Can't believe I serviced a headshok!

[gfacer]

As I mentioned in the "busted DLR80 air piston" thread, I ended up taking apart my headshok from the $50 Raven I picked up. Not wanting to put a ton of money into this, I just tried to "take a look". No special tools, just being careful with needlenose pliers and a metal shop square. McGyvered the broken air piston part, changed a few o-rings, and refilled with ATF. Didn't use the bullet tool, didn't do a full service, but it seemed to work!

So, if you have a dead headshok and aren't necessarily going to repair it (I wasn't, tenative plan was a bearing kit to put a regular fork in), why not try and see what you have. Get an o-ring kit and see what fits or take out and measure and order accordingly. If you are careful you won't make it more broken!

So, might spend the $80 to do a real rebuild, get a new boot, and a seal kit for the stock alps5 shock that is plush and holds air but seems like it needs service (or a rider a lot lighter than me!). Still planning on trying a new air shock too, but will need to mod the shock to fit.

I need to get more grease into the needle bearings though....I flushed out the "mud" that was in there and didn't get enough grease back in.

 

[gfacer]

Ok, one small problem. I seem to have play in the headset (bearings only as they are integrated) / fork stem connection.

It's not a lot of play, and it's the type of thing that might be fixed tightening up on a star nut before tightening the stem...but headshoks have no star nut. In my case, I also seem to be missing a top cap for the integrated bearings, ie you look down and see the bearing sitting right there. Maybe a cap would allow the assembly to touch in places it doesn't now...it's hard to tell.

Any suggestions welcome. I might just try making a cap from plastic at my shop and see if that helps.

I bought the rear shock seal kit. See how that goes.

 

[JohnnyD]

The seal you are referring to is the upper bearing seal. Of hand, I believe the Cannondale part number was QSISEAL or something. Also, I think there were two different types but I am not a 100% certain of that. You can find the seal and the DLR80 damper seal kit at Cannondale Spares (as of this posting there at 2 in stock) https://www.cannondalespares.com/Ca...Damper-Seal-Kit--KF236/product_detail/3-43700

When I installed my Headshok forks into my bikes, I used a piece of 1.5" schedule 40 PVC pipe with a cap on it that fit over the steer tube that allowed me to really seat the lower bearing into the lower cup and that took up any little bit of play in the bearings once the stem was installed.

 

[gfacer]

Is the DLR seal kit the right one for the SL style of fork? I thought the HD166 was the safe bet and otherwise was going to use the u cup seals from improveparts (cheaper than other options I found) and some google-fu for the other seals / bumpers. I gather the U cup are the most critical.

On the raven frame, the bearings go in with zero effort....I suspect there is a little play always but I also suspect that I have more play that just those tolerance issues. I could probably wrap electrical tape 1-2 times to make it tight if I have too for the bearing clearance. The raven the bearings seem to need to be set on the fork steerer side, but I can see pipe helping with that.

I have some replacement bearings coming it, will revisit when those arrive. Ironically, the top one with no cap is in good shape, the bottom is a little rough. The good one I guess will be a spare for the lefty as they seem the same bearing.

 

[JohnnyD]

I don't see why the Raven frame would be any different in how tight the tolerance is between the bearings and the cups. None of my bearing were super tight or loose enough to just slide into the cups. It took a moderate amount of force to get the bearings to seat properly. I don't have any play between the steer tube and the bearing, nor between the bearing and the cup. It's possible that your bearing might just be an original and its getting a little bit loose. Thankfully, it is easy to still find Lefty/Headshok bearing kits cheap ($20-$30) .
Regardless, I should have told you good job on tackling the task of taking apart the Headshok and getting it working again, even if it is only temporary until you can find a Lefty for the bike. Raven+Lefty is the best looking Cannondale IMHO.

 

[gfacer]

Honestly, the best part about the cheap Raven is being able to not worry about it getting stolen. A big problem where I am. I set up the lefty on the Super V and that's my top worry!

 

[JohnnyD]

Thankfully, I live in such a small rural town that I don't have to worry about bike theft all that much. It might help that I know quite a few of local law enforcement and they know me and my bikes, plus that there are no other Cannondale MTB owners in the town and certainly NO other Lefty equipped bike owner.

 

[gfacer]

Bloody hell. My workshop was cased I think, tonight the office plate glass door was broken and they tried to take both the cdales. Flat tire and my alarm saved the super v, but the Raven had new slicks I put on and filled just yesterday.

