Installing grease fittings to the Prolink.
The Prolink linkage on the Honda CX/GL V-twins are prone to seizing if they are not stripped and cleaned regularly;factor in twenty plus years and multiple owners and the neglected Prolink can end up in a sorry state!. 
The removal procedure of the various parts can be time-consuming and will test your mechanical skills to the extreme...
Expect seized bolts,inacessible fixings,rust,previous bodges,seized bearings/bushes,seized other stuff and some other bits that have also seized to previous seizures....
Get the picture?
This is how i have fitted grease nipples to my linkages,and the pics/text may give you an idea of what to expect if you decide to do it yourself...
The bolt that goes through the pivot that is nearest the centre stand is the one most likely to give problems,if it is seriously stuck the best way to see what you are doing with this one is with the chassis upside down,with everything stripped off the frame.If you are having trouble getting the seized bolt out it might be the best solution.Its up to you if you if you feel the need to go to this extreme,but if you are doing a frame-up resto job its a good place to start.....
If the bolts come out easily and the linkage can be removed from the bike thats the biggest hurdle over - getting the thing on the workbench where you can see whats what makes things a LOT easier.
Having just done three grease-nipple installations in the past few months on various project bikes i thought i`d take some pics this time to show the procedure.
It`s a straightforward job,but you have to place the nipples in a position on the linkage that will not be obscured by various parts of the frame/swingarm and so that a grease-gun can eaily be used.
You may find that the linkage bolts have seized,did i mention that...?
The joints consist of the bearing `tube`,a bush interference-fitted into the linkage arms,a dust-seal either side of the joint and the nut/bolt.
I have noticed that Honda seem to have used various designs during production in the swingarm-to-linkage-arm pivots,with one-piece bronze bushes(the ones with the grease-holding diamond-shaped voids) and two-piece bushes that appear to be made from plastic/nylon (i`ve seen this in a GL linkage,so it may be for that model only or a Honda design improvement) and another version similar to the plastic type but made from a sintered material.The two long pivots usually have the bronze type,but two in each joint for the extra width.
Here`s a pic of two different types of bushing,the other version is similar to the one on the left but made from a sintered material;
Here`s an overall pic of the finished grease job;
And new bearing with clean grease;
The part of the linkage that goes from the frame to the swingarm `fork` only requires one grease nipple installed.
The wall thickness here where the nipple is installed is relatively thin,so either place a washer under your grease nipple fitting or do not screw it fully in otherwise it may foul the bearing - they are made with a tapered screw-thread anyway so a good,firm fit will still be made.
The nipple needs to be angled rearward to clear the frame and enable your grease-gun to locate easily.
The red line in the pic indicates the angle at which the fitting is to be placed.
The L/H fork-to-swingarm pivot is slightly obscured by the extra-long swingarm bracket(GL brake torque arm mount?),so the grease fitting needs to be angled back - the red line in the pic indicates the postion.
On this side the nipple has to be located on the radius of the casting,so to facillitate the installation i ground a small flat on the linkage fork - you can see this clearly on the first pic above.
The R/H side has better access - the fitting can go in at 90 degrees;
The bottom pivot is easy to get to,fit the grease nipple at approx 45 degrees.
Note:the shock absorber mount (at the top in this pic) is the resiliant-bonded rubber type and does not need any modification.
These pics show the bronze type bushes which were seized to the bearing and came out with it during dissasembly,they usually stay in place..
The other pic shows worn versus new bearing `tubes`.
Notes:
Fit some caps to the grease nipples to protect from road dirt.(or improvise some from 10mm or so of suitable plastic tube the end of which is plugged with glue.
Replace the dust seals if nessacery.
Grease the bolts when assembling - the grease from the nipples will not get to this area.
When drilling into the linkage parts remove the burrs from inside of the pivot bushes with a small needle file.
This is what you`re trying to avoid!;
Another project,another Prolink problem...
I have removed the linkage from the CX-periment (all the bolts came out easily....) but the bearings were in a bit of a state and one was seized in place.No surpises there then.
The method i used to remove this seized bearing was to get the arc welder out.
I welded up the centre of the bearing tube - this did two things; it put some heat right at the point of the problem (applying heat is always one of the first things to try when removing stuborn fixings or parts) and provided a good solid point onto which i could use a parrellel punch to knock the bearing out.If force is applied to the end of the bearing directly it can deform/bend over making it even tighter in the linkage arm/bush and more likely to bind when driven outand damage the bushes.
Of course this renders the bearing scrap but if it has seized to this degree it is unlikely to be usuable anyway.
After the linkage had been cleaned up i pressed the bushes back into the arm in the vice - a Euro grab-rail bobbin made an ideal tool for this job;
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