RockShox SID XX Service + Travel Change

I have my fork serviced once a year and this time I thought I'd be super smart and do it myself, saving $150. Well almost, I had to make an initial investment in some tools (crow foot wrench, snap ring pliers, etc). The oil + sram butter alone is about $38 but should last three or more services. The seal kit is $17 but one came with my fork, yay sram! Amortizing the services comes to around $30. And less if you just put in fresh fluids. 

I also need to change the travel from 100mm to 120mm for my Yeti. It seems most RockShox forks can support a travel change. I called RockShox to verify. I only had to get a new airshaft (about $25). 

After a year of riding the only thing that was dirty was the foam seals (under dust wipers). All the o-rings look 100% good. I imagine I could go two years on the seals and once a year just clean everything. The foam seals are the one thing I'd want to replace though.

In general, the sram manual is really good but here are a few snags I hit:

• The service manual states -- All o-rings should be greased but they only say this at beginning of manual -- yet they call out greasing specifically in other sections. So, I didn't grease all the o-rings, dang! But I think I should be okay since they are saturated in oil. I did grease the dust wipers (critical) and the air shaft.
• The say to use a dowel to clean the tubes but don't say what size, so real helpful there. I wrapped a cloth around a air compressor hose and it worked perfectly to clean inside of fork lowers and stanchions
• I should have printed the service manual. Instead I ended up with grease on my notebook
• The red rebound adjuster just pulls straight out the bottom, wut?? How does this stay put?
• Air shaft side required harder blows to free shaft
• Dust wipers were *hell* to remove. Super tight in there. With tire levers they were not budging. Had to ever so carefully work loose from outside with razor blade. This time I greased the seal sockets even though it didn’t call for that
• Measured oil depth to top of fork crown. 106ml was right on 72mm
• A 24mm socket would have been easier for air side but used a crow foot wrench
• The amazon snap-ring pliers deform when squeezed don’t work so well (cheap!)
• For the air shaft I installed the 2 seals inner and outer on air shaft plastic disc. Kit didn’t include other seals.
• Put some air in the air valve to push air shaft out a bit before putting the lowers back if you can't screw in bottom bolts!
• Getting the dust wipers in place was tricky, even with some grease. Can see that tool being worth it.

Before travel change measurement showing 100mm of travel

Legs off

Cloth wrapper around compressor hose to clean insides

120mm air shaft

X-loc (XX) fork requires a crow foot wrench to torque properly

In summary, RockShox forks, at least the SID/Reba, are relatively easy to service. The documentation is excellent and doesn't require any proprietary, impossible to get tools. Take your time, follow the service manual and along with saving some cash, you'll keep your fork running smoothly.