I had a rear wheel that wasn't straight for some time and I suspected it was the swingarm due to the axle being difficult to go in straight and the tire would rub the rubber driveshaft boot. My husband bought me a new one for an early Mother's Day gift. I think you all know that's preferable to jewelry in my house. Anyway, there was going to be a Ural Maintenance Day in April. That's where Ural owners get together to perform maintenance on their bikes so there's help available if needed. I knew I would need help, so I was really excited about the timing of the maintenance day and my early gift. The event was about 3 hours from my house (seems like everything is), so I trailered my Ural there. The host had lunch prepared and we all enjoyed some food before tearing apart my bike. Myself and another guy got after it. We had the brake, rear wheel, and final drive out in no time.
Next was the swingarm bolts. The nuts on these bolts are notorious for being difficult to access and impossible to use the appropriate wrench on. The typical attack is to wedge a chisel on the inside between the frame and nut, then turn the bolt on the outside. No matter what we tried, we could not remove the bolt.
The only thing I could do was to get a welder to tack the nut to the frame so I could back out the bolt. So, everything went back on the bike, and the bike back on the trailer. The next week I was able to get the bike to the welder and convey what I needed to happen. He understood and got it done. I got my bike back home and faced the reality that I was now on my own.
Over the next week, I was able to remove the old swingarm and make some comparisons to the new one. I was able to confirm that the swingarm was, in fact, bent. This likely occurred when the driveshaft u-joint busted last year. It bent a spoke also. I deduced that the u-joint busted because I failed to grease it. I greased the other 2 u-joints on the bike when I bought it, but for this one, you need a smaller nozzle to get the grease in and I didn't have it. So, thousands of miles later, it snapped and caused a bunch of damage. I have since bought the proper nozzle, so I made sure to grease the u-joint while the swingarm was off.
I also changed the "donut" driveshaft coupler since it was wearing out.
I put on the new swingarm (and everything else), lowered the bike and hoped for a straight wheel.
It was! (in my Mona Lisa Vito accent).
My monkey helped some, then made my old swingarm into a coffee/tea station.