Fork seals

alomac

I just came back from a ride to find that both seals on my Dart 3 fork have been pushed up slightly out of their mounts. It's probably only one or two millimetres, but its enough to expose the metal coils that keep in in place, and make me way of washing or using the bike lest dirt or water find their way in.

I was looking at RS' technical manual and was wondering if its worth trying to reseat the springs myself, or if I should just take the whole mess back for the dealer to sort out. I've been riding a lot harder over the last few days as my confidence improves - would this have had something to do with it? Should I start putting money aside for a burlier fork?

Cheers,
Adam.

supersonic

They should just push back in. Use a bit of chain oil on the stanchions after.

nicklouse

and you should not be able to see the springs

alomac

Thanks for the advice, but I can't seem to push them in. When I push a section down, all that seems to happen is that the coil bulges outward rather than disappearing into its slot. I think the slot may be full of crud, hence the talk of disassembly.

On the other topic, I do make a habit of applying chain lube to the fork after each ride. I squirt some around the circumference of the seal, cycle the fork a couple of times and then wipe of the excess along with the crud it pulls out.

supersonic

You got any pics of this?

Skonk

The spring thing that pulls the seal tight is always visible isn't it?

Atleast on the 5 sets of front shox I have.

Example pic (not mine, just googled it up):
http://media.photobucket.com/image/fork ... stseal.jpg

nicklouse

ok if the above spring/coil is what you are on about.

fit the seal first and then seat the seal spring. after cleaning out the crud.

alomac

That spring is indeed the one I'm on about, but they were nver visible on my fork until today. I could post a picture, but it would look exactly the same so there's little point.

With the procedure you describe nicklouse, I assume that's with the fork disassembled.

Cheers,
Adam.

nicklouse

nope

they would have been visible before just not noticed.

timthetinyhorse

nicklouse wrote:

nope

they would have been visible before just not noticed.

yeh most fork seals are like this and yours will definatly be, you just wont have noticed the spring before