Don’t get me started on this…. 🙁
It took me about 8 months to kill my fox float 32s
I THOUGHT I was looking after ’em sufficiently by meticulously cleaning the top of the seal and the stanchion after every ride. I was wrong.

There’s only two solutions:
1. Drop the lowers off and clean/lube at painfully regular intervals
or
2. Buy something that is actually fit for purpose, with a 3 year no-service-required guarantee – Marzzochi 44RC3Ti 😀

Happens to Magura too. 🙁

Happens to all forks to varying degrees

Happened to my Talas forks. I too thought I was looking after them okay. I now strip them down every couple of months. It’s actually very easy and takes around 15 minutes. On the plus side, the forks are much plusher after the clean/lube etc. Just get used to doing it and save yourself £300!

36’s – yes, after 3 years of use
40’s – no, but rocks knackered the stanchions on those (nice Kashima ones and Fit 2 cartridge now)

Any fork which doesn’t have much lubricating oil in the lower leg will need more regular servicing due to being less able to deal with ‘diluteing’
any dirt that gets past the seals, that goes for all brands.

Seen pairs of RS die the same way* in under a year.

*i.e. ridden regularly with no servicing.

Yay, I’m one of the 4! Except I’ve got 2 pairs, so I’m 2 of the 4! Brill.

And I’m the third! My 32 Vanillas did 3 years and were still prefect. One service in that time, and maybe pop the seals and add oil twice a year on top of that.

That said, I wouldn’t touch Fox TALAS with a barge pole. Not enough oil in ’em!

Happens to all forks to varying degrees

It does. It’s just that it varies towards Fox a bit more than it should…..

Peterpoddy, like I said the new Fox (kashima/skf seals) are alot better

I`ve never seen it, but then again I run 11 year old Marzocchis… 8)

Ohh, anybody wanna see THE WORST fork damage by neglect in THE WORLD?

LoCo, for that money I should bloody well expect so!!!! 🙂

I’ve still never spent more than £385 on a pair of forks, and I don’t intend to start

Yes, bet I’ve got a better/ more damaged set 😉 Although I’m not posting the picture (not fox either)

I’ve got 3 sets of Fox and One has just started to wear on the seal, they are 7 years old tho.

OK, here we go:

Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

Rebas. Obtained by me for spares. They were litererally full of stinky mud and black gunk. This didn’t bother me, but I decided to take them apart. The stanchions had corroded to black, rough alloy. It took me nearly 2 hours to clean the internals up, and then I wet and dryed the stanchions down as smooth as I could (I was bored, it was a challenge to see if they would work) and put them backtogether again.
Well, they held air and actually worked! But the bushing play and sticktion has to bee seen to be believed, and they pee oil everywhere.
I laughed, took them off and hung them up in the garage where they remain. I’ve got a full spare set of internals and adjusters though! 🙂
They were actually worse than they look in the pic. The bottom pic is AFTER I’d sanded the corrosion off the stanchion!

Ha! Just checked ’em. Still holding air fine after about 6 months hung up! I’d use ’em in an emergency, TBH.

Ha ha good work, have been amazed over the years as to how much mud that it’s possible to get into forks 😯

It’s just a plain lack of maintenance, and prising up seals is just a half arsed bodge way of doing things, drop the lowers, clean and replace the oil. If you can’t do this yourself or can’t/don’t want to pay someone else to do it don’t buy them.

I reckon they’ve been in a canal for a few weeks, personally…..

I’ve worn out two pairs of 32 Vans, both lasted over 3 years, but I have to admit I didn’t know how to look after them then.

I have another pair of 32 Vans and a pair of floats. I change the oil and seals once a year, and put in top grade fully synthetic motorcycle fork oil (Plutoline is my choice) and add more than the recommended amount – soak the foam seals to saturation etc and they have been superb.

Also have a pair of Rev’s 426 coil on another bike, which are starting to wear regardless of servicing and lower lubes – about 3 years old. I would say not much in it regarding longevity, but the Fox feel much nicer on the whole and are noticably lighter imo!

Don’t know if that helps any. I’d say you’ve been unlucky, and they haven’t been best looked after.

Seems some people get problems with or without servicing, and others get no problems despite no servicing.

Maybe there jsut some manufacturing variability? I’ve bought some forks that weren’t filled with enough lubricating oil from new.

Just got the new SKF seals fitted to Float 32s by Pedals in Edinburgh. Not ridden them yet but a big thumbs up to James in there for top class service.

I don’t mean to disrespect anyone on here, but to be honest a lot of people, the way they run their suspension/take care of it do not deserve some of the forks they are buying!

I recently cycled (up and downy action ;)) a set of 36 TALAS with KAshima, and i swear i’ve felt better RST’s! I’m not going to blame people with money who by Fox who have no idea about suspension, but it annoys me when they don’t take care of their product, and when it fails, they complain!

Doing a quick clean/wipe of your seals and a bit of lube on the foam rings takes 5 minutes! Put this into perspective when you’re next watching X-Factor/Come Dine With Me for an hour every week and see whcih one is the bigger waste of time.

