Slipped my Float RL130s of my trek yesturday to send them off for a service and found a large bit of stantion wear on the inside of the stanions right wear i couldnt see it! When i took them down to te shop the guys said its really common with fox forks especally on the caliper side and going to cost aorund £270 to repair. Only had the bike from new since last april!! Anyone had the same problem, did mojo warrenty it??

this is VERY common. The cost you mention is roughtly right – £70 for mojo to service and IIRC 150 ish for a new crown/steerer/stanchions assembly.

Mojo will typically tell you it’s your fault and that you didn’t service it every 15.3 minutes of riding, meaning that it’s not a warrantee job. If you complain enough they do seem to agree to replace it FOC sometimes.

Plenty of people on here will tell you that it’s your fault because their Fox Forx have been fine for 15 years with no maintenance except for a wipe with a metal file on the stanchions every ride 😉

You can try sending it to Mojo and seeing if you’ll get it done under warranty but I doubt it. They will probably say you didn’t service it regularly enough.This is indeed a common problem with Fox forks (I have had it happen to me twice) and you will need an entire crown upper stanchion assembly.

Fox forx don’t like the UK slop and grime. :Fact:

my Fox Float 32 RL’s have done exactly the same, after approx 10 months of riding, including a wet winter in wales. i used to wipe the stanchions after every ride. it seems the only way in britain you can hope to avoid this is by either lifting up or replacing the seals fairly often.

not sure what to do with mine, may just keep them going as long as possible and then maybe gets something like rock shox revaltions which should be more durable. either way its crap and annoying cos they were nicely performing forks

Or you can just ignore it and carry on until they are properly borked.

Does this affect Vanillas?

“Does this affect Vanillas?”

It did affect my 05 Vanillas. Mine had significant wear after one year and were “beyond economic repair” about 10 months later. That was from TFT. I replaced mine with Pikes.

Yep

“Does this affect Vanillas?”

It was the Vans that it happened to. My Floats have been trouble free so far *looks for some wood to touch*.

Mojo will not warranty it.

Mine packed up after less than 20 hours riding and they wanted me to pay over £200 so I told them not to bother and I bought some rockshox

OK cheers. I’m not that fussed because I got my Vanillas for £147 in Canada, but I s’pose I should start looking after them…..

🙂

Why don’t Mojo warranty this, Fox forks carry a 2 year warranty

my 06 talas 36’s did it too. you could see the stripes where the anodising wore away.

Had this after 4 months with my Fox Forks
Mojo will say as above have said-it’d then whether you can persuade them to show a bit of discretion
Have now bought fork oil and float fluid
Best way(IMO) is to take the lower legs off(every 15 hours or so)
Lets you inspect for any dirt ingress and clean/lubricate the foam rings
It’s easier than trying to lift the seals(and to get them to reseat afterwards)
Not sure whether there have been design changes but stripped my lads 3 years old Fox Forks down at the weekend and the foam seals were still lubricated, no dirt and no stanchion wear-maybe some are just better than others
Talk to any LBS and they will all have stories to tell on Fox

Thats coz they were my forks mate… 🙂

Best way(IMO) is to take the lower legs off(every 15 hours or so)

That’s going to work well for the 24 hour/multi-stage racers…..

Why don’t Mojo warranty this, Fox forks carry a 2 year warranty

Because its not a manufacturing defect.

The reason this problem occurs with Fox forks is due to lack of maintenance. Mojo cant replace every CSU free of charge because the idiot who owns the forks couldnt be arsed to clean them when they were meant to.

This is the reason Im geting rid of my fox forks, because they are worn and I cant be bothered to maintain them. Not Mojo’s fault though

😀
Yours were in very good nick Neil- but it was my other lads forks I was surprised about

Ahhh. The younger and cheaper one to keep… 😆

Because its not a manufacturing defect.

The reason this problem occurs with Fox forks is due to lack of maintenance. Mojo cant replace every CSU free of charge because the idiot who owns the forks couldnt be arsed to clean them when they were meant to.

Where does manufacturing defect end and ‘unfit for purpose’ start.

On the basis that Marzocchi, Rockshox, don’t suffer anywhere near as much as it seems Fox do, and also given that Fox apparently didn’t have these issues in the past, I’d say it’s either a significant design flaw / substandard speccing of the coating or coating process. Hence unfit for purpose.

