swingarm installation

[Dave Daniels]

Guys I have a problem. I took the engine out to replace it, as you know and I decided to take it all apart to repaint the frame. In so doing I removed the swingarm as well. When I took it out, a piece fell to the floor before I had the chance to see exactly where it fell from. It's like a spacer shaped like a tophat. I checked the Kawasaki web page as well as my manual and it appears that it goes on the right hand side and fits inside the lip seal over there. So, I put it in there and it fits inside the lipseal perfectly and butts up against the roller bearing in there with the "brim" part of the hat on the outside. Problem is, it won't fit inside the frame. I measured between the flanges on the frame that the swingarm goes between and I get about 9.94 inches. With the tophat spacer in the swingarm, I measure end to end and get about 10.25 inches. In fact, with the spacer in the swingarm, it sticks out almost 1/2". If I put the swingarm in the frame without the spacer, it
 goes in, but there's only about 1/16" gap between the swingarm and the frame. On the Kawasaki website where you look at the parts diagrams, it says the length of the spacer is 12.5 mm which is just a smidgeon under 1/2". I measured my spacer and it's just a tad more than 7/8". I'm totally confused because the stinking thing was in there before. I just didn't get a chance to see how it was before I pulled it out and the spacer fell on the floor. And, I'm totally sure there wasn't 1/2" gap between the swingarm and the frame. Does anybody have any insight for me?
   
  Dave D.