Suntour Fork Damper rebuild

[johanpre44]

I serviced my Suntour Epicon Fork, just the lowers and replacing the dust wipers. When removing the nut on the bottom of the damper there was a lot of oil draining which I suspect came out of the damper over time. The damper has been sounding funny on big hits for some time.

 

Best option is obviously to replace the entire damper cartridge but it seems like it will be expensive (https://www.dragons.co.za/sr-suntour/parts/src05js-fun063-20-epicon-axon-29er-rlr-cartridge). No idea if and when my lbs can get this part.

 

Question is if any of you tried to rebuild a Suntour damper?

[Matchstix]

The cartridge looks simular to the marzocchi tst 2 cartridge. Some of Marzocchi's forks were made by suntour.

Maybe this will help.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/oil-level-question-for-marzocchi-55-tst2-damper-1/

[droo]

Depends where the oil is leaking from. You won't get seal kits for those dampers but stripping, cleaning and refilling is about as easy as dampers get. You'll need shaft clamps though.

 

PM me if you need guidance and I can Zoom you through the procedure.

[johanpre44]

Think its time to look at getting some shaft clamps.

 

Quite surprised how big an improvement the lower service and seals made. Will take the bike for a ride on friday (local green belt)and see if its still making the funny noise on bigger hits.

 

Droo, I may just take you up on that offer!

[droo]

The quickest way to check if the damper needs doing is to check the lockout. If there's no free stroke at the beginning of the travel you're ok for now. If there's free stroke, PM me and I'll run you through an oil change. You can do the basics with some IPA and a few spanners.