Triumph Poor Quality :-(

What are we looking at here? Is that rust or a reflection?

 

Hhhm rust ? Loose bolt ? Or the weld on the shock base ?
All looks fairly good to me, it's in a fairly innocuous place to me, very limited visibility.
But then again I'm a mechanic and so long as it's fully functional it's all good. I'm usually more disappointed when the standard of performance is limited or restricted. That's why my America has fully upgraded suspension all round and I've had the motor dyno tuned. As who wants a 865/900 that is so poorly performance oriented ??

 

It’ll be a 10.9 bolt anyway won’t it?

 

Are the rear shocks not even preload adjustable? Now that really is cheap!

 

Yes but it should be a 10.9 high tensile bolt rather than a standard 8.8 metric bolt

 

That's not that high a stressed performance area ? 90 HP and 240 ish kg vehicle mass , the bolts on my America are the same, but the shocks do slide over mounts on the swing arm and on the upper chassis/frame.

 

Over time the threads will grind into the eyelet, or if the bolt is softer it will wear down compromising the strength of it. Or both. A shanked bolt gives a smooth pivot point. Sorry for the simple explanation, but wanted all to get it. This is a case I feel of bean counters not caring because a bolt is a bolt, right!?

 

Shouldn't be a problem as the bolt only provides clamping force is on the inner sleeve no movement involved, the whole stress and slight pivoting force is concentrated on the rubber liner that the shock eye sits on.

 

In years of wrenching on anything from restoring classic cars to building off-road rigs I have seen bolts in this very application get eaten well into their total diameter. There is just enough movement to allow it. Time will kill anything, for the extra effort they should have done it right.

 

What gets me here is that the retro stuff fitted with poorer quality components actually cost a similar amount to a top of the range Street Triple RS which have Ohlins, Brembo etc, why the shite components on the retro stuff then?

 

FYI - That's a set screw or machine screw as it is threaded all the way. A bolt has an unthreaded section.

I'd go down to an engineering supply shop and get a proper bolt, will cost you pence.

Cheap bastards Triumph

 

Probably not