Hydro Lock issue on Pikes

[MJS]

Hi all,

Well my Pike 426's have just suffered the dreaded hydrolock, now I'm only getting about 2 inches of travel. My question is, has anyone tackled fixing this issue themselves ? Is it just a matter of pulling the forks apart and removing oil from lower/replacing the faulty seals in the Motion Control cartridge ? How easy is this to do, I normally do all the work on my bikes, never had to take anything into a shop to fix, forks are pretty much the only thing I've never taken apart to service. Just after some comments from people that have tackled this themselves.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Regan]

It could be a couple of things.

The O-ring on the damper shaft could be blown, if so, it just needs a new one, not hard to replace. You can find out if it’s the damper seal by removing the bolt in the bottom of the leg on the damper/rebound side. Loosen it about halfway out and then tap with a hammer to dislodge the piston as it's a press fit in the lower legs. If the O-ring is blown heaps of oil will come out. The lockout could also be broken internally (seen this a couple of times) almost locking the fork out. If this is the case than you can open up the damper and unlock it but the lockout won't be able to be used externally anymore. See if the damper seal is blown first and if not let me know and I'll tell you how to pull the damper cartridge apart (it's not hard)

 

[flamshmizer]

Yeah follow the instructions on the website and give it a whirl for yourself. I had a similar problem (while trying to fix a different problem :/) and managed to fix it. Doesn't sound like you could make it much worse for yourself!

 

[MJS]

Thanks for that, I'll get around to checking it out this weekend, any idea where I can source new seals from locally i.e. Australia ?

 

[MJS]

Must be the O-ring on the damper shaft, the lower was full of oil, probably about 100ml dropped out when I undid bolt/tapped it. At least it's rideable now with full travel, but no damping til I buy new oil and take the cartridge out to figure out what size O-ring it is, Bunnings should hopefuly stock them in that size

 

[Daniel Hale]

thread revival:+10yrs

have an xfusion slant with a hydrolock issue, i’m missing about an inch of travel, in the pic i’ll replace the 3 o rings, i’m guessing the rubber highlighted in red is just a bumper?, when i open the top of damper loud visible hiss of air escaping

 

[Daniel Hale]

second issue, the larger o ring i have to replace is quite thin in diameter, the one i have is same outer diameter, but smaller inner diameter, should i use or take a trip to town to try & track down exact size?

 

[blacksp20]

second issue, the larger o ring i have to replace is quite thin in diameter, the one i have is same outer diameter, but smaller inner diameter, should i use or take a trip to town to try & track down exact size?

I’d contact Duncan at DIYMTB. He may have the parts to sell you. He may rebuild them for a reasonable price.

 

[slowmick]

He rebuilt my sweeps for about $160. The dampener wasn't working and he extended the travel. Good turn around too.

Edit: not just the dampener - he did the seals and a full service.

 

[_______]

thread revival:+10yrs
i’m guessing the rubber highlighted in red is just a bumper?

its the bottom out bumper, usually lives down the bottom of your lowers and plays kiss kiss with your stanchions when you are being too awesome, you should have the same in the other side.