I fitted new dust seals a couple of months ago and they're doing their job as I can't get all manner of cable ties down the seals to burp the air. I need to as I'm not getting full travel, again. Any tips to get past tight seals?
Small cable tie obviously. The usually have a flay side a curved side, put the flat side against the tube. Bit of lube, spit is handy for this
Dont bother, flip the bike upside down and undo the nut at the bottom of the fork leg instead.
exactly as trimix says - pushing something past the seal is a really bad idea
[quote=tjagain ]exactly as trimix says - pushing something past the seal is a really bad idea
not always 😉
but where trapped air's involved, ...not always
Nick's suggestion worked, thanks. Re: the other solution, is it just a case of flipping the bike and undoing the air leg nut and doing it up again?
Just pull them apart and clean the excess grease away from the transfer port then pump them up again..
/edit - too late!
/edit the 2nd - I figured pushing anything past seals to be a faintly stupid idea so I opened up the air can on my wife's Pikes instead. They had [b]loads[/b] of grease blocking the wee transfer port.
Cleared the grease from that dimple a few months ago.
If you burp air with fork fully extended at full travel the air build up in the fork lowers can pop the dust seal out.
If you have to burb air try it at half fork travel, see how that works.
My pikes sit 5-10mm into travel, as I set sag at 25-30% it takes that into account so will only ever see full stanchion when airborne, so not really looking.
Also from personal experience if they are misbehaving a scratch in the air shaft may well be your problem not a blob of grease.
Had no end of pressure issues on my Rebas caused by a scratched shaft that was allowing air to move where it shouldn't.
It's about a £35 part iirc and totally worth it when it cured my issue!