Introduction - Disassembly - Assembly - Routine Maintenance - Modifications

Routine Maintenance

To lubricate your pivots via the zerks, you will need a micro-needle grease gun. There are a few on the market including the WTB Grease Guard, Pedro's Syn-Jection, Manitou Microlube, and models from Dualco. They all have the small “needle” point used on all bike-type zerks and are widely available. Turner also sells a pump with a long, curved needle (Figure S) which is very useful in reaching zerks without needing to move the shock out of the way. Use Manitou Prep-M (Figure S) or a similarly thin viscosity grease (Turner recommends Prep-M). The pivots are manufactured with extremely tight tolerances and grease that is thick and viscous may not be uniformly distributed through the pivot.

Figure S.

Grease the pivots once every 10 hours of wet riding, or less frequently in dry riding conditions. The pivots have extremely tight tolerances and the rubber o-ring seals do a good job at keeping debris out and grease in. When you do get ready to grease, make sure to clean the zerk out well with a toothbrush or nappy rag before greasing so you don't push any dirt from the mouth of the zerk into the pivot (Figure T).

Figure T.

Because the chain stay bridge is in the way to lube the main bb pivot on some model frames (XCE, etc), you will either need a long curved needle like the one Turner sells, or you will need to remove the top shock mount and let the rear triangle sag out of the way. The short, fat, standard guns do not fit in straight enough to form a seal in the zerk's mouth. You can get a longer needle like the one from Dualco for a short gun. Having both needles is good as the longer needle may be too long to fit behind the seat stay bridge to reach that zerk, though the bent Turner needle addresses both issues.

Once you start injecting grease, if you feel resistance to pumping, STOP, the pivot does not need it. If there is any air or water in the pivot it will purge out through the seals and be displaced by the grease. The grease is thick enough that it can be hard to push it through the new (or even older) seals/bushings. A lot of hard pumping will just over-pressurize the pivot and possibly pop the zerk out. If you feel resistance it means there is no air or water in the pivot (which both readily exit the seals under pressure).

If you do manage to push a zirc out with grease pressure, simply clean any grease off the sleeve of the zirc and inside the zirc mounting hole, and lightly tap the zirc back in. They are press fit and stay put better when pressed in "dry", like the bushings. When you are done pumping grease into the zirc, roll the tip of the grease gun around in the mouth of the zirc to let the pressurized grease escape back past the needle of the gun to relieve the pressure in the pivot. Wipe up any grease and place a square of electrical tape over the zerk to prevent dirt from collecting there (Figure U). This obviates needing to clean the zerk out before the next lubrication.

Figure U.

Introduction - Disassembly - Assembly - Routine Maintenance - Modifications