Mountain Biking - Ever rebuilt a Headshok?

My fork is grinding like hell.... and it sticks really badly. It's an air fork.. I took it to the shop today and their "Headshok guy" wasn't in. I'd like to ride it this weekend, and not have to wait until next week to have it repaired. Think it's something I can do myself?

Stay away from the fork!!! This is a very delicate procedure.

There are two distinct areas of the Headshok - (1)the needle bearings and (2)the cartridge.

If the shock moves freely with the cartridge removed, the bearings are OK and do not need servicing. If the cartridge sounds 'squishy' when compressed, it has leaked oil and should be serviced. From your description, it sounds like a complete o'haul. I know that you can have the fork sent back to Cannondale for an in-house rebuild, but it may cost more.

Please do not ride it - more damage will occur.:crash:

The Headshocks require special tools to take apart, you can do it without the tools but it will be very diffacult.

It sounds like the bearings need to be cleaned and lubed. Go to Cannondale's web sight and see if they have the manual on line. If its just the bearings you should be able to clean and relube them yourself. But if its anything more then the bearings STOP! Has the fork lost all or most of the air or has the rebound rate changed? If it has the cartage needs work, leave this to the shop.

You'll need to tools:

A PAark Tool SPA-1 Pinch Spanner
and a cAnnondale 'castle' tool. This is not available to the general public, so youown't be able to open the cartridgeunit yourself.

To lube hte bearings is a very simple procedure.

Remove all air from the suspension's air spring.
1) remove the headshok lockout dial
2) Youwill see a large disc with a large nut on the top.
3) Use the SPA-1 pinch spanner to undo the top cover disc.

When this is undone and you lift the headshok forks the entire shock unit and lock out shaft will lift with it. DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING FROM THE FORK!

Take soem Finish line XC Chain lube and squirt down the side s of the headshok tube NOT THE CARTRIDGE.

The oil will seep down tot eh bearings. DOn't be shy to use a fair bit of oil.
If you have a spare 120-150 mm zip tie, you can remove the bottom most one, releasing the boot. Excessive oil will drain out here. Wipe up and reseat the boot. Replace the zip tie.

I won't go into the cartridge unit maintenance since the 'Castle tool' is needed for conducting any work there. If you attempt to carry out the worjk without the e correct tools you could damage the headshok unit beyond repair.

From your description of symptoms it should only be the bearings that need lubing. THis should be carried out every 3 months or 20 hours of operation.

Headshok unit should be serviced every 40hours of operation.

Hope this helps

Sweet.. thanks for the info. The bike is at the shop right now to have the freewheel replaced.. it's totally screwed. You pedal.. but the bike won't move! Crazy feeling.. like your chain has derailled or something. They're going to replace it for like 50+ dollars, but it saves me the trouble of having to do it myself. While the bike is there I told them to go ahead and service the fork. Last night I lubed it up and it seemed to make the bearing less noisy, but it still has stiction and makes nasty noises when compressed. I'm fairly sure it has some serious damage to it. I'm just hoping it won't cost me a massive about of money to have serviced, because after the whole wheel repair I don't have a whole lot of spare cash sitting around, especially since I'm getting an apartment fairly soon and cash is allocated elsewhere. All this **** just came at a really bad time. Just money I hadn't planned on spending.


All I want is to ride my bike :(

good ideea lettignthe shop give it the once over.
Contrary to popular belief the internals of the Headshok are pretty hard to break since they are very simple. What can be damaged is the lock out shaft which can then leak permanently and the cartridge housing if youclamp it too forcefully.
From your description of the sounds your unit is makin I'd say the oil is kanckered and theres probably some water in there too. Damage should'nt be permanent.
They'll replace all the seals, but I would ask them to check the shim stack as well. The shims can bend if you're reasonably heavy and too a large hit with the lockout 'ON'.

If the unit starts topping out, it usually a sign that they have not got all the air out the cartridge during the oil change. Watch that.

Worst case is that the cartridge is stuffed and youneed a new one. Unlikely but in the event of that a new cartridgeshould be around $100 at most.

full service on my DL70 Cartridge is around £36 which should translate into about $40 on you side (not direct exchange rate due to shipping imrt tax on components etc in europe)

I'm sure it'll be ok.

I actually had problems with the fork locking itself out for no reason. It was wierd.

sounds liek the valve assembly has worked itself loose. Can happen if the shock has not been opened and serviced for a long time.