Are Fox forks an inherently poor design?

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Are Fox forks an inherently poor design?

67 posts & 44 voices | Started 8 months ago by RAGGATIP | Latest reply from Ecky-Thump

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I broke my wookie!

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RAGGATIP - Member

I got some 36 rc2s and the same wear is happening as had occurred on my 2007 Float 32s. Have Fox changed the design of their forks lately to overcome this (other than the Kashima coating)? Check these pictures of my 36 RC2s...

There's wear at the upper end but on both set of forks there's always more at the lower end of the inners. Presumably this is because that is where there is more levered force. Forks are frequently serviced by myself using the correct fluids but I reckon no fluid would prevent those white pads you can see in the first picture from wearing away the inners.

Posted 8 months ago #
anto164 - Member

Yep. It's a well known issue with them which FOX do nothing about.

Posted 8 months ago #
enfht - Member

Inherently reliant upon frequent servicing more like

What's your service interval ?

How often do you replace the seals ?

That degree of wear didn't happen overnight..

Posted 8 months ago #
oldfart - Member

Been there , after 10 months of TLC it still happened got the CSU replaced then bought some Lyriks instead .S'funny though for how much they cost and how they are marketed in the advertising you could be forgiven for thinking they were the dogs thingy bits !

Posted 8 months ago #
squiff - Member

what you can do with them they are great, but build quality quite poor for the price they sell them at.

It's just another company that has got a name for itself when it was good and now they have a name for themselves the build quality comes down, using cheaper materails and wanting bigger profits.

Posted 8 months ago #
nasher - Member

Kashima does nothing either, my 36 float 180's are dead too

Posted 8 months ago #
RAGGATIP - Member

enfht..I bought them second hand at the beginning of June. First thing I did before using them was to clean them out and change the oil. There were signs of wear but not nearly as bad as they are in the pics. When I took them apart today and drained them the oil was pretty clean so the seals are good. I just think those friction pads are a silly idea.

Posted 8 months ago #
oldfart - Member

nasher interesting that Kashima hasn't changed the outcome .

Posted 8 months ago #
RAGGATIP - Member

nasher thanks for telling me that.....I was thinking of perhaps changing the inners after the winter to kashima coated ones. Now I'll be considering changing to lyriks next year

Posted 8 months ago #
peachos - Member

just get bombers!

Posted 8 months ago #
grum - Member

Yeah, that would never happen with Rockshox.

BTW is there actually a problem with the forks? I'm still using those Pikes in the pic above (after the nail varnish fix) and they work absolutely fine and don't even leak oil at all. I'm betting those Fox 36s will give you years of use.

Posted 8 months ago #
anc - Member

The forks are great but the seals they use are cr*p. Putting the Enduro seals on fettles the problem my forks are 2 years old and the stanchions are still perfect.

Posted 8 months ago #
cruzer - Member

Damage like that is caused by warn bushings (the white liners in the lowers). Like any bushings they dont last forever and do need replacg. This it down to poor maintance on the fork (more likely to be before you got them by the sounds of it) unfortunately. If you speak to mojo they should be able to advise you on a cost for new uppers and bushings.

Fox forks should have a lowers service every 20 hours of use. Basically pop the seals up and clean them, relube the sponge rings and then put them back together. Its about a 10min job but keeps them running sweet. Check out mojo website for more info on servicing them

Posted 8 months ago #
donkeysrock - Member

see above (beat me too it )

Posted 8 months ago #
Angry-pirate - Member

i had similar wear on my 32s, the tf engineer servicing them said that fox allow like a mm of play in the bushing, without this play they wouldnt be as plush, but without regular servicing it causes the coating to wear.

Posted 8 months ago #
anc - Member

Its the seals allowing the crud in that causes the wear, they use a wiper seal system which ain't up to UK conditions. The Enduro seal is a proper oil seal which keeps the oil in and the crud out.

Posted 8 months ago #
joedaho - Member

A good reason to not stray from the church of Marzocchi now they are back on form!

Posted 8 months ago #
Mugboo - Member

Why isn't enterprising soul knocking out new uppers for £50.00? 3 tubes & a piece of alloy?

Posted 8 months ago #
enfht - Member

Anyone know what new bushings cost ?

Can you change them yourself or do you need to post the lowers to mojo etc?

Posted 8 months ago #
beanieripper - Member

they are shoddy and so overpriced it's embarrassing, the £700 stickers on them should say MUG not FOX...

