Worn stanchions & bushings - is it worth replacing the bushings?

petertronica

petertronica

Likes Dirt
Hey Burners,

So I've purchased a 2nd hand bike for the 11yo, knowing full well that the fork stanchions were worn (got a good price for it all).

The fork is a Fox 32 talas RL (open bath model). It's gonna be a pain to replace as it's non-boost, tapered, qr, and front hub cannot be converted to 15mm.

The annodising has worn off the stanchions (both sides) and formed very faint kinda grooves. I think the bushings must be very worn to have caused the damage. The seals look ok-ish from the outside, but I haven't opened it up yet.

I think I'm gonna to get him to ride it for as long as possible without replacing the whole fork.

So, the question is - will replacing the bushings prolong the life of the fork? Will I also need to try to smooth out (sand?) the stantions to get rid of the grooves to make the seals seal properly, and to stop it wearing prematurely again? I already have new seals to go in, but I'm a bit skeptical that new seals will make any difference on their own.

Thanks in advance burners!

370529

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petertronica

petertronica

Likes Dirt
Having just stumbled across this page,
cyclinic.com.au

Stanchion damage

Getting a nasty scratch on your fresh suspension's stanchion tubes can be very frustrating. And even worse, it often happens when we least expect it, like when your bike falls over in the wind at the local cafe, grinding it's silky smooth stanchions down a rock wall's edge, or just plain and...
cyclinic.com.au cyclinic.com.au
maybe the bushings aren't worn?? Has the fork just been used with no oil in it for ages? Because it looks like the 'smooth bits' are where it's worn...

370532
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
Yep. Looks more like dirty and/or dry seals. I’ve got sets that have come like that. As long as not deep groves, I’ve cleaned and serviced, and got away with years more use on bikes that are rarely used or like Felix’s school commuter bike. His pikes only had it on the last 20mm of exposed stanchion, so I dropped them from 160 down to 130 and hid the issue. @link1896 may have a fix, not sure.
 
Flow-Rider

Flow-Rider

Burner
It's a lot of work to replace bushing in the lower legs. You usually have to ream the new bushes to size which will mean fabricating some type of extraction, insertion tool and reaming tool. It's also been known on a lot of forks that the bushes are too tight from factory, if they don't have huge knocks in the bushes I would just ride them out, probably never serviced for a long time, but you'll need to dismantle them to see what the cause was.
 
Ackland

Ackland

chats d'élevage
I'd recommend stripping it all down and giving it a bloody good clean.

While the seals are out, you can lightly lubricate and inspect the bushing fitment on the stanchions and make the call from there.

Don't throw money at the problem as even new bushings won't necessarily fix it unless the ones in there are totally flogged
 
PJO

PJO

in me vL comy
petertronica said:
Hey Burners,

So I've purchased a 2nd hand bike for the 11yo, knowing full well that the fork stanchions were worn (got a good price for it all).

The fork is a Fox 32 talas RL (open bath model). It's gonna be a pain to replace as it's non-boost, tapered, qr, and front hub cannot be converted to 15mm.

The annodising has worn off the stanchions (both sides) and formed very faint kinda grooves. I think the bushings must be very worn to have caused the damage. The seals look ok-ish from the outside, but I haven't opened it up yet.

I think I'm gonna to get him to ride it for as long as possible without replacing the whole fork.

So, the question is - will replacing the bushings prolong the life of the fork? Will I also need to try to smooth out (sand?) the stantions to get rid of the grooves to make the seals seal properly, and to stop it wearing prematurely again? I already have new seals to go in, but I'm a bit skeptical that new seals will make any difference on their own.

Thanks in advance burners!

View attachment 370529
View attachment 370530
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Click to expand...
Is it binding when you compress the fork?
Open it up, thoroughly clean it out, clean the foam rings or put in new ones, pack it with some slicko, and don't worry about it.
I have a set of old Fox forks from 2005 that have similar wear, my 8 yr old is riding them without any problems, they do have a small knock (i.e. the stanchion is no longer as tight in the bushing as it used to be) but they still go up and down smoothly.
 
link1896

link1896

Mr Greenfield
Replacing bushings is tricky. Replacing the stanchions is easier.


No one sells lower bushings. Edit. Fox not RS, can get bushings. Blind I’m sorry

You need custom tooling, I’ve still got some to make before I tackle this procedure.


Add more lower oil then factory, the damper rod seal is pretty good, it’s not going to matter if it ingests some light weight lower oil anyway in the older forks anyway.

Put bike upside down before a ride to get oil into the bushings and the foam rings and you’ll be fine for an old fork

I’d add a mud guard to keep stanchions cleaner
 
ozzybmx

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
Anytime I have had a fork with scrub marks on stanchions, the stiction develops very quickly after a service, only talking about 3-4 rides and it noticeably deteriorates.

Thats not groves either, just anodising/kashima scrubbed off.
 
rowdyflat

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
Fork is perfect for an 11 yo .
i would diagnose dry dirty seals and no oil in the fork .
some clueless Yack people do it regularly.
 
petertronica

petertronica

Likes Dirt
So I've dropped the lowers off.
Thankfully there was quite a lot of oil in the open-bath damper side. Not so much in the other side.
The foam rings were disgustingly dirty. Crud had got past them and collected on the bushings, which had then worn the annodising off the stantions. Only where the bushings touched the forks had it worn off, leaving thin vertical ridges about 1mm wide, and about 5cm high, which you can see in the photos, because the bushings look exactly like this:
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I suspect that these ridges will prevent the seals from sealing properly as they're actually high enough to feel.
So I'm sanding the ridges back lightly with 400 sandpaper and then I'm gonna polish smooth with some autosol. This should let the new seals do their job properly. (Of course I'm replacing the seals and foam rings.) I've cleaned out the lowers as best I can, the bushings look like they aren't actually worn, so as long as I've got the dirt out they should be fine.
New oil, and then I think the litle fella should get loads more milage out of them.
Thanks heaps for the advice everyone!!
 
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