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Front fork has too much play

 
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sseyferth
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Joined: 21 Sep 2009
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:29 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Front fork has too much play Reply with quote

Hi,
I'm new to MTB and currently have a 2001 specialized hardrock, all is original, I've ridden it for about 6 months now. I just noticed that I have aalot of play in the front fork when I give the front tire brake pressure and push the bike back and forth. Is there a bearing or a seal or something that I could have damaged? I'm a pretty handy guy and I know I could fix it, I just don't exactly know how or what to fix. Thanks in advance.
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The Bike Doc
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Joined: 08 May 2003
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Location: Corpus Christi and Warda, Texas

PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:12 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

sseyferthL

Where is the play occurring? Squeeze your front brake lever and rock the bike back and forth while you hold your other hand around the headset and steering tube. If you feel play in that area you have a loose headset. If it is in your headset, all you need to do is tighten the headset is to loosen the pinch bolts on the handle bar stem then tighen the center allen bolt on top of the handle bar stem just enough so the slop in the head set goes away while still allowing free turning of the handlebars. It takes very little force on the allen key bolt to achieve this (about 6 foot pounds of torque).

If the play is in the fork legs, then you will likely need to replace fork seals and bushings for the outer fork legs that the inner fork tubes slde through. This requires special tools and an intimate knowledge of the inner fork workings. These are areas where I lack expertese so I will leave to my fork wrenching gurus to pipe in with tips for you.

Thanks,
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