also difficult to actually see how much its twisted as the castings on the lugs are not the same, so I am going to turn some spacers for both the bush end (no bushes fitted) and the spindle ends and put some rods through to actually get a measurement I did think heat around the bush end gusset to make it easier to move, but worried that I may compromise the steel.
what does the panel think?
In my experience if you can work out how something got bent eg where the force (s) were applied you will have a fair chance of it returning to it’s original shape by “reversing” the same force.
In the case of the swing arm the chances are the force on the wheel end was applied by the wheel and bent it, so a “dummy axle” , preferably bolted in like the wheel axle, could be used to twist it back. The swing arm bearing end was obviously held by the swing arm bearings and shaft.
I would not be surprised if you could make up some brackets to bolt the bearing end to a heavy bench, and put some bar (fairly long) through the spindle end and just use brute force to twist it back to shape. You may need to make up something “fork” shaped for twisting the spindle end if the dummy axle is not strong enough and bends. I guess you are just bending it a few mm?
The issue with applying heat is that you are not “reversing” the force and you will get a local bend, not a bend spread over the length of the bent tube.
