Help with this Rock Shox please

[Jimmy2021]

Hi, trying to service this Rock Shox Rake 44 (that's what's stamped on it).
I got so far as removing the springs but stanchions won't come off.
I tried re-insering the bottom bolts and tapping them but nothing.
How do you take this apart???

 

[ishaw]

You need to do as you've already done, bolts back in lower legs into the dampers, enough to feel confident you won't damage the threads but with some room for the bolts to move towards the legs. I start with a small space then after a hit or two and movement, unwind the bolt a bit more and repeat until free. Repeat both sides.

Allen key in the bolts then hit the Allen key with a hammer. It can take more of a hot thet you think to break the taper fit.

Looks like a Judy with a scapin crown.

 

[Jimmy2021]

Ok, sorted.
The bottom bolts needed to be "tapped" a bit harder...with a sledgehammer

 

[Jimmy2021]

Ok, now if I may, I would like to know if there's need for any oil in this or just grease.
There was no oil in it.

 

[Jimmy2021]

Judy you say...
But the online manual talks about air.
There's surely no air here.

 

[ishaw]

Do you have a pic of the fork lowers and any other bits?

I had a Judy race recently (gifted to a mates build I did for him just so he'd have a better fork alongside all the other upgrades I did), it was an sl iirc and coil only.

Without knowing for sure what fork it is, I can't be certain, but springs alone don't do much other than bounce, not much in the way of damping.

The taper that you had to break on a Judy and others is the damper shaft which sits inside the upper tube, usually on one side but some Judy's had both compression and rebound ramping, so a damper in each leg, those with just rebound had a dummy damper in one side.

Was there an adjuster at the bottom of either leg? Any of the 2 bolts have a hole through the centre of the Allen hole? Can you see daylight if you look through the upper tubes? If not, there's maybe a damper in there, holding captive oil..

 

[Jimmy2021]

Hi, thanks.
I post some pictures of the components and try to answer your questions.

There's no adjuster at the bottom of the legs, but there's one on both upper. It's a simple pin that compresses the spring when tightened.

Bolts are just bolts, no hole in them.

If I look through the upper holes I can see I very small hole at the bottom and daylight.

There is a rubber damper in the left leg, you can see from pictures.

As you can see, the left leg looks like it's well lubricated and smooth, as if there was oil in it. In fact, a little bit of oil came out, but no more than a spoonful.

I hope this helps identify the fork.
Thank you

 

[Jimmy2021]

These are to knobs for the upper adjusters in case they help with identification

 

[ishaw]

Definitely rock shox Judy. Guessing around 1997 as have the v brake brace.

You can remove the parts still in the legs by popping out the circlip and pulling down on the rod. This will tell you if you have a cartridge damper in either side. You'll be able to tell by pulling and pushing on each rod while still in the leg, if there's any resistance, assuming there is still oil in the damper, you have some form of damping. If not, it's either shed it's oil or you have no damper. It would be very unusual for a Judy to have none, the xc version of that era was the lower model and it had rebound ramping.