Judy SLs spring kit - easy job?

[coomber]

I have never touched forks and always got my LBS to do any repairs. Am tempted to buy a pair of yellow Judy SL's (1996 I think) which the elastomers are shot but the seller has some spring kits.

Is it just a case of slotting the springs in or do I still need an elastomer stack?

Is it easy enough to do for a novice?

Any help much appreciated.

 

[DegsUk]

I looked at the wings spring site and they have a you tube of how to do it, and it is a case of old out , clean and new in boing boing

http://wings-suspension.com/

 

[coomber]

Great link. Thank you:

http://wings-suspension.com/rockshox.html

 

[merckx]

i have springs in my judy xc. they work wonderfully. i covered the full length of my springs with heat shrink tubing, and shrunk it on. this really helps keep the spring quiet, and stops the annoying scraping noise it can make on the inside of the staunchion tubes as the fork compresses and cycles through its travel. worth doing i think.

and make sure the top cap adjusters are wound all the way out. there is not much point pre loading a spring, and the plastic judy adjusters will have a very hard time trying to actually do it anyway.

lots of slick honey on the bushes of the sliders, bottom and top bushings, when you have it apart, before it goes back together, is also a great idea.

 

[coomber]

lots of slick honey on the bushes of the sliders, bottom and top bushings, when you have it apart, before it goes back together, is also a great idea.

Thank you for the reply.

Can I use any old grease for this or does it have to be fork specific?

 

[DegsUk]

When I finally get round to looking for a set of Judy XC forks I will do the same just got to find a nice set now.

 

[DegsUk]

suppose there are different types i used a small tube that came with my elastomers

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Weldtite-TF2-tefl ... 2a09a5b20f

 

[ishaw]

When I finally get round to looking for a set of Judy XC forks I will do the same just got to find a nice set now.

The shrink wrap idea sounds great, any more details on the product you used, as I've always found the springs rattle a bit when not under load, which is a bit disconcerting.

 

[merckx]

lots of slick honey on the bushes of the sliders, bottom and top bushings, when you have it apart, before it goes back together, is also a great idea.

Thank you for the reply.

Can I use any old grease for this or does it have to be fork specific?

no, you have to be careful. the rock shox manual specifically says "non lithium" based greases, judy butter being one. slick honey was invented by arlo englund, who made the special air damper spring cartridge system for the judy fork, which also relied on slick honey for it to work well.

slick honey is pretty amazing stuff. its certainly no ordinary bike grease...

 

[merckx]

When I finally get round to looking for a set of Judy XC forks I will do the same just got to find a nice set now.

The shrink wrap idea sounds great, any more details on the product you used, as I've always found the springs rattle a bit when not under load, which is a bit disconcerting.

just the normal heat shrink tubing you can buy from nerdy electronics diy shops. something of a diameter that can be put over the spring with a bit of ease, but not too big. i then just shrunk it on over the gas flame of my cooktop in the kitchen. do it when the missus is out, trust me, its easier

you will need to keep one end of the spring clear of any heat shrink tube by about 15mm or so, to allow the top caps to still fit over the spring. there is no tolerance gap (on mine anyway) between the outside diametre of the spring, and the inside diametre of the top cap assembly.