2002 EC250 2T. My swingarm bolt appears to be locked in, is this normal?
 

I'm trying to remove my swingarm to swap in some fresh linkage bearings, but I'm stuck: the head of the swingarm bolt seems to be locked in by a "retainer" chunk of steel tack welded into the swingarm pivot tube. You can see what I'm talking about here; http://i.imgur.com/HkaCAB8.jpg

I assume this is factory work because there's residual plating on the chunk that matches the plating of the frame, but I could be wrong.

Am I not seeing something here? How do I remove this swingarm bolt?

The tab welded in the tube keeps the swingarm pivot bolt from turning when you remove the nut.

The bolt is probably frozen.
May require an air chisel to remove it.

That "retainer" is only to keep the bolt from spinning. It does not prevent the bolt from sliding out.
Worst case scenario is that your bearings have been seized long enough that they have worn a groove in the bolt and that is preventing it from coming out.
I had an '84 XR500R like that and had to cut the whole swingarm off and replace it. Hopefully yours is not that far gone.
Remove anything that could be putting force on the swingarm. Linkage, rear wheel, rear engine mounts, etc.. Lay the bike on it's right side, support the back side of the swingarm and frame, protect the threaded end of the pivot bolt, and start pounding with a BFH.
Best of luck to you.
If/when you get it off, lube the new parts with Jet Lube paste to prevent this from happening again and re-apply yearly.

Since my nightmare with the XR swingarm I won't buy a used bike without making sure the pivot bolt will slide.
It's an often-neglected maintenance item.

An easy and effective way to remove this axle is opening a thread (M10x1,5 fit perfectly) in it's hole and using this thread to pull the axle.
Tried to remove an frozen axle sometime and it was more effective than hammer+chisel and a car jack with bike placed at door passage.

Good idea!

Don't forget your good friends heat and lube.

Get some penetrating oil and give it time to seep down where it needs to go. Use heat to expand and constrict various parts. Even a jug of boiling water over the back of the engine cases can help them expand enough to break free of the axle.

In the past I have used a bolt; not threaded into, but sat into the hollow of the axle, to give a good flat perch to hammer against. If you chew up the head of the bolt just exchange it and keep going. A nice big hammer and as others have said lay the frame against some timber so that your force isn't being absorbed by the frame flexing away.

Stay patient and work at it over a couple of days cycling between heat, lube and a good few hits. Typically once it starts moving it all happens reasonably quickly.

My '01 XC200 swingarm pivot removal was similar to this, but once it broke loose, it came right out. I was even able to re-thread the pivot bolt and re-use it . Coated with lots of water proof grease, of course.

Do you have all components removed from swingarm? Shock, rear wheel shock linkage ? Have you loosened rear motor mount bolts? You want nothing adding any side loads to the pivot bolt.

Keep at it. It'll come out.

RB

Thread dredge.

Thanks guys a couple of good hints here.

Agree with this mostly.

Will free up eventually without destroying the swingarm bolt or doing any other damage.
You shouldnt be beating on it so hard that you are ruining the threads or mushrooming the bolt.
Not just to save that swingarm bolt.
But because when you compress the threads and mushroom the end of the bolt or slightly bend it---
then it will only slide through the bearings to that point.
And then you are really screwed.