[xsr71x]

Took my buddies 93' 900SS/SP out for a spin...did some swerveing as I left the house.. rear end felt a little loose... I summed that upto cold tires...Went another mile down the road re checked with some more swerves.. still felt loose....looked at tires they had plenty of air so I goosed the throttle and it jumped sideways on me. I slowed down and stopped... first place I looked was the axle to see if it was loose... it was fine upon looking further forward the swingarm center pin was sticking out about 3" on the right side.. further investigation showed that the swingarm had cracked on both sides allowing for the pin to come loose. This all happened 7 miles after picking it up from the shop.. just another place to look before you ride it cracked right above the screws that tighten he swingarm to the pin. I made it off the road safely but this could have turned out a lot worse. I don't know if any monsters have developed cracks like these but something to inspect.

 

[Speeddog]

Just 7 miles away from picking it up at the shop?

Did the shop mess with the swingarm?
Perhaps their air wrench run amok?

My $.02. May not even be worth that much......

 

[xsr71x]

didn't work on the swingarm.. just air cleaner, repair damage from being dropped etc.. looked like stress cracks I don't believe you can put an impact on it anyway.. it holds the pin with tension screws that are hex head like your triple clamp screws..like I said freak accident maybe!

 

[Herb]

Maybe the old switcheroo!

 

[Bing]

I had a '92 900 SS that went through three swingarms in 80,000kms. They are notorious for cracking around the junction of welds near the shock mount. All three were replace outside warranty by Ducati without protest (or even prompting for that matter).

 

[MarkV]

this is one of those well known "character" issues on the early 90's 900ss's... the swingarms crack right near the weld for the pinch bolts on the aluminum 900ss swing arms. no one has determined the exact cause but ducati is still goodwilling replacements very much like the cracked frames. suppose either it's a poor weld or they torque the pinch bolts to tightly. the other places to see cracks on that swing arm is near the shock mount.

 

[chris]

the swingarm on my 1992 had the rear section crack and fall out of the extruded box section. you know... that tab that the rear axle goes through? than God it was on the chain side!

then the pinch bolts broke on next owner.

 

[ewolnosaj]

Could it have been damaged when it was dropped? "repair damage from being dropped etc.."

 

[MarkV]

Could it have been damaged when it was dropped? "repair damage from being dropped etc.."

maybe but doubt it.... the old aluminum supersport swing arms are pretty spindly... they weigh in at a measly 7lbs i believe... plus aluminum welds are easy to screw up and make brittle reducing the resistance to fatigue. Over torqueing pinch bolts was a culprit also. the later swing arms from the late 90's and onwards "seem" to hold up better. but again that could just be that they haven't been around long enough. i'd imagine the newest swing arm out on the 03 ss's would be even better/stouter and i plan to keep an eye out for one in the classifieds to upgrade my ss in case the '99 aluminum one i have bugs out on me.

it would be news to me if a monster swing arm cracked or failed but that doesn't mean it never happened.