I've just attempted to change a noisy n/s/r wheel bearing (ABS) and prior to undoing the hub nut I noticed the visible thread on the swing arm was really butchered. Initially the nut was a tad easy to undo (which I suspect gave me my bit of 'play') the old bearing doesn't graunch,but subsequently became nigh on impossible to unscrew. I did unscrew it but half the thread on the swing arm is really damaged. As was totally the old hub nut threads. My problem now is whether I can refit a new bearing (easy) AND tighten a new nut sufficiently without it too becoming butchered. I think not. My question is : Do I now have to buy a new/replacement swing arm to get a decent thread to tighten up hard, is the stub axle bit renewable? I'm losing the will to live with it since I gotta buy an exhaust too and replacement washer bottle. It never rains but it pours? Thanks.

By the sounds of it the damaged threads are on the outside of where the nut sits when tightened down. If this is the case then you will be able to get away with carefully cleaning up the threads on the swinging arm with a thread file or needle file and replacing the nut.

If however the threads are screwed up in the area where the nut sits this may not be the case.

Hope it's only the outer threads that are damaged.

A new swing arm is about £60-£70 from ebay.de. I would just replace it.

The pressure on the hub nut is massive so any problem with the threads is not worth taking a chance on. It's unlikely for the hub to come off but can cause a lot more damage in the process as it tries.

Clutching at straws so to speak, I wire brushed the threads but the new nut (plus bearing) only took 3 or 4 turns before spinning uselessly. I can only assume the visible thread under the grease cap had been butchered previously in order to prevent the nut ever coming loose without regard to future replacement. The thread was peaned not the nut. C'est la Vie. In my only other prior problem like this was with a VW Beetle and the far harder stub axle metal could be cleaned up. Not so with the B softer swing arm threads. My search for a n/s swing axle starts.