GS750L swingarm swap?

[Guest]

Alright guys I have a thought, not sure if it will come to fruition but I thought I would ask. I have a 81 GS750L that I am currently working on and turning into the "cliche" cafe racer as I can see so many have done. In the spirit of the old do the ton mentality I have been contemplating swapping out the rear swingarm for a lighter one. Has anyone done this or had some experience with it, or is it even worth the thought? I did some searches and came up empty handed so far so any guidance would be great!

[chef1366]

The aluminum 1100 swing arms bolt right in. At least I put one in an 81 GS750E.

[oldmandave]

yep. the aluminum swingarm fits fine... even the first gen katana swing arms are do-able

[mlymanz71]

Excellent, thanks for the response guys. Do you know if they are the same width for the axles as well or would I need to get shims made up for the wheel and brakes?

[chef1366]

Stock spacers worked for me

[mlymanz71]

Well I guess it's time to try and hunt one down. Thanks for the help!

[Hone101]

Will it fit for the 79 GS750?

[mlymanz71]

Will it fit for the 79 GS750?

Do you know the width of your swing arm at the pivot on your 79?

[Hone101]

No i do not.

[mlymanz71]

Here are the measurements for the one I had found:
8 and 13/16 at pivot
total length 23 and 3/4
20mm axl
11 and 3/8 spread and axl plates eye to clevis shock set up

Best thing to do is grab your tape measure and check it. If you are close to those measurements it would work. On the pivot: if the swingarm is a little narrow you can always shim it with a washer if it's a large gap, which I doubt it would be, then might have to do a little more.

[Hone101]

Thank you for the info.

[mlymanz71]

Thank you for the info.

No problem man good luck on the build!

[mrbill5491]

Okay here is the deal with my swing arm conversion on my 80 750E. I used the swing arm off its bigger brother the 1100E. It is not a direct bolt on, first, the swing arm bushings in the frame are smaller so you either have to cut those out and have a set of replacements machined and welded in ( is what I did after trying to drill them out not recommended, cutting out the smaller bushings and welding the new ones in wasn't that bad) second have a machine shop make a set of different races for the bearings in the swing arm if you want to the use the stock 750 bolt and not go to the trouble of changing the bushings.

If you change the frame bushings and use the 1100E swing arm bolt you'll have to find a longer bolt, its to short about an inch and a third. The reason for it being shorter is the footpeg mounting brackets. And no the 1100E brackets won't fit with out a ton of mods. As for the 750 brackets they are easily drilled out for the 1100E bolt with no problems.

The 1100E bolt is 19mm x 12 inches, the 750E bolt is 14 mm by 13 1/4 or so. I'm still looking for a longer 19mm bolt. Looks like I'm going to have one machined.

[Reaper0001]

what aluminum swing arm fits the gs1000 1978

[allojohn]

Will it fit for the 79 GS750?

The '82 1100E swing-arm will go on with mods. Your swing-arm bolt is 14mm the 1100E's is 16mm. So, you need to either ream out your frame or have custom made spacers. I recommend the new spacers as you may f*ck up the frame drilling it out.

There are no issues with the shocks.
You will need extra links on your chain.