Suspension dudes! (Slipdog?) WP issue

A possible scenario where you would lose compression damping would be if the nut backs off of the base valve post allowing the piston to float up away from the stack a little or some kind of debris gets wedged between the base valve stack and piston holding the port open. You could also have had a failure of the o-ring that seals the piston to the cartridge wall allowing pressure to bypass the valving.

You will definitely need to tear it apart and inspect everything closely. Those scenarios are pretty unlikely but possible. I found this wedged in the base valve of a very low hour '18 450sx recently so you never know...

Thank you! Will take her apart tonight and see if I notice anything suspect.

my base valve completely unscrewed when i opened the cartridge for servicing once. The M6 nut isnt held on very tight, especially given its hard to tighten down to the plastic piston (2017).

Bruce372 wrote:

my base valve completely unscrewed when i opened the cartridge for servicing once. The M6 nut isnt held on very tight, especially given its hard to tighten down to the plastic piston (2017).

Thanks, mine is on a 17 as well. I'll find out tonight I guess.

Bruce372 wrote:

my base valve completely unscrewed when i opened the cartridge for servicing once. The M6 nut isnt held on very tight, especially given its hard to tighten down to the plastic piston (2017).

seth505 wrote:

Thanks, mine is on a 17 as well. I'll find out tonight I guess.

just be careful taking it apart then, i wasnt expecting it, and all the shims and parts of the valve fell in my oil drain and it took ages to figure how to put it back together!!!

Bruce372 wrote:

my base valve completely unscrewed when i opened the cartridge for servicing once. The M6 nut isnt held on very tight, especially given its hard to tighten down to the plastic piston (2017).

seth505 wrote:

Thanks, mine is on a 17 as well. I'll find out tonight I guess.

Bruce372 wrote:

just be careful taking it apart then, i wasnt expecting it, and all the shims and parts of the valve fell in my oil drain and it took ages to figure how to put it back together!!!

That's the worst. I only deal with suspension when I have to so if something is out of order it'll take me a few hours to verify it's back to correct haha

So what went wrong?

Bruce372 wrote:

So what went wrong?

I got the internal seal kit last week and put em in the damper leg, put everything together and it feels the same unfortunately. I didn't change what the inner cartridge rides on the inner/lower cylinder and I suspect it is that thing.

Once I filled the damper and bled it, it looked like fluid was coming out the bottom onto that cylinder that bolts into the lower lug. Ugh, I think I'm just going to give it to a suspension service place and have them figure it out.

Bruce372 wrote:

So what went wrong?

seth505 wrote:

I got the internal seal kit last week and put em in the damper leg, put everything together and it feels the same unfortunately. I didn't change what the inner cartridge rides on the inner/lower cylinder and I suspect it is that thing.

Once I filled the damper and bled it, it looked like fluid was coming out the bottom onto that cylinder that bolts into the lower lug. Ugh, I think I'm just going to give it to a suspension service place and have them figure it out.

Sounds like something in the mid-valve area went bad...

I'm wondering if it is where I circled here, the seal that rides along the lower cylinder (inside the threaded piece).

Is the oil coming out where the rod goes into that seal head when you bleed the cartridge? That would be the main cartridge seal

slipdog wrote:

Is the oil coming out where the rod goes into that seal head when you bleed the cartridge? That would be the main cartridge seal

I believe so. I thought it was weird that my seal kit didn't come with that main seal that slides on the cartridge.

If you got the kit from KTM it's usually because OEM lists don't usually offer parts that require speciality tools or training. Most internal parts need to be sourced from other places like Suspension Direct.

https://www.suspensiondirect.com/shop/mx-parts/fork-parts/3-cartridge-assembly-parts?cat=64&p=2

slipdog wrote:

If you got the kit from KTM it's usually because OEM lists don't usually offer parts that require speciality tools or training. Most internal parts need to be sourced from other places like Suspension Direct.

https://www.suspensiondirect.com/shop/mx-parts/fork-parts/3-cartridge-assembly-parts?cat=64&p=2

Thanks man, I've been bamboozled! I was considering buying an entire new piston rod assembly, I assume it comes with the seals in there all ready to go.

I was also wondering if there is any good reason to buy the 2018 version of the piston rod instead, it is different but I don't know what is different.