Rubber piece on swing arm (ER5)

[Via]

How important is this piece of rubber on swing arm?

Recently had it powder coated and after putting back together and rear wheel on I've just noticed it's still hanging on garage wall

It's chain side so I'm guessing it's to protect from chain but is it just in case chain is loose or needed for suspension movement?

[TimR]

Very .

It protects the arm from the chain rubbing on it and if memory serves the spacing washer locates on it

[Via]

Thought as much that's a day pretty much wasted lol

[TimR]

 

Others have made the error too .. for example

[Via]

Not good, well that's what I'm doing tomorrow sorted now lol

Want to keep it looking nice now (this is what it looks like now)

[fastbob]

Nice work , if you're having bits powder coated I guess you've decided to do a proper job . Have you thought of charting progress in the Old bikes and restorations section ? I decided to change mine to black but silver keeps it more original. You definitely need to fit the guide rubber by the way. I went out for a spin on mine today , started first go after living outside under a bike cover for six weeks. Keep up the good work , it'll be worth it . PM me if you get stuck, I'm very happy to share my ER5 knowledge. Oh yeah, now that your swinging arm looks so good you need to protect it by improvising a mud flap that comes down from under the battery box and goes down through the front of the arm . This will stop road dirt building up on the flat part of the arm right next to where the rubber bit goes . A cut out section of black plastic from an old oil container works well . I can post a pic tomorrow if you want.

[Via]

Cheers, semi proper, helps I have a mate who does powder coating unfortunately he is 200 miles away but was that way for Christmas so took a box of bits with me (had the peg hangers and radiator mounts done as well).

Was originally going to go with black as well but mate had some titanium powder which looked really nice (photo don't do it justice tbh) and I am looking at a dark graphite grey for the fairing and tank so thought that would break up the dark a bit (especially as now has black levers / mirrors and de-chromed the clock surround - now graphite grey).

If you could that would be great, know that section was absolutely caked with mud and crap so whatever I can do to cut down cleaning in the future!

Will start a thread at some point, atm got loads of pics but no real continuity to them, need to spend some time sorting them out and typing things up.

[fastbob]

Here you go , as you can see it does an effective job . Why didn't Kawasaki fit one in the first place I wonder? By the way you will notice that my rectifier / regulator isn't where it's supposed to be . On my bike someone has previously fitted it under the seat behind the battery ( there's no battery tray ) I haven't bothered to move it . http://i.imgur.com/A0mtLdZ.jpg

[Via]

Cheers, simple but effective.

Yeah did consider moving mine but wondered how hot it would get without airflow so put it back in normal place (much easier without swing arm in the way).

Got the rubber piece back on today didn't take long in the end .

[fastbob]

Here you go , its a 12mm thread and it's 18mm across the flats on the hex . I don't think this is such a common size these days . http://i.imgur.com/5SpGuxA.png

[Via]

Cheers

[fastbob]

Cheers

Look what I stumbled across on eBay today . A bit pricey but it would look good and solve the muck problem. I'm surprised you can still get something like this these days. http://i.imgur.com/TUGYVnA.png

[Westbeef]

My chain rides on mine so I think it’s quite important.

[RantMachine]

Crazy important on my old bike!

[Via]

Look what I stumbled across on eBay today . A bit pricey but it would look good and solve the muck problem. I'm surprised you can still get something like this these days.

 

Looks like it would do the job but ouch at price... Think I'll go with your design lol.

Going to do that at weekend but got a 1mm thick sheet of rubber ( originally cut some strips out of it to wrap round bars where controls are so they don't move now) so can run it lower down and not worry about damage should it get knocked by swing arm, that should do the job.

Expecting a delivery any day now with new chain, fork rebuild kit and service parts then that's it as far as fixing goes and just the painting to start thinking about.