Introduction - Disassembly - Assembly - Routine Maintenance - Modifications

Disassembly

Step 1. Place a T40 torx or 5mm allen wrench (whichever your bike uses) in either side of the pivot to remove the bolts (Figure D). They are held in with thread-locker and can be in there quite snug so use a good fitting wrench and be careful when backing them out. Only one will break loose. This is normal. Remove the one bolt that loosens.

Figure D.

Step 2. The center of the shaft has a 6mm allen wrench machined sleeve. Slide the long end of a 6mm allen down into the center of the shaft. Make sure you push it in a good distance and engage the wrench flats inside the shaft sufficiently: there could be old thread-locker in the way, and it is a snug fit overall. Hold onto the end of the 6mm allen with a crescent wrench, pair of vice-grips or similar to keep the shaft from spinning while you back the other torx or 5mm bolt out (Figure E).

Figure E.

Step 3. You can now separate the two suspension members joined by the pivot. Remove the o-rings from each bushing (Figure F) and push the shaft out of the pivot (Figure G).

Figure F.

Figure G.

Step 5. You will now carefully tap each bushing out using a flat head punch and a hammer or rubber mallet. It is easy to damage the bushings in this process so it is advised only to do this in order to remove them for replacement with new bushings. Pass the punch through the pivot shell and rest the tip of the punch on the inside lip of the far bushing (Figure H). As you tap and move the bushing out, move the tap around the inside to push the bushing out evenly (Figure I). Take care not to mar the inside of the pivot shell with the punch. Once one bushing has been removed, tap the second bushing out in the same manner. All other bushings can be removed in a similar manner.

Figure H.

Figure I.

Congratulations, you have now successfully disassembled your first pivot. The other pivots can be taken apart in a similar manner. The chain stay (Horst link) pivots use a pass-through bolt requiring an 8mm socket and 3mm allen wrench to remove instead of bolts threaded into the spindle. The next section will discuss how to assemble a pivot.

Introduction - Disassembly - Assembly - Routine Maintenance - Modifications