Many years ago my brother took apart our Auburn to re-fininsh it. yesterday i was about to go riding and i noticed the rear section, at the top where the two 3/8-16 bolts go, was not fluch with the frame. It is the chromoly/alum Auburn.

my question is, Are there supposed to be a shim used or a very thin washer to fill the gap? it is a very small gap. bike has never been damaged so im inclined to think auburns used a shim and we lost it?

Mine never had a shim and I've had 3 of them. Try retorquing the two bolts.

would you know the torque specs? maybe the bolts i have are too long and are bottoming out in the hole? also do you know what length bolt you have?

Could definitely be the bolts. You should be able to snug the top of the rear triangle to the front triangle without a problem. I no longer have mine to measure the bolts with. Take the ones you have to a good hardware store and see if you can find them in a slightly shorter length. Are they allen cap bolts? The factory ones are. I traded my last one to a friend who may be able to get me the bolt lenghts but it will not be until next week. Let me know if you still need them. This was a chromoly/aluminum CR20R. Another thing you might try is to find a pair of washers that will fit in the recess of the rear triangle holes to take up some of the space under the allen cap bolts.

THANKS FOR THE INFO!! ill try shorter cap screws first!