I used silicone to seal the mud flap at 1000ish miles and after 17000mls. I drilled test holes in lowest part of swing arm....bone dry. No river crossing but ride in rain.... sometimes heavy rain.
I have owned my Strada since new. Used only as a commuter bike. Never offroaded or submerged. Swingarm was totally full of water. Weird.
I ride 50/50 tarmac/gravel Mine was full of water. Sealed the front as described above and drilled holes in the lowest part of the swing arm. I cross streams and creeks a lot here in the Ozarks.
I stumbled across this thread and wanted to thank you guys for pointing out the issue for us newbie Terra owners. I'll check my swingarm to see if it has any holes in it. My bike is nearly new and I haven't washed it yet so..... hopefully there's no water in it yet. The drain/vent hole at the rear seems like a good idea. I've seen those type of holes in other steel framed bikes I've had. I ran across this reference it's exactly the same deal with my Terra and my Ducati Sport Classic, WTF? My rear brake reservoir started to turn black during my first real ride, I couldn't believe it. My friend noticed it also.
I think it turns black for two reasons. First they used the cheapest possible brake fluid and secondly a lot of people have found the cap not entirely tight. This isn't my bike but, I did the same thing with wire ties. I eventually made a guard and a bracket to hold the lid in place. My lid was almost off, only one or two threads left before it went missing.
Or go this way: $5 Ebay reservoir with straight outlet...new, straight piece of hose....cap of reservoir sits neatly between the frame-rails and can't go anywhere.
Interesting fact about preventing water in the swingarm maybe factory-made: http://www.husqvarna-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=50093 In short: Apparently from modelyear 14 there are openings in the swingarm factory-made (have a look at the pictures and the drawing) Someone got a TR 650 modelyear 14 and can confirm this? If this starting model year 2014 is really standard, then Husqvarna must has known about the problem! IMHO this must lead to a recall!
Just bought a brand new out of the box 2014 couple of months ago and I can confirm that the openings are there. They are just like in the pictures and I can stick a zip-tie up them. Good news for me, one less thing I have to worry about.
Thanks to the great info in this thread I decided to check and drilled my swingarms yesterday. I got about 1/4 cup of muddy water from each side. I've never riden in rain or through creeks so it could only have come from the previous owner's use which was over 3 months ago. Dried with compressed air, sprayed Boeshield T-9 into holes and sealed the mud flap holes and drilled holes with silicon. I slept well last night. Now just pod mod to do.
I drilled my holes from underneath and at an angle directly inline with the end of the chain adj bolts and threads. I then used wd40 white lithium grease in a spray can with the straw to direct a coating of lithium grease on the adjuster threads inside and to coat as much of the inside of the swing arm as possible. The angled hole will also let me spray the threads with wd40 if needed when adjusting the chain adjusters.
I have a 2013 but it has the holes indicated by Nordland. I won't be certain if these drain sufficiently until I spray some wd40 in from the top tomorrow. If they do drain then I will spray something in to prevent rust... I'll decide that over coffee. Ill need to decide on sealing the openings on the front side of the swing arm but will definitely keep the backs open for drainage (even if the allows some water in during water crossings).
I just got my 2013 Terra new and it has never seen the street or dirt (1km on the odometer). It looked like there was a small gap where the drawing indicated but not enough to slide a zip-tie in. I sealed the front holes but decided to drill the rear holes "just in case". Glad I did as it appears they come with water in the swingarm direct from the factory- one side was dry but the other side had a substantial amount drain out.
After 15000 miles I removed my chain tension bolts and out came about a pint of water! I'm only just looking into this and only just started reading about it so I need to continue to finalize my plan. I'm going to try and locate where the water is coming from and try seal it but I think I'm still going to drill a couple of 3 or 4mm holes underneath the chain tension bolts. Any advise from you guys is very welcome!
This might have been asked before, excuse me if it has but I must ask anyway; is the water coming in from solely the mud flap holes or is there another area where it is getting in from? I drained mine last night and was shocked at what came out! I will drill the required holes at the back but would like to seal up any leaking areas also... I appreciate any advise given!
See my write up on fixing this problem. You can find it by searching my username. It's on page four of this thread, I believe. It is a perfect solution because it completely seals the swingarm, moves the mudflap down lower so no water gets onto the swingarm from the rear wheel in the first place, and completely coats the inside of the swingarm with phenolic resin to render all the existing rust innocuous and prevent further rust from forming.
I ended up drilling the drain holes in my swingarm only to find they were bone dry inside. Maybe it's the riding in California where water is almost unknown these days??? Oh well, at least if any gets in there it will now drain right out.
I've ridden a lot in rainy weather here in the Netherlands and when I made additional holes in my swingarm last month it was bone dry too. I have the new swingarm type though with holes near the chain adjusters. I still have to find a right tap kit to tap the holes I made and screw in a bolt so that water stays out.
That's why I haven't done mine yet. I can count the number of times that I've ridden in water with one finger. Same thing with draining the water from my air compressor. I loosened the drain on mine after using it for 5 years and 1 or 2 drops came out.
