Hi, probably a stupid question (again) about fork servicing.

I’m going to drop the lowers on my new 2014(13?) solo air rebas. Just to make sure there is oil in there, and the grease on the seals is ok. The thing is the these forks have the ‘hollow’ lower leg when viewed from below. Hence a few questions!

I assume the red rebound adjuster just pulls free like the old ones, even though it is much longer.

I have tools that will reach the shaft bolts so I can tap them free, and remove them for the lower leg removal. So far so good. I can do the clean and regrease of the seals no bother, but my biggest question is……..

When I put the lowers back on, does the hole that you put the fresh oil into come to the bottom of the lowers? If not, I cannot understand how you are supposed to get the oil into them. Do you need a specially long-nosed syringe, or does the hole come to the bottom of the lowers when the fork is depressurised?

Any help gratefully accepted.

You just pour the oil into the lowers, it’s easy enough. Rebound pulls free fine and the only tool you need extra is the long reach 10mm socket which it sound like you have.

I use a syringe with a bit of tube on the end – drop the uppers back in, swing them so they’re 45 degrees from upside down in the work stand and pour the oil through the hole, then engage the shafts. Just be careful you get the oil into the lowers, not just straight into the shafts.

You can also pour the oil in from the top – you then have to be quite careful when putting the uppers back in not to move the lowers too much and lose the oil from the bottom hole. I’ve never tried this way but i’d assume you’d want to clamp the lowers in a work stand at the right angle first.

Cheers.

Syringe plus tube it is for me, then.

I haven’t actually got a deep 10mm socket, but I do have a thingy that effectively makes a screwdriver with the socket on the end. I assume this will do the biz as it is just a matter or reach, or is there some other little difficulty awaiting me?

I’ve done lower leg services before, but they were on coil forks with the holes right at the bottom of the lowers!

I struggled with reaching the bolt as you need to reach over the threaded valve as well and a standard socket wouldn’t work, even a deep one. I ended up buying a cheapo box spanner which made the job easy.

Scrub that question!

I’ve just pulled the rebound out and looked at both sides. 5mm Allen bolts both sides, so looks like no more tools needed!

I’ve got a big ride planned for Saturday, so not doing them now, just in case. There is no stiction at all when compressing and releasing the forks, so I am not mega nervous. They are new, but have been in a shop for several months, so I just need to make sure nothing has dried out or degraded.

Cheers for the replies, every new bit of kit seems to bring a new head-scratching moment 😐

Yeah, i like that new air side allen bolt, was a pleasant surprise when I went to drop the lowers on my new SID’s the other day, as it’s the only thing i use that socket for and it’s never where I left it! The screwdriver wouldn’t have worked as you need to clear the shaft bolt – but not that it’s important now anyway.

Wouldn’t worry about anything drying out, I drop new forks just incase of any swarf or manufacturing issue internally but have never found anything to worry about.

Cheers. I’m not rushing into anything as the forks are really sweet at the moment. I’m going to do it as a precaution and a pre-winter job prior to things becoming a real slop fest in the next 2-3 months. I’ve also been running the ‘muckynutz’ style mudguard for the last year. I think my previous forks were already well ‘on the way’ to being knackered by the time I started using it. But I do think this type of mudguard makes a big difference to how much crap sits at the top of the seal just waiting to be drawn in.

I need to get a good few years out of these forks as my frame has a 1.125 inch head tube.

Thanks for the help.