Rail (750Wh) 2022 Rail 9.8 factory assembly issues

[HeavyJ]

I have had my 2022 Rail 9.8 GX for about a month. I have had several issues with various fasteners working loose. Wondering if others have had similar issues.
First issue, while cleaning bike after a ride, cleaning the chain I noticed the front chain ring wobbling. After further inspection found the spanner lock nut behind the drive side crank arm had come off completely and was floating between crank and drive unit.
Second issue, after lbs fixed the crank arm lock nut, about 2 hours into a ride my rear linkage started making a horrible creaking noise, after inspection I found the drive side linkage mino linkage nut was gone and the mino link bolt was almost completely out of the linkage.
Before I could get back to the lbs, I put my torque wrench on all the suspension and linkage bolt, all were loose, ie well below the listed torque spec printed on each of the fasteners.
My local bike shop has now gone over the full bike and contacted Trek which builds and torques everything on the frame at the factory.
Initially Trek had no stock of the mino link nuts, they were only able to ship a replacement by going into the Trek inventory and pulling one off a damaged bike.

 

[Stihldog]

Sounds like they skipped the “check the torque” part on the assembly line. I’d be concerned and your warranty will cover you, thank goodness.

Btw, my LBS robbed another new bike for an AXS reverb I was waiting for to friggen long.…and reduced the price.

 

[BigG]

In my experience it’s not manufacturer specific and all complete bikes I ever bought (15+) had issues here and there.
Best you can do is get torque wrench, torque specs, threadlock, grease and anti-seize compound and re-do most of it.
Or ask LBS, but I never had an LBS that I trusted enough to do it properly.
Most important ones are pivot and shock bolts, a lot of damage can occur there if loose. Next in order would be brake and rotor bolts, axles/dropouts/mech, cranks and headset. And last in order are seatpost clamps, saddle, stem, handlebar and controls bolts, those are really obvious if not tightened. Some carbon/friction paste is nice too on those parts, even for metal.
Cassetes can be loose too, and wheels usually need an initial re-tension after first 50-100 miles. Especially wheel re-tension really makes a difference in wheel longevity and they stay true for multiple seasons if it’s done initially.

 

[Ark]

My local bike shop has now gone over the full bike and contacted Trek which builds and torques everything on the frame at the factory.

I'd imagine if you bought a bike, something came loose and you had a nasty accident on the way home or in the following few days they would be in a lot of trouble
surely they are meant to be checking the torque of every bolt on the bike..
it takes almost no time at all to insert, twist, click and move on to the next bolt

 

[StarLord]

I have had my 2022 Rail 9.8 GX for about a month. I have had several issues with various fasteners working loose. Wondering if others have had similar issues.
First issue, while cleaning bike after a ride, cleaning the chain I noticed the front chain ring wobbling. After further inspection found the spanner lock nut behind the drive side crank arm had come off completely and was floating between crank and drive unit.
Second issue, after lbs fixed the crank arm lock nut, about 2 hours into a ride my rear linkage started making a horrible creaking noise, after inspection I found the drive side linkage mino linkage nut was gone and the mino link bolt was almost completely out of the linkage.
Before I could get back to the lbs, I put my torque wrench on all the suspension and linkage bolt, all were loose, ie well below the listed torque spec printed on each of the fasteners.
My local bike shop has now gone over the full bike and contacted Trek which builds and torques everything on the frame at the factory.
Initially Trek had no stock of the mino link nuts, they were only able to ship a replacement by going into the Trek inventory and pulling one off a damaged bike.

I had the same issue with my newly purchased 2023 Trek Rail 9.7. I went through the majority of the bolts with a torque wrench and found at least 5 bolts that were WELL below factory torque spec. Sort of disappointing.

 

[HeavyJ]

Generally I agree and follow most suggestions here, I was surprised it came this way from factory. I normally go over my bikes with a torque set after 4-5 rides then in my normal maint. schedule.

 

[JP-NZ]

No issues on my 2022 Rail 9.8XT

 

[fasterjason]

I have a Rail 9.8 and a Rail 7. I moonlight at my friend's shop. We disassemble all pivots on every new full suspension build, apply grease and thread locker and re-torque to spec. The chainring lockring (left hand thread) will come loose, so I apply thread locker to that too during the build and torque to "face shaking tight". The bolts that hold the mounting plates to the motor will also come loose (for me about 1000 mile average), so the first time I pull the motor I remove those and apply thread locker. Fortunately those bolts are now larger torx fasteners instead of the security penta-lobe of previous years, so you don't have to buy specialty bits to remove and tighten them. There are still penta-lobe fasteners holding the case halves together so the average joe can't split the case. The change is an obvious acknowledgement that it is a problem. If you can't tell, I like using thread locker, my old CR500 taught me that lesson.

 

[blob]

Yeah, half of the bolts on my Rail 9.9 were loose when I brought it home. And the chainring is getting loose all the time.

 

[Paulquattro]

Yeah, half of the bolts on my Rail 9.9 were loose when I brought it home. And the chainring is getting loose all the time.

The chainring is a bosch issue not Treks
Remove the locknut Clean the locknut off and loctite it it will never loosen again .

 

[fasterjason]

Here is my SOP for the chainring issue.

• Remove the drive side crank arm, and remove the left-hand lockring. If it has not come loose, leave the chain and wheel on to hold the chainring.
• Clean the lockring and output shaft with a toothbrush and isopropanol.
• Apply a small amount of grease to the splines on the output shaft being careful not to get it on the threads of the output shaft.
• Install the Bosch 1mm spacer inboard of the chainring if you have a Shimano drivetrain and have issues throwing the chain or you want to run a 36t chainring (on a Trek Rail Al frame).
• Apply medium thread locker to the left-hand lockring and torque to face shaking tight.
• Reinstall the crank arm.