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I have a Suntour XCR LO fork which is siezing up due to abuse and neglegt. Through consulting my Zinn book and various web pages it seems a good clean and regrease is likely to sort them out, certainly no worth paying to have serviced as their are new ones available on eBay for £35.
Problem is I can't find a definitive answer on whether they need fork oil or just grease. They have a hydraulic lockout and preload adjust but no rebound adjuster.
Anyone got any ideas?
bin em mine went after 6months riding then the sanctions snapped...! 😀 but some marz 22's insted
look pretty simple inside:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/snwbrd/forku#
probably just clean out the lowers then bung some 15wt or grease over the bushings and seals
They're extremely simple, and don't have an oil bath or any compression washers so no parts need replacing. Just undo the 2 bolts in the bottom of the legs then pull them apart. Hook out the top seals and the plastic bushings (gently) and give them a serious clean- they'll be rammed full of mud most likely, the seals aren't great. You can reuse these unless they're completely knackered, which is just as well because they're not economic to replace. You might find there's a bit of water in them too, get rid of that.
As far as oil vs grease, you'll find a lot of white grease in there, I'd be lying if I said I knew what sort of grease it was. I used copious fork oil to relube mine, on the basis that if I ever do use them again I'll service them regularily anyway (it's so simple) so I might as well make it easy.
What you might find is that when you rebuild them they're still juddery... Unfortunately once the plastic bushings wear, the fork will slop and that'll make them "pinch" on braking, so instead of fluid movement you get notchy compression. they still work, they just feel horrible.
All in all, very easy to service but you might not get much benefit from it. Budgeting for a new fork would be a very good idea all round... The XCRs are pretty good considering what they are but you need to really stay on top of the servicing. Which I didn't, obviously 🙂