[d.zucconi]

Lefty Hybrid needle bearings re-grease

Hi,

Does anyone have tried to open the Lefty Hybrid lower cap (that contains the new seal with bushing bearing) to "refresh" the 10cc oil bath and re-grease needle bearings ?
Now the needle bearings runs are not reachable, so how can you remove old grease, clean and replace it with new one ?

Thanks

 

[Shkoder]

I have same question. when fork purchased and ridden for about 1000 miles the lower leg was bit wet for all time, exactly like Fox Float shocks. now it is completely dry and I noticed that fork works worse than before. so probably I need to add some oil into lower leg oil bath? any good advice is highly appreciated

 

[d.zucconi]

Hi,
After some tests and consulting I've found these solutions:
Fastest: you can simply unthread lower Lefty Hybrid collar, move it downward and check how much oil you have over the seal. Here you can add some oil (15W fork oil or similar). You can also add the oil opening the fork from the upper collar, the oil will flow naturally to the bottom seal.

Slower but better: you should refresh bearings oil using a "wash and recharge" kit like this:
KIT Service Lefty Hybrid Clean/Lube
In this case you must remove old oil, clean and add the new one.

You could first try with the fastest solution.
However I think that a bearing re-grease (not simply oil) is probably the better solution to renew the Hybrid fork, but it could be difficult without unmount lower leg.
I've left this task (with pleasure) to the service center.

 

[Shkoder]

thanks a lot for quick answer. I am not going to unthread lower collar now since it requires 40mm wrench that I simply does not have in my workshop. but I will add some 15w fork oil (5cc or bit more) from the top. some oil will remain on bearings, some will flow down to bushing. exactly what I need for the first time. then at the winter I will ship it to the service because oil leaks through the seal are not common thing I guess.

 

[d.zucconi]

oil leaks through the seal are not common thing I guess.

You're right. I have the same problem.
My service center (88+ Italy) said me that my lower leg is scratched (strange but happens... Not so rarely I see...) and so I would need to replace it to completely fix oil leak. It's not a seal problem.
However this is an expensive solution...
So I would probably keep my oil leak, refill it if needed and hope to have more luck with my future Lefty

 

[Shkoder]

I assume some dirt is inside seals and that makes it to leak. today I've inspected lower leg and found no visible scratches. still searching for 40mm wrench to inspect seal and bushing from inside.. it seems to be very rare tool

 

[Shkoder]

then I am going just add oil sometimes. no issues with that fork itself works perfect