This is now officially doing my head in. The bike rattles when being pushed over rough stuff. There's no play in any of the pivots (I've checked each one in turn) aside from a small bit of side-to-side in the main pivot which feels more like flex than anything else.

When there's weight on the saddle it's fine but unweight it and push it off and its sounds like un-damped movement is happening. Is this a cause of running the 50%ish sag recommended by Kona or the 5th element top-out knock I've had mentioned to me?

It doesn't sound like chain slap and although there is a bit of play in the XT rear hub not enough to causes this amount of noise. Any suggestions before I pay for all the bearings and bushings to be replaced?

I had a 5th element on an 05 Enduro that pissed me off with the constant "knocking" when I was seated climbing over rough ground. I was told it's just a Curnutt valve thing.

BTW, that Enduro had a sperical shockmount hardware thing so it could move side to side and avoid sideloading the shock. I think that was the reason. The shock didn't sit 100% straight in the frame anyway.

DP edit mishap.

I have a strange bushing system as well allowing a bit of lateral float (two sleeves over a central shaft on which the shock sits rather than just bushings and bolt). That may explain it…..