Starting to pull the linkage apart and re-grease everything. The needle bearings come out of the linkage. What about the bearings in the swingarm. They seem to be sealed in the races. Do the needle bearings come out or just press grease in there with my finger?

They come out. I'd be willing to bet the existing grease has carmelized a bit. Probably looks like yellow plastic? You can use a magnet to get them out if need be...

Don't forget to check the needle bearings in the bottom of the shock...

Merf

I got the needels out of the top mount in the shock and all of them out of the linkage. I'm still looking at the four races in the swingarm and they look like the needels and race are one unit and don't come apart. It's a 03 YZ. I lubed everything when I bought it but never tried to get the needles out of the swing arm before

hmmmm everyone out riding today?

The plastic looking stuff is oem Yamaha designed to make those bearings maintenance free. Some guys dig it out and repack them with new grease and others leave it in and just take them apart and clean and regrease periodically. Then some others probably don't even know those bearings exist. I left the stuff in and do periodic maintenance.

I do not believe the needles that you are talking about are removable from the cage. The other bearings as you know have the yellow oem stuff that a lot of people remove and repack with grease and put the needles back in. You can take the needles out of those.
I have my swingarm laying on the kitchen floor, I will double check it when I get home but I think I'm right.
Or post over on the 250F forum and ask wrooster, he'll tell you for sure.

the ones in the end of the swingarm do not come out, but the rest do. I just cleaned them with bake cleaner and put grease on them rather than digging the OEM grease out.

WRONG

They all come out. All of the needles from the linkage, swingarm and shock will come out. Take them out carefully, clean them, and pack the bearing with grease and re-install them. Do one bearing at a time and keep your count on the needles as to not leave any out during the re-install.

hmmm I have 2 for and two against. Any others?

The ones on my 01 wr on the swingarm are held in by a cage. All the other ones on the linkage were not.

You may be right. I was thinking of the linkage bearings now that I think about it. I didn't try to remove the needles from the swingarm because they aren't surrounded by the yellow stuff.

I looked and my swingarm on my bike last night ('02 YZ250F) and the bearings in question do not have removable needles.
Last time I did mine I just cleaned them with solvent and let them get good and dry then repacked with BelRay.
Also those bearings are kind of a pain to get out so I would just leave them in if all your doing is lubing them

guys,

a while ago i did a linkage re-greasing write up post (w/ pics) that will help you all out. and we integrated it into the 250F FAQ with even more info and more pics, including background on the yellow solid synthetic carrier that yamaha uses for production.

so click here:
http://www.thumperta...0&Number=447637

and then here:
http://www.thumperfaq.com/swingarm.htm

you will also want to read this thread:
http://www.thumperta...0&Number=482980

jim aka the wrooster
'01 wr250f

wrooster, I have seen that write up that you did and it really is excellent. I used it when I regreased the linkage the first time. I wish that there was an article on all maintenance for the bike that had that much detail and pictures. (The FAQ page is great too). Some times the manual leaves you guessing. But I really didn't see anything mentioned in there about the swingarm bearing needles which is what the question is about. They are not removable needles, correct? You would have to take out the whole bearing or leave it in, clean it, and regrease.
Also, I could not find that article about the steering head lube you did and I have seen mentioned. Where can I find that?

Thanks WRooster. I pretty much thought those swingarms bearings were differant. I'm glad I didn't taker a knife and try getting them out
Cool "how to" on the linkage. You left out the part about the incredible mess. Friggen grease verywhere
Oh well . That's why this is a once a year project for me.

Quote

Ditto. They all come out. Swingarm and linkage. How can the rollers roll if they are glued to the yellow gunk keeping them together? In that case they would be rectangular and be called sliders! I would guess the yellow plastic is used to save time and simplify assembly at the factory. The yellow plastic bonding stuff has been there on the last three bikes, and has not been missed after carefully removed, all parts cleaned and repacked with quality grease. After repacking with lavish amounts of goo, it looks quite solid and convincing. The solid feel and smooth action after torqueing(sp) it down to spec is really rewarding. Tearing down everything after a few months of wet riding conditions and finding almost everything in good condition feels pretty good.

