Sad day for my Decoy

2020 29er Base or whatever they were called back then.
Over the weekend I noticed quite a lot of play in the bikes backend, most probably because I've been riding another bike quite a bit that hasn't got anywhere near the miles on it that my Decoy has. So I noticed the difference in "feel". There was also a knocking sound which I hadn't heard before.
I traced the play back to the lower link axle bearings and after stripping it down I've found that the bearings themselves are moving in the frame, neither bearing is seized but the drive side one is able to move to and fro about a mm and rotate within the shell in the frame. I replaced these bearings about 12-18 months ago and now I'm nervous I did something wrong
YT have asked me to send the bike back for them to look at but it's near 4 years old and I don't have very high hopes I've attached a couple of photos that show as best I can the movement available.
Check your bearings folks! Even those pesky ones hidden away from sight.

Unfortunately the pivot link moves quite a bit, feels a bit like the bike has a hinge in the middle, if I carry on riding it it'll just get worse. If YT refuse the warranty I'm not sure what I'll do, I'm pretty gutted really as it's been my favourite bike by a long way.

I pulled out the bearings last night and found that the inner sleeve (not the one that is meant to come out with the bearings) is able to rotate, is that normal? I would have thought that would be bonded to the carbon.
I also tried putting the bearings back in with some retaining compound to see if that would help but the bearings were pretty easy to push back in, could almost do it with my thumbs so I think they've been moving for a while and worn/ovalized the frame seating, gotta clean it all up properly and pack it off back to YT now

How did you press the bearings back into the frame when you serviced it? I’ve only done bearings on one frame and used the green loctite to bond the outer race to the alloy frame. No idea if there’s a carbon equivalent to the green stuff.

Worst case you have to use some shims around the outside of the new bearings. Don´t know if it´s possible to go up one size on the bearing.

doochenozzle said:

How did you press the bearings back into the frame when you serviced it? I’ve only done bearings on one frame and used the green loctite to bond the outer race to the alloy frame. No idea if there’s a carbon equivalent to the green stuff.

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I've got a cheap press, basically a threaded rod and 2 bars along with the correct size presses. I've tried some green loctite that I had already, I did a bit of research and apparently it should be fine with the carbon, I'm waiting as long as possible before giving them a wiggle to see if it helps. If it does I can do that every now and again if YT aren't any help.
I never figured out how to get the bearings out of the link itself though, they're blind and interior facing and there doesn't seem any room to do much

wenna said:

Worst case you have to use some shims around the outside of the new bearings. Don´t know if it´s possible to go up one size on the bearing.

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Yeah, I have thought about that, need to have a look to see if there is one with a 1mm bigger outer diameter and the same interior

That frame looks battered. I’m guessing it’s at the end of its useful life
I hope YT see it differently and you get it sorted in some way or another

baldiebenty said:

I've got a cheap press, basically a threaded rod and 2 bars along with the correct size presses. I've tried some green loctite that I had already, I did a bit of research and apparently it should be fine with the carbon, I'm waiting as long as possible before giving them a wiggle to see if it helps. If it does I can do that every now and again if YT aren't any help.
I never figured out how to get the bearings out of the link itself though, they're blind and interior facing and there doesn't seem any room to do much

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Yeah, it didn't work

Beaker2135 said:

That frame looks battered. I’m guessing it’s at the end of its useful life
I hope YT see it differently and you get it sorted in some way or another

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It's certainly been enjoyed although something of what you can see might be a bit of duck tape I use to cover up the port where the gear cable used to feed in since I fitted AXS. Mechanically I've looked after it, I don't spend much time on polishing it though. More than 4k miles and still on the original motor

In a surprise turn of events (to me anyway) YT are warranty replacing the main frame although I'm quite hurt that they described other bits of the bike as "quite worn out" but I've agreed to let them sort the other bits out as there was nothing in their list that I couldn't look at and say "yup, I was gonna have to sort that out soon"
Result, yay!

Result

Indeed, apparently they've agreed because the inner sleeve of the pivot has detached from the frame.
Unfortunately, you have to pull at least one bearing out to check that but if possible anyone with a similar age decoy (2020) might find it worthwhile checking theirs.

Just to add to this, if anyone has a similar problem with turning bearings in the frame I've had good success with Loctite 660. This is a retaining compound recommended by PYGA bikes when I had a similar problem.

baldiebenty said:

Indeed, apparently they've agreed because the inner sleeve of the pivot has detached from the frame.
Unfortunately, you have to pull at least one bearing out to check that but if possible anyone with a similar age decoy (2020) might find it worthwhile checking theirs.

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Right on! Just saw the thread. Good info. I was figuring they'd help out. Ive found YT very helpful and super ez to correspond with