I have a rusty fork/suspension that seized up. I put dw-40 about 4 times and each time let it sit for 10-15 minutes and each time it would have a rough few pumps and then seize again. I tried to take off the fork/suspension but it wasn’t coming off. I’m very inexperienced in this and am hoping I can try to see if it’s fixable without spending an arm at a bike shop. I attached pics, am I doing anything wrong to make the fork/suspension stuck and not come out or am I doing it fine but it’s just too far gone and needs to be replaced. Too broke to go to a bike shop.
Thanks in advance.
by Available_Law_5638
4 Comments
WD-40 is what killed it dead. Do NOT spray that shit near suspension components.
Your inexperience is very evident and you should have taken this to a shop from the beginning.
Rusted stanchions is a death note for forks, wd40 will only hurt it further. Take it to a shop.
WD40 is more of a degreaser. Not a lubricant. Your fork is cooked brother. Luckily you can probably find a better fork than that for $100 but I would not ask chat GPT on what spec you should get. Do actual research.
WD-40 degreases everything. If you spray and it goes to places where the bike needs to be greased/oiled, you basically remove every single drop of it. If you want to use WD-40, you need to unmount the part you want to use the WD-40 on, and clean it properly away from the bike. Then grease it again and mount it back on the bike.
If you spray WD-40 and goes into a moving part like a wheel bearing, rear triangle bearing, fork or bottom bracket bearings, you will notice it works well for a short period of time because they are working without any grease but the lack of it will start breaking apart that component.
The fork is mostlikely dead. That damage seems already enough to have peeled away the surface make it uneven now which leads to a gap where dust and dirt will go inside the fork and also the damage will make the fork not slide well through the travel.
Next time you want to work on a bike, please inform yourself so you can avoid these mistakes. There is lot of information out there and it needs time to actually learn. If you enjoy it, I suggest that over ChatGPT.
I hope you can find a spare fork soon to keep riding. It sucks a lot and remember we all have been there.