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Upping Domain Length 160mm - 180mm??

2K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  prophet_1000 
#1 ·
Thinking I may want a longer fork and didn't want to splash out on a Totem or new 180mm Domain, then I had a thought!

Is it possible to Up the length of a 160mm R/S Domian 318 (Coil) to 180mm, either by fitting 180 Domain uppers or Lowers?

Anybody have any experience of this?

Cheers:thumbsup:
 
#2 ·
yes, u just need to change your spring assembly which is like 60 bucks canadian, i just did it *in reverse* to a buddy's fork for him, took a 180 MM domain, ordered the the 115-160MM spring assembly + top cap and blam it's a 318 Uturn (had to reduce the travel to make it non retarded to match his Cannondale Prophet.

for yours, you dont need a topcap or anything, just a longer travel spring assembly which is easy to change and cheap.
 
#3 ·
The spring itself is the same, you just need a new spring shaft. I have the parts list in front of me because my son is doing the opposite. BTW it should be cheaper than AKRida's conversion as you don't need U-Turn. Part # is 11.4015.044.000 and that should be all you need.
 
#5 ·
I have done it, it's easy. The stanchions are plenty long. If you don't believe me go to the Rockshox Service site and pull up the Spare Parts Manual. The only difference between the 160 and 180 is the spring shaft is a different length.
 
#6 ·
stretch169 said:
I have done it, it's easy. The stanchions are plenty long. If you don't believe me go to the Rockshox Service site and pull up the Spare Parts Manual. The only difference between the 160 and 180 is the spring shaft is a different length.
yep~ and yeah my prices prolly are different..... seems i pay out the ass for everything in canada :p lol
 
#8 ·
The lowers shouldn't be any different (think about it, why would they be?). And there should be plenty of stanchion overlapping the bushing even at 180mm. I think he just needs the spring shaft.

You can check the SRAM pdf. It lists the different part numbers. They should be the same.
 
#9 ·
most every part is the same between them. you just need to order the 180mm spring shaft (find the part # in the catalog). it's just a matter of taking the old one out and putting the new one in.

if you have the u-turn version, though, you will need a new black top cap, a new spring, and the spring shaft.

I believe it's $32 for the shaft or something like that.
 
#10 ·
I've got the 180 domain and I would agree with what everyone has already said - just a matter of ordering a new spring shaft.
Besides if you can go from 180 - 160 then there is nothing to say you can't do the reverse. And to me it doesn't make sense for Rock Shox not to use the same lowers and uppers and just have different features / internals for the different price points.
 
#13 ·
Finally got around to ordering the 180mm travel spring shaft for my 160mm Domain, it came yesterday and was super easy to fit!

two Hex bolts at the bottom of each lower, unscrew slightly/knock them upwards with a rubber mallet to separate the shafts from the lowers, then the lowers slide off!

Unscrew the top cap on the left upper leg and pull out the spring and spring shaft, grease the new longer spring shaft and refit then refit the spring, refit/ torque the top cap, refit the lowers, turn the bike over and pour the fluid caught when removing the lowers back in to the correct leg and refit/ torque the two hex bolts!

Job done!!

Just have to ride the bike now to see if it has screwed up the handling/ geometry of the bike???? 'may' even need a different spring to now due to the extra preload on the spring (so I'm told by TFtuned where I had the spring shaft from)

will try to post my findings when I have ridden it in a day or two!

P.S bike is an 09 SX trail 1
 
#15 ·
Jim311 said:
You don't have to remove the lowers to install the new spring. You can just pop off that top u-turn knob assembly and remove the spring from the top. I guess it's too late now, but it woulda saved you some time/effort.
Cheers Jim, I did think about that after the fact BUT I didn't just change the spring I changed the spring shaft which as you probably know goes through the upper leg through a smaller hole in the bottom and was pretty fiddly to feed through with the lowers removed BUT still not impossible to do with the lowers fitted I imagine!

I did however get to inspect and clean/lube the seals, stanchions and bushes while they were removed, pretty much a simple fork with very little inside. Mine also doesn't have the U-Turn so its even simpler with just a top cap on the spring side, I'll probably try the top cap only method next time I remove it to refit the original spring shaft back in after i test it out tomorrow night and find it rides pants:D

Cheers

Paul
 
#16 ·
Ridden tonight, my initial thoughts when I saw how much more raked out the front looked before riding it was that it was gonna ride super stable on the fast sections due to the longer wheel base and slacker head angle, BUT be a lot lot slower on the cornering!

Hitting the trail couldn't have been better, the bike handles the corners pretty much the same as before with bermed and off camber corners taken at about the same or maybe slightly faster speeds due to slightly enhanced stability, (the bottom bkt doesn't feel too high either) the front wheel is definitely easier to lift off the ground to manual as I usually struggle to get the balance right to manual when trying to hoink the front wheel up to get the manual started in the first place! as for tight switch backs, I didn't ride any tonight so cannot comment!

I checked the stanchions for the dirt mark to see how much travel I am getting as I was worried about the spring being too hard (as TF tuned said 'may' be the case) but I am getting travel up to about 5mm from the top of the stanchions in my normal riding environment (mix of DH and FR)

Overall I wouldn't say they were a massive improvement over the 160mm travel I had before BUT I have yet to push them to the limit in a race when the control element would come into play, instead of just riding for fun as I have tonight, so I'm pleased with the new spring shaft and if nothing else it looks slightly more Bo!!!! with the extra travel out front :D :D
 
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