Going to attempt to service my forks this weekend. I have all the correct oil, seals etc and have researched online on how to do it. It all seems simple enough but is there any hidden awkward bits I need to look out for? I don’t want to bork it and end up paying for new expensive components.
I’m a competent DIY mechanic who regularly services all my own bikes without any major consequences. 😀

Any tips would be helpful and appreciated.

I take it you have all the circlips? And some decent circlip pliers?

I used some really rubbish ebay circlip pliers with swappable internal/external bits and they were a nightmare to use.

So, I bought some decent circlip pliers and the tips were too big to fit into the holes in the small circlips. So just make sure you have some circlip pliers that fit! 😀

Other things worth having – lots of kitchen roll to clear up the oil, something to catch the old oil in, IPA spray (optional) to help clean up the internals properly (Maplin sell it), a dowel or similar rod to prod kitchen roll into the fork lowers (again optional)….

Take your time, make sure you keep track of the order that things come apart in, the lowers can take a bigger whack than you expect to get them to separate from the internal shafts and read through the tech manual a few times so you know mainly what you are doing before you get covered in fork oil…….

If you follow the Rockshox guide and youtube videos you can’t go wrong really. Just a case of being methodical and taking your time. The only pain in the arse part for me was getting the old wiper seals out. If you use something metal such as a screw driver be very careful not to scratch the inside of the leg. Otherwise it’s just a case of putting some good tunes on, brewing some tasty coffee and taking your time. 😉

PS I can’t over stress the importance of having the correct tools, as mentioned above circlip pliers are a must as is a 24mm hex socket. I used a torque wrench too – if you over torque the crush washers they can leak oil.

Do you have the required circlip pliers? Makes life easier. Oh, don’t push down hard on the bridge to get the lowers off. Also, don’t be afraid to give the bolts at the bottom a good hard tap as instructed. Depressing the shrader valves can help when sliding the lowers on and off. Have fun.

Syringe to measure oil, and more easily get it back in the lowers?

Have decent internal and external circlip pliers. Have IPA spray and buying lint free cloth before I service.

The only handy tool I haven’t got is a dowel rod. Can you buy specific ones or just use wooden rods bought from Homebase?

Also removing the horrible remote lockout too by following Mr Poddy’s excellent PDF guide.

I stripped the threads at the bottom of the air leg – take care not to overtighten the nut when reassembling. My solution was provided for free by the LBS (shraeder valve stem collars stacked up and tightened with pliers on the “good” threads above the ones I’d stripped).

Don’t buy IPA from Maplins, it’s stupid expensive!

I get mine from eBay by the litre, much cheaper.