Posted 8 months ago #
RAGGATIP - Member

enfht that's what I would like to know.....I want to avoid sending them to mojo if possible. The bushings look a little awkward to replace and since mojo would probably just replace the lowers it's effectively a new fork if I get the bushings AND the uppers replaced. Not sure this would be cost effective. I won't be looking at Fox forks in the future but then I don't know what the internals are like on other forks. Anyone care to post some pics? I had marzocchi bomber Z1s years ago....they were easy to service, cheap seals and had no probs with them at all. The bike was stolen eventually or I'd still have them today.

Posted 8 months ago #
footflaps - Member

My experience has been the exact opposite, never serviced them and had years of faultless service from my Fox forks - seem to last really well.

Posted 8 months ago #
uplink - Member

Loco of here seems a good sort

runs a suspension business - give him a shout for an opinion

http://locotuning.co.uk/

Posted 8 months ago #
cruzer - Member

As far as i understand, getting mojo to replace the bushing s isnt a big job. Since they have a the right tools. You might aswell go and speak to the experts, a phone costs nothing and yourll know exactly where you stand.

Posted 8 months ago #
Northwind - Member

grum - Member

Yeah, that would never happen with Rockshox.

Course it does, but you know full well it's fairly common with Fox and rare with Rockshox. And numerous times they've "improved durability" but it's never worked yet (Kashima was supposed to improve durability yet came with a massive drop in the service intervals!)

Posted 8 months ago #
Nobby - Member

Fox forks should have a lowers service every 20 hours of use.

So they're no use for a 24hr solo effort then?

Posted 8 months ago #
grum - Member

Course it does, but you know full well it's common with Fox and rare with Rockshox.

I dunno, I know lots of people on here go on about it with Fox, but I've never seen any figures. My personal evidence is that it happens to 100% of Rockshox forks, and no Fox forks.

As above I think people also get massively worked up about it - I bet those forks in the OP would last for years and years.

Posted 8 months ago #
PJM1974 - Member

If I'd just bought a set of Fox forks for a ridiculous sum of money and they did that, I'd want someone's head on a pike (no rockshox pun intended).

That said, I know a guy with a set of 2004 Vanillas that have never been fully serviced beyond a mere lube job but are still in excellent fettle.

Posted 8 months ago #
cardo - Member

Top tip for what it's worth...and this came from one of the service guys at Mojo.

In between rides or the night before turn your bike upside down, this allows the fluid in the fork to run down and soak the seals and pads, which helps keep everything lubricated inside and catch any crap that gets past the wiper seal.

I agree that the official service practice is over the top and unpractical for most riders but keeping the seals clean and removing anything gritty from the seal face, as well as inverting the bike, seems to have worked for me.

Posted 8 months ago #
PJM1974 - Member

+1 for frequently inverting the bike.

Posted 8 months ago #
hilldodger - Member

another tip is to fit a MuckyNutz front fender, it does a great job of keeping the seal area clean.

Posted 8 months ago #
neallyman - Member

If I'd just bought a set of Fox forks for a ridiculous sum of money and they did that, I'd want someone's head on a pike

He didn't though, he bought them 2nd hand.

Posted 8 months ago #
esher shore - Member

second hand forks can be problematic if the original owner has ignored the service intervals and has regularly ridden in poor conditions which can cause the damage seen in your photos

I have run a number of Fox 32 and 36 forks, followed the "lowers" service intervals (with a pinch of salt...20 hours? more like 8-12 weeks) and never had any issues with premature stanchion wear

I have seen numerous fox forks come through my workshop which have had little to no maintainance and most have had issues with stanchion wear because the fork is dry and contaminated with mud / sand...

have also seen this problem with Rockshox forks (pike, lyric, totem, etc.)

nothing wrong with Fox forks as far am I am concerned, but they do require regular work to keep them sweet?

"fork juice" (silicon spray) or Finish Line Dry Lube are well worth using on the fork seals after cleaning to keep the fork feeling slippery and to prevent a build-up of contaminants on the inside lip of the wiper seal

Posted 8 months ago #
cardo - Member

Like the look of the MuckyNutz fender... think i'm going to try one of those for the winter onslaught

Posted 8 months ago #
D0NK - Member

IIRC fox didn't do replacement bushings it was all new lower dunno if this has changed...?

For the record I've not had wear issues, got some new 32 floats last year ok so far, I had some 03 vanillas, that I only stopped using end of last year, had the bushings adjusted once during servicing to remove play, they've since developed a lot more play but I was offered some cheap SH floats so the £90 service didn't seem worth it. no stanchion wear so if bushings are available I may resurrect them.

Posted 8 months ago #

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