[Seventh-777]

I have a 2016 Wilson RC that I bought from the factory demo fleet a couple of seasons ago. The bike is awesome, and as my airs are getting bigger I need to bump up to a heavier spring weight. I removed my rear shock, and this thing here is stripped to hell:

It's 5MM on one side and threaded on the other, and make of really soft material. I don't want to say it's plastic but it's perhaps some kind of composite? All I know is that I am going to have to drill it out.

Anyone know what this thing is actually called? I emailed Devinci asking them the same thing. I'm going to have to remove it the hard way and need to replace it before I can toss my new spring on.

 

[Jayem]

That looks like the shock bolt, the bolt that secures the shock to the linkage/yoke. Bushings are wear-items that consist of a lubricating material that the shock bolt or reducers rotate on. They are often IGUS, delrin, copper, etc. hard plastics or soft metals. They are fixed in the eyelet of the shock. People often incorrectly call reducers/shock hardware “bushings”, but with a little research, you’ll see why this is totally incorrect and adds to confusion. Sometimes shock bolts and hardware are aluminum to save weight, especially on XC bikes. But that’s makes the bolt easy to round out of over-torqued. Sometimes people over-torque because the bushing has worn out and there is play in the eyelet due to this. Bushings should be replaced when you detect play.

An easy-out should work well for that. Be sure to use some penetrant.

 

[driver bob]

Before you drill it out you could try hammering in a torx wrench and see if it gets enough bite on the metal to free the bolt.

Either way, you're going to need a new bolt.

 

[Seventh-777]

Thanks for the replies. I ended up getting it out with some effort, and had to replace it before I could put my new spring in. Not the end of the world, but not the best experience either.

Colorado Cyclist was (as usual) awesome to deal with for the parts, but DeVinci won't ship small parts directly to the customer. So this part (Split Pivot Wilson 27.5 Alloy Shock Bolt KFC16012-01) cost me just under $50 to get to my house.

$29.99 for the part
$10.00 for Devinci to ship it to their dealer (Colorado Cyclist)
$7.00 for CS to ship it to me.

It's a bit of a ridiculous policy and DeVinci brushed it off when I sent them a polite email saying that it kind of sucks. So $46.99 and a little over two weeks of transit time later, I have the new part and can ride my bike again.

By comparison, I lost one of the flip chips on my Nomad last season. I emailed Santa Cruz looking to buy some spares, and they sent me a pair of them priority mail at no charge.