I have worked on a lot of new Kawasaki motorcycles and have noticed something of a problem on all of them. That is the lack of lubrication on the rear suspension. I took my Versys pretty much apart today to see what did and what did not get lubricated at the factory during assembly.
I'm not sure where the Versys is assembled, but it like the KLR and KLX have the same issue, no grease on the rear suspension components.
If you choose not to take a look at doing this on your bike, you could go through frustration removing the swingarm later on for regular maintenance. I'm intending on keeping the Versys for quite some time to come, so I figured a bit of work now will save a whole lot later on.
1. After you get the bike suspended and secured, remove the rear tire by removing the cotter pin, then loosening the axle bolt with a 27 mm socket. Perhaps you might call it cheating, but I did removed it with my impact wrench. Lots easier.
2. Next use a dead blow hammer or block of wood and your "tuning and tweaking hammer" and remove the axle.
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As soon as I saw the condition of the axle, I knew my time was going to be well spent. Matter of fact, after tearing everything apart, I saw that the bearings were adequately lubricated, just the axle bolt, swingarm bolt and shock bolts were in need of a bit of grease.
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3. Next I removed the fastener holding the rear brake caliper to the swingarm. There is enough slack to lay the caliper on the lift table's surface so it is not hanging by the hose.
4. We have to take off the faux covers on each side of the frame to gain access to the swingarm bolt. There is a single allen head bolt on each side. There are some "snap in" locators and the top comes away from the frame and then you lift up the side cover to remove it from the bike.
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5. Now remove the nut from the left side of the bike. I once again used an air impact. I disassemble, but not assemble with air tools.
6. Before you remove the swingarm bolt, you need to disconnect the shock from the swingarm. You will not be able to remove the bolt from the right side of the bike until you remove the swingarm bolt. Then you can move the swingarm around to gain clearance to remove the bolt that is holding the shock absorber to the swingarm.
7. You should now have the swingarm ready to go to work on.
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There is probably something wrong with my eyesight as I do not see any grease on the swingarm bolt. How about you? We'll also take a closer look!
![Image]()
However there is what appears to be adequate lubrication on the bearings in the swingarm. Just no grease on the swingarm bolt, shock bolts nor axle bolt.
![Image]()
8. I used some OMC waterproof grease. I used my finger to put a light coating on all of the bolts used in the rear suspension. If I need to remove them down the road, I can simply unbolt them and remove them. A VBFH will not be the tool of choice for me. A little work up front and you can avoid all sorts of problems later on.
9. Now it's time to put it all back together once again. First thing to do is put the swingarm back into the frame. You must remember to route the chain like the photo below shows.
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10. Now is the time to get the lower shock absorber bolt started through the swingarm.
11. Put the swingarm bolt back in (lubricated of course) and tighten the nut to 80 foot pounds. Both of the rear shock absorber bolts are torqued to 44 foot pounds.
12. If you look at the right side of the swingarm, you will see a hole that should have the bolt that holds the rear caliper hose bracket in place. There is not a torque value given specificall for that bolt. However it is a 6 mm bolt, so 52 to 69 inch pounds is the torque.
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![Image]()
13. Now it's getting close to clean up time. Let's put the wheel assembly back in place, put the spacers on, slide the rear caliper in place, put the axle locator block in on the right side of the bike and slide the lubricate axle though all the bits and axle locator block on the left side of the bike. Put the axle bolt on and torque to 80 foot pounds. Put a NEW cotter pin through the castle nut and bend the ends over.
Your Versys should now look like this:
![Image]()
I do believe the next time I have the swingarm off, I'm going to install some zerk fittings so the entire suspension can be greased on a regular basis without disassembly required.
From the time I put the bike on the lift until I buttoned up the bike was about 2 hours.
Knowing what I now know about the rear suspension on the Versys, I would not remove the swingarm, only remove the swingarm bolt and lubricate it. The same with the rear shock bolts, both top and bottom. There is no grease on any of the bolts and that will lead to corrosion and then galling of the metal. If you need to replace anything then, you have a much bigger job on your hands.
