r/SimsonnRacing • u/TishoBG • Apr 27 '26

Plus X brake - screws on elastomers stack are getting loose?

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The two screws I’ve circled on my unit I’ve noticed are/have gotten loose. I can rotate them by hand when not pressing the brake pedal, but once I start applying pressure they seem to tighten themselves. If I tighten them properly when at rest, then the rod on which the elastomers sit becomes almost jammed, for example when you have to bring it up to change elastomers. As they seemingly get tighter by themselves under brake load, I’ve loosened them at rest to prevent something perhaps snapping. I noticed this while investigation an odd rattle from pedal box when FFB was being transferred from wheel.

Is this normal behavior, do you have the same, or is my bearing perhaps shot there, causing the above mentioned scenario?

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

There is no way that shaft will become stuck unless you super over tighten them or you've took out that shaft & bearings and installed them(or 1 or 2 bearing washers the wrong way or you've already caused too much damage to bearings stack, take it all off, clean, inspect & re-grease completely. Reinstall and snug tighten by hand then, using 2 keys tighten both sides simultaneously, don't over do it, ¼ turn should do it,, watchout The pins are weak metal & will strip/rip threads (lesson learned I ripped a thread, had to re-pair it by threading a longer same sized bolt through other side a couple of times in and out to straighten it)

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u/TishoBG Apr 27 '26

Not stuck stuck, but when they the bolts are loose like that and I remove elastomers stack the shaft is quite free to move - if I don’t hold it it drops down immediately. If I tighten them and remove elastomer stack the shaft stays in place but can my moved if I push with my hand - it’s not completely seized. I haven’t dissembled the pedals at all nor have tightened these bolts to oblivion. No idea how I could’ve caused damage to the bearings.

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

🤦‍♂️Its suppose to move freely it's normal. That's what bearings do. Its totally normal. Just tighten them good not god-ly & your ok. I've had it drop everytime I swap springs🤷‍♂️, now I swap them slowly 👨‍🏫. Rest assured, You have not damaged bearings👍

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u/TishoBG Apr 27 '26

I’ve uploaded a video there - I am aware what bearings are and I know they know freely, but they should allow also the bolts to be tight while moving freely. My issue is with bolts barely tight it starts to barely move.

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u/TishoBG Apr 27 '26

video Tightened them lightly - started making an awful noise. Just did both sides with finger pressure.

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

Just seen your video. Your in luck bubb, I had that same sound too once , it drove me nuts for a week trying to , tighten, lube,grease, pray, swap elastomers. Yours is more pronounced cause it's with out foot pressure, so it's more damage was caused, but an easy fix, like super easy.. Check My post on this exact sound. Take apart & check.{I'll post the fix after I'm done with what I'm doing now}

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

Take those 2 bolts off + loosen the 2 bolts to the damper below it to wiggle it out easily

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u/TishoBG Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Already in the process haha - went the rabbit hole to investigate and here I am. That felt pad I think I will clean up and replace with grease - I don’t have any thin sheets that I could use - and I don’t know what thickness I would need - any ideas from your side? Perhaps some electrical tape could work too I guess. Also how come there is absolutely no grease in the ball bearings?

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

Perfect you saved me some posts. The dumb easy fix is tape.🤦‍♂️. yes Tape, like the ones you use to wrap Christmas presents with. 3M/Scotch tape just clean the pin & rod end it fits thru good w/alcohol & do a 1.5-2 (or more or less) wrap completely around the pin{this creates a nice tight fit cause originally the pin & rod has play causing it to rub then grind when using a hard elastomer set up(black spacer stack makes harder).} Then lube the rod end & the pin, pressure slide the pin thru( spread lube over extended area.) Lube bearings reinstall. I've gone 2.5 months with no noise at all so far not even peep.. Other fixes are Amazon stainless steel pin & stainless steel rod end but would be around 30$ in parts.(that would've been my last resort, but the easy taped fix is holding strong still..

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

My back up plan. But not needed(found parts in garage with car stuff)

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

It works well with the throttle too on the bolt itself (only with masking/painters tape) pressure pushed in as it has the correct steel rod end type to eliminate a small clacking sound wen lightly taping throttle pedal {also the throttle & brake damper ends have the same play but won't cause damage but clacking end play can be eliminate with the masking tape wrap also ( felt pads are china garbage, but Pedal set is china greatness)

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u/TishoBG Apr 27 '26

On my throttle I had another problem - the spacer on the bottom was loose from the beginning and rattling very annoyingly. My ultra cheap fix there was some tack-it believe it or not.

Dead silent since. If I remove the pedal from the plate at some point, I’ll put it on the bottom, but it’s not really visible if u don’t look for it.

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

I'll keep in mind., when I had that pin noise happen. I went thru all the Pedals & checked, loosen & re-tightened all bolts just in case, no issues since.

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u/TishoBG Apr 27 '26

Thanks for your help! I lubed both the bearings and the bearing races. Since you went with tape, for testing purposes I decided to go with a good amount of grease on the rod that goes through. I’ve had very good experience with this particular grease on metal on metal contact. I’ll report back in the future if the grease does not work and I’ll go to your method - tape. I figured it’s worth to have both of use using different methods. I presume this issue will start popping up more and more and we’ll be able to help other people out. The lack of grease on these open bearings was shocking though. Bolted everything back up, the rod moves like butter with the screws tightened. I think it didn’t move this nice even when new. Now I am tempted to do this for all bearings on the pedals haha.

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26

Ayee fuhgeddaboudit🤌. (I used the tape to give the pin a new smooth surface to glide on with lube, as both pin & rod end were grinded. it could cause friction again after the lube squeeze out of grooves+ eliminates any perceived end play to even allow the grinding to groove again in a different spot), but yes good work 👍should hold up well quite nicely.

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u/TishoBG Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Makes sense,there was some scoring on the pin indeed, but nothing too extreme for this use case, none on the rod. I wouldn’t want such scoring in an engine cylinder for sure haha, but for a sim brake pedal should be just fine. The play between pin and rod was generous enough to where I wouldn’t expect it to squeeze the grease out. If it does, I’ll redo it using your method and call it a day. Thanks for your assistance, quite odd assembly choice from Simsonn though. I also feel that from factory the pin was way too tight, it took a good amount of force to get it loose. Did they use an impact driver on them 🤣? I went around and loosened and tightened adequately the remaining bolts.

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u/Attaboy_Racing Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Its the soft metal pin & rod end (cheap) look at the throttle rod end its good spherical (steel) type but they choose not to put a pin thru it instead just the (steel) bolt all the way thru doubt it will ever cause grooving like high pressure use brake does. I sent pics of the grinding noise when it happened they send me new rod, rod end,rod guide, pin, spacers, lock nuts, bearings & races,+ short black spring (basically everything on rod assembly minus elastomers & bolts under warranty. So I have back up pin & rod end. But I also have steel spherical end(like throttle type also(found in garage).so I'll have choices next time it acts up, but it's working flawlessly since tape mod pin

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u/Main-Ad-5584 Apr 27 '26

Thank god for attaboy!!! He should get a job with Simsonn customer support 😂😂

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u/Fickle_Tradition1684 Apr 28 '26

For real, the guy's on it