Levo Gen 3 Gen 3 Levo knock sound from seat stay to link pivot

[WaveDude]

230 miles and this knock sound starts at the seat-stay to link pivot. The bolts are/were all tight. I can recreate it by grabbing the front brake with my left hand and the top of the rear tire with my right hand and moving the tire side-to-side. I confirmed it's that's the problem spot by loosening that pivot...and with it loose...no knocking. Torque it to spec and it starts knocking again. Arghhhh. Suggestions?

 

[rydeezie]

@WaveDude my Levo had a creaking noises while riding. I checked the linkage bearings and they were rough. Replaced with new and creaking gone. Yours sounds different, knocking, so I don't know if its the same issue. Have you checked if the bearings are smooth? Bearing covers installed correctly?

 

[WaveDude]

It's essentially brand new. I've never taken any pivots apart (just loosened that one bolt to verify) so can't comment on the bearings.

 

[WaveDude]

Took to LBS. They took the seat-stay linkage apart...said everything was clean and looked brand new. Put back together and couldn't recreate sound. Said to ride it and see if it came back...it did after 1 mile of trail riding. Back at the shop again. They want to talk to Specialized. Fk.

 

[Dave_B]

I’d strip the back end down and then inspect every bearing. It’s easy to do.

Are you 100% sure it is coming from that location? (Can you feel it with your hand?). Maybe the issue is elsewhere but it just sounds like it’s from that location?

 

[WaveDude]

LBS took it apart again. Said they could see one small, shiny, worn area on the head of the male pivot bolt for the seat-stay-to-link pivot on the drive side. Pretty sure that's the spot because when it's making noise, you can fee it at that pivot. And loosening that one bolt makes the noise go away. They said everything else looked new--it should, the bike only has 240 miles on it now. They put it all back together and I did a short trail-ride and the noise didn't come back this time. They said let them know if it did and they'd talk to Specialized.

Their thoughts are that the link might be bad I doubt that. The only thing touching the link should be the outer race of the bearing. Or it could be the male-female pivot bolts bottoming out on each other too soon because the female bolt is too long or the countersinks in the seat-stay are too deep. Could be the spacers are too thin or the slots in the seat-stay are too wide. Take your pick.

One possible clue...when everything is tightened to spec, it's still possible to get the pivot bolts to turn "as one" inside the seat-stay. Looking as how it's designed, when everything is tight, the bolts should tight against the seatstay, which pinches against the bearing spacers, which pinch against the inner race of the bearing. The bolts, spacers, inner-race shouldn't be able to move independent of the seat-stay and that has me thinking something is out of spec--to wide or too thin or too deep.

 

[WaveDude]

Can someone do me a favor...put a hex key into the seat-stay to link female-pivot-bolt, try to "tighten" it, and see if they can get it and the male pivot bolt on the inside to rotate inside the seat-stay? Not actually tighten any more but rotate as "one assembly". Mine will move---both sides---and I think if it's properly tightened, it shouldn't move at all. I'm thinking something's out of tolerance and the bolts are bottoming out too soon and never get tight enough to clamp everything together. My bolts look like they have some wear and have been rubbing/moving when they shouldn't.

 

[WaveDude]

I'm thinking these two bolts bottom out, without a gap as shown here, before everything is properly clamped together:

 

[WaveDude]

This is my drive-side seat-stay with the female pivot bolt in place. The end of the female bolt is barely shy of the counter-bore for the male pivot bolt.

 

[Deimos]

I just checked on my Levo, if i counter the „female“ bolt with an hex key and torque the male bolt to spec there is no movement.

Definitvily something wrong. Is it only on one side or both ?

 

[WaveDude]

I just checked on my Levo, if i counter the „female“ bolt with an hex key and torque the male bolt to spec there is no movement.

Definitvily something wrong. Is it only on one side or both ?

Both sides on mine will move. If I try to tighten the female bolt with a hex key (nothing in the male bolt), I can get the female and the male bolt to move together--which seems wrong to me. Note this is after they've been lock-tighted and torqued to spec. The link-to-yoke attachment is a similar setup and it tightens up completely.

 

[Troutwrestler]

This doesn't help, but I have the exact same issue. Gen 3 Levo Comp alloy. I can feel the knock when standing over the bike activating the rear suspension linkage, and defo when riding. It is coming from the exact same spot as you. Nothing seems worn. I tried some PTFE tape to take up any "slack", but that hasn't been effective.

Have you tried really sticky grease?

Mine was new in May, so not massively used. I also have an issue with a motor that gets annoyingly loud when warm (climbing for 30 mins+ warm).

 

[Dave_B]

Mine is the same as yours and I have no issues. If I torque to spec and then rotate the outer hex, the inside bolt also rotates. Everything I expect. It’s only about 8Nm on that bolt.

I suspect if both bolts didn’t move together, the bolts would eventually loosen and you would have bigger issues.

 

[Tepi]

LBS purki sen uudelleen. Sanoivat näkevänsä yhden pienen, kiiltävän, kuluneen alueen urospuolisen nivelpultin päässä, joka on tarkoitettu istuimen jalan ja lenkin nivelen vetopuolelle. Melko varma, että se on paikka, koska kun se pitää ääntä, voit tuntea sen tuossa nivelessä. Ja yhden pultin löysääminen saa äänen pois. He sanoivat, että kaikki muu näytti uudelta - sen pitäisi olla, pyörällä on nyt vain 240 mailia. He laittoivat kaiken takaisin yhteen ja tein lyhyen polkuajelun, eikä melu tällä kertaa palannut. He sanoivat, että kerro heille, jos näin on, ja he keskustelevat Specializedin kanssa.

Heidän ajatuksensa ovat, että linkki saattaa olla huono, epäilen sitä. Ainoa asia, joka koskettaa linkkiä, on laakerin ulkokehä. Tai se voi johtua siitä, että uros-naaraspultit pohjautuvat toisiinsa liian aikaisin, koska naaraspultti on liian pitkä tai istuintuen upotteet ovat liian syviä. Voi olla, että välilevyt ovat liian ohuita tai istuintuen raot ovat liian leveitä. Valitse.

Yksi mahdollinen vihje...kun kaikki on kiristetty määräysten mukaisesti, on silti mahdollista saada kääntöpultit kääntymään "yhdeksi" istuintuen sisällä. Kun kaikki on tiukalla, sen suunnittelusta katsottuna pulttien tulee kiristää istuintukea vasten, mikä puristaa laakerin välilevyjä vasten, mikä puristaa laakerin sisäkehää vasten. Pultit, välikappaleet, sisäkehän eivät saisi liikkua istuintuesta riippumatta, ja se saa minut ajattelemaan, että jokin on poikkeavaa - leveä tai liian ohut tai liian syvä.

Kokeilisin ohuen aluslevyn ,vaseliinin kanssa. Ruuvin momentti kohtuullinen Locktite lukituksella.