needed.

I have recently noticed that some marks started to appear on the stanchions of my Pikes. Operation has been as normal, and haven’t really noticed them getting any worse.

I finally got around to taking them apart this evening and the damage is a little worse than I expected.

Heres a picture of the stanchions:

And the fork seals:

U-Turn Labelled side

Other Side

The bushings are marked as well as the stanchions. I don’t know whether TF tuned will be able to do anything with these and be able to salvage them or whether trying to treat them with some Araldite rapid steel on the affected area and rubbing it back with some wet and dry 1200 grade. Or whether the effected stanchion could be replaced?

Any thoughts would be gratefully received.

Expensive option …. replace CSU, full fork service etc

Middling option …. replace seals, oil & try to treat the sanctions (araldite, nail varnish etc)

Cheap option …. seals & oil and save for more forks.

Had they have been Fox forks ……

Looks like lack of maintenance, how often did you service them?

I’d just replace the seals and run them till they died.

As above generally, 2011 forks can be found cheap on various sites, cheap enough to make replacing the Crown steerer unit uneconomical.

Would put new seals & oil in and run them till they die.

They’re toast.
Thrash them.

I’ve got a set of 454 coil pikes that I’ve taken off the big bike that are in very good nick……Mail me if you want details

I’ll admit it that I have never serviced them, how naive I have been….

That looks like water sitting on your bushes (water on oil effect). I’d suggest your top seals are past it. If it was me I’d give them a good dose of oil and use them til they die. Repairing them wont be economical.

Did they leak oil from the top seals when new?

I haven’t noticed any sort of oil leaking from them at all, thus never servicing them. I was under the impression that they were working as expected. Think that I’ll give the repair a go with some new seals.

don’t people service stuff on hear? i remember back in the day when you would have to service/ poor the water out of ur forks after almost every winter ride.

🙁

They’re ronnied. Or at least the uppers are. You’re looking at new uppers plus new seals. How old are they? You mention that they’re fitted to a Specialized, so I assume that they’re on a Pitch of 2008-2010 vintage.

STW is a very helpful place so you may get a cracking deal on a new fork. If you do, keep the lowers just in case and do a lube service every few months or so. Whatever LoCo says is good for me.

definitely lots of water in there. Looks like a nice emulsion of oil and water in the last 2 pics.

The leg oil is about £6-7 a bottle which will last years and is an easy job.

Just goes to show its not only Fox with the “problems”, its mainly monkeys not maintaining them properly.

Unless you noticed a large drop in performance, I’d just give everything a good clean, change the top bushes along with with the foam ring and oil seals, maybe have a bit of a tidy up of the worn stanchion areas and then stick in some new oil and put it all back together.

Then just keep using them, but check them reasonably regularly…

Even though they are worn, there is nothing wrong that will stop them working as forks.

Or, if you are like the person who sold me some Rebas, stick them on the classifieds as being in perfect nick and then refuse to do anything about it. That was a few years ago now, but after some fettling from me they are actually still going strong.

I’ve got a pair of coil revs that have similar wear on the U-turn stanchion, as others have said it’s probably caused by water and lack of servicing. I looked at replacing the uppers but it’s not economically viable, so I changed the seal, instituted a regime of regular servicing and planned to ride them to death; 18 months on there’s no additional wear and they refuse to die, although having written that I expect they’ll now collapse tomorrow. So if I were you I’d service them, put them back together and ride them.

Aye, give them a proper clean and service and then carry on. Probably not realistic to repair them and it’s not as though you have to worry about damaging them.

flow – Member

Just goes to show its not only Fox with the “problems”,

Nope- just mostly. I just googlefighted to prove it 😆