Drop/drag Link Bearings

Did you take any pics while it was apart? That sounds a bit strange. I did mine last year (2015 bike) and although the bearings and seals were ok there was bugger all grease in there. Yes the linkage only has a small amount of movement but it’s under a fair bit of strain and needs grease to prevent wear and early failure.

 

Pics aren’t really clear but I get the idea. What have you done with it? Looks like your best bet would be to change them, could you trust them to be ok even cleaned up and greased?

 

Seems a lot of manufacturers do the same. It was always the joke that the four main Japanese companies shared a pot of grease and it was luck if your bike was made the week the pot was in the same factory. Even though my last Suzuki was not too bad when my mechanic stripped and re-greased everything it was like I was riding a magic carpet all of a sudden - it made so much difference. I did my SV650 before that myself and also found pretty much no grease and again the ride was transformed after I freed everything off and greased it properly.

Annoyingly it's a case of "they're all like that sir".

 

Good vid. My friend triumph guru clive wood finds many that are bad especially the early types with cast drop links.
They are also much harder to do.
Did you do the axle as that also need rgular maintainance. Triumph state 12k or 2 years whichever comes 1st

 

This is more typical