So I bought a 2009 Fox 36 Van RC2 fork and felt the spring was slightly stiff. I changed to the purple spring but now feel some new kind of friction. The original spring had some kind of goo (grease or vaseline) smothered over it, the new one does not (at least to the same degree). The instructions mention shaking the fork around after fitting a new spring to spread the oil, but I can't really see any oil in the leg…

– Should the oil be clearly visible?
– I don't have spare crushers, could I just try pouring any oil out of the top (preload cap) and then adding the required amount?
– Should I be adding grease to the spring (what grease)?
– Should the spring slightly hook onto something at the bottem of the leg?

Does it sound like the above would cause the friction?

If they're new then it's just a bit of stiction that will go as the forks bed in. It will be more noticable with the lighter spring.

I found a tube of grease so I took the spring out, spread a bit on the rubber and put it back in, all that shaky friction is gone. 🙂