NZXTInerTia

So after a little incident in the road cycling section, and some now more refined term usage I have a couple more questions dedicated completely to my Judy's.

The forks are very worn from time, my dad picked them up about 6-7 years ago used at a garage sale from a neighbor who owned a small bike store in town. Then they sat through two years of Utah weather and heat (In a garage) and four years of Minnesota weather and heat. They have good rebound its just not very fluent, its whiney when the forks compress and it seems like its rubbing on the seals rather than gliding. I installed the forks last night so I really haven't had much time to mess around with them.

(Riders POV) The left fork tube has rebound adjuster, coil, and an elastomer at the bottom. The right side absolutely nothing in the tube, neither of the forks have oil but the coil side is caked in grease. My main question is what should I do about the non-fluent action of my forks? I have sprayed a small amount of JB80 on the tubes which seems to work for about 10 minutes of use, but eventually wears off. Can I use fork oil inside both tubes rather than grease? I have a pair of jets that I am running 10wt oil and coils in both sides and they run really well. If so how much?

Thanks

jimc101

From the picture, it's impossible to tell the condition of the fork. You need to lift up the rubber boots, and see what condition the stanchions & seals are in, this will be a big determining factor in if the forks are serviciable or scrap.

They appear to be a 2002 manual, for servicing, you will neeed to find a manual for them, or take them to a good LBS who can service them, depending on their charges you will need to work out the most cost effective option for yourself.

For the grease inside the fork, that will be Judy Butter, if replacing, would look at obtaining this, not a substitute.

NZXTInerTia

The seals under the boots look decent, I've replaced gaskets and dust seals in motorbike forks plenty of times to know my way around them. Are forks with one coil fairly common?

dminor 

Yes; spring one side/rebound damper cartridge in the other. And often just grease-lubricated in the simpler ones. It needs to be grease, because it keeps the bushings lubed too. And since you've done M/C forks, you've noticed bike forks look stupidly simple inside.

If the rebound damping works, what you mainly need to do is tear it down, clean the sliders, stanchions, springs, etc. regrease everything and button 'er back up. And clean/oil the seals or replace 'em, of course. It might take a special tool or two (not sure about that vintage of Judy) - - like a big-ass-long Allen - - and a little bit of 'insider' knowledge about what "unlocks" them for disassembly. Most RS manuals can be found online with a bit of googling.

For grease, as mentioned before, Judy Butter or Manitou Prep-M. Or if you don't want to fuss around with cute little, overpriced 'packaged-for-cyclist' quantities, Amzoil makes a great synthetic NLGI 1 all-purpose grease that comes in a standard tube and is as good an equivalent (and better) of Prep-M that I've found. (Don't get NLGI 2 - - that's chassis grease weight)


Edit = Here's a 2002-04 Judy SL and XC service manual (if indeed it is a 2002, as jimc101 notes):
https://my-sport.spb.ru/manual_1/2002...ce%20guide.pdf

Many more listed here:
https://my-sport.spb.ru/manual_1/index-21.htm

NZXTInerTia

Well, tonight I will be bringing my bike to the local Eriks Bike and Board to see what they think of the situation. If all else fails, and they are just not worth salvaging what forks are a good cheap alternative? Possibly with a lockout.

Andy_K 

The market for decent, new, V-brake-compatible forks is pretty thin. I'm no kind of expert in this area, but I have been looking for a replacement for the pogo stick currently attached to my '99 Muni Mula. The best I've found is this:



Rock Shox Recon Silver at Performance Bike, currently on sale for $209.