So I got to the first descent of last Saturdays ride and found having dropped my Reverb it wouldn’t return (leaving me to ride the rest of the route like I was on a BMX). I checked the pressure (was fine) and bled the remote (got quite a few air bubbles back) and now it works.

When it popped back up though I noticed the black bushing collar was loose – I’m not sure how long this has been the case but on lifting it up things didn’t look in bad shape. Still seems to be grease in there and the shaft looks clean and ‘wet’. I’ve just dapped a bit of loctite on it and nipped it up with an adjustable.

But on googling I’ve seen some folk suggest that I should do a service after this (the post is >2 years old – a warranty replacement for another post). I’m not sure if it’s more hassle than it’s worth right now though, the RS video takes 18 mins just to go through the steps quickly so I’m guessing it’ll be a good few hours for me to do. I’ve got most of the parts to do a service. Also is it entirely necessary to do the whole thing? is there some kind of lower only half way house? I’d guess this is where most of the crap would accumulate. I’m confident with servicing my forks but this seems to be a bit more of a PITA.

If it’s not broken don’t fix it

or

A stitch in time saves nine

which Idiom is it?

Mat

if its not sagging then i’d leave it well alone.

Any sideways ‘play’ in the post?

I’ve got one that is the best out of all of mine (got 4) in going up and down fast, but it has sideways play and the collar keeps coming loose. The sideways play has led to dirt getting in and scratched the stanchion, though it’s just a cosmetic issue really.

However I’ve also got vertical drop at times.

I keep meaning to service. The sideways play likely just needs a new top collar, which would hopefully resolve the coming loose also. Vertical drop I’m not so sure. Basic service may do it, or get the full kit and stuff but seems like a lot of faff (and expense). Though I would like to learn how to service it. I service almost everything else.

My experience of reverbs is they work fine for circa 2 years and as soon as you start getting problems they really need to go in for a full on service. You can coax them along for a bit, but it’s only just delaying the inevitable. I don’t think 2 years between services is bad. These things are serviceable items and wont run forever with zero maintenance. Better just to bite the bullet I think.

No sideways play (very slight twist but that’s been there in both reverbs i’ve had from day 1). No vertical drop either – basically I’m flipping between jam bo and wobbliscotts PoV!

I would plan to do a ‘mechanical’ service on it, just to clean and re-grease the slidey bits. The kit is only about a tenner, and you don’t need to mess with the oil side of things. The only tricky bit is gripping the piston rod without damaging it to unscrew the base.

You may find that the lower bushing is ready for replacement (it’s in the kit).

One daft thing I’ve seen is that an over-tightened seat bolt can prevent it from returning properly. Did you try playing around with this too?

Thanks tillydog – sounds like the sort of thing I’m after! Any suggestions on jaws for clamping the shaft safely?

Daern, nope I had it in the frame without even nipping up the seatpost in the clamp and still nothing. It started moving again once I bled it.

If it’s a stealth post(or maybe even newer non stealths ?) you don’t need to clamp the piston rod -the outer part of base plate just undoes with a 24mm and 11mm spanner and gives you access -doesn’t work with 30.9s though as too narrow.Makes it easy.

Nope it’s a non-stealth A2 I think

Any suggestions on jaws for clamping the shaft safely?

I use a couple of bits of wood about 15mm square and 150mm long – clamp them together and drill an appropriately sized* hole along the join near one end. Put the bits around the very base of the piston rod and clamp them up again (G clamp, molegrips, vice, whatever). This gives you a handle to hold the piston rod with – the end piece is not super-tight. Of course, the proper answer is some soft jaws for a vice.

*I *think* it’s 9mm, but maybe 10… best check.