[skunkty14]

So the RFX has developed a bit of a creak when mashing the pedals hard and I've already eliminated all the usual suspects (BB, fork/HS, rear wheel, greased and re-greased all pivots) so I think the pivots deserve some attention. Bike is just shy of a year old so I was thinking I could just tear it down, clean, assemble and grease rather than ordering the whole rebuild kit for just the seals. Or am I just being too cheap and should cough up for the kit and replace everything? The seals seem to me to be the most fragile part to reuse.

Thoughts?

 

[steve47co1]

Couple of thoughts

Please check your post and tell us what bike it is - it could be any Turner but a Highline or a DHR with journal bushings. Also, tell us about the environment in which you ride - is it dry, muddy, etc?

After only a year, it is doubtful you need new bushings on a Turner unless you ride 365 days a year on the North Shore..........even then, doubtful. Are you sure that the zerks are accepting grease? Is the grease pushing out the sides of the pivots where they join stays, rocker arm, etc.?

Have you checked BB tightness? Race Face cranks and BB's are famous for creakin'. Check your seatpost to see if it is too dry in the seat tube and loose seats on the rails, too, will produce a creak. If you are using a Thomson stem, you might have the famous Thomson creak. Another thought is look at the chainring bolts - they do loosen over time and will elude even the most dedicated creak hunter at times - very crafty they are.

There are many more variables besides the bushings...............please let us know more about the above and you will find tons of help here.

 

[skunkty14]

Steve, thanks for catching the lack of model (it's an RFX) and the zerks are accepting grease (greased all pivots ~3 wks ago).

I'll add seatpost and saddle rails to the list but the creak is most pronounced when mashing standing rather than seated. I like the chainring bolt idea, hadn't looked there yet and new rings were put on ~2 mos ago. The crankset is a Truvativ FireX that was out of the bike last weekend with all surfaces (threads, spindle to crank, spindle to cups) throughly cleaned and re-greased. I'm familar with the Thomson stem creak and the King HS creak (running both and have had that noise before) ) but fork and stem were off bike at the same time as the crankset without any change and stem/steerer interface was cleaned.

Guess I'll keep digging, sounds like crankset is coming apart again this week.

 

[cactuscorn]

yep, all true. check the sticky for squeek tips. its towards the bottom. as for the seals on bushing equipped turners, no brobs re usin them if theyre in 1 piece and not stretched out but i agree with steve, i see no need for a full kit unless somethins very wrong. ive gone 3 plus years on a set in very harsh desert conditions. just push and purge. i just o/h'ed the rfx and the bushings were in top shape, almost like new after a year in snow and slop. it was too dirty on the outside not to strip down and clean plus i was bored.

 

[cactuscorn]

those fire-x cranks are kinda soft, really soft to be honest, and tend to be noisy specially when old. not sayin yers are but that would be some good ugi money spent. a more rfx friendly crank is in yer future.

 

[steve47co1]

One other thought.........

Are you running a Lyrik on the front of your RFX? RS Lyrik's, especially '07's were prone to a crown creak that was warrantied by SRAM.

 

[skunkty14]

Are you running a Lyrik on the front of your RFX? RS Lyrik's, especially '07's were prone to a crown creak that was warrantied by SRAM.

Nope, 08 TALAS.

 

[skunkty14]

I'd agree with that and would offer the ends of my crankarms as evidence from rock strikes. I think a nice set of XTs is somewhere in the future or something burlier as I add a more XC bike to the quiver.

 

[cactuscorn]

good call! the xt's are afordable, stiff, strong, have good bearings and shytty rings. run em till the rings die and get some rf's or blackspires and dont forget the bash ring. check the newer rfx setups thread for even more spec tips as ya continue to upgrade.

 

[Bikezilla]

Like cc said check the faq and go through the bike end to end. It's very unlikely the pivots are worn that quickly. More importantly the pivots almost never squeak even when worn. It's most likely something else.

I found my shock eyelets squeak against inside of the frame mount. Just on one particular shock. Point is, squeaks come from the darndest places.

 

[Jratt]

Other places to check

Check the pedal threads. I remember hunting down a creak on a GT Zaskar hardtail once. Took the whole drivetrain apart as it was a creak only while standing. Turns out the customer had removed the pedals and reinstalled with no grease, instant creak.

Other place to check is the derailleur hanger. Sometimes behind the hanger and the rear triangle gets grit from muddy ride days. Take it off, clean it and apply a very light grease between hanger and frame then reinstall.

Give us a call if you need more assistance. :thumbsup:

Cheers

Jarett at Turner

 

[cutthroat]

Re-using the o-ring seals is fine, but I agree it's too early for pivot bushings to be the issue. Running down creaks is maddening - I find most of mine can be traced to loose chainring bolts; however I once solved a creaking mystery on the old Burner after weeks of searching. Like yours, the creak only seemed to occur on hard out of the saddle efforts when the bike was bobbing. Turned out to be the cable housing end caps on the rear seat stays that was creaking in the housing stops. I replaced the metal cable caps with XTR plastic caps and shot a little dry lube in there - gone for good, but it drove me nuts while it was happening.

 

[beefmagic]

good advice from everyone. Through the years and on many different bikes, my 4 maddening elusive creaks came from:

1. saddle rail
2. chainring bolt
3. pedal threads
4. metal cable housing end caps

 

[skunkty14]

Thanks for the continued advice everyone. I really thought it was too early to be considering the pivots (big part of the reason I purchased the frame) but was running out of ideas. Got a few places to give a once over this weekend, give the bike a little TLC.