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Hi, looking for advice if a seized set of suspension forks can / are worth salvaging. A set of Reba forks that have been stored in a garage and not used for at least 3 years. There is about a couple of mm travel now. Looking at possibly sending them off for a overhaul / service, any recommendations?
I've had old forks like that come back to life with an oil change. Given the age and their probably value, that's what I'd try first before paying £100ish for a service - just drop the lowers, clean everything, remove the damper, add fresh oil, a few drops of oil in the spring chamber, and reassemble.
Reba's are wonderfully simple forks, just pull them apart and fiddle.
When you say siezed....it's probably just all the damping oil leaking through to the bottom of the leg having been sat for so long.
A strip and perhaps some new o-rings should sort it. There was a bloke on eBay a few years back selling o-ring kits much cheaper than the official ones. Might be worth seeing if anyone is still doing them?
it maybe that a seal has gone and allowed oil into the wrong bit of the fork. Pull the lowers off and re-oil. If they work fine then, and then a few days later lock back up again, you need a full re-seal, including the ones hidden inside the inner tubes (this is one i forgot and had to do it all again!!)
They'll most likely be salvageable unless there's heavy scoring to the tubes below wiper seal level. But if they've just been sat there, as above, it's easy enough to remove the lowers and see what's going on. Plenty of Youtube vids etc.