Rockshox Judy silver lockout issue

GhostPudding

Hello everyone,

Im new mountain biking and I have recently purchased a bike which came with the Judy silver frok and Im loving the bike so far. However Ive notice the past few rides when i lock out my fork theres 'play' and the play would increase each addition time i compress the fork to the point where it just feels like a firm suspension but it will return back to just little 'play' after a while and the cycle continues which really bothers me.

Ive did some research and found out that oil might have leaked passed the seal into the lower leg but im not too sure if thats the case and i dont really want to take the fork apart unless i really have to. So my question is would topping the oil back up to the factory recommend volume solve the problem?

GhostPudding

Ok so i have decided to take the fork apart to have a look since theres no reply to my question. Ive notice that there was more oil coming out from the lower leg on the damper side than the rebond side when taking the fork apart. So i cleaned it up and was playing about on the damper side and i notice when i turn the lockout knob to full the fork is very stiff but with all my strength I could still just about to manage to compress the rod by hand but no sign of oil leaking out from the damper so it doesnt seems like the oring seals are damaged internally. Anyone have any ideas or is it just the way it is :?:

steve_sordy

I don't know the Rockshox Judy so I didn't answer your query before. But here are some general observations that may assist. (but I wouldn't be surprised if someone pops up and says what rubbish!)

There is more oil in the damper side, because it is oil that does the damping. There will either be a coil spring or just an air spring in the other side, so just a bit of lubricating oil.

You refer to the lockout having play. Most lockouts do not actually lock the suspension, but impose more compression damping. They do it that way so that if you forget to remove the lockout before descending, it will still give and not break the bike, or you.

I no longer have a bike with lockout, (variable compression damping instead), but when I did, I soon stopped using it because I kept leaving it on after a long climb! I suspect that I was able to dispense with the lockout because I have a smooth pedalling style, but also because the bike I chose to ride has a rear suspension that does not react much to pedal bob (Horst link).

The Rookie

GhostPudding wrote:

i notice when i turn the lockout knob to full the fork is very stiff but with all my strength I could still just about to manage to compress the rod by hand ]

Exactly as it should, perfectly normal, no fault found.

'Lockout' is not a LOCK, it's very stiff damping, so yes it will move.

GhostPudding

Thank you for the reply guys and im reliefed to hear that since its been stressing menout for days haha im in the process of putting the fork back together and im struggle to properly measure the oil height for the damper side (ive been told not to use the volume measurement) what is the proper way of doing it and im interested in how do you guys do it?

cooldad

I use volume.

Who/what told you not to?

GhostPudding

cooldad wrote:

I use volume.

Who/what told you not to?

I read some of the posts here and someone said its better to use oil height instead since its more accurate but im not sure how true that is.

cooldad

Manufacturers tech docs use volume and height, so best to go by what they use for the specific fork. I tend to think they know what they're doing.

No idea what year you have but latest docs here

https://www.sram.com/sites/default/file ... _rev_d.pdf

They give both height and volume, so use what's easiest. Unless it's an older model, which will be on the site somewhere.