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An ongoing saga of my 2018 Fox 34 fork. After sending the fork to TFT for a service they sent it back saying there are striations on the inside surface of the stanchions, causing the air to leak into the lowers, leading to a "hiss" when the bolts are undone. Silverfish did a warranty job on it but said they couldn't see the striations and they replaced the seals.
It felt good initially but increasingly harsh. After 10 rides the damper side dust seals are still leaking oil after every ride. Silverfish say the harshness is because I didn't balance the chambers while setting sag; however I maybe 5 psi to the air pressure so that can't be it. re the oil leaking..."it would concern me more of the oil was coming from the air side rather than damper side".
I am not an engineer or technically minded enough to know, but are they taking the piss or is what they say acceptable?
Oil leaking out of the seals doesn’t sound right (all my forks are Rockshox though, not fox). I’m assuming with Fox the damper is in the stanchions and the lower leg just has a bit of oil for lubrication in it? In which case it’ll be a small amount and unlikely to find its way out - especially with new seals involved. I’d get something I’m writing from TF Tuned about the issue and present that to Silverfish.
How much oil? It's normal on Fox forks for a little bit of oil to leak past the seal but it's an absolutely tiny amount.
I'm surprised TFTuned didn't process the warranty claim for you.
I took my bike to Sprung with a creak from the head area that turned out to be a CSU bonding issue on my RS Yari and they processed the warranty for me. It cost me £15 for them to diagnose, remove forks, process warranty and refit forks and was done in a week. Quicker than I would have managed going through my LBS I suspect.
Not that this helps never had any Fox forks of mine leaking any oil cant say the same about Rockshox had some good ones over the years but more shite ones Pikes are excellent though quite often it seems once they start taking them apart they never get back as there were.
How much oil? It’s normal on Fox forks for a little bit of oil to leak past the seal but it’s an absolutely tiny amount.
There is a good amount mixed with dust forming a nice paste in the stanchion.
I’m surprised TFTuned didn’t process the warranty claim for you.
They said they could but told me a warranty claim was likely to fail, and that it would have a greater chance of success going direct.
Silverfish have agreed to take back the fork again for another inspection.
i wouldnt accept it and would be sending it back for further warranty work if its leaking oil.
Silverfish replaced seals under warranty- oil is leaking past the seals. I'd say that's a Silverfish problem.
I have a Fox 34 - a bottom of the range Rhythm that has open damping.
I cannot say I have ever experience oil above the seals on either leg.
In very dusty (remember those) conditions you can tell that the stanchions come into contact with oil and its not all wiped off as the dust sticks but never enough to form a paste.
Its good that the distributer has agreed to look at them again.
Very much sounds like air is leaking into the lowers and if its pissing oil out of the seals, then that doubly confirms it.