Damper rod problems

[Bike_Nut]

I have stripped the forks in my NC30 to fit RO kit but have found a problem - the adjusters dont adjust.

Whats more, the damper rods are different. The adjusters on one rod have an extra groove, just below the sealing o-ring with a spring which seams to hold a ball. I guess this is a simple valve, but why only one leg? Did they make improvements over the years? Anyone seen this before?

[jetblack]

The spring and ball is the 'clicker' on the damping adjusment. The ball clicks on each notch so you you count them. The spring retains the ball so it doesn't fly out! be careful with the spring, they are fragile. One of mine broke when i had it apart for cleaning and finding replacments is a bit of a bugger (got one in the end though...)

Need to see pictures of the differnt damper rods to work out whats going on...

You also need to make sure when you put it back together that they are equally adjusted so you get the same number of clicks on each side. think its 15 from memory...

If they dont click, they need a good clean to remove the crap in the apperture (or you've lost the ball bearing!)

[Bike_Nut]

Excellent, thanks for the info.

The ball was not stuck so took the top off the damper rod. The problem was that someone had fitted the tops too far onto the rods with the adjuster screw screwed fully out. this meant the screw had no travel.

When the top was off I screwed the adjuster fully in then refitted the top until it just bottomed out, then locked it into place with the bottom lock nut. Now the adjuster can be backed off to the correct setting.

The second leg does not have a clicker but hopefully the damping is the same, will just have to count the number of turns to match the first leg.

[jetblack]

Sonds like you've sorted it, not sure why the second leg doesn't have a clicker though?

Seems odd.

[Neosophist]

Excellent, thanks for the info.

The ball was not stuck so took the top off the damper rod. The problem was that someone had fitted the tops too far onto the rods with the adjuster screw screwed fully out. this meant the screw had no travel.

When the top was off I screwed the adjuster fully in then refitted the top until it just bottomed out, then locked it into place with the bottom lock nut. Now the adjuster can be backed off to the correct setting.

The second leg does not have a clicker but hopefully the damping is the same, will just have to count the number of turns to match the first leg.

Sounds like your bike is a bitsa.

Does the front fork without the brass screw just have one silver screw? Then this sounds like a 1989 K model front fork.

The one is a damper rod design (the K model) the other is a cartridge fork.

Eitheway, suspension will be awful with mismatched forks.

My money is on K model (first NC30) fork and later model fork.

Maybe due to a bent fork and the wrong type being ordered and some cowboy using it anywy.