Following a trip to the grit and sandstone of South Wales my 170mm Reverb does not sound happy, is taking more force to depress and is sticking a bit on the way back up. When my Gravity Dropper got like this I’d unscrew the top cap, remove the moving post and clean and lube it.

Clearly it’s not that simple on the Reverb but if I let the air out can I unscrew the top cap to let me clean the upper moving parts and seals before relubing? It doesn’t need a full service, just this grit removing before it does damage!

Yup, absolutely- though it’ll be fairly in bits by that point so it could be worth going a bit further and doing a full clean, lube etc, replace the oil bath.

You do need some sort of oil setting tool (a tube with a syring attached, almost free) and the IFP setting tool is useful too (costs a fiver) but that’s all. (IIRC I bought a 23mm crow’s foot as well to undo the big nut inside, it’s quite shallow and soft and Previous Owner had damaged it a bit)

I was hoping to do that without even taking the post out of the bike – but all the videos I’ve seen involve a lot of disassembly before the top cap comes off. It’s not that I don’t like bike fettling, it’s just the time pressures of small children and own business, so the less I can do (if it works), the better!

Hmm. You can lift the cap but I don’t think you can get the upper tube out fo the seatpost lower without doing more dismantling- and you can’t clean or lube the main seal properly without getting the post into 2 bits.

I understand. Having just called them my LBS told me to bring it in and they’ll send it to SRAM tech in case it’s a warranty issue. I think the pressure might have been a bit low but now it’s at 250psi it’s taking quite a thump with all my not inconsiderable weight to get it to descend…

Doesn’t sound too good tbh. As far as I can tell SRAM just send you a new one if there’s any sort of warranty bother (mine had a fault I could have fixed in 30 minutes but I thought I’d get them to do it, they sent a new one! Weirdos)

Yes you can Chiefgrooveguru,the stealth posts lower plate has a removable outer for just this very reason .

Yes it’s really straight forward on the new stealth post. You can find all details on the sram website.