[boostinmini]

Not sure if any one has info, have a talas 5 that's stuck at full travel... Better then stuck down. I understand talas 5 is not the greatest thing to repair...

Any tips or tricks?


Better to swap to a standard air spring?

 

[phantoj]

The seals in the TALAS system have probably leaked and this has allowed high pressure air from the air spring to get into the fluid circuits in the TALAS adjuster.

I had this happen on my fork. First, I tried to just bleed the system. It only worked for a little while and then got pressurized again. I went to ridefox.com and found a schematic with all the o-ring sizes and I bought them from an online seller. I installed it and bled it, and it's been working fine since.

This left me with a ton of extra o-rings because of the minimum order sizes. I packed up the extras in sets and sold em on ebay for about $10 each. But it wasn't really worth the hassle to me.

Bleeding the TALAS system is kind of tricky!

 

[boostinmini]

The seals in the TALAS system have probably leaked and this has allowed high pressure air from the air spring to get into the fluid circuits in the TALAS adjuster.

I had this happen on my fork. First, I tried to just bleed the system. It only worked for a little while and then got pressurized again. I went to ridefox.com and found a schematic with all the o-ring sizes and I bought them from an online seller. I installed it and bled it, and it's been working fine since.

This left me with a ton of extra o-rings because of the minimum order sizes. I packed up the extras in sets and sold em on ebay for about $10 each. But it wasn't really worth the hassle to me.

Bleeding the TALAS system is kind of tricky!

Ok that 100 percent makes sense cause if i take out the pressure it works better. I have read a few interesting stories about trying to repair it, so i was a little neglecting wanting to take it apart.

 

[phantoj]

If you want to fix this yourself, you can do it, but it is tricky. You need to disassemble the entire topcap - it's probably just one of the o-rings that goes bad but I don't know which one. I think I needed a 15mm (?) cone wrench to do the job. Other than that, you need some kind of fork oil and slickoleum type grease.

PM me if you want an o-ring kit for the TALAS.

 

[boostinmini]

All resealed but pretty unclear on the bleed procedure


Think i did it right but still not working, wont lower, did one time and other wise stays full travel.

Also feel i should have used a lighter oil, used a 32cst.


I don't really understand how it works when you turn the lever, would it not need to open both balls to complete the fluid flow circuit.

 

[phantoj]

The balls are check valves... They will allow fluid to flow into the topcap, but will not allow it to flow out. When the lever goes one way, it nudges one of the balls off the seat and allows fluid to flow out of the topcap through that hole (fluid flows into the topcap through the other hole). The fluid is getting pumped from above the IFP into the area between the topcap outer sleeve and the air spring tube (and back again when the topcap extends).

Did you replace all the o-rings?

Here is how I bled the topcap...

1. Pack some of a heavy grease into the air tube that connects the Schrader valve to the air chamber. This will keep the fluid in the topcap from draining into the air spring when you're trying to bleed it. Once you get it all put together, you can push the grease out with air pressure.

2. Assemble the inner sleeve, with the air tube, the IFP (at the bottom) and the little cap that looks like a shower drain. Fill up this sleeve with the shock fluid.

3. Assemble the brown "switch" with the springs and the ball detents into the topcap.

4. Assemble the inner and outer sleeves onto the topcap and tighten everything up. Some fluid from the inner sleeve should come up through its passage into the topcap.

5. Place the topcap into the top of the air spring, pushed down about halfway. Fill the gap between the outer sleeve and the case of the air spring with fluid, then slip in the C-clip to lock the topcap into the air spring.

6. Pull up on the topcap. As the topcap extends, this will pump fluid from the gap between the outer sleeve and the air spring into the topcap, filling it with fluid.

7. Assemble the rest of the topcap. Use the C-clip to lock the topcap cover in place and tighten up the Schrader valve.

A lot of words for something that would go better with a picture or video.

When you have air in the system, it will make a lot of noise as the fluid+bubbles work their way around when you switch travel. When you have it bled, it's quiet.

