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Got the Charger upgrade for my old 26 Lyriks and aside from a missing LSC cap screw in the pack meaning I can't finish the job, on fitting the alignment is off centre at the bottom where the rebound shaft comes out. There's flex in it so it will likely bolt into the lowers (haven't tried yet), but there's a slight bit of force in flexing it and I'm concerned this might be an issue.
Though all looks straight out of the box. Hasn't gone in cross threaded. Went in smooth and thread is fine.
Is this going to be okay or even perhaps normal, or should I be concerned?
I think there’s a bit of flex in the damper and it’s the bottom bolt that holds it properly aligned.
I'm thinking that, but on testing with slight bit of pressure on the rebound tube to align it and compress, I can feel a little friction inside on compression. Without the flex it's smooth. I'm thinking this will cause premature wear on something.
I've triple checked the threads and can't see any issues with them. Manual just says drop in and tighten. I notice the video for fitting the Boxxer version shows a bottom end piece with circlip to fit the stanchion, like the old MiCo damper has. That would align it fine, but there's no sign of this for the Lyrik one, in any photos of it or the manual (but the manual is odd as it's generic for Charger 2 but does list the Lyrik Charger upgrade part which it turns out is the earlier Charger).
When I did the same update if memory serves the instructions said to fit the original end cap that’s retained by the circlip. This centred the damper but in order to fit it I had to unscrew the top cap of the damper a turn or two as the damper was a smidge too long to allow the clip to be fitted. Once fitted I the torqued up the top cap. Seems to work ok and it’s been used for a couple of years now.
Hopefully you don’t need to fit a circlip / extra bit on the Lyrik I have as I just screwed it into the top cap and then it’s held at the bottom by the screw where the rebound damper is. Mine was a Yari though, upgrading it to a Lyrik - so a later model hen yours I assume. Yari was 2017 and it was a charger 2 I put in.
The retaining bit for the moco on mine was holding the rebound shaft for the moco in place and can’t see it would have worked with the charger. Also, it wasn’t listed as a step in the upgrade instructions.
I did think about using the MiCo retainer and circlip but it has too wide a hole for the rebound shaft so it wouldn't really do anything.
Is it possible it was bent in transit? If all else fails, you should definitely use a centering sleeve on the end of the damper body (secured with the original circlip for good measure) to avoid loading the shaft laterally.
Definitely sounds odd. My recent install on a 2018 Rev went in straight. No retaining clip.
Damper looks straight on it's own. Stanchions look straight. Only other thing is cross threading but inspected threads carefully and can't see any issue with them.
Unless the threads on the stanchion was never right in the first place. Just that with a MiCo damper the top isn't connected to the bottom and just sits in a bath of oil so it doesn't matter.
Trying to find a video of fitting the Lyrik 26 upgrade, but can't find one. There's one for Boxxer and that does involve a bottom cap but is different from the original cap I've got and as I say mine is too wide for the shaft. Besides it's the bottom of the damper cartridge that needs to be aligned otherwise the rebound shaft is going to wear against something inside I reckon if it's forcing the cartridge tube.
Now I’m starting to doubt whether I am right. Now I think of it, it was the boxer install process that I based my install on as I could not find the lyrik one.
the hole in the lower cap was bigger than the shaft but as it was tight against the bottom of the cartridge I thought it best to put it in to stabilise it. My view was that with the bladder at the top there was the potential for a lot of flex without it.
Just had a look through the spare parts guide and the boxxer is showing a lower cap and circlip but the lyrik isn’t. That plus the kit is listed as complete leg internals would lead me to think I am wrong. I think I’ll remove the lower cap at the next service. Explains why it was a pain to fit.