Manitou 1 elastomers melted inside stanchions!....

[feetabix]

Hello everyone......I've just taken apart a spare set of manitou 1 forks that came to me sealed tight......a bit of gentle persuasion (large rubber mallet!) and I'm inside to find the elastomers have turned to chewing gum. Boiling water has melted them and I've recovered all the washers etc, but the inside of the lower legs is covered in melted rubber which looks like its going to be a bitch to clean out!.....anyone any experience or tips that may help?.....

 

[longfinkillie]

I just went through this.

What I did was pull off one leg and removed the skewer that held the elastomers. Then I took: an old t-shirt, sprayed it with degreaser, wrapped that around a wooden dowel (or a looong wooden spoon), and twist it for a while, pull it out-change rag-rinse and repeat.

(And this looks really dodgy if you do this with your back turned...)

 

[feetabix]

......did the degreaser have any chemical effect in breaking down the rubber, or was it just a case of having to scrape it all out?......you can imagine the consistency of melted fork elastomer!.....the inside of the fork leg looks like a gremlin hatched inside it!!..... :shock:

 

[longfinkillie]

It's more of a case of scraping the stuff out, but the degreaser (I used Simple Green) once you get the chunky parts out-works well with not only cleaning the thin layer of melted elastomer goodness, but cleans out all the leftover caked on lube.

 

[24pouces]

I'm going to upgrade my manitou with pace MCU elastomers : very better damping than original manitou and still avaible.
For the grease : pace RC7

 

[We_are_Stevo]

I used oven cleaner to dissolve mine, and plenty of boiling water...

...then the rag-on-a-stick approach to finish them off nicely

 

[Khane]

I used acetone and cotton wool to clean mine out.

 

[marc two tone]

have a look at this olde thread.


viewtopic.php?f=1&t=95354


i'ts not easy to decide whether or not to rebuild like for like as the new elastomers may do the same. A spring conversion is often considered when you look at the price of new elastomers vs performance.

http://www.suspensionforkparts.net/

 

[maxhc]

Hi there, I put the insiders of mine under a bath of WD40 for almost a week ...





Considered to put M Sport´s stanchions ...



Suspensionforkparts Manitou I refresh kit installed:



And the final result:

 

[gingernuts/badger]

Hi feetabix. Sorry to ask, but were yours actually seized or did they move ?
I've got two pairs that are locked and I guess ar some point i'll need to go through this.