I bought a heavier weight oil for my Shiver SC, and i was wondering if you guys could give me the skinny on how to do it myself, because i lost the manual that came with the fork. And whether or not it is a complicated procedure and if i should just take it down to my local bike shop and have them do it?
adding oil to a Shiver SC
- Thread starter Monkey_2004
- Start date
1. Take off preload knobs with a 1.5mm allen key.
2. Remove C-clips from top of cartridge rods with a screwdriver or some such.
3. Unscrew top caps and remove.
4. Remove preload nut (reverse threaded), preload washer, and any spacers.
5. Remove springs.
6. Compress fork to measure oil height, pour in oil. Make sure cartridges are pumped full and stanchion tubes are cycled when you measure, so that there is NO air in the system - or you'll get a false reading.
7. Reverse steps 1-6 to reassemble.
2. Remove C-clips from top of cartridge rods with a screwdriver or some such.
3. Unscrew top caps and remove.
4. Remove preload nut (reverse threaded), preload washer, and any spacers.
5. Remove springs.
6. Compress fork to measure oil height, pour in oil. Make sure cartridges are pumped full and stanchion tubes are cycled when you measure, so that there is NO air in the system - or you'll get a false reading.
7. Reverse steps 1-6 to reassemble.
Ok just go a little shakey on step 6. I compress the fork then pour in oil. what about the old oil? how do i get it out, how do i get the cartridges pumped, and how do i cycle the stanchion tubes? and the big one, how do i make sure i don't get any air in there unless i do this in a vacume?
if i don't know how to do this stuff should i just take it down to a LBS??
if i don't know how to do this stuff should i just take it down to a LBS??
Hey, don't worry about taking it to your LBS; it's really not that hard to do. I usually take everything off like DBR said, then lightly hand screw on the top caps to the point where the fork is not going to drip oil when I flip my bike over. At this point you're goinng to keed a big Gatoraide bottle or something like that; I have a pyrex measuring cup that I use because it has a wide opening at the top and a pour spout to pour the oil into a bottle after you're done (plus it catches the cap in the next step). Flip the bike over, hold the container under one fork leg, and unscrew the cap. Voila: oil comes gushing out. Keep holding the container until the oil is done pouring out - I would push the legs up and down a few times and pull the dampers out and push them in a few times to make sure you got all the oil. Then repeat this process on the other leg. If your oil was particularily nastly you can pour a little of your new oil in the forks, cycle the a few times, and then pour it out. That kind of flushes the system before you put clean oil in. I would also do that before you change oil weights, but you don't have to. The rest is easy; turn the bike over, compress the fork all the way, push the dampers in til they're flush with the top of the crown, and pour in new oil. This is where you want to get the air out of the fork. You do this by pulling up on the dampers and pushing them back in a few times and compressing/extending the fork legs a few times. This releases air bubbles that were trapped in the fork when you poured the new oil in. I have an '02 Shiver SC, and Marzocchi says to have 45mm of oil in each leg, but when I put that much in mine the fork locks out after about 4" of travel (too much oil). I put 65mm in mine and it works perfectly. Don't worry, that number comes from measuring from the top of the leg down to the oil, so a bigger number does mean less oil. You can get tools that measure oil height, but what I usually do is make a mark with a permanent marker 65mm from the bottom of a spoke and put that into the leg. When you pull it out you should just barely have evidence of oil on the bottom of the spoke. If you don't then you don't have enough oil. If you have oil up the spoke you have too much. Once you get that right you put the whole mess back together and go ride!
BTW- what weight oil did you get?
BTW- what weight oil did you get?
its a 15 weight that i bought at a LBS.
Whoa....15wt. That's way too heavy. Try 10wt at the most, but I would stick with the stock 7.5.