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Now that my bike is down and out of commission for a while I decided it was the perfect opportunity for a good nice cleaning and thorough check up on everything.
I already found one of the swing arm bearing is cracked (still full of grease) and my shock is also cracked at the top (wtf?) I'll post pics of that one cuz I'm at a loss there. (I cleaned everything and re-packed everything about 6 months ago )
Question, what's the best way to clean shock and swing arm bearings? I don't want to remove them (the bearings) cuz well let's face it everytime i touch sumthin on my bike I break sumthin else
I use lots of shop towels and compressed air but it's slow, a PITA and it's almost impossible to remove all the grease.
Any tricks?

Thanks

Wilf

Tuned in....I need to do this too. Because they are needle bearings I am not sure if you can get around removing the needles.

I usually just wipe all the old grease away with rags and paper towels. Be careful not to displace/loose the needles. the only thing holding them in is the grease and once you displace one and the whole set shifts it becomes a PITA to get them back in place. clean the seals and sleeves real good with a cleaner that will not attack the rubber. Grease everything thoroughly (LOTS OF GREASE) and reassemble. If the needles are brown and rusted and do not seem to move freely after you wipe them off. Or the chrome finish on the sleeves has been compromised, you may consider replacing them.

I use a parts cleaner bath, compressed air, then spray off with brake cleaner; or soak them in brake cleaner and agitate them, compressed air, clean with brake cleaner. Compressed air and brake cleaner are like the common components in anything I clean. Doing the compressed air carefully you wont loose any needles or parts.

I clean as much of the old grease out as I can and look for rusting and check for free movement, put new grease in. I'm pretty sure all the needles are captive, they don't fall out. The bearing at the bottom of the shock may look good, even have grease, but I bet it's shot and has slop.
You are correct in thinking that you would probably ruin them trying to remove them from a linkage or knuckle.

I swear the habit of washing of a bike with a high pressure washer is the no. 1 bearing killer.

some needle bearing are held/captive by the race and some are not. I work on alot of different bearings for different bikes and linkage. hard to keep them all bike specific in my head. If you ever order some new bearings and they come with a little plastic sleeve insert, that insert keeps the needle from falling out. The CR I just got done with a complete swingarm and linkage bearing change out, had the type that would fall out of the race. The KDX may not.

your absolutely right about the pressure washing. If you use one, avoid spraying directly into bearings and seals.

Brakleen works very well..the chlorinated kind (red can).

OEM KDX needles are retained. Not in a cage, but the pins are machined to be held by the outer race. Most aftermarket (Pivotworks for example) are NOT retained in any fashion. That makes them easier to clean..in a way. Take all the pins out, clean the race, grease the race, stack the pins back in.

AND...the little buggers NEVER get lost...NEVER get stuck to the BOTTOM of your magnetic parts holder..NEVER....

I've not seen a chrome finish on any sleeve I've taken out of my KDX. Maybe I got the cheap Jap version........