Hey Greg....
 

First off, thank you muchly for taking the time out of your weekend to help me with my RT build. Greg, after talking with you and very carefully doing that rebound valve mod I seem to have a dilemma. I could be wrong but I'm sure that when I was stroking the second one to bleed the cartridge before measuring oil level, that it was QUITE a bit stiffer on the way up. You had mentioned that rebound should be 3 times stiffer than comp and IT WAS. As an experiment I closed the rebound adjuster screw all the way and almost couldn't get the rod to move upwards at all. I left it all the way open. The first fork I had already installed on the bike but I distinctly remember the upwards and downwards stroke when bleeding, as being equal in stiffness and possibly easier both ways than the comp on the second. This is not good.......which one is correct and do I need to take the "equal" one back apart and look for something wrong? What could have gone wrong? I was meticulous and took plenty of time with each phase.
Also, to save complete disassembly, could I take off the top cap, slowly remove the spring to let the oil drain so as to keep it's level if I just put it back together, and stroke that first leg to make sure it is much different than the second?
Looks like I won't be riding this weekend......:-(
Ugh......

Kevin,

What were the rebound adjusters set to when you bled the carts? It sounds like the one that was stiff was all the way hard. This is the one disadvantage of removing the caps without the damping adjuster rod, etc. like we discussed yesterday. It's difficult to get a good bleed that way.

Back home......
I believe both sides were at about 2 turns out. When I stroked the first one I heard bubbles etc and kept slowly stroking it throughout it's entire movement until it felt "hydraulic" and consistent both up and down. Of course I would love it if it was only a matter of rebleeding and checking oil level in that first leg. I guess I'll try that first before taking it all apart again and I'll make sure the screw is backed out all the way while doing it.
The second leg was very damped on the upstroke (rebound) with the adjuster all the way out and much much stiffer than going down (comp).

Hmmm, I wonder why that is. We only added two shims on rebound and it shouldn't be that much stiffer. Any chance the compression stack was installed upside-down? That would essentially give you two rebound circuits with the valve bleed (drilled hole) being your only compression damping....but that would probably make compression a lot harder too.... You may have to pull that fork and open 'er up again. Sure sounds like the rebound adjuster though.

Oooh, there's one other possibility and that is if the check shim on compression was accidentally clamped with the assembly and it doesn't spring open.

Thanks for staying on this with me....I have to fix it quickly and break in the new Pilots as I have an expensive "Class" Track day class in two weeks and I sure won't learn much there if I don't have time to get used to my new tires and susp.
I was sure to check that the check shim/washer moved against it's spring on all four valves before install. I needed to spend today with my GF (you KNOW how they get) so I will get back at it tomorrow.

No, I don't know how a girlfriend gets. I've been married for almost 12 years so I forgot how awesome it is to get regular sex and have money for myself! :mrgreen: