Rock Shox Judy XC re-build

So, my RC200 came with a set of Judy XC 1995ish, which were soggier than a soggy thing stuck in a puddle. Thanks to the wisdomousnous of the forum I quickly learned that this was likely dead elastomer and fairly easy to resolve. I was pointed towards some useful resources too such as, erm, the instructions, which helped. So out comes the tool box....

off with the 6mm bolts at the bottom of each leg, uncscrew the top caps and taa-daa! Crumbs. Right leg came to pieces and the red segment is still in the leg. The left leg it looks better together and you can see the red is worse than the black (blue? grey?)




As a further problem, once the bolts were out they were followed by a reasonable quantity of oil, which I am presuming means the damper cartridge is shot, so I need one of them too. Thats still stuck in the leg, working on that tomorrow if I get some time.

The general consensus seems to be to find a spring kit and ditch the elastomers. Fair enough, lets keep that in mind too.

So, scouting around the forum I relieved flourofork of assorted spares to get me started and play with.

I'm looking for pointers here people, hints and tips from those that have done the job before, or any spares you might have which are surplus to your requirements may be of use to me, let me know.

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Station condition, still all hold, no damaged bits?

They are the 1995 model and will probably have been the 50mm model.

Which mean you may have to get a dummy damper as well as a new one (since the new better one will probably be 60mm travel).

You could refil the damper with some nice oil. Worth trying and seeing how long it lasts while you wait for a nice damper.

Springs, I may have some, depends how much you weigh (plus a bit for any equipment you wear) sort of thing.

Get some fork grease, I like rock and roll super slippery for forks as also use it for other things to.
But any thin slippery grease should do, not a sticky one

I cant inspect every item yet as the lower legs are held firmly onto the uppers, and the bushy bits and some elastomer are still in there. Hopefully I can resolve this tomorrow (or the weekend, when every the boy gives me some peace). The internals i have seen such as the skewers which hold the elastomer look grotty but solid, a good clean up should be all it takes. I just hope the rest of it is fine.

What do you have in terms of springs? I'll get weighed some time and see where that takes me. Grease wise I have been recommended the pace rc7 stuff, the judy butter stuff and as for something you can actually buy, slick honey seems to be the shot of choice. Never heard of the rock and roll stuff, I will take a look.

Great start people, as always the answer is just a click away!

I have some Judy internal parts spare if any good.



I think the black disks and smaller rubbers are from a Manitou fork I once rebuilt but the springs, white plastic packers and clear disks are definitely RS Judy.


I have these springs below in a few pairs of Judy's, very impressed compared to elastomers if you don't mind the cost.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kronos-Springs- ... nav=SEARCH

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Stendec easyglide is another one.
Just get whichever is cheapeast and easiest to get.

Once you separate them (undo bolts at bottom a bit, spray some Wd40ish lube and hit the bolts with a good wallop).

You'll need circlips pliers, I use some cheap market multihead ones, with the hole plier bits filed down to fit. I needed them quickly and the local market had them few a few quid. I intend to buy some better but we'll they work well.

Use them to take the circlips at the bottom of the leg. Dummy side would come out fairly easily. Cartridge side may not. You may kill the cartridge off hammering it out too :-(

Then you can clean it all up.

I have parts as I repair forks as I go along for any of our local riders and my own stuff
But everything boxes for whenever we move to our new house.

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I have a complete set of 95/96 Judys which need springs and maybe a damper refill. Bought them as spares but they are now surplus to requirements also have 2 crown/steerers both 1 & 1/8th one threaded and one threadless, oh and the stanchions are good too.

Mini - jeah, those kronos springs come in at around £30, what else is involved - damper, bump stops? lookinmg at those spares i think i have the discs OK, what are those springs? not found anything like that yet and they look shorter and wider than the elastomer stack.

Fluffy - I hear you on the oil, hoping Mr LBS is back off his holiday so I can see what he has in. And thanks for the tip on separating the legs (oo-er), I will try a bit of gentle persuasion from the bolt end.

Gruff - sounds like we are in the same boat!

The springs came out of a pair of Judy FSX's, they sat under the spring adjusters with elastomers under with so could be used in combination with any elastomers you get hold of. Springs are 65mm long, diameter of 20mm.

I would personally find a new/ good damper and buy the complete spring stacks. That is all you need, no spacer disks or bump stops or anything. The long spring sits in the spring adjuster and the bottom bit sits against the pushrod / damper rod.

The first gen dampers are crap and aren't rebuildable. You can add oil and reassemble them, but once they blow they will continue to fail. As far as spares go, RS only supports forks <5 years old. It's either Suspension Fork Parts, Hippie Tech, a local guru, or find some idiot hoarder that bought up all the spares he could find. :facepalm:

That's some collection!