Poorly Reba Rl's - Advice please

p44cmb

I noticed this evening I could hear air leaking from the grey seal / wiper at the top of the left fork on my 2011 reba RL's. After putting some more air in the positive chamber and getting the leg back to its full extension I noticed the burrs/ abrasions on the fork leg itself.

I'm guessing I must have some grit or something stuck between the seal and the leg hence why the air is leaking and also that would explain the abrasions on the leg.

Anyone got any other theories as to what this may be or am I along the right lines with my thinking? Also any advice on how to remove the seal and clean up would be useful. I'm also thinking it would be sensible once the grit is cleared to lightly sand/smooth the fork leg to prevent damage to the seal from the burrs.



P.S apologies for large image. Photobucket is being stupid and not resizing.

The Rookie

That seal doesn't keep air in the air spring, nothing to do with it. The air spring is all inside the upper section, so if it's leaking you have a seperate issue

Grit would cause vertical scratches, that's been caused by something else!

That's new uppers time I'm afraid, you can't really recover that damage and it sounds like your air spring MAY have failed as well, but refer to the manual on Rockshox webby for taking the forks apart, it's really not rocket science.

p44cmb

Thanks for that. Thinking about the damage then yes i see how grit would cause vertical marks rather than the chunks I've actually got. I wonder whats in there that has caused that then??... I guess there is only one way to find out :-)

Neal_

That's really odd damage to the stanchion, it may be a problem with the bush inside the lower but that would also be more likely to cause vertical scratches so it's probably been done in a crash or in transport. Regardless of how it's been done it's quite bad damage, you could try filling the scratches with nail varnish then sanding it smooth with very fine wet and dry paper but a new upper is probably be required.

The air escaping will most likely be due to the o-rings inside the stanchion but Reba's are dead easy to work on so no reason not to do it yourself. Search for "rock shox reba race O-rings / seals - crush washer kit" on ebay and get the £8.75 kit from evilhomersimpson. New dust seals would also be advisable, Enduro are recommended http://www.enduroforkseals.com/id48.html

Here's a good guide on how to strip them http://forums.mtbr.com/yeti/rs-reba-rev ... 31885.html

p44cmb

Thanks Neal_ just what I needed :-)

p44cmb

Upon further inspection I have found matching abrasions / chips on the inside of the arched bit that runs from the left leg to the right leg (sorry don't know the technical term for it) so it appears during a recent ride where the bike was really caked in crud that there was something caught between the upper leg and the arched bit that caused the abrasions. therefore I am slightly happier that there is nothing internally that caused to chips.

Seeing as that appears to be the case then i'm guessing that it is most deffo one of the seals that has gone as part of the air chamber bits inside the upper?? or is there something else seal like inside the lower leg that would be causing air to leak when the chipped bit of the stanchion passes over it?

supersonic

There is still air in the fork, not just the air spring - there isn't a vacuum. It may be wheezing air in and out as the fork is used. I'd try and fill the chips, and replace the main dust/oil seals (though can't remember if this unit uses an oil seal, would have to get the service manual).