Fork service - and a visual reminder of neglect.

Just drained the oil from my forks. The fluid dripping from the right leg looks nice and clean, but the stuff coming out of the right leg:?

Clean and not so clean oil drained from the forks

Luckily both the stanchions and the bushings are alright, but something needs a little attention.


I service my forks last time 75 riding hours ago, Rock Shox specifies 50 hour service intervals for this fork, but stuff like this always seems to be overdue right? One more ride, then I'll take the fork apart…

Anyways. During the last service I overhauled the damper completely with new o-rings and other stuff all over. I also changed the dust seal and foam ring in the right leg, but due to spending too much time renovating the damper, I decided to leave the left leg dust seal (this was the better looking one of the seals) for next time.

75 riding hours ago, this seal was looking like: change soon.

Having the new seal and foam ring sitting in the toolbox, it was just a matter of get it fixed this time.

New foam ring getting soaked in fresh oil. 

Slightly different color compared to the one above.

ff

Getting the seal in can be a bit of a hassle, but with generous lubing with fresh oil, it's much easier to hammer in place. Remember not to hit the seal directly, but use something like a 32mm ring spanner, if you don't have the proper seal installation tool (which I don't have).

New seal and foam ring installed.

Fork assembled and ready to ride.

Ready for another ride. This time it'll hopefully be better at keeping the nasty stuff outside the fork inners.