special tools bah!

I got my shopping list done and have on order the stuff that Glen did not have in stock. The brake line is about $58 with shipping. The parts that I have allow me to continue on with some other things while waiting for the heads to be finished.
A while back I had obtained a San Jose reinforced swing arm from a 1975 R60/6 cafe project basket case that I traded for. The thing was painted cherry red but my son did his usual best on painting it black for me. It came with a drive shaft that has a worn out u-joint and also I did not want to give up the 1980 cushioned drive shaft. I want to install the cushioned drive shaft in this old reinforced swing arm. Previously I had taken cushioned drive shafts to a mechanic to have removed/installed because I don't have the BMW special tool. I thought that I would take up the challenge and see if I could figure a special tool of my own to compress the spring enough to remove the spring clip. Here it is:

This is the same special tool that is used to put the shock absorber into the forks.

Yea!! I could put it back together in the reinforced swing arm except that I need to replace the circlip, shouldn't really reuse the old one. That is no big deal now that I have the special tool.

This is the character that is developing on this motorcycle. Like I said this came with a 1975 R60/6 but is obvious that it is either a late 1973 long wheel base or early 1974 as they were still using up the stock of "extended" swing arms. It is essentially made up of short wheel base parts with a welded on extension to make it meet the long wheel base specifications. And then some one sent it to San Jose to have it reinforced. The end result is a swing arm that has a lot more fabrication on it than most that you will see but as I said it has character.