DR500Z Swingarm

[Duane799]

I'm thinking about doing a poor mans HL500 but with a DR500Z as I already have a 1982 DR500Z. Did or does anyone do a aftermarket swingarm for these old girls? Any genuine advice will appreciated   

[80-85 husky]

plenty of effort went into the dr's, you will find lots of stuff via white bros. they did swingarms, exhaust, carb mods engines etc

[mick25]

I owned and raced one 3rd gear is the weakest link to these bikes my 3rd gear dogs were broken off when I got it , I replaced it with a brand new one 5 years later that one broke also ? 3rd gear has the smallest gear dogs than the rest of the gears , shame it wasn’t top gear or 1st gear .
Old fart on this forum done a DR400 or SP400 that has the same 3rd part number and his broke on first outin

[David Lahey]

When you do your build, It's a good idea to retain the cush drive hub to prolong the life of the gearbox

[mick25]

The DR gear dogs are half the size of my TT500 gear dogs crush or no crush won’t help , only a custom made gear with bigger dogs will fix this problem.

[LWC82PE]

Well if you already have an 82-Z and not the 82-SZ, it should already have the alloy swingarm. I have photos and pics of the Profab arms but thats it. They are very rare. No where near as common as XT/TT500 swingarms. The stock alloy arms are pretty decent though. Theres not a huge amount of difference between stock and the Profab really. I have got Ohlins valving spec for the DR400

Definitely stay with the cushdrive hub. it might be a little heavy but its a far far better design than the old TS/TM cush hub

[bazza]

DG alloy arm rare, i used suzuki alloy arm or could use KLX alloy swingarm

[LWC82PE]

Yeah you could use a 76-79 era RM Profab/DG, it is same/correct length but you will have to make adaptions for the DR swingarm pivot which is larger than the RM. Not much to gain with it really because it wont have the banana bend it like the DR ones. You gotta watch out for bends/axle alignment probs with the Profabs too. I have been caught out a couple times with one axle slot higher than the other, therefore axle is tilted up/down to one side 
The DR Profab/white Bros arms might show up on ebay once every 10 years if you are lucky unlike the Yamaha ones where its on average evry 3 or 4 months. So they are very rare, just not many were ever made. By the time they were making the DR400/500 arms they were using larger box section than the older TT and RM Profabs too.
Like i said the stock DR500 Z/D/E alloy arm is good (apart from weak/thin pivot tube like the PE's - watch for cracks/splits here) so i dont see why you would want to use a KLX arm that will require some mods.

[Oldfart]

PE 250 / 400 arms  are a good choice also...… 20mm longer overall and slot straight in..... you just have to make up new axle spacers each side
Yes the 3rd gear is a pain in the Rs  as the dogs are way too thin, there is a mod by using Rm 465 gear which is the same gear as the RM 370/400  which is rare as to find

[Duane799]

Thanks Guys that info is very helpful

[mick25]

I was lucky a few years ago to come across a DR white brothers swingarm as LWC82PE said these are rear as rear .

[Duane799]

So if you use the PE250 400 swingarm did or do you retain the standard length shocks as the DR shock mounts seem like they are mounted a bit farther rearward than the PE? 

[Oldfart]

I used Rm shocks....