Front Fork Maintenance

"Cameron" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
I have an old bike I am trying to keep going to lend to friends and
ride to the shops on.
It has RockShox Jett Front Forks and since buying my new bike, the
front forks have seized up so that they are locked solid.
I assume they have dirt etc in past the seals and possibly corroded
causing them to jam. I have tried to take them apart, but have so far
been unsuccessful. I have undone the two little bolts at the bottom of
each fork, but cannot get the bottom part to slide off.
Does anyone know any tricks to use to pull the forks apart?

Don't know about your exact model but with all the forks I've rebuilt you
usualy undo the lower bolts/nuts a few turns then tap them with a mallet to
push them out of the fork lower.
Some models may have circlips in tricky places so keep an eye out.

Duncan said:

"Cameron" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
I have an old bike I am trying to keep going to lend to friends and
ride to the shops on.
It has RockShox Jett Front Forks and since buying my new bike, the
front forks have seized up so that they are locked solid.
I assume they have dirt etc in past the seals and possibly corroded
causing them to jam. I have tried to take them apart, but have so far
been unsuccessful. I have undone the two little bolts at the bottom of
each fork, but cannot get the bottom part to slide off.
Does anyone know any tricks to use to pull the forks apart?

Don't know about your exact model but with all the forks I've rebuilt you
usualy undo the lower bolts/nuts a few turns then tap them with a mallet to
push them out of the fork lower.
Some models may have circlips in tricky places so keep an eye out.

I have already tried hammering rather than tapping the lower bolts and
can't get the lower forks to budge, so any further ideas would be
greatly received.
Cameron

"Cameron" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Duncan said:

"Cameron" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
I have an old bike I am trying to keep going to lend to friends and
ride to the shops on.
It has RockShox Jett Front Forks and since buying my new bike, the
front forks have seized up so that they are locked solid.
I assume they have dirt etc in past the seals and possibly corroded
causing them to jam. I have tried to take them apart, but have so far
been unsuccessful. I have undone the two little bolts at the bottom

of

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

each fork, but cannot get the bottom part to slide off.
Does anyone know any tricks to use to pull the forks apart?

Don't know about your exact model but with all the forks I've rebuilt

you

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

usualy undo the lower bolts/nuts a few turns then tap them with a mallet

to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

push them out of the fork lower.
Some models may have circlips in tricky places so keep an eye out.

I have already tried hammering rather than tapping the lower bolts and
can't get the lower forks to budge, so any further ideas would be
greatly received.

Sounds like it's totaly seized. I've tried to rescue similair forks only to
discover the springs had rusted through and/or were full of mud. It's
amazing what can get past those seals.
If it was me I'd still want to get them apart for curiosity's sake but it's
possible they'll be even less useful once you get them apart as they may not
go back together intact.
I'd try soaking the end / seals in some sort of penetrating lubricant like
WD40. It's important to keep the nuts on the fork as you're tapping/hitting
as you don't want to damage the threads.

Cameron said:

Duncan said:

"Cameron" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
I have an old bike I am trying to keep going to lend to friends and
ride to the shops on.
It has RockShox Jett Front Forks and since buying my new bike, the
front forks have seized up so that they are locked solid.
I assume they have dirt etc in past the seals and possibly corroded
causing them to jam. I have tried to take them apart, but have so far
been unsuccessful. I have undone the two little bolts at the bottom of
each fork, but cannot get the bottom part to slide off.
Does anyone know any tricks to use to pull the forks apart?

Don't know about your exact model but with all the forks I've rebuilt you
usualy undo the lower bolts/nuts a few turns then tap them with a mallet to
push them out of the fork lower.
Some models may have circlips in tricky places so keep an eye out.

I have already tried hammering rather than tapping the lower bolts and
can't get the lower forks to budge, so any further ideas would be
greatly received.
Cameron

What model year are they? IIRC for the 2001 Jetts you needed to
remove the caps at the top of the legs and undo allen bolts at the
bottom of the legs with a long reach bar. Not had any apart for a few
years though so I may be misremembering....
--
Tim.

[email hidden]

Hi,
I bought the bike in December 2000, but don't know what version of
Jetts that means they are.
Cameron

Tim Izod said:

Cameron said:

Duncan said:

"Cameron" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> Hi,
> I have an old bike I am trying to keep going to lend to friends and
> ride to the shops on.
> It has RockShox Jett Front Forks and since buying my new bike, the
> front forks have seized up so that they are locked solid.
> I assume they have dirt etc in past the seals and possibly corroded
> causing them to jam. I have tried to take them apart, but have so far
> been unsuccessful. I have undone the two little bolts at the bottom of
> each fork, but cannot get the bottom part to slide off.
> Does anyone know any tricks to use to pull the forks apart?

Don't know about your exact model but with all the forks I've rebuilt you
usualy undo the lower bolts/nuts a few turns then tap them with a mallet to
push them out of the fork lower.
Some models may have circlips in tricky places so keep an eye out.

I have already tried hammering rather than tapping the lower bolts and
can't get the lower forks to budge, so any further ideas would be
greatly received.
Cameron

What model year are they? IIRC for the 2001 Jetts you needed to
remove the caps at the top of the legs and undo allen bolts at the
bottom of the legs with a long reach bar. Not had any apart for a few
years though so I may be misremembering....
--
Tim.

[email hidden]

Cameron said:

Hi,
I have an old bike I am trying to keep going to lend to friends and
ride to the shops on.
It has RockShox Jett Front Forks and since buying my new bike, the
front forks have seized up so that they are locked solid.
I assume they have dirt etc in past the seals and possibly corroded
causing them to jam. I have tried to take them apart, but have so far
been unsuccessful. I have undone the two little bolts at the bottom of
each fork, but cannot get the bottom part to slide off.
Does anyone know any tricks to use to pull the forks apart?
Thanks,
Cameron

who needs front suspension on a townie?

Quoted message said:

It has RockShox Jett Front Forks and since buying my new bike, the
front forks have seized up so that they are locked solid.
I assume they have dirt etc in past the seals and possibly corroded
causing them to jam. I have tried to take them apart, but have so far
been unsuccessful. I have undone the two little bolts at the bottom of
each fork, but cannot get the bottom part to slide off.
Does anyone know any tricks to use to pull the forks apart?

http://www.sram.com/_media/techdocs/2000_Service_I_D.pdf

Directions for the Jett on pages 11-17.

Good luck, although if it is anything like the experience I had with 1998
Judy T2s I'd be inclined to trash them.

-Derek

Happened to me too. Usually if the fork doesn't come off of the
sanction with the removal of the hex bolts on the bottom of the fork,
it is [a] completely jammed (where there is no hope of removing it for
repair) or [b] there are some clips in akward places. In your case I'm
thinking that the first one is what you're dealing with. On old bikes,
the forks may slowly bend because of increasen sensitivity and
fragilty, which makes it a pain in the a** to take the fork apart.

Happened to me too. Usually if the fork doesn't come off of the
sanction with the removal of the hex bolts on the bottom of the fork,
it is [a] completely jammed (where there is no hope of removing it for
repair) or [b] there are some clips in akward places. In your case I'm
thinking that the first one is what you're dealing with. On old bikes,
the forks may slowly bend because of increasen sensitivity and
fragilty, which makes it a pain in the a** to take the fork apart.