> But I really didn't see anything mentioned in there about
> the swingarm bearing needles which is what the question
> is about.

first, just a couple of definitions:
swingarm bearings are found at the ends of the swingarm.
linkage bearings are found on the "connecting rod" (bigger U-shaped part) and the "relay arm" (smaller L-shaped part).

the swingarm bearings have an inner race which holds the needles in place. see this pic:
http://losdos.dyndns...DSC00015_sm.jpg

hence the swingarm needle bearings stay put, but --
1) if the bearings appear to be in pretty good shape, just stand the end of the swingarm in solvent for a while to loosen things up. then blast them clean using the wand on your spray can of brake cleaner. let the bearings dry out, then pack them with waterproof grease(*).
2) if the bearings look crappy (rust etc), you will need to press them out and press in new bearings. yet another reason to keep up with regular maintenance.

on the other hand the connecting rod and relay arm bearings, as you saw in the pictures in the FAQ, are NOT captive. once the inner collar is withdrawn the needles are visible and can be removed.

from the yamaha factory all of the linkage bearings have solid lubricant, generically called "Microporous Polymeric Lubricant" or MPL. MPL is basically a polymer "sponge" which holds oil. you can read more about this class of lubricants here:
http://www.oilanalys...oup=Lubrication

here is a nice picture of the MPL in the bearing (thanks Av!):
http://mysite.verizo...sc/DSC00263.JPG

there are as many opinions on the MPL as there are members on TT. two things are for sure: 1) DO NOT USE SOLVENTS TO "CLEAN" the solid lubricant. you will just be drawing the entrapped oil out of the "sponge". 2) solid lubricants do not have good water resistance. to quote the article referenced above:

Quote

for these reasons some folks remove the MPL from the bearing during initial or follow-up linkage servicing. you may have heard the term "string cheese" here on TT -- that's exactly what the yamaha MPL looks like when it's removed. contrary to some folks posts, there is no additional "room" in the bearing cavity with the MPL removed; the needles still meet at their respective tangents.

if you decide to keep the MPL in place, DO NOT USE SOLVENT TO CLEAN THE BEARING. just use a Q-Tip to get any dirt or debris out of the way, and then repack the bearing with waterproof grease(*).

> Also, I could not find that article about the steering
> head lube you did and I have seen mentioned.
http://www.thumperfaq.com/steering.htm

happy swingarm, linkage, and steering head servicing.

jim aka the wrooster
'01 wr250f

(*) here's an easy-to-do test for your "waterproof" grease...

pull on a pair of latex gloves. put a dab of your favorite grease in the palm of one hand. now run some water into the grease. use your other hand to swirl the grease around, and keep running water through the mix. if the grease turns whiter or milky or otherwise appears thinned or affected by the water, it ain't waterproof. only the best lithium complex base and most aluminum base greases will pass this trivial test. by and large, aluminum based greases have the best water resistance. bel-ray "waterproof grease" is an example of a good quality aluminum base grease.
http://www.belray.co...waterproof.html

Whats missing from this post is a huge "THANK YOU" to Wrooster for taking the time to post the pics and advice

I plan to tackle this project over the next week

Wow wrooster (av too) thanks for all the great info. I do periodic maint on all these bearings choosing to leave the mpl in place but didn't know anything about it's characteristics. I will now stop using solvents on it. Geez what do you think the chances are of getting this kind of info from your friendly Yamaha dealer?

Thank u "Rooster" Great info I'm up to change every bearings on my bike after one year use What kind of bearings do u use?? The original is Koyo. I'm from Sweden and that means SKF . What a bout the Pivot Works kit, are they good?? I always had snug trouble with my'n stearing bearings. This time I'm gonna use X1R ATG-grease. Does any 1 have anything a gainst X1R? I have great experiance of X1R in the engine .