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Greaseported Boxxer

Udi

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Phase 1: Find zerk fittings


Phase 2: ???








Phase 3: Profit


Something I always wanted to try, finally got around to it. Obviously the grease spreads around neatly when the stanchion is in there. Big thanks to toodles for supplying the zerks and gun.
 
D

davet

Monkey
Jun 24, 2004
551
3
very cool

speedlube would be handy, but I think it's more important to pull the lowers off and clean them out when replacing the oil.
 
bmxracer62

bmxracer62

Monkey
Feb 11, 2008
281
0
yes, it is an awesome idea. it still doesnt get all the dirt and water out of your lowers now does it.
 
N

Nixxk

Chimp
Jun 11, 2006
21
2
Very Nice.
Did Manitou had something like this on the X-Vert forks !
Always wondered why they took it out.. it use to make a world of difference.
 
Udi

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Yeah I always found that when the fork started feeling sticky, it was the grease (or lack thereof) that was the culprit rather than the oil... dirt getting into the wiper and replacing the grease was part of the issue, so like big cal said, hopefully this will help prevent that.

RMBoy - I had trouble finding them, my friend got me these. It's easy enough to get grease nipples, harder to find the flat ones. The turner bikes site sells press-fit ones though which would be pretty good too, loctite bearing retainer would make sure they stayed in.
 
Npdh

Npdh

Monkey
Apr 29, 2007
141
0
Udi said:
Yeah I always found that when the fork started feeling sticky, it was the grease (or lack thereof) that was the culprit rather than the oil... dirt getting into the wiper and replacing the grease was part of the issue, so like big cal said, hopefully this will help prevent that.

RMBoy - I had trouble finding them, my friend got me these. It's easy enough to get grease nipples, harder to find the flat ones. The turner bikes site sells press-fit ones though which would be pretty good too, loctite bearing retainer would make sure they stayed in.
Click to expand...
making the difference... WOW looks quite good and very useful !

good luck with the test and reviews :)
 
S.K.C.

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
Udi!

Brilliant idea - and definitely one that fills a need! Any adverse effects on the lower casting from drilling/tapping though?

Now if we could get SRAM/RS to make this a PRODUCTION thing... :biggrin:
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,497
4,744
Australia
I think it's a crap idea. Too much extra weight.


Looks good dude. Just need to get your own grease gun now ey..
 
D

dilzy

Monkey
Sep 7, 2008
567
1
P.T.W said:
Awesome Udi..... id be worried about the excess grease ending up below the oil seals, or does it squirt out of the dust wipers???
Click to expand...
Since they run a TC seal (that means it's sealed from oil in both directions) I don't think it will get past the oil seal when the dust wiper is for scraping dirt off in the opposite direction from whence the grease will eminate. Just a hunch, could be wrong.
 
P.T.W

P.T.W

Monkey
May 6, 2007
599
0
christchurch nz
dilzy said:
Since they run a TC seal (that means it's sealed from oil in both directions) I don't think it will get past the oil seal when the dust wiper is for scraping dirt off in the opposite direction from whence the grease will eminate. Just a hunch, could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Yeah thats my theory too...just a thought tho
You could allways poke a ziptie under the wiper to make sure the grease went up an not down maybe
 
go-ride.com

go-ride.com

Monkey
Oct 23, 2001
548
6
Salt Lake City, UT
Nice work. I've been thinking of doing the same thing to my 2010 Boxxer, but it's not something I could offer to customers so I've been holding off. I was planning on putting the port on the outside of the lowers. Should be less stress there than on the backside.
 
dhkid

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
i would put them where udi has, the main loads there will be from the arch. so as far away from that as possible. if it was between the top bushing and the axle, then on the side would be better.
 
D

davet

Monkey
Jun 24, 2004
551
3
go-ride.com said:
I was planning on putting the port on the outside of the lowers. Should be less stress there than on the backside.
Click to expand...
but you'd run the risk of damaging the lowers badly in a crash with it on the outside. A small steel fitting threaded into a magnesium casting....if you happened to lay it down and that fitting catches on a rock and rips out, your lowers are done, as opposed to just a couple of scratches.
 
xxFRESHxx

xxFRESHxx

Chimp
Jun 21, 2008
40
0
Germany, BY
go-ride.com said:
I was planning on putting the port on the outside of the lowers. Should be less stress there than on the backside.
Click to expand...
are you sure about that? the arch is transferring a certrain ammount of stress into the side areas rather than the back.

i dont have a proper model but, because i habe some time to kill, i made a very simplified FEM analysis anyway. i tried to simulate a tilt of the wheel around the vertical an horizontal axis. the numbers shown are the safety factors (they don't have a quantitative meaning though).
the forces induced through the bushes don't really cause anything in that area, so the only relevant stress comes from the arch and is way more likely to affect the side areas than the back.
 