I didn't worry about that glass door enough. The bikes were easily visible through the door but not at all from the street. Problem was that someone had been hanging out there late one night and probably had a crackhead buddy that needed a bike upgrade. Old kids bike was dumped in the bushes.....

Anyways, technically the raven did the job I wanted it too, keeping the super v that I have more money in from being stolen.

20-30 lb chunk of concrete used to smash the glass with too.

I suspect they will be disappointed with the street value of the bike! And maybe it turns up again. I did register it as stolen online and w. Police

 

[JohnnyD]

I am very sorry to hear that.

 

[gfacer]

Worse, I wrote that after the raven was gone but they came back and stole the other bikes.

They knew the trick to melt the lexan replacement panel I put up, and apparently had the equipment in hand. Probably waited until I left and kept to the areas that my alarm sensors had blind spots (too many blind spots where the bikes were, sensors are primarily for cash and tools).

A second attempt at a new door panel is up in case they think about coming back and steal the other stuff in that room which is worth more that the bikes were.

If I try again, I'll look for a deal and a large frame, but not sure if I want a Cannondale logo on a bike around here sadly.

 

[JohnnyD]

One thing about living in Texas is... catching someone in the act of property theft might just be VERY costly for the perpetrator. Hell catching someone in the act on my neighbors property can be just as costly for them...if you know what I mean.

 

[gfacer]

Well, perhaps I am a glutton for punishment....but f*ck thieves. I decided to try again at a tricked out Super V. Bought the medium black and yellow SV700 '99 that was on facebook, dude was at $175 but was willing to just move it for $100. Headshok wasn't working according to seller. Bought a prophet (small frame) with hydraulic discs and a lefty max for $350 (CDN). Figure I will move components from the prophet to the V and ebay what is left. Not lovng the Deore LX integrated hydraulic levers and shifters though.

Extras that look like they will include a working headshok SL, because I did nearly exactly the same work as the raven needed and got it working. I took some photos and measurements this time though (will make up a post later). Seller thought it was loosing air but that's too early to tell. Not a drop of oil in it though! If I sell the headshok I will probably try to change out all the rings and seals or at least supply a new set.

Bikes are still at my shop, but I'm not riding them around outside anymore, and they are hidden and locked up to each other and some racking. As well, the door that was used for the break in before has a sensor pointed right at it and a camera in the room. When I put a tracker on them, get a better place to lock them up, then I can ride around a bit.

Greg

 

[JohnnyD]

Glad to hear you aren't giving up... I am sort of jealous that you found a prophet with a Lefty Max for that price. I have a spare Mavic Crossmax SLR wheelset for a Lefty in black that would go VERY nicely with the Lefty Max that my 2004 Jekyll is supposed to have. Sadly I haven't found that nice of a deal on a Lefty Max bike ..Although I do think I found a couple of nice deals on a 2000 Raven 800 frame and another Jekyll 800 that is a small size that could donate it's Lefty ELO(suprisingly still working!) to put on the Raven , then I would just forget about putting a Lefty Max on the 04. Cross your fingers for me to see if I can pick up the Raven, since it is one of my dream bikes.

 

[gfacer]

Good luck!

 

[gfacer]

Glad to hear you aren't giving up... I am sort of jealous that you found a prophet with a Lefty Max for that price. I have a spare Mavic Crossmax SLR wheelset for a Lefty in black that would go VERY nicely with the Lefty Max that my 2004 Jekyll is supposed to have. Sadly I haven't found that nice of a deal on a Lefty Max bike ..Although I do think I found a couple of nice deals on a 2000 Raven 800 frame and another Jekyll 800 that is a small size that could donate it's Lefty ELO(suprisingly still working!) to put on the Raven , then I would just forget about putting a Lefty Max on the 04. Cross your fingers for me to see if I can pick up the Raven, since it is one of my dream bikes.

Saw another listing for a prophet with a lefty max. Not really local to me but close enough it popped into a particular search on FB. $500 CDN

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

 

[JohnnyD]

Pretty good deal... Although, all I want is the Lefty Max off of it.. LOL. For some reason I never liked the design of the Prophet.

 

[gfacer]

Pretty good deal... Although, all I want is the Lefty Max off of it.. LOL. For some reason I never liked the design of the Prophet

LOL, that was same with me and the prophet I bought although the size was too small (this listing has everything except the size).

Can always make an offer for just the fork. Offer to send him a set of adapter bearings, dude can put another fork on and sell the bike that way.

Like I mentioned, too far for me to actually help arrange anything