot accept responsibility because they know better. 

[Hibobb]

59 minutes ago, Louis said:

because they don't fully understand how little grease is required to due a proper job

Louis I agree with you, too much is not always good, but without a grease zerk I doubt if it will be an issue. I would guess any excess grease get squirted out as you reassemble the bike (Been there / done that). In twenty years from now, there will be more horror stories of T7's that haven't been greased than of ones that have been over greased.

[Louis]

46 minutes ago, Hibobb said:

Louis I agree with you, too much is not always good, but without a grease zerk I doubt if it will be an issue. I would guess any excess grease get squirted out as you reassemble the bike (Been there / done that). In twenty years from now, there will be more horror stories of T7's that haven't been greased than of ones that have been over greased.

I agree, plenty of unserviced bearings in years to come. But as no zerk is installed, over greased bearings is less likely.

Because so little grease is required in this area, a zerk is simply going to create a new problem for especially for the enthusiastic servicer. 

For many owners, probably half a pump from a manual grease  gun would  probably suffice every  couple of years if a zerk was installed.  Assuming of course, that the galleries transporting the grease is already full. But then again, if water has found its way in past seals, the water is likely to remain inside creating new problems. 

So in my opinion, for servicing rear suspension pivots it's better to disassemble and check all the components, lubricate CORRECTLY and  then reassemble. It's just too difficult to gauge how much grease is required via a zerk for correct lubrication forthis application. 

For those of us here that under service, what you don't know won't hurt you.

[UtahJack]

@Hibobb

Lol, in twenty five years I would be 92 years old, I doubt I will be doing much riding, in fact since I have had cancer three times now I doubt that another twenty five is in my future. Since neither of my sons are interested in riding when I am gone it will just be sold my wife will not have use for two T7's. 

Heck truth be known, if my health starts going down hill I will just pick up the pace and there probably won't be anything left to sell. I always thought the way to go would be in a spectacular fiery crash and I hope there is at least video, although that was back when I rode bikes that could do 200 mph. I think I would really have to work at it on a T7, so maybe if my health goes I will have to sell the T7 and get a YZF-R1M or something, either way I plan on smiling as I leave.