Monarch RL

lvquestpaddler

Howdy all,

I'm in the process of doing a seal service on my Monarch (Debonair, basic model without the extra piggyback chamber). It's 190x51 and so far I've removed the "external" can and 4 O-rings, unscrewed the "internal" can(I'm waiting on the kit arriving) but at this stage with the whole thing depressurised I thought the rebound damper unit could be pushed in manually? Mine won't budge.... is this normal? (Tried googling it but no luck.... I've had a lifetime of hardtails and rigids so this is my first go at rear suspension....)
TIA

mully79

You have removed the air but the oil is still in there with a nitrogen pressurised ifp. You will need quite a lot of force to push the piston through it but you dont need to try because why would you ?

PS. Dont strip things down before you get the kit. It might be wrong or not turn up and you'll have no bike.

lvquestpaddler

I've only unscrewed the can, and the 3 O-Rings are on good shape so it can be put together no problem. Got a seal kit coming from Ebay(looks kosher!) and also some spare(x3) grease/oil sachets from J-Tech Suspension... So even if the kit is wrong etc the Dynamic grease and 15W-50 will enable a clean up and reuse.
It was just because on an MBR video the bloke had the thing in a vice and to reassemble the can on to the body he had to push it on and move the piston... Pity my Velotech Gold doesn't cover anything to this level ha ha.... The shock has been well protected in use as I've committed to the fashion faux pas of "mudguards".

Cheers for the reply though, puts my mind at rest, sure it will all be good in the end !!! Will send it off to TFT or J-Tech when the time comes to do the whole thing...

(Not too concerned about not riding it I had open inguinal hernia surgery 3 weeks ago not planning going out on it til May)