A serious question! I have a pair of Rockshox Dart 3 forks that a bit “shocking” in their performance. Sticktion is horrendous and the preload knob no longer wants to adjust without a pair of pliers for persuasion.

It can not be worth sending them for a service, that money would be better off being put towards a new pair. So, that leaves either landfill, garage rafters OR having a go myself. I downloaded the manual off the SRAM site and it looks fairly simple from a nut and bolt point of view. What worries me is the different viscosity if oil for the RHS and LHS leg. I looked on the CRC website but they dont seem to have 5W and 15W. Can anyone suggest a place to get the correct viscosity?

Motorbike shop should have some

TBH on a low end fork like the Dart, particularly if it’s for its last hurrah then 5 wt all round won’t be too much of a problem, but if you put 15 wt all round then it won’t work in the damper so well.

i wouldnt bother doing much with the darts, not a very good fork, bit of oil on the stanchions to reduce stiction until you can get a tora/reba?

Ty for the replies. I have some new to me Tora as yet unfitted. But I was hoping to use these on another bike I am hoping to build up.

Also looking at the SRAM service docs they both use the same oils so might come in handy in the future.

Will look at motorcycle shops for correct wt of oil.

A mate of mine revived a tatty pair of cheapo forks by bunging an adapted door hinge damper in one leg, and a spring from something I can’t remember what it was, in’t other.

Worked remarkably well! 🙂

Bicycle suspension forks are pretty low tech, in spite of what all the marketing gumph would have you believe…

I think the problems started after I chucked the bike in a river to remove a thick coating of clay it had collected crossing a ploughed up bridal.(you live and learn!)

When I pump them there is what I suspect water and oil mix showing on the LHS stanchion. Prior to this they functioned as well as could be expected from a very cheap fork.

I shall get some oil and if nothing else I shall no fear of taking them apart.

get them stripped and cleaned out ASAP as you may as well rescue them – if just as a cheap fork to build onto a pub/hack/forsale bike and it will be good practice. Shame to let them rust up and seals die completely (as rubbish as they are).

Fork oil – just go to a motor bike shop.

OR on CRC: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=112 (tada!)

or: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=8399

you didn’t look very hard 😉

You also need an assembly grease for the seals – either a dedicated product like:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=3150

Or

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=2610

Or both the finishline teflon: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=980
and Weldtite TF2: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5954

are mentioned to be okay for forks/seals on the tubes if you already have some.

And you need IPA to clean out the old oil and greases.

This stuff can be used to lube the stanchions between rides:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7215
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=1041

and yes fork viscosity does matter. In fact depending on how heavy you are you may want to alter the viscosity in the damper. You will also need to lube the spring but non-fork specific ones should be okay for that (better than the stuff for seals).

Many thanks for that Andyl. Would you believe that I believed typing “fork oil” into the CRC search tool would turn up trumps! Silly me!

I ordered the two weights of oil last night. Should be with me tomorrow if usual service is anything to go by. In anticipation I pulled the forks apart tonight.
Findings:
Lowers came off fairly easily. I was led to believe from the service manual that there should be some oil in each of leg lowers. Seems that either a few months of light use has “used” all the oil or that there was never any in there from day one. The insides are so dry i cannot believe there has ever been any oil within a country mile of these forks. There will be tommorow.

Spring came out simply also. Looks to be well greased and no water in there as i feared there might be. Not happy with the stiffness of the pre-load dial.

The damper had oil in and looked to be clean with no emulsified mess in. I put this back together straight away.

So far nothing to be afraid off. Is there any top tips that are not in the manual?

Cheers in advance

Now working better than when they were bought. No stiction at all! happy days…