Pretty much basic tools:
1/2 inch drive metric socket set.
1/4 inch drive metric socket set
Pliers for cotter pin.
Allen wrench for frame covers.
Hope this helps.
I'm not sure where the Versys is assembled, but it like the KLR and KLX have the same issue, no grease on the rear suspension components.
If you choose not to take a look at doing this on your bike, you could go through frustration removing the swingarm later on for regular maintenance. I'm intending on keeping the Versys for quite some time to come, so I figured a bit of work now will save a whole lot later on.
1. After you get the bike suspended and secured, remove the rear tire by removing the cotter pin, then loosening the axle bolt with a 27 mm socket. Perhaps you might call it cheating, but I did removed it with my impact wrench. Lots easier.
2. Next use a dead blow hammer or block of wood and your "tuning and tweaking hammer" and remove the axle.
As soon as I saw the condition of the axle, I knew my time was going to be well spent. Matter of fact, after tearing everything apart, I saw that the bearings were adequately lubricated, just the axle bolt, swingarm bolt and shock bolts were in need of a bit of grease.
3. Next I removed the fastener holding the rear brake caliper to the swingarm. There is enough slack to lay the caliper on the lift table's surface so it is not hanging by the hose.
4. We have to take off the faux covers on each side of the frame to gain access to the swingarm bolt. There is a single allen head bolt on each side. There are some "snap in" locators and the top comes away from the frame and then you lift up the side cover to remove it from the bike.
5. Now remove the nut from the left side of the bike. I once again used an air impact. I disassemble, but not assemble with air tools.
6. Before you remove the swingarm bolt, you need to disconnect the shock from the swingarm. You will not be able to remove the bolt from the right side of the bike until you remove the swingarm bolt. Then you can move the swingarm around to gain clearance to remove the bolt that is holding the shock absorber to the swingarm.
7. You should now have the swingarm ready to go to work on.
There is probably something wrong with my eyesight as I do not see any grease on the swingarm bolt. How about you? We'll also take a closer look!
However there is what appears to be adequate lubrication on the bearings in the swingarm. Just no grease on the swingarm bolt, shock bolts nor axle bolt.
8. I used some OMC waterproof grease. I used my finger to put a light coating on all of the bolts used in the rear suspension. If I need to remove them down the road, I can simply unbolt them and remove them. A VBFH will not be the tool of choice for me. A little work up front and you can avoid all sorts of problems later on.
9. Now it's time to put it all back together once again. First thing to do is put the swingarm back into the frame. You must remember to route the chain like the photo below shows.
10. Now is the time to get the lower shock absorber bolt started through the swingarm.
11. Put the swingarm bolt back in (lubricated of course) and tighten the nut to 80 foot pounds. Both of the rear shock absorber bolts are torqued to 44 foot pounds.
12. If you look at the right side of the swingarm, you will see a hole that should have the bolt that holds the rear caliper hose bracket in place. There is not a torque value given specificall for that bolt. However it is a 6 mm bolt, so 52 to 69 inch pounds is the torque.
13. Now it's getting close to clean up time. Let's put the wheel assembly back in place, put the spacers on, slide the rear caliper in place, put the axle locator block in on the right side of the bike and slide the lubricate axle though all the bits and axle locator block on the left side of the bike. Put the axle bolt on and torque to 80 foot pounds. Put a NEW cotter pin through the castle nut and bend the ends over.
Your Versys should now look like this:
I do believe the next time I have the swingarm off, I'm going to install some zerk fittings so the entire suspension can be greased on a regular basis without disassembly required.
From the time I put the bike on the lift until I buttoned up the bike was about 2 hours.
Knowing what I now know about the rear suspension on the Versys, I would not remove the swingarm, only remove the swingarm bolt and lubricate it. The same with the rear shock bolts, both top and bottom. There is no grease on any of the bolts and that will lead to corrosion and then galling of the metal. If you need to replace anything then, you have a much bigger job on your hands.
Pretty much basic tools:
1/2 inch drive metric socket set.
1/4 inch drive metric socket set
Pliers for cotter pin.
Allen wrench for frame covers.
Hope this helps.
