Dear Berg brothers,
I have what could be a dumb *** question, I am hoping someone may shed some light on correcting my situation.
Background:
I recently had my forks 'serviced' - which seemed to consist of replacing seals and renewing fluids.
The mechanic that did this returned the invoice saying that the left fork leg rebound needle and spring must have been dropped out while draining the cartridge in a previous service and lost - which, from new, has never been apart.
He ordered me a new needle, o-ring and spring, which I followed the manuals to re-fit, but found that the re-assembled adjuster rod would not reach the right depth in the cartridge tube ! on investigation, I had the '07 parts, not the '03 parts that were installed in my '05 bikes forks... so we got that sorted and got the '03 needle, o-ring and spring, which I tried to re-fit, but with the same problem.
I eventually got curious after pondering for many nights, figuring the needle was still down there in the rebound tap so 'adjusted' the adjuster rod of the fork, so it was a close, but tight enough grip on the 'locator pin' on the needle & once on, worked it gently till I retrieved the needle, then manufactured a high tensile aluminium wire rod with a small hook to grapple the spring and pull it up out of the rebound tap & cartridge. (all done in the intact fork leg).
there was plenty of gunge that had held the spring stiff, this is I guess why there was no discernable movement in the adjuster rod (and why the needle and spring didn't come out).
Ive since cleaned it all out as best I can and attempted to re-fit the new needle assembly, spring etc.... I now have the movement in the adjuster rod, which is great so I can reasonably believe that the needle will compress the spring to close the bottom hole in the rebound tap, but the spring doesn't return the needle back (obviously making this assessment from measurements on the adjuster rod).
The Dumb *** question:
Should the rebound needle spring have enough preload to return the needle all the way out, or does the o-ring give enough resistance to let it 'hang' at the point it was inserted to ? (and relies on the back pressure of the oil to help force it open?)
If it should return, then I think I may have a bit more gunge in there that is catching on the shoulder of the needle or something ?
If any of the suspension fettlers have any clues, I would really appreciate any guidance.
Cheers !
Azza.
I have what could be a dumb *** question, I am hoping someone may shed some light on correcting my situation.
Background:
I recently had my forks 'serviced' - which seemed to consist of replacing seals and renewing fluids.
The mechanic that did this returned the invoice saying that the left fork leg rebound needle and spring must have been dropped out while draining the cartridge in a previous service and lost - which, from new, has never been apart.
He ordered me a new needle, o-ring and spring, which I followed the manuals to re-fit, but found that the re-assembled adjuster rod would not reach the right depth in the cartridge tube ! on investigation, I had the '07 parts, not the '03 parts that were installed in my '05 bikes forks... so we got that sorted and got the '03 needle, o-ring and spring, which I tried to re-fit, but with the same problem.
I eventually got curious after pondering for many nights, figuring the needle was still down there in the rebound tap so 'adjusted' the adjuster rod of the fork, so it was a close, but tight enough grip on the 'locator pin' on the needle & once on, worked it gently till I retrieved the needle, then manufactured a high tensile aluminium wire rod with a small hook to grapple the spring and pull it up out of the rebound tap & cartridge. (all done in the intact fork leg).
there was plenty of gunge that had held the spring stiff, this is I guess why there was no discernable movement in the adjuster rod (and why the needle and spring didn't come out).
Ive since cleaned it all out as best I can and attempted to re-fit the new needle assembly, spring etc.... I now have the movement in the adjuster rod, which is great so I can reasonably believe that the needle will compress the spring to close the bottom hole in the rebound tap, but the spring doesn't return the needle back (obviously making this assessment from measurements on the adjuster rod).
The Dumb *** question:
Should the rebound needle spring have enough preload to return the needle all the way out, or does the o-ring give enough resistance to let it 'hang' at the point it was inserted to ? (and relies on the back pressure of the oil to help force it open?)
If it should return, then I think I may have a bit more gunge in there that is catching on the shoulder of the needle or something ?
If any of the suspension fettlers have any clues, I would really appreciate any guidance.
Cheers !
Azza.
