How hard to rebuild suspension components?

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

My mechanic won’t do them and gave me a few shops locally that will but it seems most don’t. I’d be curious as to why…

Why? Expensive new tools every year. I gave up doing most shock repairs a long time ago because of the ever-growing pile of obsolete tools. Most shops just send the fork to a regional shock specialist.
Regular maintenance is pretty easy. But deeper service iS necessary to keep from doing big repairs.

[tellyho]

Rear air can shocks are a piece of cake. Float is probably a 30 minute job.

Forks are more finicky, but most of that is finding the right instructions / pressures /fluid volumes. All totally doable by capable home mechanic.

[Mikej]

For the first timer fork / shock rebuilder - be aware that it may require pseudo specific tools and washer / seal kits. It is all very doable, and Fox has a very extensive online repair section, noting noting fluids and volumes required. Also, Slick Honey REALLY is a great product when rebuilding suspension components, just don't clog up the fork pressure relief / equalization divots on the sliders.

[mickey.d]

A fork lower or shock air can service takes about 20 minutes per unit, including install/re-install on the bike. It requires no special knowledge or skills.

Just like eating and drinking before you are hungry on a ride, service your stuff while it steel feels good. Waiting until stuff feels sticky is how you get into trouble.

Avoid any bike shop that doesn’t do their own suspension work, or is trying to sell you many hundreds of dollars worth of service for what should be no more than $60 per end plus consumables.

[Mikej]

Originally Posted by mickey.d

A fork lower or shock air can service takes about 20 minutes per unit, including install/re-install on the bike. It requires no special knowledge or skills.

Just like eating and drinking before you are hungry on a ride, service your stuff while it steel feels good. Waiting until stuff feels sticky is how you get into trouble.

Avoid any bike shop that doesn’t do their own suspension work, or is trying to sell you many hundreds of dollars worth of service for what should be no more than $60 per end plus consumables.

I don’t think any shop is doing forks or cans for 60+ oil and seals. If it’s been over 200 hours the fork damper cartridge should be overhauled as well, if you’re looking for pristine performance.

[NHAero]

I still have to find the specific kit for my fork and shock. I determined that the fork is FS-SID-RCT3-A2 (thanks to pointing me to the SRAM serial number lookup, great service!). This kit comes up when I paste the fork model into Google. does that look right?

And I need fork oil...what else, any special tools?

Have to do the same on the Fox shock, but one thing at a time

[mickey.d]

Originally Posted by Mikej

I don’t think any shop is doing forks or cans for 60+ oil and seals. If it’s been over 200 hours the fork damper cartridge should be overhauled as well, if you’re looking for pristine performance.

Go into any shop with a big rental fleet or a mtb resort area and i guarantee a lowers service or aircan service will be $60ish labor(because it’s under a half hour of incredibly simple labor). That’s the going rate for shops that know what they are doing and have employees that are able to follow directions.
Most bikepark affiliated shops have a 15 year old kid that does nothing but fork services and brake system flushes all day who would be stoked to stop working on the rental fleet for a few minutes and will get your service done before you finish eating lunch.

I really doubt the OP needs a damper service. The pretty well sealed damper in that 2016 generation SID barely works to begin with. Still, if you can read a .pdf and you have a clean workspace, changing oil in that damper is super easy- fluid volume and/or fluid height you need is listed in the .pdf. Super basic damper.

200 hours of a masters roadie riding XC in the flat Northeast is very different than 200 hours of bikepark rental abuse, but even the most recreational xc rider should think about dropping their fork legs once a year.
it’s all a heck of a lot easier and more rewarding than say… gluing tubulars!

[vespasianus]

For the fork, replacing the bath oil and replacing the dust seals is very easy. There are videos on you tube and also good protocols on SRAMS web-site.

The air shaft side is generally very simple as well.

The damper is another story and things with bladders are generally better sent in to professionals/factory.

For the shock, again, changing the air can seals is easy and the kit is cheap (like $20) and the protocol is simple. Great video's on YouTube.

Doing anything with the damper is a pain and will require the ability to charge the system.

Personally, I run Manitou forks and shocks as you can rebuild every single piece of them. The fork is dead easy to work on - from bath oil to changing the shim stack, on both the rebound and compression side.

Even a manitou shock can be rebuilt at home with simple tools - and the shim stack can be tuned to your liking.