Toeslider

Ok, in my own ham-fisted way I attempted to do some maintenance to the suspension fork on my Giant Boulder today, but it turns out the top caps that I thought were steel or aluminum are actually...plastic. :/ Amazingly, the first one came out with no problem by gently turning it with vice-grips (didn't know it was plastic at this point.) However, the other side is now all but destroyed (see pics). I figure I'll see if there are some brass pipe plugs or something that will fit in there before I resort to buying a new fork. I know it won't be adjustable that way, but as it turns out it was never really adjusted correctly anyway. Heck, I may even take the springs out and put a bar in there to make it non-suspended.

My question is this: After the springs came out, one side had a solid tube of rubber inside the spring, the other did not? I would think it should be the same side to side, or am I missing some bit of advanced engineering going on here? The bike was purchased used, but knowing how it comes apart now there doesn't appear to be any evidence that anyone was in there before me? Before I took it apart there was a noticeable difference in the spring rate from side to side, but I just figured they were adjusted different from side to side.

cyclops

Yep thats carnage right there, dunno about any advanced enginneering. It's pretty common for one fork leg to have different functions and contents from the other, dont stress about it. As for the repairs, well dont spend any money on it unless you really have to. You may find you can pull another suitable cap off a dead bike or fork, I'm assuming its a RST or Suntour? Thier pretty common, you should find one somewhere. If not then your going to need a, cue the fanfare ....NEW FORK, . I'm sure there's lots of people here who can advise you on a good choice of fork or parts near you better than I can.

Good luck, (and lose the vice grips)

BobH.

Toe,

If you have a buddy with a lathe that can cut metric threads, have him turn a replacement. It could be turned out of nylon ,aluminum, or brass.

Plan "B" buy another fork. My Sedona only has a spring in one fork leg. I would be interested in the old fork if you replace it.

BobH.

ed 

As crappy as entry level forks are...I'd be tempted to make a cap out of brass / plastic / wood...and secure it with some sort of hillbilly method. LOL...drill through the stanchion and crown and secure with a roll pin. If you're bashing it pretty hard...just get a new fork. If you're just tooling about on some trails...Red Green that dang thang!

Toeslider

I'm not handsome, but I am handy!

Metric threads and odd size (7/8") threw a wrench in my pipe cap plan. Most of that stuff comes in either 3/4 or 1". To make matters worse, this bike has a longer neck on it, otherwise I could have bought any one of three garage-sale bikes today to get a fork off of.

dminor 

Brass compression and flare fittings come in 7/8". Compression has different thread pitch than flare and there is the off-chance that one or the other may accidently match the metric pitch close enough to thread in. Worth a try anyway.

You might check the nylon stuff in the hardware store's small-parts bins. Even with threads off it might be possible to basically cross-thread it in anyway.

There are other Red Green ways to solve this too, as ed sid, but I've probably gone out on a limb far enough for now.