Hi,

I have some 32mm fox F series forks, and some scratches and wear have developed on one of the stanchions. It doesn’t appear to be that serious yet – not leaking oil or air or anything.

I know it is my fault for not following the service instructions and cleaning/lubing the seals enough.

I only noticed as I was taking the forks off to send them for their annual service.

What makes best economic sense:
1) Get them serviced, and remember to look after the seals next time.

2) Save the cash I would spend getting them serviced and put it towards a future replacement. Clean the seals up. Run the forks into the ground.

I guess it depends on the life expectancy – as I would guess the stanchions are expensive to replace?

If anyone has had any experience with this I would be very grateful if you had any thoughts.

Cheers.

Ride until they die then buy some Rockshox, IMO.

I had some Pikes where the stanchions wore really badly, to the point they were leaking quite a bit of oil. I took them apart and fixed up the stanchions with some nail varnish, cleaned out the seals and put in new oil etc. That was a few years ago and hey still work absolutely fine.

Ride until they die then buy some Rockshox, IMO.

I have some Fox 36 Vans I’ve used for years and have performed brilliantly, with no issues at all – unlike the Rockshox….

Nail varnish did the trick when I put a score in my old revelations. Used very fine wet and dry paper to get all the burrs out then applied varnish to fill in any gaps. Then again with the wet and dry to smooth. Was so much easier and cheaper than replacing the stanchions.

This is not aimed at the OP, more of a general musing because of comments i often read, but why do people assume that a bit of stanchion wear will cause air loss when all of the air spring forks I’ve had have the air sealed within the stanchion?

E.g.

“Slight scratch to stanchions but no air loss”. Why would there be? Am I missing something?

As per Buzz but perhaps a quick DIY oil change to give best chance of plushness (see vids on Mojo) and Macs nail varnish trick was recommended to me by a Fox Factory mechanic at Crankworks for my deeply gouged Kashima so that’s good stuff too!

Thanks for all your help and advice. I will give the nail varnish a go, and get them serviced as usual.

Fox V Rockshox – I agree that when googling the problem earlier it seemed as if fox forks seem to fare worse with this issue of stanchion wear. However Rockshox made the worst fork I have ever owned (psylo), and although that was a long time ago, and it was cheap, I have yet to forgive them! I am also abit saddened by all the new bikes with sram/avid/rs on, so don’t feel the need to buy a pair of RS just yet.

Mildred – I don’t know why I said it wasn’t leaking air. The more I think about it, the more stupid this sounds!

Which colour/ brand of nailvarnish best matches 2009 fox stanchions 😉 ?

Thanks again.

I have nail varnished many a fork. Not all nail varnishes are created equal!. Pay more £3/4 more and get the harder/longer lasting type. Seriously..

upgrade to Kashima – thats what I did
This way you can tell yourself you are spending money improveing your bike rather than wasting money cos you were lazy.

Note:
You actually spend much more money doing this but its worth it as you get to sleep better at night.

How did the OP get on with his repairs?
I am in the same boat :(.

This wont work on all forks but..

If you have Fox 36 floats for instance- drop the travel from 160 to 140. This gives you ‘new’ stanchions.

Etc etc.

how long is your steerer ?
i have a spare set of unmarked fox stanchions from 2010 F32’s which i kept when had a kashima upgrade, which you can have for not a lot. the steerer is not the longest tho 180mm,
email in profile if your interested.

drop the travel from 160 to 140

How does this help? – Cosmetically I suppose in so much as you can’t see the wear. But the bushes that the stanchions ride up and down on extend well inside the lowers – much more than 20mm. That said – I’m not sure what impact the wear actually has to be honest….?

[/quote] Wally – Member

I have nail varnished many a fork. Not all nail varnishes are created equal!. Pay more £3/4 more and get the harder/longer lasting type. Seriously..

I’ve just found this out! Am off to the shops at lunchtime to look for a decent branded nail varnish…

ndthornton – Member

How does this help?

It helps in the same way that moving your dog into your bedroom solves the problem of him crapping on the kitchen floor.