Linkage Play

[motovita]

Has anyone had any success at removing some of the slop in the shock linkage? My 2020 has been loose from day one and I've just been ignoring it, but now that it has some time on it I checked it and found that the bulk of the play is at the bottom shock mount. I suspect the bearing is pretty precise in size and that the play may be coming from the bushings within the bearing. Has anyone replaced the bushings for this reason or perhaps made more precisely fitted bushings?
On my old Gas Gas I learned to live with slop but even after years of use it was no looser than my new TRS, also the Gas Gas slop was cumulative with no single primary source of play.
I rode a 4RT for years and it never developed the slop of the two Spanish bikes, go figure.

[huski]

No slop in mine at all,all original bearings at 2 years old.Are sure all the bolts are tight,can't see the bottom bush having that much play on a 2020 bike.Appreciate it shouldn't be delivered like this but wasn't the best idea to ignore it when new,you could have taken it back under warranty 

[mung]

My 19 Gold with 30 minutes ride time and newly greased has twice the play of my 12  gasser with hundreds of trials. Seems kind of odd.

Edited May 6, 2020 by mung

[motovita]

1 hour ago, mung said:

My 19 Gold with 30 minutes and newly greased has twice the play of my 12  gasser with hundreds of trials. Seems kind of odd.

 Can you attribute it to one joint more than others? My lower shock mount is clearly looser than the other linkage pivots.

[peterh]

My 2018 TRS RR 125 (with Reiger shock) had no slop when new, and remains great after regreasing and re-torqueing when i serviced linkages etc. after 12 months. Much better than other bikes i have had (but have not had a 4RT).

[al_orange]

On 5/4/2020 at 4:17 PM, motovita said:

Has anyone had any success at removing some of the slop in the shock linkage? My 2020 has been loose from day one and I've just been ignoring it, but now that it has some time on it I checked it and found that the bulk of the play is at the bottom shock mount. I suspect the bearing is pretty precise in size and that the play may be coming from the bushings within the bearing. Has anyone replaced the bushings for this reason or perhaps made more precisely fitted bushings?
On my old Gas Gas I learned to live with slop but even after years of use it was no looser than my new TRS, also the Gas Gas slop was cumulative with no single primary source of play.
I rode a 4RT for years and it never developed the slop of the two Spanish bikes, go figure.

I have exactly the same problem. The slop is caused by the difference in tolerances/clearance between the bolt and the top hat spacers. 

I bought brand new spacers and it made no difference at all. 

It's annoying. 

 

(As an aside, my head stock bearings are going and my rear wheel bearings are shot, so I'm not impressed by the longevity of these parts and will increase the frequency of maintenance and keeping an eye on the rest of the bike in future)

[motovita]

5 hours ago, al_orange said:

I have exactly the same problem. The slop is caused by the difference in tolerances/clearance between the bolt and the top hat spacers. 

I bought brand new spacers and it made no difference at all. 

It's annoying. 

 

(As an aside, my head stock bearings are going and my rear wheel bearings are shot, so I'm not impressed by the longevity of these parts and will increase the frequency of maintenance and keeping an eye on the rest of the bike in future)

 Thanks, I suspected that might be the case. Any chance you ordered, or measured, the bolt diameter?

[huski]

The clamping force applied by a correctly torqued M10 bolt is enough to stop the top hat bush moving on the bolt.Id be thinking its more likely to be the bearing worn and the bush moving in that.Wheel bearings don't seem to last as long as you'd expect,I've just replaced mine with SKF ones,see how long they last.Ive fitted a grease nipple to the head stock,pump fresh grease in every few months,surprising how much water comes out,must be jet washing that does it.

[baldilocks]

We have had a discussion thread before on wheel bearings,  none seem to last very long. I've just got some stainless ones off splatshop but itll be a while till I know if they are any better 

[al_orange]

On 5/7/2020 at 1:18 PM, huski said:

The clamping force applied by a correctly torqued M10 bolt is enough to stop the top hat bush moving on the bolt.Id be thinking its more likely to be the bearing worn and the bush moving in that

I'm not sure that's the case with mine. Presumably if the bolt was so tight that it would eliminate play between the bolt and the spacer, then the rear end would be bound up? 

On 5/7/2020 at 3:38 AM, motovita said:

 Thanks, I suspected that might be the case. Any chance you ordered, or measured, the bolt diameter?

I did measure the bolt at the time but it wasn't really any different to the other bolts so the play may just be manufacturing tolerances. 

Interestingly, when I ordered the spacers, BVM warned me that they would probably not make any difference and that they have brand new bikes that will have a little play in the linkage. 

[huski]

1 hour ago, al_orange said:

I'm not sure that's the case with mine. Presumably if the bolt was so tight that it would eliminate play between the bolt and the spacer, then the rear end would be bound up? 

I did measure the bolt at the time but it wasn't really any different to the other bolts so the play may just be manufacturing tolerances. 

Interestingly, when I ordered the spacers, BVM warned me that they would probably not make any difference and that they have brand new bikes that will have a little play in the linkage. 

Not the case.the top hat spacers are static,and are very slightly longer than the bearings in the linkage.The linkage pivots on the spacers,you cannot bind the linkage up through over tightening,tighten them to 45nm

[mung]

Most of my movement is also in the lower shock bushing. The rest seem snug as they should be.

[baldilocks]

On 5/8/2020 at 8:55 PM, huski said:

Not the case.the top hat spacers are static,and are very slightly longer than the bearings in the linkage.The linkage pivots on the spacers,you cannot bind the linkage up through over tightening,tighten them to 45nm

Huski , the issue is with the rose joint  bearing spacers at lower fitting of the shock. These fit inside the the two lower arms of the actual shock, it's an upside down u shape on the lower shock body.

It doesn't matter how tight you clamp that it's not going to stop play if the hole is too big in the spacers. The weight of the bike will cause that free play to re appear quickly. I don't think I would put excessive force through the lower shock body either. Expensive to fix if it cracks.

[huski]

On mine,there's no top hat spacers or rose joint at the bottom ( Reiger shock) it has the fork that straddles the top bearing in the linkage.It has a rose joint at the top mount.Is the shock mount different on the shock on the Non RR models?

[baldilocks]

14 hours ago, huski said:

On mine,there's no top hat spacers or rose joint at the bottom ( Reiger shock) it has the fork that straddles the top bearing in the linkage.It has a rose joint at the top mount.Is the shock mount different on the shock on the Non RR models?

There is a rose joint for the lower shock mount but its in the linkage where the reiger shock connects . There are two spacers which press into the rose joint, the shock lower fork straddles it. That's how it is on both of my RRs. You can see it on the parts diagram.