Hey folks,

Does anyone have any experience in servicing the Fox 32 FRL O/B Forks? I contacted Mojo about the kits required, and have been advised: –

– Kit: Cartridge Seals, Forx, 32mm Open Bath Ref: 803-00-078
– Maintenance Kit for 32mm forx Ref: 32KIT

FROM: http://www.mojostore.co.uk/acatalog/Seals—Maintenance-Kits.html

My question is do I actually need both? The articles I found to do this certainly don’t seem to imply this: –

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/workshop-service-the-seals-on-your-fox-32-fork-25020/
http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/Forks/FLOAT/FLOAT_RL.htm

Any advise would be appreciated. Quite intent on doing as much work on the bike myself as possible. My folks are almost 18months old now, with frequent usage.

Thanks,

Anthony.

Are they leaking? If not, why change seals?

Does the damping work? Then why fiddle with the damper.

Without information on any issues you may be having, I’d be doing an oil change and leaving it at that.

I did my forks last week; the oil that came out of them was filthy. They worked perfectly, though. It’s about 9 months since I last changed the oil; so 18 must be overdue.

There was a long thread last week that linked to lots of handy vids; worth seeking out.

Clean and oil change at the very least. If you’ve never had the seals changed then its propbably worth doing for peace of mind, given you’ve gotthe fork apart.

Thanks for the replies. Sorry, you’re absolutely right; should have said that I’ve had no issues with the forks at all but I am mindful of their age, and how much usage they’ve had.

Oil & seals change sounds good, but there are 3 types of seal kits and I’m confused by which one I would need for just a basic service: –

– Cartridge seal it for 32mm open bath forks
– Air seal for Float 120-150mm travel forks
– 32mm Low Friction Wiper Seal Kit

Given that I need the Suspension and Float fluid, I’m of the asumption that it’s the ‘Maintenance Kit for 32mm forx’ which includes the 32mm Low Friction seals?

All you need to buy is the seal kit and the correct weight of oil.
Your seals should come with a pillow pack of float fluid anyway.
The oil is about £20, the seals about £24, £10 less than the maintenance kit.

Changing the lower oil is simple (as per the Fox instructions) but remember to remove ALL of the oil from the damping / rebound circuit by cycling the cylinder with the lowers off (Oil will go everywhere) as if you don’t then you’ll over fill when you come to replace the oil and have travel / compression issues.

Also If the oil is really grimy then refill the damping side only with 1/2 the required oil and cycle the fork, this will flush out any crap in the internals.

Thanks for the excellent responses. I’ve ordered the low friction seal kit, forx Suspension fluid (10wt green), and a couple of float fluid pillow packs. £44 all in all from Mojo.

I’ll report back once they arrive and I get stuck in. 😀

I usually slosh a bit of IPA in the damper and then drain it out, then cycle it a few more times to get the air around to help it evaporate. Being fairly thin means its should drain of its own accord.

Success! I simply followed the Fox Instructions (minor differences due to mine being newer release) and blasted through it with a mate last night.

The seals were actually in surprisingly good condition, but for the price of a kit & their age, I replaced them anyway for peace of mind.

The fluid out of the damper looked quite foamy (but clean), and nothing like the 10wt suspension fluid that it was replaced with? I’m assuming this is on account of the fluid circling the damper system for 18months of pretty heavy usage, perhaps loosing consistency?

Anyway; thanks to Konastoner and Bigyinn for the comments about the damper – completely cycled and flushed them out before replacing them with the oil/levels required.

Forks have been rebuilt, and in my mind feel awesome! Also feels great having done this myself, with the aid of STW ofc. Outing at Golspie Wildcats on Sunday will be the testing factor.

Fox Forks Float RL 32 – Service by Anthony Round, on Flickr

Anthony.