Fox RP3 ‘stuck down’

Landed a small drop at the weekend which has resulted in my shock sticking down.

I’ve downloaded the service fix from the fox website, and Flidhips has the tools, but does anyone have any good advice before we pop the can open?

Here we go again, the cold weathers here, hard tail only for me until the temps go up.

Stand well to the side when removing the air can as it can come off at a fair rate. Clamp the fixed end in a vice, remove the bushes at the other end and jam a rolled up piece of rag through the hole, this will help stop the can flying off and damaging itself and anything in it’s path. Wearing safety goggles may not be a bad idea too.

I did mine with a set of oven gloves and goggles.

My hands easily captured the shock. The goggles were cos I’m a chicken.

Had this with mine, for some reason i thought you had to really pull on it once you’d unscrewed the can. WRONG!!
Took me ages to find the O rings and get all the fluff off them!
Only took about 10 mins to clean and put back together.
Only problem is now my air valve is leaking. Prob just needs a clean.

This isn’t a bad guide [albeit for the RP23]
You’ll need to be logged in to see the pics

i cannot believe they still have this problem in the cold, i had an 06 stumpy and it stuck down 3 times in cold weather, if you go onto bikemagic there are hundreds of posts on this.

fox said it was the seals years ago and it was going to be fixed… i guess not!! the seals used was too brittle and slipped over a doodawhatsit and let the air into the chamber (or words to that effect)

Mine prob stuck down as i did quite a big flight of stair and it was pretty cold. And its the original 6 yo seals in mine!

This is on a ’05 Trance, so maybe Fox have changed the seals since. Gonna sell the frame so I’m happy to give the shock a service beforehand anyway.

Can I ask why the rag helps? Do I have to clamp the ends in the vice or something?

You put the rag through the eyelet at the thin end and this stops the air can firing off. It is not the outer can that will shoot off that will just pull off nicely it is the inner black bit that you need to turn to remove then you will hear a bang and it will shoot off. To the end of the shaft if you use the rag or through your garage door/up your garden. I used an old tea towel to push through the eyelet as it is much more substantial than a rag.

Pretty easy to do really afterwards you will wonder why you were so worried.

Oops ignore the bit about the sliding off black bit you dont have that on the RP3. Just twist the outer shaft with the stickers on.

I did it to a DHX Air.

Thanks for this,I thought I was in for an expensive repair bill but I’ve just taken my locked down shock apart,put it back together and all appears ok. Guess I may need a new seal kit at some point in the future but for now all is well, maybe just use the bouncy bike in the warmer weather.