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How to Make Your Own Butter

1015 Views 6 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  bad mechanic, 
daverach2478
I just put a lighter oil in the damper of my Totem Solo Air and it's awesome! Buttery, almost like when it was a coil! I'm just wondering if I go lighter (maybe 10wt) on the air spring oil and the bushing oil, if that would make it even better, or, worse? Anybody try it?
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daverach2478
Nobody? Well, I just tried it myself and here's the formula:

Motorex 2.5wt for suspension (slightly lighter than the OEM rock Shox) +
Redline 10wt for speedlube ports (Slightly lighter than the OEM Rock Shox) +
New seals everywhere = PURE BUTTAH

I did a conversion from coil to air and I can say that it's just as buttery smooth with air as it was when it was a coil.....actually, it's a bit more with the oil changeouts. Highly recommended! Wonder what it will be like when my seals break in.....
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B
It's probably not a good idea to go to lighter oil on the air piston and the bath. The air spring oil needs to be thick enough to seal well under high pressure, and not be pushed past the o-ring in the negative chamber. The bath oil needs to be sticky and stay put when it gets on the stanchion and bushings, and again, a lighter oil is worse in this regard. Finally, neither of those is providing any damping.
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daverach2478
The only change in damping for me has been 1 click more of each to get the same damping. The Viscosity on each is literally like 1-2 points (not a huge diff) so, I don't think there will be a problem.

Most products in the world are over-engineered to...let say...take the abuse and maintenance neglect. I doubt a majority of us actually change our speedlube and rebuild our forks within the recommended time-frames. I'm willing to take the chance as the pure butter will remind me to change the oil.

As far as the air spring, I failed to mention that's the same viscosity recommended, although, I am going to try slightly lighter on that as well. We'll see how it goes....
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B
Then why are you even asking the question?
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daverach2478
You'll see my first post was a week ago.. as impatient as I am, after a week of waiting, I just tried it myself. I was looking for feedback from anyone that may have tried different weights/oils and the outcome. Trying to save trial and error on different weights. Guess, I'll be the guinea pig and keep trying some. Interestingly enough, even though Rock Shox's oil chart says 15wt, their service tips say something different:

http://www.sram.com/en/service/rockshox/tuning_tips.php

I don't see any Solo-Air with anything other than 15wt, but, they give 3 oil weight options for "maintaining your air fork seal". Not sure if I called their tech support, they could even give me the right answer. Last time I called on my Totem when it was coil, I asked what the max amount of preload spacers that could be installed...I was told 4, then 6. I pulled a manual on-line for my shock the next week and it said 8.
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B
Don't go off the Tuning Tips page, go off what the service manual says, and the service manual specifies 15wt oil for the bath and air spring.
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