Alternatively, the design and coating spec has been adequately specified but something has gone badly wrong on the manufacture. Hence a manufacturing defect.

Why doesn’t someone issue a small claims writ on this for one or the other and see what the SCC would think of it?

[Interesting that some people seem tolerant to this yet when other manufacturers making for sake of argument ‘consumables’ encountered manufacturing defects and did warranty their returns they still got a hell of a blasting]

I thought Fox forks have always been like this?? i remember similar stories started to appear after fox first brought out their line of forks in 2002 or whenever it was.

Taking the lower legs of every 15 hours is ridiculous. Thats a couple of times a month in the summer. If they’re no suitable for UK use, perhaps they should stop selling them here.

They have always been like it, I had a set of Vanillas when they 1st came out, and they were dead in 15 months.

Taking the lower legs of every 15 hours is ridiculous. Thats a couple of times a month in the summer

for some people thats a couple of times a week in the summer.

So you automatically void the Fox warranty if you use them in a 24 hour race?!

No, you just need to stop mid race for a service

This is surely going to bite them in the ass soon because they’re coming on a lot of popular bikes these days. Mine are running fine after a year of heavy use but I’m prepared to expect some wear under the seals now judging by what others have said.

Although, as they work fine I’m likely going to do what ‘Poddy said and just run them till they break and get something else.

For a Dust Wiper Seal Quick Clean and Lube (Quickstart) I’m unsure how tight the crush washers need tightening, does anyone know what 50in-lbs or 565N-cm equates to is Nm ?

it equates to ‘buy a torque wrench’ as if you over tighten it you will shear the soft Al thread off the damper cartridge and will cost you around £80 to get a new one.

edit: mine has Nm and Inch pounds on it

OK smart a*se……..I have a torque wrench which measures in Nm, what does 50-in-lbs or 565N-cm equate to in Nm ???

I read this thread and checked with Fox site (I am about to get a bike with Fox forks on).

You DO NOT have to remove the lower legs or change oil every 15 hours.

You DO have to pop off and clean the seals and foam rings, and put a drop of oil on. Looks like a 5-10min job, bit like the really good drivetrain clean I do every few weeks.

Every 150 hours you change oil and do a strip down.

http://www.foxracingshox.com/fox_tech_center/owners_manuals/09/Eng/2009_OM_eng.htm

Matt, I was about to do what you suggest myself, but apparantly the “quickstart” takes approx the same amount of time, and lifting the seals with a scredriver is more fiddly than taking the lower legs off. This is all “in theory” though…

Having said that, if you have to pop off seals so often, why not make them ‘screw on’ or with an easy removal/install – rather than stoopid little slots and bodged screwdrivers and electrical tape – surely someone at Fox could come up with something / a tool to pull and knock back on?

50 inch pounds = 5.649241667 Nm off some Internet calculator, however I will check tonight on mine to make sure

trouble is, matt, people who’ve done exactly that have STILL had problems…

cheers for that richc

no worries, also reading back I misread your 1st post, and didn’t think you already had a torque wrench so sorry about that.

Mind you might save someone an expensive mistake.

After reading these posts I’m sh*tting it now, I’ve never “serviced” my vans, I’ve only ever cleaned the stantions after EVERY ride so I’ll soon find out when I service them. No visible wear but I guess a lot hinges on how dirty the foam seals are?

Matt
I’ve tried it both ways and it is far easier taking the legs off
Also if/when you send to Mojo you will get a sheet back which explains to take the legs off

MikeWW, do the “base nuts” come away with the lower legs, or do they remain attached to the stantions when you remove the lower legs?

“holding the lowers steady place your socket on the base nut to protect it then tap the socket with a soft mallet to release the lower legs”

I cant see how you can remove the lower legs without removing the base nuts first but the instructions dont mention this?

Got a bit of sanction wear on my vanillas, i just ignore it. It’s like the dent in the down tube on my old 1999 Zaskar, i did it the week i got it and it’s still going strong just a bit of cosmetic damage is all.

It’s not like they’re going to explode.

enfht: The ‘base nuts’ hold the lowers on and are connected to shafts within the fork.

Loosen the base nuts off – but don’t completely undo them – then tap with a hammer to seperate the lowers, then continue unscrewing the nuts (wahey!).