I am trying to remove the lower shock bushes from my fox shock and I cant get them out as they are solid??

Are they meant to be really tight or should they rotate freely?

Its these alloy ones Im on about ….

Any ideas??

cheers

Steve

The top hat bush should rotate. Its supposed to be fairly tight but the whole point is that it rotates. I’d try clamping one side in a vice and twist and pull the other with some mole grips. Be careful not to load the shock body.

Bigger pliers!

It will mark it but things like that don’t really bother me

Cheers. They dont really move at all to be honest.

Will try and source a vice.

I dont want to damage them I just want to remove them and give them a clean and lube so they will actually move then !

It does sound like they have seized. Its probably been rotating on the bolt. I’d consider a new hula hoop bush once you have it apart (The bush that sits inside the end of the shock). You can buy a couple of hh bushes and a special tool quite cheaply on eBay.

Nickjb I think you are right as there is signs rubbing marks on the outer faces of the bits you can see as though they have been moving against the frame!

Molegrips will work fine too (probably easier and less likely to smack the shaft on, than a vice), once you get them turning, you can wind it backwards and forwards to gradually work the top hat out.
Though TBH is there solid in there, are you sure there’s play in the bottom bushing? Do you really need to replace it? Yes it’s nice to have everything ‘new’ (especially as your rebuildinng the whole bike) but really are you just making work for the sake of it?

EDIT: Clean and lube? Leave it alone till the bushing wears out. You only going to mark them (soft ali) and get upset by them not being pretty by the sounds of things

Always going to be tight, unlikely to turn and be stiff because it doesn’t move as much as the top end.

I replaced mine with one of these kits to get rid of the worn top hats and hopefully prolonged bush life.
http://www.tftunedshox.com/info/mount_kits_bushings.aspx
Impressed so far after 6mths use and no play.

z1ppy… not bothered if it looks pretty or not to be honest but if its meant to move and its not then it needs looking at doesnt it??

Ive not said owt about any play?

you can actually see of the pic above where it has been moving against the frame which is a bit wrong in my opinion!

I know it should be tight but still able to move?

Play in the bushing, is the only reason I’ve ever messed with mine, are they really meant to move? I’ve fitted brand new bushing and they’ve fitted in as tight as you describe them being now. Isn’t ‘moving’ (twisting) what the suspension pivots are for?
These like the bushing they fit into are sacrificial parts (bushing being the weakest link). If you fit the shock, unpressurised, can you move the suspension through-out it’s range?

If I unbolt the top shock mount then try and move the shock by hand its very tight and when it does move its the bits you can see moving against the frame and not the bush in the shock moving against the top hats.

I can see the way the suspension acts on the shock and to be honest it doesnt move a lot. Im pretty sure it will wear the frame out eventually if I leave it like it is.

Corroded to buggery, most likely, those tophats are shit. Molegrips are usually all it takes, if you can get either one out then you can tap the other out from the inside easily. Then order proper shock hardware and curse the name of whatever cheapskate specced rubbish to save about 2 grams and a pound, which has now landed you with a problem and a bill.

There’s all sorts of tricks you could use to remove one that won’t molegrip out, but tbh they’re also mostly tricks that a) you’d know if you’d done it before and b) will incredibly **** up your shock if you do it wrong. So I am inclined to say this is not the time to start.

Im pretty sure it will wear the frame out eventually if I leave it like it is.

It will!

My brother has a Marin that this has happenned to.

The top hats have worn the frame to the point they can no longer be tightened up properly, even with new bushes and top hats there is permanent play, he now needs slightly wider than standard bushes.

I’d fit a Fox low friction kit, I don’t think they can sieze the way alloy ones can.