Attachments

HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
Sweet, might need to give that a try. Looking at the McMaster link davep posted, I'm thinking the D style M6 fitting would probably be most appropriate. Agree?
 
Udi

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Yeah putting them on the sides is just asking for trouble unless you:
a) never crash
b) never do shuttle runs

I put them on the back because it seemed like the logical place for the least stress, while being out of the way of shuttle/crash damage and still being accessible. Props to toodles for forcing me to wait and find the flat fittings instead of using the nipples, those would have caught up a lot easier. I also filed down some of the excess materials on the fittings to make them flatter, not sure if anyone noticed.

Sweet pic too xxFRESHxx.
 
Bicyclist

Bicyclist

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2004
10,152
2
SB
So any word on how this is holding up, or if it makes a difference in terms of service intervals? I'm thinking about doing this, but don't want to go through the trouble if it isn't tangibly different than stock, seeing as I already have a test dummy and everything. :)
 
Udi

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Bicyclist said:
So any word on how this is holding up, or if it makes a difference in terms of service intervals? I'm thinking about doing this, but don't want to go through the trouble if it isn't tangibly different than stock, seeing as I already have a test dummy and everything. :)
Click to expand...
I honestly think it depends how much you ride, especially in muddy conditions. I think my previous service intervals were about 1 month of muddy riding, or 2 months of dry riding. The biggest issue was that they'd feel great after a service, but after a few weeks of runs, they'd start feeling a little sticky.

I hated that, and hated having to rebuild the fork all the time to keep it feeling perfect. But if you don't have that problem, then it's a fair bit of messing around for no reason.

Anyway, so far it has been awesome, it's seen a lot of muddy riding, and all I've done is clean it off and give each leg a pump or two of grease after each ride. It still feels like I've *just* done a rebuild, noticeable difference from how it would have been at this point in the past.

So yeah, your call. I'm stoked; but my advice is, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Also don't do it unless you're good at working with tools etc, I was happy to get the tapping out of the way, because magnesium is very soft and you have to be really careful both tapping and screwing things into it, given that there isn't much depth in that area to do either in.

But if your story is like mine and you have the means and the experience, then I highly recommend it. :)
 
DirtyMike

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
Im with Bicyclist, can you post up again in about three or four months with an update as to how its still holding up? You know, any cracking, grease overloading ETC. Since you already did it, I am going to let you be the total guinee pig on this. I already have the grease fittings in my tool box at work, so installing them will be cake walk, but I cant afford new lowers if it goes south in three or four months.
 
Udi

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
I just posted an update, can you read?

It won't crack, it's working great, and I'd rather not write out that same post again in three months for your benefit. Sorry I can't be of more assistance. :)
 
S

slowmtb

Monkey
Aug 17, 2008
216
0
ChurChur, NZ
Udi said:
I just posted an update, can you read?

It won't crack, it's working great, and I'd rather not write out that same post again in three months for your benefit. Sorry I can't be of more assistance. :)
Click to expand...
:blink: - "dirtymike" ask him how things are going in 4 mths time ( thread dredge ), he won't be able to resist answering :)
 
DirtyMike

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
Udi said:
I just posted an update, can you read?

It won't crack, it's working great, and I'd rather not write out that same post again in three months for your benefit. Sorry I can't be of more assistance. :)
Click to expand...
Yes, I can......



slowmtb said:
:blink: - "dirtymike" ask him how things are going in 4 mths time ( thread dredge ), he won't be able to resist answering :)
Click to expand...
Guess thats what I will have to do to get a four month reveiw of someone riding hard with a cool mod to see what they still think of it.
 
phutphutend

phutphutend

Chimp
Nov 13, 2008
20
0
Nipples...nipples...nipples!!!

I love how everyone calls a grease nipple a nipple, except for Americans who can't deal with references to sexual (and also functional for half the population) body parts and have to come up with Zerk fitting!

Brilliant. Nipples...nipples..big red pert nipples!!
 
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