Rock Shock Reba Service

[Tribar]

So the past week I bought the seal service kit for the Reba 29 RL Dual Air. After watching all of the videos from Sramtech on youtube and downloading the manual from Srams website, I then aquired the one or two tools i still needed, went to a Motorbike accessory shop and bought all the relevant weight shock oils and grease. The operation went quite smooth and i actually enjoyed the whole learning experience! The shock operates now like never before!

 

Few things I would recommend:

 

Clean working area!! essential stuff you would need,

• a Pick to remove the old seals, also learn the technique of squezing a rubber seal to easily remove them.
  
• Big syringe with a small rubber tube that couls fit into it and a Baby bottle to measure off your oil.
  
• 24 size socket!
  
• no 10 tube or long socket with the extension arm (this is for the nut on the bottom of the left stanchion, this sits deep because the arm is longer/deeper on the 29er fork
  
• Circlip plyers, dont try to remove the circlipp ring holding the baseplate of the airvalve assembly...trust me i tried!
  
• record everything by taking pictures with your cellphone as you go along
  
• use only isopropyl alcohol(get from the chemist) for cleaning the inside of the stanchion, normal stuff like acetone/ methyl spririts eats up and corrode the allu/magnesium compound.
  

Once you see how relatively easy it is just to take the uppers apart from the bottom, then a more routine cleaning exercise of the dust wipers is a 15min job if you have all these proper tools. The vast majority of shock malfunction happens here!! My dustwipers were moertoe and very dirty and didnt even have much oil/lube in them!

[rouxtjie]

Good post...it will be awesome if you can do a step by step with photos. Sure admin will make it a sticky in Tech Q&A

[Tribar]

Ja i actually wanted to but its harder than you think!! The Videos from Sramtech and mtbr are very good though. Oh ja and that reminds me, let the air out of the lower chamber first and then the top, and depress the shock totally before you LOOSEN ANYTHING!!

[Tribar]

Here is the links:

 

The last video shows only how to service the lowers which are the routine maintainance if you will, the Damper Control service and Airspring service is more for when the shock for instance dont want to lock out or the damping is gone or when the shock loses oil and compression.

[rouxtjie]

Ta thanks

[martinh]

Hey Tribar, do you use Rockshox red rum and suspension oil or do you use a substitute?

[Bobbo_SA]

Did mine a few weeks back, one of the easiest but messiest jobs I've done, even being careful i was messing drops of oil here and there, my floor looked like like a operating theater once I was done with discarded gloves etc.

 

Question, what grease did you use on the o-rings and where did you get it?

 

Apparently the grease has to be fairly specific as not to attack the o-ring compound, I eventually found a tub of Red Rubber grease (think that's what it was called) at a car shop but they wanted over R200 for the tub, owner was cool enough to let me scoop a finger out of the tub which was enough for the one service.

[droo]

Red rubber works, but the best stuff to use is the Motorex suspension grease or Slickoleum aka Slick Honey because they're just thin enough to flow when the fork's standing. Most greases stay exactly where they're put, which means that in sliding assemblies the grease moves to where it's not needed and then stays put..

 

Slickoleum is rare as rocking horse poo (although we'll be bringing some in in the next few months) and the price of the Motorex stuff will make your eyes water, but I sell small tubs of the Motorex for R 20 - enough for 2 services. Postage to JHB will kill you though, so maybe do a group buy between a few folk in your area and split it up. A whole tube will last the average home mechanic about 7 lifetimes.

[Tribar]

Did mine a few weeks back, one of the easiest but messiest jobs I've done, even being careful i was messing drops of oil here and there, my floor looked like like a operating theater once I was done with discarded gloves etc.

 

Question, what grease did you use on the o-rings and where did you get it?

 

Apparently the grease has to be fairly specific as not to attack the o-ring compound, I eventually found a tub of Red Rubber grease (think that's what it was called) at a car shop but they wanted over R200 for the tub, owner was cool enough to let me scoop a finger out of the tub which was enough for the one service.

Howzit Bobbo! Jinne sorry for the reply only now, was a bit off air.. I just used the 15w shock oil as was prescribed in the manual for now, i have been doing a hell of a lot of research on what to use in the place of red rum or fox float oil (same thing) its exactly as Droo said, its not so much about grease but just a much heavier or thicker oil that you need to keep the dustwiper chamber lubed at all time, i am also considering using the heaviest weight shock oil i can find or alternatively a type engine assembly lube that is nice and thick but actually NOT a grease :-) The guys talk about a 85w gear oil that would work beautifully and would also not corrode or attack the rubber dust wiper seal. What also works well to keep the dust wiper seal clean is to do the following after very dusty or wet muddy rides: Put a small amount of the 15 w shock oil into a syringe and gently pull away the dust seal and drop some of the oil in there, then cycle the shock up and down a few times to let the wipers and oil "pull" out all the gunk, clean off the excess oil and dirt and go ride :-)

Lekker! Must say the shock is still operating super smooth!

[Headshot]

The 85wt oil is what fox sell as float fluid to lube the dustwipers and foam rings, and is better than the lighter wight stuff for that application. A pair of small side cutters work very well as circlip pliers if you dont feel like buying a pair.