Sticky suspension forks

Apollo1969

My wife's MTB (a Scott Purgatory purchased in 2001 for £300) has had light use, well looked after and is still in excellent condition for its age. However, when dusting it off at the beginning of this season, I noticed that the suspension forks were all but seized. I was able to free them with a very hefty push down on the bars, but they were still very jerky and needed an awful lot of force to move them. Now, I appreciate that the forks (Topgun T-06) are pretty basic and not particularly designed to be serviced, but not being one to be defeated, I have managed to completely dismantle, clean, lubricate and re-assemble them. However, they remain very stiff and jerky - once left for a few minutes or more, they again need a hefty push to get them moving and even then, they stick and jerk. The stanchions themselves look "as new"... very shiny with no signs of corrosion and the plastic bushes in the lowers look perfectly intact. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of working on such basic forks. I did see one YouTube video where they suggested completely degreasing the forks and not putting any new lubrication on them so am wondering if the grease may be the problem rather than the solution? I know I could buy a replacement fork for about £40, but don't like to be defeated by what seems like a fairly simple component.

cooldad

They're probably working as well as they ever did. Or as badly...

Apollo1969

Thanks Cooldad... I know that they are entry level forks, but I can testify that they used to work much better than they do now... they've been fine up until this season.

The Rookie

What did you lube the bushes with? Grease or oil?

Personally I'd suggest a nice slippery grease like red rubber grease, great stuff.

Apollo1969

I just used regular multi-purpose grease. Have always used this in the past without any problems.