just serviced my fox 32s, done it before with no probs.

when sliding the lowers back on i have managed to damage BOTH the internal wiper seal springs,,,,,, not the ones you can see on top of the seals when the forks are back together, the ones inside the bottom of the seals.

have removed both damaged springs for fear of them migrating into the fork internals and causing proper damage.
going on a big-un in the lakes at the weekend, its all booked and i dont have time to buy/wait for another set to be delivered, hardtails forks are in for a service at the mo’ as well ,,, sods law innit.

the original seals have been ripped out with pliers and one of the springs was damaged so cant re-use the old ones.

they are obviously their for a reason ,but, fingers crossed i can get away with it,,,,,, are they that important ?,,,, will be changing them as soon as replacments arive but need some reasurance that i am not going to risk life on a decent 😯

need the singletrack massive to put an arm around me and say everythings going to be just fine 😀

Everything will be fine.
.

[is he dead yet?]

i’ll get back to you on that one 🙄

What ‘internal wiper seal springs’?

The ones that you won’t even notice until you accidentally pull them out.

Without knowing the exact details, my guess is that the top lip of the seal is to keep water and dirt out, the bottom lip is to keep oil in.
Without the added tension of the spring they may leak a bit of oil, depends how age hardened the rubber is.
Should last a weekend at least until you can fix them properly.

No internal lip/spring on my seals:

there’s a metal washer thing inside the seals near the bottom to keep them round, I think?

new set of seals is about £15 from Mojo…

As the forks are apart I’d stick new seals in as it will be a PITA if they start leaking and you have to take them apart again, in stock too 😉

At a guess they wont wipe as much of the oil inside off without the springs, but you’ll be fine. You may have a bit more oil coming out the top of the seals than normal, but it’ll be fine to ride.
Just service them once you’ve got the replacements to put in.

Just to confirm there IS an internal wiper spring, having had a look at a new set today.