Maverick DUC 6" Fork
If you are having seal leakage problems (I did) then get yourself some of the new latest seals. they are Grey in colour and are far superior at keeping the oil in the legs. There is no need to wipe the legs after every ride, and after 500 miles on them seals, the oil put in is still basically all there. The forks feel so much plusher for it too, but that could be them just bedding in.
Get some, your disk brakes will love you for it.
Time to see how easy they are to service.
Right, jack the bike up, no need to drop the forks from the frame.
A10 mm socket and a small screwdriver later and they are on the bench ready for inspection, so easy you could do this anywhere, well apart from in the desert.
The drain pan under the open fork ends shows empty, this after a few minutes of taking the dry legs out, no mess all over your floor.
All the damper and air chamber oil is contained in the legs you remove, the most that can come out on stipping is 15 ml of seal lubrication oil.
The oil constantly coats the legs and seals in use, the legs still had a good film of oil on after approx 50 hrs use, and the tub below shows what came out with the legs, about 10 ml for both legs drained, so looks like I caught them about right.
So 5 mins after starting the job, with just the tools shown, inspection can begin. I cleaned up the fork seals, a little dirt was found under the outer dust seal lip.
WARNING - Do not tip the left leg upside down once out. There is a small charge of lubricating oil in the air spring chamber for lubrication/sealing.
Unless like me you wanted to check the chamber or drain / refill with fresh oil, it's easy so why not.
The damper and lockout knobs are easy to remove, better than Fox in design there if not ergonomics.
The 10 mm fixing bolt was sealed with some non setting sealant, which had been "generously applied" as you can see.
I removed the tops with the lockout switched off, damping position is not important.
I tipped out my air chamber oil, and it was clear it was contaminated with black particles, so out came a 21 mm spanner for an easy strip of the top cap.
This contains a bush and no seals so removes easily, and without any great spanner force.
Tipping the leg up with the cap off revealed the problem, a top out bump rubber (which sits within the spring) had been cut in two.
The spring end caps in the air chamber should grip the spring, and should not fall out just by tipping it up as mine did.
In use as the fork compresses, the underside of air chamber top cap (shown) and the top spring retainer sick together with a thin film of oil. As the fork unweights the spring is pulled off the bottom spring retainer built into the air piston.
It seems possible to me that my spring had travelled clear of the bump rubber and on its return chopped it in two by forcing it against the bottom stop.
A quick phone call to Tim Johnson at Sideways cycles revealed that later versions of air piston had grooves cut into the top spring retainer cap to eliminate this, with the fork still under warranty parts were to be dispatched. There's no need to get involved with postage and stuff, the forks really are a doodle to work on.
Next day the parts arrived, (superb Service) so don't believe anyone who says the Xmas post is useless, top man.
A whole air piston, rod and spring no less, with fore mentioned grooves.
Back to the assembly and in a jiffy; 5 ml of oil down the shaft and the leg is then back in the fork with some seal lubricant, job done.
I'm considering a home brewed way of securing them better for now.
On Tim's recommendation I only added 10 ml of seal oil to each leg, after seeing how easy the strip and check is I will be doing it on a regular basis. This way the seals will get a regular clean, saving damage by stopping build up of muck and grit which could stop premature leg damage.
It's impressive how easy the fork comes apart, and how modular the parts are. There's nothing on this fork that cannot be replaced separately in case of damage, (umm!! a good job so far) no real special tools needed either, well untill your silly enough to snap a wheel clamp.
