[gremlin]

I noticed in the service manual that the swingarm bushings are "plastic"....   Is this true?  if so, how long do they last ?   Anybody noticed looseness in their rear ?

[TWinOKC]

But its high quality plastic (I hope)  Maybe Teflon, nylon?

I'll have you know my rear end is just fine thank you. 

[gremlin]

Last time I had bad swingarm bushings was a Trident ......   And it would cause looseness of the stool !   

[Ducati Scotty]

They are plastic but I believe the inner bearing surface is lined with brass.  I think one person reported a cracked one a long time ago.  Hitchcocks sells full metal replacements if you want the peace of mind.

Scott

[trimleyman]

Interesting. Had wondered this myself. Last bike I had with plastic swing arm bearing was a '72 mototrans ducati 24 horas. They were graphite filled plastic and were good for 15k miles of severe thrashing. But that bike only weighed in at 260lbs wet.

[john hut]

Had a notification on my British MOT certificate a few months back,movement in swinging arm bushes,not enough to fail but to take notice of.If I had the bike on the center stand and got hold of the wheel at the rear there was a slight movement in the bush,a sort of clunk was felt.After reading that the nylon bushes were prone to premature wear,I had about 5000 on the clock,I ordered metalistic  bushes as a replacement..while waiting for them to come I decided to do a a dummy run on removal of swinging arm but not removing the bushes,I found no wear in original bushes and when rebuilding the original problem had dissapeared..the conclusion I came too was that it must have  not been tight enough in the first place.I now have a spare set of metalistic bushes from Hitchcocks for possible future use,maybe 15000miles or more...
   John Hut

[Jack Leis]

Thats good to know John, I might check mine tomorrow. Man, that MOT test must be something !

[Ducati Scotty]

The torque spec on the swing arm bolt is 56 51.6 ft-lbs.   I was just looking at it yesterday.

Scott

[Ducati Scotty]

Ugh!  It's 51.6, not 56.  Same torque for the rear axle nuts.  Sorry for the misinformation. 

Scott

[GlennF]

The Hitchcock's  replacements are brass, see below under "EFI Swinging Arm Bushes" :

http://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/accessory-frame-suspension-rear

Potentially this is an item nfieldgear should stock as well.

[meph1st0]

Got my swingarm bushings replaced yesterday.
I had this handling problem for longtime and I always assumed it was wheel alignment. Finally read somewhere that initially UCE models (mine is 2009 done 33k kms) had a poor quality swingarm bushings. Tried moving swingarm up and down by one hand with the other hand placed at the joint where swingarm connects the frame. There was considerable movement at this joint. After replacing the bushings bike handles really well and feels quite safe around corners.

[barenekd]

My G5 has 16,000 on it and the bushings are fine.
Bare

[meph1st0]

Bare,
I have done around 20000 miles but the bushings must have worn out quite sometime before. Btw the city roads here in India are horrible with too many pot holes, speed breakers

[sparklow]

Is there a lubrication interval for the UCE swing arm bushings? As I don't see any grease fittings, I assume disassembly would be required.

[Ducati Scotty]

Got my swingarm bushings replaced yesterday.
I had this handling problem for longtime and I always assumed it was wheel alignment. Finally read somewhere that initially UCE models (mine is 2009 done 33k kms) had a poor quality swingarm bushings. Tried moving swingarm up and down by one hand with the other hand placed at the joint where swingarm connects the frame. There was considerable movement at this joint. After replacing the bushings bike handles really well and feels quite safe around corners.

Just curious, did you get the stock item or go with the bras replacements?

Scott