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I have a Scott Sportster that came with Suntour NEX 4610 forks.
I've had it for about 10 years, and there has been the odd rattle/knock in the fork for about 2-3 years when riding up and down kerbs etc. I assumed it was going to need a full strip down to fix it, so never got around to it as I'm mainly riding on gravel tracks.
I've just had the bike upside down in the house to fit some new tyres, and noticed that on the underside of the forks it looks like there is a nut missing on the right side. I can see inside of the housing and there is threaded steel block which can be moved from side to side (assume that's the bottom of the spring assembly) The other (good) side of the fork looks like it has a threaded stud fitted with a flanged nut, rather than a bolt, so I'll dig out the manuals and get it fixed.
Thought this might be useful to somebody who has rattles/knocks on budget forks - I never thought to check right underneath.
What's the thoughts on servicing these type of forks - is it worth doing a strip down and rebuild?
Exploded view here:
They are pretty basic forks. The RH side is the damper. I had some similar Suntour forks on a commuter. The damper made a horrendous clunk if it wasn't run fully open. I think it was a blowoff valve opening. There's not much you can do with them except pull them apart, clean them, and grease them.
Worth sorting the lowers at the very least to see if anything has broken or how much muck has made its way in with the footnut off. A good clean and fresh oil and grease will make them feel a bit better too, most likely.
If they look like this inside, they need more than cleaning and lubing.
Might be something useful in this thread
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/suntour-suspension-fork-rattle-2/#post-11772764
Thanks for the exploded view, yeah pretty straightforward. It looks like the missing nut isn't easy to get hold of any more from Suntour but I can remove the nut on the other side to measure up and check the thread size.
Do the dust seals generally need changing?
Probably not, unless they are perished, damaged, or there are obvious spots where they are letting crap through.