Just a quick question..

Months ago, I was putting my bike back together and I dropped one of the upper subframe mounting bolts, I heard it drop down near the shock but I looked for hours all around the place and the bolt was no where to be found. Then I saw the hole in the swingarm and I assume the bolt has dropped into there. It must have slid right to the back because I couldn't see it anywhere in there when I had the shock out, and a magnet couldn't reach it.

Now to the problem. After reassembling everything else, when I was on the bike and tried to move forwards letting out the clutch fast or slow, the rear wheel would just jam and the bike wouldn't move. The engine wouldn't stall, and I could let the clutch out slowly and the engine would start laboring but still wouldn't move. I would have to rock the bike a bit before it un-jammed and then I could ride off again. It did this jamming about 1 in 5 times.

Recently, it's stopped jamming when moving forward at all, however it now does it sometimes (1/4) when I push the bike backwards. I un-jam it by pushing the bike forwards and then moving backwards again. It also mainly just jams when I begin to move it backwards, very rarely does it jam while it's moving.

Now I'm not sure if it's the chain that is causing this as it never did it before I pulled the bike apart. So I'm wondering if a loose bolt inside the swingarm can cause this locking I'm experiencing?

TL;DR. I dropped a bolt into the swingarm somehow, is it possible that this loose bolt inside the swingarm can cause the rear wheel to lock up occasionally?

I have never had the swing arm assembly apart, but i have a spare in the garage, and it looks like the loose bolt could make it's way to the needle bearing for the rear wheel and cause the issue you are describing.
I would take the rear hub out and get rid of the loose bolt and check very very carefuly the needle bearings in the hub and if any slight damage has been caused; replce them. If it were me i would replace them anyway.
Last thing you want is the bearing breaking apart when you are at full tilt or full speed.

in my opinion , no, if as you suspect the bolt has made its way into the swingarm through the hole by the shock , it will rattle its way down and stop at the hub there are no holes in the sides of the hub unit for the bolt to get into , the only hole in the hub is filled by the axle , i reckon your little bolt has ended up somewhere else , it could of dropped down landed on the chain and then got caught behind the front sprocket or even the rear disc or sprocket somewhere, i definatly wouldnt be riding it till i found the bugger , last thing you want is to be bombing along and the wheel lock up sending you over the bars

you sure the bolts not behind the front sprocket cover and is the cause of the lockup by lodging in the chain ?>
remove and inspect unless your happy knowing something could be rattling around while doing 80+ on a motorway

I had the rear wheel jamming periodically, bike struggling sometimes, creeking noises. Wheel bearing came out in pieces. Check the wheel for for play, if it moves in a direction it shouldn't then it's the bearing.

Nah bolts definitely not anywhere near the front sprocket. The sprocket cover was off when I was testing it, and I've searched around every piece of the bike it could possibly get. I'm almost certain it has fallen into the swingarm.

The problem only ever occurred after putting the bike back together and trying to move from a stand-still. I was thinking the rear wheel bearing, but it never had the problem before and I haven't touched the wheel bearings at all. There's also no abnormal movement and it rotates smoothly.

I'm thinking it's the chain, the chain is fairly worn out, it doesn't appear to stay lubricated very long and I did remove the rear sprocket at one point, so there could be an issue with alignment or something.

Either way, the wheel never locks when it's moving. It's only when I attempt to move. It also no longer locks when moving forward.

I once lost a bolt for ages in a similar place.

Have you looked around the hole in the swingarm, where the shock goes through? There's a lip in there that I once lost a bolt on and had to magnet out.

Yeah looked there. I took the shock out afterwards and it was no where to be found. It will be just my luck that it's gone into the swingarm. Haha.

If it went into the swingarm then you have nothing to worry about. There is no way it can jam up anything. I would figure out why the rear wheel is locking up before I rode that bike again. That is very dangerous.

vfrman wrote:If it went into the swingarm then you have nothing to worry about. There is no way it can jam up anything. I would figure out why the rear wheel is locking up before I rode that bike again. That is very dangerous.

Agreed, if it jams at any speed you risk ruining the bike and yourself and other people. Very very bad idea to ride it at all like that.

As for the bolt.

I've had them stuck in the shock spring before.