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Actually a case of mechanical ineptitude.
Had a nice ride this afternoon till I started noticing the forks not compressing as well as they ought to. A bit notchy on the initial movement and no where near as plush as they ought to be. I then fell off on a rock garden and ended up in a thorny bush after leaving skin on the rocks.
Got home and had a wash, i should have waited as I was soon to be covered head to toe in oil. Dropped the lowers thinking a quick oil replacement was in order. No, Seems the problem lay with the air spring side. I downloaded the manual and set about it.
Long story short I have buggered it up and will no doubt have to pay through the nose for them putting right. The crowing turd in the water pipe is that I have 2 parts remaining. I have 2 rubber bits that seems to be rubber washers that have crenelations and are called "Crush Washer Retainer, Qty 50" in the rockshocks parts catalog. I know they live in the lowers somewhere but cant think how they go back in.
Bugger.
Would a photo help?
Yes pics, crush rings tend to go on the outside under the lower bolts, unless these are a different thing. That said - don't panic - even if you have borked them Loco is v nice and will probably not mind sorting if you send a box of disassembled forks.
From memory the rubber washers go at the bottom of the lowers ie dropped into the lowers while stanchions out.
Yeah, the 2 big rubber things just sit in the bottom of the lowers.
I think probably rebuilding forks that customers have mangled is just part of the working day for suspension dudes tbh.
Photos to follow. Its very late here.
Would love to be able to send all my forks and shocks to Loco. sadly postage two ways would be a killer.
Once I get them sorted I think I might see if there is an air spring upgrade. I never use the lower travel setting of the two step and seemingly this is part that causes no end of issues.
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If its those, they go outside under the bolts. Thse are crush washers.
the things people are talking about above are bump washers about an inch across, few mm thick, hole in the middle they go at the bottom of the lowers and just protect in the event of bottoming out. Thing on right in this image
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That is them Unclehomered. Odd that I have never had then come out when dropping the lowers previously.
Will have another round of fettling tonight after work and if I can get no satisfaction then I will have to send them off somewhere.
I think either way the lesson to be learned is not to tinker with expensive things when tired after a ride and without prior knowledge of the job at hand.
Will report back.
The crush washer generally gets squashed onto the bolt, if it doesn't come off then you will just bolt it back up as normal without ever knowing.
Actually, Mike do you know anyone here in Aus like Loco in UK?
will pop the bump stop things back in the bottom of the legs tonight and try to reassemble. I do think they will need to go off to someone though.
The SRAM guys will do service and are apparently decent. NS Dynamics http://www.nsdynamics.com.au/ are another. Where are you, my current LBS would do most of what you want.
I am in Melbourne. Fingers crossed and I get out of work at a decent time I will have another go tonight.
If it all goes wrong tonight you may hear the screams across the water in Tazzie.
https://www.sram.com/find-dealer/
Monza are just down in Altona, you will need a lbs to send them over for service if you need that. If not any decent LBS should be able to do the service or conversion. I did some Dual Air Revs last year, was a pain but can be done if you have the tools/spares.
failing that of the ones I've popped into (and never had any work done but jsut spoken to) My Mountain on Lygon st seemed good
http://www.mymountain.com.au/g/43809/workshop.html
Well finally some good news. All went back together without any superfluous items. Put in some oils of various types, some air and low and behold they are back to their supple best.
Thanks for all the help and pointers.
I'll claim a beer for all that expert opinionating 🙂
Mike, I will buy you one when I pop over for a few days later in the year.
You might need to show me round a bit first though.
no worries, I'm heading over to the land of good cafes next week but without bike
mikewsmith - MemberThe crush washer generally gets squashed onto the bolt, if it doesn't come off then you will just bolt it back up as normal without ever knowing.
In theory you should replace the crush washers. In practice I don't think any DIY servicer has ever done this in the history of forks.
I have, purely for the sake of it, I had dozens and was bored of finding unused ones all over the place.
You're [i]weird.[/i]
I did as my DIY service normally happens here
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on a Friday with some beer
Northwind - Member
In theory you should replace the crush washers. In practice I don't think any DIY servicer has ever done this in the history of forks.
Indeed. Serviced a couple of forks a few times now and each time I look at the crush washer when I get to the "replace the crush washer" instruction, and think "nah, that looks okay" and don't bother 😀 . Not been a problem yet.
Generally I've not replaced anything other than the seals on the lowers. In the uppers the stuff in the air and damper I just clean up with the rest of it and put if back together. The seals always look fine to me.