It’s bad design IMO: The bearing / interfacing surfaces of the forks are part of the main structure and therefore non-replaceable.

At least stanchions (and steerers) used to be bolt in and you could replace them individually. Now stanchions, crown and steerer are one piece it’s uneconomical to replace them when they wear out.

I have some TALAS 36’s that I’m about the swap the seals for Enduro ones, and clean everything up while I’m at it.

The Enduro fitting guide recommends using fully synthetic motor oil, I have some Castrol Magnatex 5w/40 (I think if I remember correctly) that I’m planning on using, does anyone else use motor oil? if so how are the results?

My problem was that while I was meticulous about cleaning the outside of the seals, I relied on LBSs for basic internals servicing. I was doing this every few months and all was well. Then I let it lapse for 8 months and the damage was done 🙁 My Bad.

The guys a BAB rotated the bushing fractionally to reduce further wear (grooves), but warned that the performance will start degrade now so not to expect them to run acceptably for more than another year.

* I’ve tried to get the lowers off myself using the method shown in the Mojo video, but they never “release” no matter how hard I wallop the re-fitted nut at the bottom. If I only I could have worked out how to do this, I would have done regular basic servicing myself.

I use fully synthetic engine oil and have done for years.

Buzz either make sure all the air is out or loosen/remove the preload cap.

Took me a few reads of various guides to get it straight in my mind, the ‘loose’ oil in each leg is there purely for lubrication, so the slicker it is and the ‘clingier’ to the stanchions it is the better, right?

Engine oil’s OK as a substitite for the Float fluid, but surely you can’t use it as the main damping oil? It will just foam and bubble won’t it? Motorbike 10W fork oil will be fine, any brand. It’s a pushbike not a full-on motocross weapon!

The damper carts are sealed and don’t require regular servicing so no, not damper oil, although I do use it in open bath forks as well with no problems.

Does engine oil normally foam and bubble in an engine?

It’s a pushbike not a full-on motocross weapon!

Exactly and engine oil is cheap, I can get a litre of fully synth in my local motor factors for less than a fiver.

Edit: I think some of the new Fox forks are open bath, but I’d probably still do what I’m doing.

I think it’s the hydraulic action that makes the engine oil foam and bubble, losing the damping effect somewhat. I’ve been using EP80 gear oil as substitute for Fox Float fluid, but I think for the price of motorbike fork oil it’s the best stuff to use in the damper, open bath or not.

neallyman – Member

Wouldn’t necessarily disagree if you’re talking about the fork lube bit but disgree with your sentiment. A 2minute bit of maintenance after each ride is all ANY fork needs.

Tell it to my mate who just had to replace his CSU on his 32s, he thought your approach was all they needed and they wore out in just over a year. These forks are delicate enough even if you give them proper routine servicing so recommending that anyone does less is not a good idea.

I don’t mean to disrespect anyone on here, but to be honest a lot of people, the way they run their suspension/take care of it do not deserve some of the forks they are buying!

Maybe they think more expensive forks are better sealed and built, longer lasting and require less maintenance?

This thread explains why I went rigid in the fork dept 😉

he thought your approach was all they needed and they wore out in just over a year. These forks are delicate enough even if you give them proper routine servicing so recommending that anyone does less is not a good idea

Certainly wouldn’t ever recommend ”that anyone does anything less”. In fact more. My approach is in addition to oil changes and doing a proper service as prescribed. Proper seal maintenance should always be in addition to a 30minute oil change/foam ring clean and lube etc.

3rd set of 40’s now and a couple of sets of 36’s have all been fine by doing this. I like Fox forks for a multitude of other reasons so i can put up with the maintenance requirements as a consequent sacrifice.

I have lyrics too on my Enduro, and have tried boxxers as well. Rockshox also have their benefits, but also have their drawbacks. You pays your money and takes your choice but I can appreciate the good and bad in both manufacturer’s forks.

Fair dos then- what you said was, “A 2minute bit of maintenance after each ride is all ANY fork needs.” but if you mean that on top of the routine servicing then I agree with you.

Shirley fox should just put a sticker on every fork leg saying remove seals and lube after every 15 hrs

would save mistakes like those made above

how do you lift the seals without damaging them or the stanchions?

You lift the seals with a taped screwdriver, but according to the official fox guide you need 2 oils – a 7wt for cleaning and a 5ml pillow pack for the sponge. Mojo tell me that the 7wt is no longer recommended and the fox 10wt green oil should be used…have yet to buy any to try it out.

Jools fox suggest wrapping the screw driver in electrical tape and putting some on the stanchions in case you slip. With all that faffing it will be just as quick to take the lowers off and do it properly; you can take the foam wipers out and flush clean them and properly soak in float fluid. Just done mine, and will be fitting enduro seals next time around as everything I’ve read suggests they are much better than OE.

Yeah agree with Munqe-Chick, don’t even bother with all that taping up screwdrivers etc and trying to prize them up with the lowers still on the stanchions.
It’s easier, cleaner and less risky to just get the lowers off and do it properly.