I’ve recently got some nearly-new McQueens but need to change the travel, so need to remove lowers. Reading other threads it seems that there are elements inside that are made of cheese, so getting the right tool sounds like a good idea.

Before I splash out the entire £10 on the RL2 Damper tool, has anyone any experience stripping a HLR fork? Is this the correct tool for the job, or is there something else?

no idea what a mcqueen is but my hlr metrics just require a socket of the correc dia & a gentle tap to loosen them from the lowers.

no idea what a mcqueen is but my hlr metrics just require a socket of the correc dia & a gentle tap to loosen them from the lowers.

Cool – thanks. I’ll take a closer look and see if that could work. Slightly wary after reading several stories of cheese.

I’ve taken my sweep rl2 forks apart twice using a 4mm 1/4 drive socket to use as a drift on the cheese thread.

Then a bit of air in the fork and the damper locked to put them back together.

I have HLR sweeps and the tool will work, I just pull the damper rod out, slide the lowers over and tap on the arch with soft mallet.

Just curious, but those of you that changed travel how did you do it without an arbor press to move the pin?

Think I just screwed it to some wooden blocks, using the holes in the rod, then a light tap with appropriately sized drift and hammer.

The travel setting was just a metal clip. No fancy “arbor press”, just put it on a workbench and tap it with rubber hammer .

I’ve got the RL2 damper tool – if you’re in the Cambridge area you’re welcome to come and try it. I’ve just used a socket set as above though in the past.

When putting it back together again, don’t overtighten the footnuts. Apparently if you do that, the spring clip inside bends off, which is annoying. According to a friend of mine….

Just get the tool. A tiny piece of machined alloy which will give you literally minutes of pleasure over its lifetime.

Every time you look at it you will think about the tenner it cost and get a warm feeling inside.

Seriously though, I don’t know what kind of metal they use for Xfusion internals and bolts but it is more of a plastic pretending to be a metal. I’ve just managed to break off the bit the lockout cap screw goes into on the damper, possibly by just looking at it funny.

I’ve got the RL2 damper tool – if you’re in the Cambridge area you’re welcome to come and try it. I’ve just used a socket set as above though in the past.

Thanks. I was your way a few weeks back, but prob not returning until Christmas now.

Just get the tool. A tiny piece of machined alloy which will give you literally minutes of pleasure over its lifetime.

I plan to. Just wanted to make sure it was the correct tool. I hate buying a new – very specific – tool, only to find out it’s the wrong sort of specific tool.

When putting it back together again, don’t overtighten the footnuts. Apparently if you do that, the spring clip inside bends off, which is annoying. According to a friend of mine….

Noted. 😆