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Rockshox O-ring sizes


HugovdMerwe

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I feel strongly that any bicycle component manufacturer who uses O-rings (and bearings) should publish the sizes of these cheap industrial consumer items and not try and sell you a very expensive "seal kit". I recently serviced my Rockshox SID RL 100mm Solo Air 29" (was new at about 2013) and measured and recorded all the O-ring grooves. I post the O-ring sizes here for anyone's perusal:

 

(The name used for the specific O-ring is as per Rockshox Service Manual from their website. As per standard O-ring notation, size in mm is given by Internal Diameter x Cross-Section).

Top cap, air spring 25x2.5

Seal head inner, air spring 10x3

Seal head outer, air spring 21x3.5

Top cap, compression damper 25x2.5

Compression damper piston 23x2.5

Outer seal head, Dig Valve 25x2.5

 

Get O-rings from bearing suppliers. They are very cheap, I once bought a 100 for R1.00! The O-rings above was about R1 a piece.

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Some fine tuning for the above :- 

 

These sizes apply to the other 32 mm RS models and to dual air.

 

Damper side:

 

Compression cartridge

top cap 25 x 2.5

lower seal 22 x 2.5

o'ring under lockout lever 13 x 1.8 (imperial 12.29 X 1.78)

 

Rebound shaft 

outer seal 24 x 2.5 (actually imperial 119 ie 23.81 x 2.62)

inner seal (omitted above) 12 x 3.5 (imperial 12.29 X 3.53)

 

Air side:-

 

top cap 25 x 2.5

top piston 21 x 3.5

lower piston outer 21 x 3.5

lower piston inner 10 x 3

 

For some reason 21 x 3.5 are not easy to come by.  I use 22 x 3.5 for the top piston and 20 x 3.5 for the lower.

 

Crush washers:  ID 8 mm OD 11 mm H 2 mm.

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Some fine tuning for the above :-

 

These sizes apply to the other 32 mm RS models and to dual air.

 

Damper side:

 

Compression cartridge

top cap 25 x 2.5

lower seal 22 x 2.5

o'ring under lockout lever 13 x 1.8 (imperial 12.29 X 1.78)

 

Rebound shaft

outer seal 24 x 2.5 (actually imperial 119 ie 23.81 x 2.62)

inner seal (omitted above) 12 x 3.5 (imperial 12.29 X 3.53)

 

Air side:-

 

top cap 25 x 2.5

top piston 21 x 3.5

lower piston outer 21 x 3.5

lower piston inner 10 x 3

 

For some reason 21 x 3.5 are not easy to come by. I use 22 x 3.5 for the top piston and 20 x 3.5 for the lower.

 

Crush washers: ID 8 mm OD 11 mm H 2 mm.

Does the closest metric size work as well as the correct imperial oring? I got the orings incl the imperial from Skf.
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Does the closest metric size work as well as the correct imperial oring? I got the orings incl the imperial from Skf.

Rule of thumb - a stretch greater than 5% of the O-ring I.D. is not recommended.

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Rule of thumb - a stretch greater than 5% of the O-ring I.D. is not recommended.

So I can substitute a metric oring for a imperial if the ID is within 5%, is that either way, I can go smaller or bigger.
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So I can substitute a metric oring for a imperial if the ID is within 5%, is that either way, I can go smaller or bigger.

Yes but.........  the problem is that it is difficult to find the original spec for the o-ring.  You are never sure if the one in there was already adjusted at the previous service or not.  I have even found slight variances in the agent supplied seal kits.  Measuring the groove that the o-ring goes in will give you the ID but the width is more difficult to estimate as the ring will squash out sideways in the fork and groove but you cant say by how much.  If the fork came in working I try to match the rings exactly.  If you have to make a judgement you usually have a bit more leeway on the damper side.  On the RS air side the lower 10 x 3 must be the right one.  This is a common size so should not be a problem.  The outer seal can vary (20,21,22 x 3.5)

 

A word of warning - don't trust your supplier!  Once you have the o-ring measure it yourself and then do an idiot check by resting it on top of the old one just to be sure.  Then bin the old one so that you don't mix them up.

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Agreed, I got sold the closest metric when I requested imperial, luckily I had a vernier with and checked before paying.

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