Repair Leaking Pike Motion Control

It’s a problem I’ve had for some time but couldn’t find a definitive answer on the web for. The adjuster at the top of the motion control leg on my Rockshox Pikes has been leaking whenever the fork is turned upside down. Following some advice from the mighty hive mind of Singletrackworld I set about fixing it. It’s dead easy and took about 10 minutes. Here’s how…

As for all pictures on this site, click once to enlarge.

Repair Leaking Motion Control Damper

	1. This is where the oil leaks from. It happens whenever the fork is turned upside down and on my fork it had developed to the point where it was a constant drip. It made a mess of Amaia’s car and I was in the dog-house; final straw!
	2. If you’ve never stripped the forks down and serviced them then you definitely should! It’s very quick and easy and you can definitely feel the difference immediately after a service. Start by removing the circlip and slipping the blue top adjuster off. There’s an O-ring under here so don’t loose it!
	3. Unscrew the top cap using a 24mm socket. Make sure you keep it flat and don’t round off the shallow head. I don’t use a wrench, just a short section as shown in the photos because it doesn’t need to be super tight.
	4. Pull the compression damper out. A twisting motion helps the seals slip out safely. I leave mine in this position for a few minutes to let the fluid drain back into the fork. Check the seals at the top and bottom while you have it out. If they’re damaged replace them. You can get seal kits from CRC or TF Tuned.
	5. Hold the red compression damper in a rag and using the socket twist the top cap clockwise (it’s a LH thread) to remove this. There’s a seal, shown by the blue arrow, check this and replace if required. Note: This seal isn’t included in the service kit I bought; mine wasn’t damaged so I was fine!
	6. The top cap now will pull out easily and it is attached to a rod that runs down the middle of the red cartridge with a slot in the end that adjusts to the lock-out that’s at the bottom of the red cartridge.
	7. This is the seal that was damaged for me. It was all twisted up. I managed to remove it, straighten it and replace it and it was fine. Hopefully yours will be the same… I’m going to try and find where to get a replacement and will update this post when I have an answer!

Hope that helps. Mine is totally fixed and seems to be holding up fine.