Will I damage my pace forks if I do this?

Okay, I am so close to finishing my rebuild and I am keen to get on my bike and ride but I've hit a snag.

I put my Pace RC36 EvoII forks back together but I've discovered its not holding air in the air chamber. I'm pretty certain that it is leaking into the damper because if I pump it up, action the fork a bit and then release pressure the air is moist with damper fluid.

Its annoying as I did not order any seals when I was replacing parts before as they looked in good condition at the time. I get they weren't...

So I need to order a new damper seal kit and I'll probably get the rest of the seals for good measure. Last time it took close to three weeks for me to get the parts shipped by Pace from the UK to the US.

So I am thinking this: As I do not have the pressure in the air chamber (and because I'm a little heavier these days 170lb vs 140-154 recommended for the medium spring) I have a bit more sag than I would like. My EvoII were down graded from 90mm travel to 70mm travel as my bike can not handle 90mm forks. But, if I temporarily convert back to 90mm I'm hoping that the extra spring height will compensate for the sag and I can get the bike riding at least for multi-track (nothing technical) so I can at least bed it all in while I wait and tune the bike up.

The question is, is this a dumb thing to do and will I damage the forks as they will be mostly suspended with the one spring?

Should I just wait?

Pace RC36 EVO3 = leaks

they leaked from new, they leaked when sent back to Pace for service, they`ll always leak, no matter what you do to them

best thing to do is junk them or get a spring conversion

I've had them since 99 and for the first three years they held air just fine. But I have not ridden them in seven years and so I am hoping it was just the seal degraded over time.

You can convert the air chamber to a spring? How?

I've heard that they actually leak air through the legs,wether this is just rumur or not I don't know but Tim Justbackdated on this forum is sure to know

what fal43 said!!

The Evo2 and Evo3 forks were notorious for leaking and I have found when servicing them that as they get older the dirt that gets into the air seal groove causes scratches and therefore will not hold air even with constant cleaning, new air seal, thick grease etc. etc. Hence I offer a PC2 spring conversion which does away with the air side completely and guarantees that the fork wont let you down 1/2 way round a ride.

Air leaks;
Past the air seal[scored stanchion/damaged seal]
Past the back of the air seal[damaged/dirty air seal groove]
Into the Damper[scored rod/damaged quad seal;ruins the damping+adds a 'spring']
Through any damaged carbon[check those v-clamps are'nt overtight]
Through bonding of seal housing or dropout.

Absolutely fine to support whole fork on springs in one leg alone-it's how the PC2 was built.