Pike charger damper bleed woes. What have I done wrong?!

Long post, sorry!
So I decided to bleed the damper in my RCT3 160mm 2015 Pikes..

A-OK until step 25 on the Epic instructions[/url]. I turned the compression cam assembly the wrong way. When I realised I started turning it the correct way, but however much I turn it, it never seems to properly come to a stop. If I close the cam slightly, I can feel it return to full open, but it doesn’t stop spinning at this point. It feels like it’s just rotating round and around in the fork.

To try and work out what was going on, I rebuilt the entire damper following the SRAM service manual. I skipped taking the actual bladder sleeve off, and I don’t have any crowfoot torque bits, so those torques were estimated. Everything seems fine, although there is a bit of wear/damage to the top of the compression cam assembly, which is probably a result of me rotating it for ages with a socket.

My rebound damping works okay. The LSC seems to work, and the lockout can spin too far open, and too far closed (no longer has defined start and stop points, but does click as I turn it). Lockout does have a small effect but only feels like it’s at pedal when it should be at full lockout.

Two other odd things:
1. I can’t work out what would ever stop the compression cam assembly from just spinning infinitely. It interfaces with the compression piston assembly, and there’s nothing from stopping that from rotating past the lockouts ‘open’ and ‘closed’ as it just sits at the top of the cartridge tube (bottom of the coupler)?
2. The SRAM manual I used calls for 10ml of 0w-30 in each leg. This seems to be wrong? Or am I using the wrong manual?!

I’m confident that both of the snap rings are seated properly and everything is torqued properly.

Does anyone have any idea what’s going on?
I’d like to resolve this without sending the fork off if possible.
Many thanks.

Bump for the evening crowd!

Final bump for the daytime crowd!

With the open/trail/lockout knob removed does the adjuster still rotate 360 degrees? or is it that the knob in rotating when installed?

I can’t help you with the damper woes but I would be interested in defining the lower oil volumes – it looks to me that for 2016 on it’s specified at 10ml each leg where as previously it was 5ml damper and 15ml spring side for 2014 & 2015.

However like you note the latest manual is for ‘2014 to present’ and clearly advises 10ml each leg.

I haven’t found a definite answer as previous manuals warned against putting the wrong volume in.

If the components haven’t changed then why would it be changed ???

Perhaps a suspension service expert like LoCo knows 😉

Marcus,
I’d always read the lower leg volumes as 5/15 too but was never quite happy with the idea of only a teaspoonful of oil doing the lubrication, so right from new I’ve always doubled it up to 10ml in the damper side.
No issues.

Ey-up Ian – Cheers 🙂

With the open/trail/lockout knob removed does the adjuster still rotate 360 degrees? or is it that the knob in rotating when installed?

It still rotates 360 degrees with the open/trail/lockout knob removed. I can feel it get to the open or lockout positions, but it continues to rotate after reaching these points. I believe this is the compression piston assembly rotating once the compression cam is maxed at full open or closed.

It looks to me that for 2016 on it’s specified at 10ml each leg where as previously it was 5ml damper and 15ml spring side for 2014 & 2015.

They’ve definitely changed the spec, the old oil/air charts were 5/15 but the new one is 10/10.

I don’t believe it’s that critical anyway in the damper side. But it’s odd for RS to specify 10ml damper side when the bolt has ‘5cc max’ etched onto it. It also seems strange to drop the volume of oil in the spring side – unless they want to keep the total volume and weight the same!

From what you’re saying it sounds like something isn’t seated properly or the something is broken due to over rotation.
I’d suggest stripping it again and having a look or you can send it for me to have a look if you’d prefer.

Did you ever figure out the cause of the issue?

Did you ever figure out the cause of the issue?

Yes..and no. I had it serviced and that fixed the issue. The technician said it was an unusual fault which he hadn’t seen before. Apparently there was a loose screw/bolt which meant something was not engaging properly something else. Unfortunately I couldn’t work out from him exactly where/what the problem was. It definitely wasn’t due to the LSC or Open/Closed dial not being attached properly – I asked.

So the fork works again but I wouldn’t be able to fix the same problem myself. I had a look for some diagrams and came across this mtbr thread which talks about a bolt in the right sort of place, so could be worth investigating. I’m not sure if it’s the same bolt. Sorry I can’t be more helpful!