 

[phantoj]

also, use slickoleum generously...

 

[phantoj]

Don't lose or mangle the springs... the balls are standard fractional-sized bearings, and you can get them at Ace Hardware if you lose one.

 

[boostinmini]

Wow awesome for the right up, lots of great info.

Yes i did all the orings with the sizes from the fox engineering picture.

I wonder why it won't reduce travel?

The couple times it did sounded good as far as air bubbles but it felt very slow like the oil was too thick...


What oil do you use?

 

[phantoj]

I used Motorex 7.5wt... supposedly 35 cSt at 40C.

I'm guessing air got in the topcap again. Maybe one of the o-rings got damaged on installation?

When you popped the top off the topcap the first time, was there pressure in there? Was the fluid all foamy?

 

[phantoj]

Do you have any experience with the TALAS system working correctly?

 

[boostinmini]

The first time yes a little foamy..

I feel like i got a decent grasp of how this works in theory.

After you bleed the two holes and you put the balls on them, do you fill the top cap with oil before you reassemble it?

 

[phantoj]

The way I did it, when you pull the on the topcap, it will pump through oil from the gap between the outer sleeve and the air spring tube into the topcap. The volume of oil is plenty to fill the topcap IIRC.

The big "trick" is having the small air tube plugged up with grease so that the oil in the topcap doesn't just drain through the air tube. I used some auto wheel bearing grease I had - I think Slickoleum would just get washed out by the oil.

Now, I haven't tried it this way, but it might make sense to reassemble the topcap, except for the Schrader valve, before doing the "pull the topcap" bleed procedure... then all the bleed oil would have to work its way out through the center hole where the Schrader threads in.

 

[boostinmini]

i appreciate your help more then you know, i have tried this several times, now and zero success...i think there is something more going on that i am not seeing yet....it litterally feels like the bearing is not getting opened....

if there was air problem does it not seem like it would cause a sag problem cause the air would compress?

this is solid in full extension, rock solid.

 

[phantoj]

One thing that happened for me, when my o-rings were bad... when I took apart the topcap, there was clearly pressure in the system. It wanted to pop the cap off when I took the c-clip out. Are you seeing any of that?

How long is this taking you each time to disassemble?

 

[boostinmini]

yeah deff not seeing that pressure, i have got really good at this lol, maybe 2 minutes to get it apart if the brown spring switch stays in.


i am just trying the cartridge out of the fork each assembly time.

The grease down the tube seems to be the hardest part so i am going to make a little plug on the lathe that goes in the Schrader hole until its ready to put the valve in.

I have stared at this thing for hours, and tried many times, i feel like even a failed attempt i should get a little movement or some slurpy sounding movement, instead i get nothing what so ever except one time it changed perfect other then that nothing

 

[phantoj]

Are you putting air pressure in the spring when you try it? I think it may need air spring pressure acting on the IFP to push the oil out.

 

[phantoj]

If you have machinist skills, you may be able to come up with a much better way to bleed it...

 

[boostinmini]

yes i am putting approx 150 psi in it....

machinist skills might be a stretch hahahha but i can make basic round things hahhahah

I have succesfully serviced many travel adjusts but this one has me stumped

 

[phantoj]

In order for the travel to be reduced, the IFP rises, oil flows up the tiny passage from the IFP through the check valve to the topcap, then around the ball for the other check valve and into the space between the inner and outer sleeves.

Is the IFP able to travel (relatively) freely? All the o-rings greased up with Slickoleum or similar? The small passage into the topcap is clear? Is the "switch" bumping the check valves when it's operated? Where is the IFP at when you take it apart?

I can't see where the problem is... maybe just take it all apart and try new o-rings.

Once I had an automatic transmission that I attempted to fix. I got two "lathe-cut seals" (like square section o-rings) mixed up; one was just slightly smaller diameter than the other. It worked great... for a while. Then it started slipping and I couldn't figure it out. Tried a bunch of stuff, finally found the problem when I took it apart. A long story to say that hydraulic systems are tough to troubleshoot...