[drago52]

My 6" Bombshell front fork has gotten really sticky since my last ride. It was really cold, riding in thick mud puddles, and raining. The fork sortof froze up in the ride, but it's ok now except that it is sticky.

I am thinking I should pull it apart, clean it out, and reinstall everything. Anyone have any suggestions? Also, what type of fork fluid should I use?

Thanks.
-Ryan

 

[RhinofromWA]

cleaning something that is dirty is usually a good place to start...

As for fork fluid....find out what wieght the stock oil is and get that. If possible go to a motorcycle shop with the weight already known and select a quality motorcycle fork oil. It may take some searching and the parts guy should help you....if he doesn't go somewhere else(if there is somewhere else).

MX fork oil is like 1/5th (being conservative here) the cost of MTB fork oil. You may lose cool color dyes in teh oil but the performance is the same if not better.

Check out Golden Spectro if they have any....and avoid if you can oil with "seal swellers" added.

Rhino

 

[drago52]

Thanks rhino. Do you know any way to find the oil weight? Perhaps its the same for most long travel forks. Which is.... what

-Ryan

 

[RhinofromWA]

Thanks rhino. Do you know any way to find the oil weight? Perhaps its the same for most long travel forks. Which is.... what

-Ryan

It is fork specific and maybe even different in each leg....depends.

I have no idea about the bombshell forks. It is best to consult the manual and maybe even call the company to verify the wieght.

On the bottles at the motoshop sometimes they say 125/250 (they are talking about bikes ) If you read the fine print they will tell you if the fork wieght actually is...though it may not be obvious at first.

Many forks run lighe oil lik 5, 7.5, 10wt oil maybe 15wt. Some forks used to take auto tranny fluid. *shrug* you need to get the real weight for your fork and the oil amount or hieght from the top at full compression without springs.....

If you just guess you are asking for trouble.

Did you do it yet?

Rhino

 

[zane]

Marzocchi forks come stock with 7.5 weight, that's usually a good place to start. If you like a little more compression go with 10 weight.

 

[drago52]

thanks. I'll try it with 7.5 weight. I guess I'm asking for trouble, but the bombshell company doesn't like emails or customer service. I wish there was some link on the internet. I'll let you know how it goes.

-Ryan

 

[Kornphlake]

I'd be careful dissasembling the fork, if it's like a marzocchi fork removing the lowers from the stanchions can tear the oil seal and you'll have to get a new one (which may be a gigantic hassle considering bombshell doesn't like email or customer service.) That fork doesn't have elastomers in it does it? Elastomers will freeze in the winter time and make the fork feel poopey in general. One other thing you could do would be to get some silicone spray at an auto parts store spray it on the stanchions and cycle the fork a bunch then spray more silicone on and cycle it more and repeat. You should get some gunk coming up out of the seals and for a little while at least the stiction should go away.