[fiddy_ryder]

Gonna change the oil in the fork, do i need new seals too? Mantiou slider tpc+.. I know manitou recomends 5wt only, but has anyone played with the weights to better tune the response? Im running the firm spring and understand taht this is a bit soft for my weight even 190lbs geared.. So i was thinkin 6wt-7wt or so...

 

[MK_]

Going with heavier oil will add more compression damping and put your rebound in a slower range. If you feel like that's where you wanna be go with the 7wt. (You can't buy a 6wt oil, but you can mix 7wt and 5wt equally to get 6). Change seals if the ones you have now appear to be leaking the semibath oil, basically, your stanchions are wet and greasy and attract a lot of dirt around where the seals are.

_MK

 

[mattsavage]

I wouldn't screw with mixing oils...

Gonna change the oil in the fork, do i need new seals too? Mantiou slider tpc+.. I know manitou recomends 5wt only, but has anyone played with the weights to better tune the response? Im running the firm spring and understand taht this is a bit soft for my weight even 190lbs geared.. So i was thinkin 6wt-7wt or so...

Yeah, I've played with weights alot in my Manitou's. The best I've found so far is good old 5wt. It's what they're designed to be used with, so stick with it. I found the rebound to be to slow and compression damping to high in the mid part of the stroke, and no more effective at the end. Stick with 5 wt. and try bumping up a spring weight. Your TPC+ compression damper is internally adjustable via a little set screw, try a half turn or so on that if you find yourself bottoming hard.

You shouldn't need new seals. They aren't under alot of pressure because the only thing they hold in is the semi-bath oil (lubrication) and keep dirt out. The dampening oil is contained within the legs and has absolutely no contact with the outside world (unlike a Fox or Marz. whose oil share damping/lube duties) It rarely needs changing unless you just like pulling things apart and experimenting (like myself). If I wasn't obsessive/compulsive about my forks I would probably change it only once a year.

If you do replace them, replace them with Enduro Seals. A great company, very knowledable. A good resource for doing fork maintenance.

 

[XSL_WiLL]

Yeah, I've played with weights alot in my Manitou's. The best I've found so far is good old 5wt. It's what they're designed to be used with, so stick with it. I found the rebound to be to slow and compression damping to high in the mid part of the stroke, and no more effective at the end. Stick with 5 wt. and try bumping up a spring weight. Your TPC+ compression damper is internally adjustable via a little set screw, try a half turn or so on that if you find yourself bottoming hard.

You shouldn't need new seals. They aren't under alot of pressure because the only thing they hold in is the semi-bath oil (lubrication) and keep dirt out. The dampening oil is contained within the legs and has absolutely no contact with the outside world (unlike a Fox or Marz. whose oil share damping/lube duties) It rarely needs changing unless you just like pulling things apart and experimenting (like myself). If I wasn't obsessive/compulsive about my forks I would probably change it only once a year.

If you do replace them, replace them with Enduro Seals. A great company, very knowledable. A good resource for doing fork maintenance.

Well put. Mucking around with oil weights often results in less than favorable results in TPC forks, but my last Sherman didn't turn out too bad with a heavier weight oil. Are you using a full synthetic oil? If you aren't that may be why you're experiencing inconsistent dampening.

Enduro seals are great. A bit tight at first, but that's how you know they're quality.

 

[mattsavage]

Yeah, I usually use Bel Ray or Golden Spectro, you know, typical quality fork oil. I've never actually noticed if it's full synthetic or not. Never thought about it. I might actually try using some lighter weight oil one of these days. It'd be nice to find a 2.5 or 3wt. I have no idea if someone manufactures anything like that. For the sake of being inquisitive, it'd be fun to try and see what happens.

It's my understanding, that mixing oil weights doesn't actually work, i.e. mixing equal parts of 5wt. and 10wt. doesn't necessarily make 7.5wt. Once the fork stops cycling, like at the end of the ride and it sits for a while, the oils will actually separate within the legs. It's something I've never actually tested this theory, but I suppose I should. Sounds likely to me. Tonight I'll put 5 and 10 in my blender and then let it sit for a few hours.

 

[fiddy_ryder]

alright.. looks like ill stick with the 5 wt.. Matt, thanks for dropping the brand names, i was just about to ask. Ive heard of guys just using 5wt-40 syn motor oil for semi bath lube. any truth to this or shoud i just get the real semi bath lube? looks like ill be doing seals also, as i one of the retaining springs has popped off and I havent found a suitable replacement from any hardware or auto parts store.

 

[mattsavage]

alright.. looks like ill stick with the 5 wt.. Matt, thanks for dropping the brand names, i was just about to ask. Ive heard of guys just using 5wt-40 syn motor oil for semi bath lube. any truth to this or shoud i just get the real semi bath lube? looks like ill be doing seals also, as i one of the retaining springs has popped off and I havent found a suitable replacement from any hardware or auto parts store.

Yeah, full synthetic multi grade motor oil. Anything will do, it's much cheaper than that Motorex semi-bath specific stuff.

Order your seals from: www.enduroforkseals.com they're the best. With that, order a syringe for the semi bathe oil and this stuff called Stanchion Lube. Enduro seals are really tight and you get alot of stiction at first. The stachion lube will help relieve some of that during break in and then make them just slick as snot when they're totally broken in.

I don't understand what those little retention springs do, they're so flimsy and the plastic for the seals is pretty hard. I can't see how they're effective. The Enduro Seals don't use them.

 

[XSL_WiLL]

Yeah, I usually use Bel Ray or Golden Spectro, you know, typical quality fork oil. I've never actually noticed if it's full synthetic or not. Never thought about it. I might actually try using some lighter weight oil one of these days. It'd be nice to find a 2.5 or 3wt. I have no idea if someone manufactures anything like that. For the sake of being inquisitive, it'd be fun to try and see what happens.

It's my understanding, that mixing oil weights doesn't actually work, i.e. mixing equal parts of 5wt. and 10wt. doesn't necessarily make 7.5wt. Once the fork stops cycling, like at the end of the ride and it sits for a while, the oils will actually separate within the legs. It's something I've never actually tested this theory, but I suppose I should. Sounds likely to me. Tonight I'll put 5 and 10 in my blender and then let it sit for a few hours.

Yeah, I've never really trusted mixing oil weights.

 

[XSL_WiLL]

Yeah, full synthetic multi grade motor oil. Anything will do, it's much cheaper than that Motorex semi-bath specific stuff.

Order your seals from: www.enduroforkseals.com they're the best. With that, order a syringe for the semi bathe oil and this stuff called Stanchion Lube. Enduro seals are really tight and you get alot of stiction at first. The stachion lube will help relieve some of that during break in and then make them just slick as snot when they're totally broken in.

I don't understand what those little retention springs do, they're so flimsy and the plastic for the seals is pretty hard. I can't see how they're effective. The Enduro Seals don't use them.

Most full synthetic motor oils come from Penzoil anyways. Full synthetic oils are just regular oils that have broken down and refined again.