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Just bought a 2011 Fox float RLC fork (140mm) on ebay. Seemed in reasonable nick in photos and on arrival. Seller admitted it hadn't been serviced in the last year though.
Have now stripped it down and apart from some pretty graunchy nobs, it seems smooth enough internally. FIT damper operates smoothly. What worries me though are some very shallow grooves on the stanchions, just below where the seals and foam rings would sit. The grooves correspond with the gaps on the bushings.
Have googled 'fox bushing wear' and saw some far worse examples of what seems to have happened to these. Pic of mine below.
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/15747479051_c3ab6156bb_s.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/15747479051_c3ab6156bb_s.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/pZxWTv ]IMG_1779[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/87268970@N06/ ]Colin41171[/url], on Flickr
The anodising is intact between the grooves, as I say these are very shallow, but you can feel them.
I have the opportunity to go back to the seller but am reasonably pragmatic about this - I only paid £150 for them and if I get a couple of years' use out of them (with further oil changes etc) then I will be fairly happy. My existing forks are 2011 fox F120s and they are immaculate inside, thanks to a combination of reasonably regular servicing and very light usage.
So will regular servicing from now on stop them getting any worse, or at least slow it down? Or is it a case that once this starts happening, it's a continual process of deterioration until you need new stanchions and bushings? Or should I send them off for bushing replacement and ask seller for partial refund?
Cheers for any advice.
Way I see it is that no matter how well you maintain your forks, we're mountain bikes which means mud/dust/etc constantly attacking our equipment and after 3 years of regular use I would expect to start seeing some wear (think how many times in those years those seals have moved up and down the same place on the stanchion)...I have some secondhand Lyriks I bought 2 years ago, they now have the same marks you're experiencing, I'll keep using them and expect to get another couple of years if I'm lucky with regular maintenance.
So, in answer to your post, whilst its tricky from your pic to see how bad it is, IMO I reckon hang on to them, service them regularly to slow down the wear and don't bother with bushing replacement as it'll cost you more than you've paid with a service as well
Sounds like you were pretty lucky considering the seller admitted they hadn't been serviced for a year.
They'll be fine to use, sounds like you're good at keeping on top of the tlc fox's need.
My mate had seriously bad grooves cut into his, he kept running them for at least 12 months but needed regular servicing. If the grooves are not that they should be fine with a bit of occasional tlc
That's typical stanchion wear. You can run them til they die, and then convert them to coil and keep running them.
Is there any wear above the wiper seals?