[vincelp]

Hello

I just received my Maxton cartridge, within 2 days delivery from England. It is well finished. The kit includes a damping cartridge, a spring, a plastic washer for the bottom of the spring.

First step : remove the right leg from the bike (see another tuto).

When the right leg is removed from the bike, I can remove its cap. I push down the spacer a little bit, put a modified washer between the spacer and the nut under the cap. With 2 key (14 mm & 17 mm), I can unscrew the nut :

I can remove the cap and the spring.

The, I drain the leg, pumping on the cartridge to drain it too. While the leg draining finishes, leg upside down, I begin to cut the spacer. Maxton spring and cartridge are different and the spacer must be shortened at a 117 length (outside of the centering part at its bottom).

I also drill 2 holes, 25 mm from the top, to use later for spring compression.

When the leg is drained, I put in a vice, with soft jaws and I try to unscrew the bolt in the leg foot. Not easy... As soon as it's a little bit unscrewed, the cartridge turns with the bolt... As the cartridge has a square top, I take a 30 cm alu tube, crush it a one end and use this end to block the cartridge rotation against the tube.

Here are both cartridge side by side, (Maxton is the black one). You can see clearly, it's better built than the origin cartridge.

I build another to mount the new cartridge. It's a 30 cm long tube, and I cut one end to fit with the top casting of Maxton cartridge. Then, mounting the cartridge is very easy : just push it in the tube and put the bolt in the leg foot and screw gently until it gets blocked.

I'm sorry, I have no photos from here, my camera battery died...

When the cartridge is mounted, I put back the leg vertical in a vice and I pour approx 400 cl of oil, viscosity 5. Then, I pump on the cartridge stem until it becomes difficult : the cartridge is ready. Using a syringue and a 140 mm hose, I set the right height for the air chamber.

I can then put the provided washer, the spring, the modified spacer and the nut on the stem. Then, I push down the spacer to compress the spring and when the nut appears on top of the spacer, I put temporarily my splitted washer to block everything.

I can then screw the top cap, screw the nut against it and remove the splitted washer. Then, I can screw the top cap on the leg and mount back the leg on the bike.

Stay tuned for the first test drive tomorrow. In the garage, when pushing on the handlebar, brakes on, I can feel that the rebound behaviour is better than before, we'll see...

 

[vincelp]

Hello

First test drive today, on a really bumpy road. The improvment is really there.
Small shocks are well filtered and on high shocks, the fork doesn't come back violently.
In corners, even when the road surface is bad, the bike doesn't move and you feel really secure.

 

[greer]

Gosh vince, what a job! Thanks for taking the time to post up the how-to for us. Enjoy that improved ride.

Sarah

 

[vincelp]

Hello

You're welcome, Sarah, it's a pleasure to share this experience and knowledge.

 

[vincelp]

Hello

Some figures to compare the fork characteristics before and after modifications :

Before :
- empty length : 195 mm
- bike alone sag : 30 mm
- bike + pilot sag (85 kg) : 50 mm
- maximum sag : 135 mm

After :
- empty length : 200 mm
- bike alone sag : 30 mm
- bike + pilot sag (85 kg) : 55 mm
- maximum sag : 150 mm

So, you get a higher bike (empty or with pilot) and you have 20 mm more fork travel.

 

[vincelp]

Hello

Next operation today : dismount once again the right leg to drill the top cap, so I can change easily the damping setup.

The Maxton cartridge has got a damping setup, on top of the stem, via a 3 mm Allen footprint. You need to drill the origin top cap, to get an easy access to the setup.

Not to damage the top cap threads (internal and external), I mount it back on the origin stem and I block it in my vice.

The top cap is drilled, first with a 3 mm drill, then with a 5 mm drill, to put a 6 mm screw, after threading it.

The thread is done in 3 steps, with a different thread tool each time, oiling generously and removing regularly all the aluminium fragments and cleaning the thread tool.

The top cap is drilled, with a thread and the 6 mm is in place, with a nylon washer.

The top cap is mounted again on the fork leg. Here, 6 mm screw off, you can see the 3 mm Allen wrench that reaches the setup. The setup has got 25 turns, without clicks. Turning clockwise, you increase the damping.

The fork leg is back on the bike, with its setup access.

Here are all the tools required for both operations : 28 mm socket, the flattened rod to dismount the origin cartrisge, the slotted tube to mount the Maxton cartridge, the split washer for the top cap, 8, 6, 5 and 4 mm Allen wrenches, 6 mm threads, 5 and 3 mm drills, 14 and 17 mm wrenches

 

[MrM]

Hi Vincelp
Thanks for the really helpful post.
I have a question that I hope you can advise on. If you bounce on the forks, when you fully compress the fork does it make a little ding noise?

 

[vincelp]

Hello

I have a question that I hope you can advise on. If you bounce on the forks, when you fully compress the fork does it make a little ding noise?

No specific noise when it comes on max compression.
The Maxton is noisier than origine cartridge, because it provides rebound and compression damping, so oil path is certainly complex in it. But no other noise than suction noise.

 

[MrM]

Thanks Vincelp,
I can hear the creak of the spring, followed by a ding like the sound of the spring hitting something. I am trying to rule out if it is something hitting the underside of the tank, but it difficult to bounce and listen!

 

[vincelp]

Hello

Maybe you could tie around one of the fork stanchion a nylstop collar, push it again the outer tube, ride your bike, bounce it and tell us how many centimeters are remaining between the collar and the bottom of the stanchion (where it enters in the fork foot).

On mine, the collar never goes down farther than 5 cm from the fork foot.

I presume that if it would go down farther the spring could be entirely compressed or the tee could touch the mudguard or something like that...

 

[MrM]

Hi Vincelp,
I get the noise long before full compression. Bouncing on the forks (only) the zip tie moves 55mm down the stanchion from the top. The noise comes from the top. I wil just have to ride it and see if settles. Thanks for your help.

 

[vincelp]

Hello

Is your fork modified ? If yes, how is it modified ?

 

[MrM]

It has a Maxton cartridge same as yours.

 

[vincelp]

Hello

You should send a mail to Richard, maybe he can help you to diagnose this.

 

[MrM]

Thanks Vincelp,
At least I now know it is not a typical noise.
I now need to make sure it is definitely the fork, and not something touching nearby.

 

[vincelp]

Hello

If your cartridge has been mounted by Maxton, I would say that it would be very surprising they would have done something wrong. They seems to be real experts in this subject.

Does the noise happen everytime the forks works or only on big shocks ?