Indoors i did a quick test. Seems more stable without pier, but since i put it back together how it was, its possible the little flex is reduced or gone. maybe i hadn't quite got it all connected quite solidly enough.
without the pier full ra left or right was ok, but a little past that and if the scope is pointing verticle and dslr clips tripod leg - which is not good. i think i remember seeing an option in the synscan controller to set a limit? i think it was on 85 but i had to change it in order to do a test on m51.
Could i lose the pier and set RA limits left/right (east/west? not sure on that sorry) to 90 degrees in nina?