I have a pair of Rockshox Tora 302 forks which all the oil has dribbled out of the bottom of. Now they just go boing boing boing. I understand that what I need to do is probably just replace the seals and the oil – what is the cheapest way to do this is, and what parts do I need? Has anyone done this?

First stop is the rockshox website and download the technical manual for the fork. Read it a few times.

Get the correct fork oil. It’ll be in the manual what you need (probably 5wt & 15wt or maybe 7.5wt and 15wt.

You might be OK with the same seals or you might not. Depends how old the fork is, whether it’s been serviced before??

You can get a new seal kit from TFTuned or Loco Tuning. You get independent damper side & spring side seal kits, although if it’s a coil fork, rather than an air fork you won’t need new seals in the spring side.

You’ll need various tools that are explained in the manual; stuff like internal/external circlips….

Cool. Ta. I think I’ve seen the manual from the website. I shall return to it and read it every day for the next week 🙂

As it was leaking oil when I acquired it, I imagine it must need new seals – is there another explanation for this problem? I’ve seen seal kits for sale online, but I’ve also seen people say that if you know what to buy, you can get generic cheapo seals that do the same job. Is this sensible, if I can find out what’s required, or should I go with a proper kit?

Hopefully the parts and tools will be worth buying if I can fix it. It seems to be in decent nick, apart from the relentless boinging.

It’s probably not the wiper seals.. more likely the foot nut crush washers, and possibly the piston rod o-rings.

^^^ yeah, sorry. Perhaps I wasn’t very clear. When I say seal kit – I mean internal seal kit with o-rings and stuff.

Not the wiper seals – it’s unlikely to be them.

If it’s the first time you’ve done it I would just buy the seal (o-ring) kit as it also comes with new circlips/crush washers etc.

That sounds like useful advice. I shall investigate when it’s not 3 in the morning. Ta chaps.

Now then.

http://locotuning.co.uk/rockshox-spare-parts.html

Would I be looking at the 2nd one down on that page (item no. 4308.850.000)? Or the top ones from http://www.tftunedshox.com/Catalogue/Shop-RockShox/RockShox/Tora-Parts

Neither of these come with “circlips/crush washers etc” as far I can tell.

Unfortunatly if you have lost your oil out of the bottom of the rebound led you need a new rebound damper and i beleive they are about 30 quid.

i could sell you a set that dont work very well and maybe between all of the bits you would have a working set of forks. mine arent leaking but they are like a 2.4 kg set of rigid forks

where has the oil come from and how much?

Hi DYI,
Its quite possible that the oil that has leaked out has actually leaked from the inside of the rebound assembly and out through the hollow bolt at the bottom of the right-hand leg. Most of the Tora’s from about 2009/2010 had faulty rebound dampers and this lead to the oil from the upper right leg leaking out the base of the fork.
This would be the reason for no damping on your fork.
New dampers are about £25-£30 and this should get your fork back to normal 🙂
Hope this helps.
Robin , Evans Suspension Centre

TJ: the oil came from the bottom of the right leg.

Robin: if you’re convinced it’s what I need (and it does sound consistent with my problem), then feel free to (ie: please do) link me to the item(s) I need. You sound like the kind of guy who might be able to do that, Mr Suspension Centre.

Whilst it’s true that in most cases the oil has leaked from the rebound cartridge, and Rock shox were sending out replacements as warranty items(lost count of how many i’ve had to fit), it’s usually down to the O-ring in the plastic cap that the damper shaft runs through. Loco will sell you one for next to nothing, much cheaper than a new cartridge, and very little lost in the unlikely event that you do need to change the cartridge.

So I should contact Loco to ask for the part rather than buying any of the kits off their website?

Whichever of you is right, I agree it makes sense to replace the cheap bits first, then the expensive bits if that doesn’t help.

Just remembered about an easy way to check to see if you have one of the dampers that’s prone to leaking:
Remove the bolt from the bottom of the right leg and look up inside the hollow shaft. If you can see a BLUE plastic internal adjuster (where the rebound adjuster fits into) then thats an old damper from the dodgy batch. If its a RED one then thats a newer style and should be fine.
Here is the damper that you need..
http://www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk//product.asp?category=840&part%5Fno=R5009000&find%5Fcategory=&find%5Fdescription=&find%5Fpart%5Fdesc=tora+damper
We have them in stock and can post one out for £30 inc p&p. Just give us a call mon-fri 015397 32262
Hope this info helps
Robin

I’d say blue.

I dunno whether to go with replacing the damper or trying something cheaper first. Is the O-ring the blue bit on the damper?

Also, replacement oil: where’s a good place to get it?

worth seeing if you can get the part FOC as it is a well known defect. Can yo take the forks back into the shop you bought them and ask if they can chase it up with Fishers?

The O-ring fits around the shaft that houses the blue bit in your pic, and fits inside a white plastic housing held by a circlip into the bottom of the stanchion(the upper tubes that the lower legs slide on).

I didn’t buy them from a shop. I bought them off a bloke.

So, I spoke to Robin on Thursday and he convinced me I needed a new damper thingy. I now have this, and have taken the forks apart.

Here is the old one, which is supposed to be faulty:

Should it be obviously broken? Have I been a fool buying a new one? Or might it be visually fine but actually leaky? If so, I’ll put it back together (with the 5wt oil – I got a litre from a motorbike shop for £9, having established that buying 440ml from a bicycle shop would have cost me twice as much).

All the rubber seals look fine – I understand these are the O-rings, which were the other suspected culprits.

It’s starting to make more sense.

Found some posts on another forum: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12634360

And looking at the new (left) vs the old (new) damper, the black plastic bit on the old one has slid down the shaft significantly – it’s almost at the slot:

So looks like the old one was faulty (though I suspect I could have made it behave via some bodge or other).

Also, when you turn the key in the bottom of the old one, it just keeps turning. When you turn it in the new one, it’s stiff and after about 180 degrees, it stops turning. The old damper is definitely not right.

Next question for the experts:

I’ve installed the new damper and poured in 145ml of 5wt oil. If I push the damper up into the stanchion (squelch squelch) then pull it down out of the bottom again, it comes down oily. Is this inevitable (to some degree) or a sign of a bad O-ring in the bottom of the stanchion?

Bump, methinks, then if no-one says otherwise, I’ll finish putting them back together tomorrow and see what happens.

dyl- that oily residue could go either way. Thing is when its out of the full assembly its impossible to pull it 100% straight on the workstand so it might get more oil on it than normal. But – possibly – its ’cause its new and will bed in. Or its a symptom of the common leaky lower damper seal.

I’d use it for a good few rides – then check the oil colour that drains out of the lowers. If it’s got oil from the damper in then you’ve got a problem.

Hope that makes sense.

Aye, I think it makes sense. I couldn’t see how to get to the lower damper seal properly to remove / examine / replace it, but as far as I could see, it looked ok. As in, no obvious splits.

I know what you mean about pulling it straight – it’s inevitably going to go at a bit of an angle when it’s not installed, I suppose. It’s not actually leaking while just standing there, it’s only getting wet when I pull the rod out of the stanchion, so it might be ok.

Thanks for that. Thanks to the whole bloody forum, actually. I doubt I’d have got anywhere near this far without all the advice, and now I understand a lot more about how suspension forks work, what can go wrong with them and how to fix them when it does. Which is a big deal.

I put the forks on this morning. They worked great! Then someone stole my bike this evening.

Thats a bastard!