Converting Pace RC35MXCD fork to coil / rigid possible ?

[trek_y]

Oh, and if you search polyurethane rod on Amazon the clear stuff is cheap and firm- you'd just need to cut and drill it in order to get the stanchion through. Fitting with that would give you a firm ride with small amount of flex.

This sounds another interesting idea and possibly will give me more what I'm after as really only need a slight amount of squish just to give a bit of comfort on road. Did you chop it up into small sections like the original elastomers were or go for longer lengths - I assume the former as otherwise drilling it through for the stanchion rod would be tricky ?

 

[tIB]

Yeah, I cut to whatever length was recommended for the replacement pace ones and drilled through. Did it with a dremel and a drill press first time around, then took to my dad for milling on a lathe which had much better results. Not nice stuff to work with though- bendy and melty!

 

[Adam_S]

Re: Re:

Thanks for that. I'll give it go if I can find a pair of old forks suitable to raid the innards from. My forks have the damping adjuster on the top of the right leg so this might offer some control but from what I can tell it just gives me a dial to turn without any effect.

The dial adjusts rebound. The only way to alter the compression damping is to put a different weight of oil in.

If turning the dial appears to not do very much then there is a good chance the damper needs a service. I'd be happy to tell you how to do this if you like.

 

[trek_y]

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Thanks for the offer and correcting my understanding Adam. It may be the dial does do something but if my elastomers are so shot that any notion of rebound is a faint memory then I'd assume thats why it doesn't appear to work !

 

[justbackdated]

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The damper will probably be out of oil by now so will need replacing with fresh shock oil; [good idea to replace the seals at this time though], and /or the reed valve at the back of the piston could be broken so there wont be any adjustment to the damping. The adjustment was always a bit 'subtle' any way!!

Springs are a good replacement if you have the oil damper fitted, the elastomers were supposed to be self damping so many were not fitted with the oil damper.

Dont be tempted to put any weight oil in other than 5wt or max 71/2wt as over-thick oil will just blow the reed valve again.

I have seals and valves in stock, I can also rebuild the damper leg if you dont fancy it if you send it to me.
Hope that helps
Tim

 

[trek_y]

Thanks Tim , I may well be back to you after I have a go with the coil replacement option as don't have the access to anything to allow me to cut and drill PU rod properly and seems RS springs aren't too hard to get hold of.
On that subject would any Judy spring work or is it a specific type / year I need ? Also (dumb question alert !) do I need 2 or just the one in the leg with the damper ?

 

[Adam_S]

The 1997 RC36 is very similar internally to the RC35 MXCD as far as I can see, the main difference being that there are coil springs in there not elastomers. That fork has one progressively would spring in each leg.

In trying to replace the elastomers with springs, you've got basically 2 problems - matching the spring rate and matching the length. You might be best getting a coil spring which is slightly shorter than the elastomer stack and cutting a piece of elastomer to fit in the rest of the space. This should work as a bottom out bumper too.

There is actually a hard RC36 spring on EBay at the moment http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RC-PACE-FORK- ... Sw44BYc~u1 but remember you'll need 2.

The damper is pretty easy to service. Basically, unscrew the allen bolt on the top and take the adjuster off. Underneath is the top of the damper cartridge which is held in place by a circlip. Use a proper pair of circlip pliers to pop that out and remove the top cap for the damper. Hold the fork upside down and pump the damper rod up and down until oil stops coming out. Information about the correct weight and amounts of oil can be found here. https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t& ... mp;cad=rja

 

[justbackdated]

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To do a spring conversion on the RC35 MXC/MXCD you will need springs that are shorter than the standard RC36 ones, I have only converted the long travel MD version using these. The MD has deeply socketed base plugs to the stanchions and therefore a much longer stack of elasto/skewer rod so will take the full length of the RC36 spring with little modification, although a bush is needed at the dropout end as the spring is a larger diameter than the inside of the dropout. Most MD's have the oil damper fitted as standard too.

You do not necessarily need a spring in each leg, it all depends on the rate of the spring/s fitted. The RC36 PC2 only has a spring stack in the non-damper side, which supports the fork fully, the Evo2 and Evo3 had a coil in one leg and a [leaky!!] air spring on the damper side. It is quite possible to fit a single spring[I would put it in the non damped side] provided it supports the fork alone, is of a suitable rate and does not bind up before full travel is achieved.

I am not sure what length the Judy springs are so I can't really make any comment on them, I will check the approx length needed for an MXCD.

 

[justbackdated]

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Well, I had a bit of a play and came up with a rigid conversion kit. It includes an elastomer in each leg to give the fork a little resilience. Pic shows kit; as fitted, and what it replaces. Lower pic shows the full kit for the fork.

As for a spring conversion, the skewers in the MXC/MXCD have approx. 160mm of space for the elasto stack. So a spring length of about 140mm would do the trick allowing for one elasto at the bottom to fit the narrow dropout internally. The spring would need to be only 18mm diameter or thereabouts and a couple of acetal guides would be needed to keep the spring central.

 

[FluffyChicken]

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bump. so i can find that last post later today.