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Just back from a proper ride and noticed oil coating rebound knob and up backside of fork leg.
Bike hadn’t been upside down.
Anyone got any ideas what might be the cause before I crack them open to have a look?
If it's up the fork leg and it hasn't been upside down I'd guess dust seal failure, but as they only have 10cc in each leg it seems a bit odd to think there would be enough to make its way past the seals and down the legs.
Not change it came from an external source? Went a bit mad with the GT85 or owt?
What age?
It was common for older 26" ones for the rebound damper seal to go at the adjuster so oil would flow out he bottom of the leg (not into the lowers, out the bottom of the hollow shaft). Cure was to adjust the rebound then blank the end of the shaft with the same bolt as the air shaft side.
Doesn't explain how oil got on the back of the leg, sounds more like the the seals are worn?
I recently fitted the charger 2 damper on 2 seperate forks. Both times the damper arrived with a wierd looking flat plastic crush washer for the lower leg bolt...and on both occasions the forks leaked oil after fitting. After removing the bolt the odd looking flat plastic washer had shown no sign of doing any actual crushing.
I replaced them both with normal crush washers and the problem went away. Confused. Interested to see if this thread holds the answer...
Oil around the rebound knob would suggest crush washer failure. Older types, maybe the retainer as well (also disposable part). Oil up on the leg could be splashed up somehow. Fork leak and down leg would seem odd. Normally would be up the stanchion. And as said it's very little oil in there to have gone up over seal and lowers to accumulate on the rebound knob.
@ndthornton - just got a Charger upgrade kit for old 26 Lyrik (I'm unsure if it's Charger 2, though fits the part number in the Charger 2 upgrade manual), and looks like the normal crush washer that's same on my Reverbs. Though fits into the recess on the newer style bolts and seems like little space to crush, but done up to torque it does seem to.
It’s a new 2019 one. Charger 2.
I swapped the air shaft out for a shorter one so the crush washer could be the problem.
Will have a look at it tomorrow evening.
Hmmm. So RS have changed the style of crush washer on the 2019 Lyrik damper leg. Its now flat and wide rather than deep and narrow (as the air side leg).
No-one seems to have them in stock and RS parts catalogue doesn't have them listed.
I suppose I'll just top up the oil, re-tighten everything and have a small ride and see if any issues.
Hmmm. So RS have changed the style of crush washer on the 2019 Lyrik damper leg. Its now flat and wide rather than deep and narrow (as the air side leg).
No-one seems to have them in stock and RS parts catalogue doesn’t have them listed.
The leaking issue I had when fitting the charger 2 damper into 2 sets of older forks WAS this flat washer. I don't get how its meant to work as the bolt still has the groove for the old style washer to fit in. Maybe 2019 fork legs are designed to work differently with the new washer somehow? Either way the only way I was able to stop the leak was by using an old style crush washer - which crushes nicely into the grove on the bolt.
Well, took it all apart. Neither crush washer looks to have been overly ‘crushed’.
Ive put it back together and torqued as manual.
Ordered some of the old style washer too. Will just keep an eye on it and if the leak comes back will swap washers and see.
thanks for tip @ndthornton