GT RTS Baerings, swing-arm-main-pivot-what-ever....

[suntour]

Hi guys,
1st of all I beg your pardon for my English; I´m from Germany, talking and writing English is unusual for me and school long time ago...
I´m riding mtb since 1988 but about ´93 i quit with the magazines and mtb fashion. I was still curious in technique but always too late (wow, they made an 8-Speed bike, thats amazing ).
Still got a Kona Kilauea and a Manomano and some other stuff while my girl got two pimped Felt, a 600 and a 250...

However, I bumped into the rts-2 (1996, 24 Speed LX, Cantis). I always wanted a Zaskar, but found them to expensive...so here we are:

My "rts-blog": http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread ... ost3690939

Still needs some work, but for me the most important things are the bearings, focus on the main pivot.
Think one can ride it, but its worn out and you can move the swing-arm left to right maybe 2 cm.
Is there any solution?
Seems like this guys https://www.betd.co.uk/product_list.asp?CategoryID=112
don´t sell RTS parts no more...but I like the needle bearings and wonder how to make a standard needle Bearing with an axle fit into the rts...
... ore any other suggestion.

And can you tell me if rts-team, -1,-2,-3 are all using the same bearings?

I didn´t found any hints for this in old postings, so I would be glad for some help/hints/discussion.

Best regards, Markus

 

[SLIM]

BETD still do the bearings , but for the rocker not the upper link/main pivot

link here , item = 608 2rs max (5th down) https://www.betd.co.uk/product_list.asp?CategoryID=155

mine doesn`t have any bearings in the main pivot , but it is an early one , it just clamps up against some bushings , as in the picture below

if its the rocker parts that have movement you can change them , if its the main pivot , maybe you could add some thin spacers ????

 

[suntour]

Hi slim,
thanks for your hint.
608 2RS Bearings for the rocker are very usualy so that shouldn´t be a problem to get new.

For the main-pivot this "thing" works as a bearing:

They´ve got a metal core covered by some "plastic/rubber" which move inside the frame.

Biggest Diameter is 20,5 mm.
Movement takes place between the black "plastic/rubber" and the aluminium of the frame.
They used these kind of bearings on some old motorcycle swing-arms, like the DT175 1978 to 1982...
So it works, but on the long run they wear out-that is one reason why they use needle bearings now.

 

[SLIM]

ah , now i see , so yours is different to mine

loooks like you could fit a sealed bearing if you got the right size

work a lot better too

all you woould need is the outer diameter of the frame pivot hole and the bolt diameter

 

[mrkawasaki]

GTee

http://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-GT-RTS-Rear-Roc ... dZViewItem

Any use...?


Neil

 

[suntour]

Hi,
thank both of you for the hints.
@ slim: your frame got the samve pivot as mine.
I didn´t know the word "bushing", so I called it bearing

Found a shop in the U.S. where they got this genuine item listed, so I´m waiting for an answer:
http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main ... c218ee8d3c
Take a look on the left, there are also some LTS parts listed, don´t know if they are available.

I´m still looking for a "home-made" solution.

Standard bearings/bushings won´t fit, the bolt diameter for example is 9.4mm (3/8" should be 9.525... as 1 inch is 25.4mm), frame-eye outer Diameter is 20.5mm (8,2mm deep left and right) and 17,6mm (22.7mm wide) in the middle.
The point where Diameter changes is necassery to prevent the bushings from slipping away sideways.

On my german "rts-blog" we discusse how to handle the power from the side of the axle (?, like to say axial-power ...).


Will take time...but I keep you informed if there is some progress

By the way: while I want to compare the pivot of my kona manomano I found out that its frame is broken...

best regards, Markus