Yesterday I switched the lockout on my (new to me) Rebas, from poploc to manual using PeterPoddy’s excellent pdf on the subject. There were no issues at all and I even took the head of the damper off and removed the spring entirely. I followed the table from sram that reckoned the forks needed 110mls of Oil. I measured this out, poured it in and it came right up to the top. I figured this can’t be right as pushing the damper back in was causing oil to spill out. I poured about half out and fitted it all back together. The lockout was a really stiff to turn, so I took it all apart again, checked things over and put it all back together and it was much better. I pumped up the – & + chambers and fitted it to the bike, I gave it a couple of pumps and it seems that the lockout doesn’t work at all or make any difference whatsoever. I also noticed that the oil I used (motorbike fork oil) was a (viscosity?) 10 when the sram table recommended a 5. So 3 questions for the experienced fork people.

1. Is the oil supposed to fill the chamber? (this is the 1st time I’ve ever messed about with fork internals)
2. Would the slightly wrong oil make any difference?
3. Your best guess as to why the lockout isn’t working?

I’m going to Cannock on Sunday so would appreciate being able to diagnose and remedy without resorting to a LBS. Thanks all.

Reba lock out is really sensitive to oil level – even a couple of ml out will cause problems with the forks failing to lock – or locking prematurely.

I suspect your damper plunger piston thingy may not have been fully retracted when you tried to fill with oil – hence why it appeared to over-fill? Perhaps this happened when you tipped the oil out? Remove your mo-co unit again extract the oil. And re-fill to exactly 110ml.

Alternatively, try to add a bit more oil – but this might involve too much guess work.

It’s easy when you get it right. Frustrating when not.

A final possibility is that the top o-ring internal seal in the mo-co unit – the one the damper rotates around – may have failed. If this is the case oil will begin to creep out of the top of the damper unit (under the lock out switch) while using the forks.

1. No
2. It will affect the damping if the viscosity is different.
3. There’s not enough oil in the damper, it needs to be the correct amount for the model that you have.

I had a problem with lockout after doing the Poddy cap replacement.

Have a look at this thread, might be the same thing…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/reba-rlt-lockout-problem

excellent teasel & others, thanks. I’ll have a look tonight. Just to be clear… the rod that comes out (that has the spring on it) has a slot in the bottom that fits onto a blade at the bottom. Take that out again and turn 180 before fitting again?

& I’ll check the oil levels as well.

1. No
2. It will affect the damping if the viscosity is different.
3. There’s not enough oil in the damper, it needs to be the correct amount for the model that you have.

^+1

I’m not convinced that it’s possible to get the correct oil level by volume unless the fork has been dismantled and all the old oil removed.

FWIW, I would use the oil *height* measurement from the RockShox table to get the correct amount of oil. Carefully cycle the fork through its travel a few times to get any air out of the gubbins, then return the fork to full extension before measuring.

Oil chart pdf

Either 71-77mm (RLT / RL) or 64-70mm (RL3) from the top of the fork tube to the top of the oil (with the leg vertical, not at its installed angle).

I suspect that 10W oil will be too much. You should be able to find 5W motorbike fork oil. Again, FWIW, I’d change it to the ‘correct’ grade – particularly as the forks are new to you, so you don’t have a ‘baseline’ to gauge the effect of the heavier oil on how well the fork works.

Just to be clear… the rod that comes out (that has the spring on it) has a slot in the bottom that fits onto a blade at the bottom. Take that out again and turn 180 before fitting again?

Yeah. It’s obvious when you look at the bottom of the assembly – as Scapegoat writes in the other thread, it doesn’t close completely if it’s positioned incorrectly. It’s basically just holes for the oil to surge through or not (and everything in between) depending on the top cap position. Fitted the wrong way just leaves the gap open in all positions so the oil keeps flowing regardless.

Good luck.