Too Much Play in Carc Reaction Rod

I had some play in the Carc Reaction Rod and thought that the silent-block bushing at the drive shaft end was worn and I had one ordered to replace.

I was wrong, when I removed the foot peg plate I found the holding nut and bolt were loose and had worn the holes oversize and elongated in the two gussets that attach the reaction rod to the frame. The hole in the front gusset wasn't bad but the inside one was worn by a couple of mm, you can see in the photo when I shone a light at the back.

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To fix it I welded the two 4 mm thick washers to each side of the holes in the gussets, lining them up and keeping them in position with the bolt and nut. Of course I had to remove the ECU and Battery first, didn't want to fry any of the electrics and took the back wheel off to get room to weld the inside washer. I gave the welded areas a quick shot of spray paint and put everything back together and fitted a new bolt.

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All the play is gone and the whole thing is as tight as a ducks hole!!!

My fault for not checking out the play in the rod earlier and all I would have had to do was tighten the nut and bolt.

So if anyone notices a sloppiness or play in the reaction rod it might be worth taking off the foot-peg plate and having a look. You may just need to nip it up.

Good catch, well done.

Pete

Thanks for alerting us to this GC, I will check mine today.
Have a safe day.

That's a good fix, will take a look, can i bring it around to get welded!

sidrat wrote:

That's a good fix, will take a look, can i bring it around to get welded!

No bother, sure it's only a short spin on the ferry

Just for future reference the bush is a metalastic type. The rotation comes from the ‘spring’ in the rubber material. There should be no rotation between any of the metal components and the central tube should be clamped tightly between the flanges. From memory the torque on the bolt is 50Nm but only tighten the bolts once the torque arm is located with the suspension sitting at normal position.