Hi,
After replacing the pivot bearings on my orange five recently, i was tightening the swingarm clamp bolt and hadn’t reached the specified torque yet but the bolt snapped and is now stuck about half way through the spacer.

I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? And if anyone has a swingarm spacer (so i can cut my one off) or swingarm going spare? Or if anyone has anysuggestions for removing the bolt without too much damage?

Some kind of stud remover is probably your best option – if you don’t have one then try your local shop. They should be able to get it out without damaging the spacer, then just pick up a new bolt.

I’ll try that out, thanks. I’m not sure how easy it will be with the bolt being so set back. 🙁

Tried to extract this bolt with a bolt extractor but i’m not having any joy, the extractor snapped. 😕 Anyone got an orange five swingarm?

the extractor snapped.

That’s what they do. Take it to a pro.

mmm – you might not want to try this … as it can go VERY WRONG and it might not work, mmm – you might not want to try this … as it can go VERY WRONG and it might not work,mmm – you might not want to try this … as it can go VERY WRONG and it might not work

** edit ie this is a last resort
good advice in above post

get a tiny drill and drill a hole in DEAD repeat DEAD middle of stuck bolt, repeat with slightly larger drill, repeat till drill almost size of bolt (check drill against other arm hole) and you might be able to unpick the thread of the bolt and pull it out – have seen it done on a motorbike

something tells me that could go very wrong 🙂

Ring orange and ask their advice. Send it to them for repair if they do that, or ask for a recommendation. Will probably be cheaper than buying a second hand swing arm.

Cheers for the suggestions, don’t really fancy drilling it myself like you say it could go very wrong. Going to ring Orange tomorrow and see what they say 🙂

This happened to me too. Snapped while still well below the recommended torque.

Mate drilled it out for me and a new bolt sorted it.

Until the other side repeated the failure. Drilled out and a new bolt again but I’d lost faith and I sold it.

The interesting thing is both bolts snapped on exactly the same thread – and I’d be willing to bet yours has too.

I think the unsupported bit of tread through the spacer stretches over time. And then shears as you torque it up.

I did suggest to Orange that they recommend changing the bolts when you change the bearings but I don’t think they took it on board.

Good news is it can be drilled out. Just drill down to just shy of the end of the spacer, then wrestle the spacer out and get some pliers on the stub. Don’t worry if you damage the spacer slightly provided the ends are ok – its in compression.

Word to the wise swap the other bolt too.

tis quite a gap twixt halves, good point

My pinch bolt did this on my heckler. Grabit tool couldn’t get to it, so with a mate and a lot of care, we drilled out the old bolt. It left a thin outer bolt in the thread which was too tough to pick out, so tapped it out with tap tool. I won’t be using torque wrench on small bolts any more!