Doing my first (ever) lowers service, to get some oil back in these and add foam rings.

Got the forks in a stand, got the left side loose (over air spring) just fine, tapping the socket on the thread.

However, the right shaft – damper – doesn’t seem to want to loosen. I slide the lowers to full extension and… the shaft is still poking out the end, and all of a sudden, the lowers stop sliding like they’ve hit a hard stop.

So: what do I do here? Is the damper threaded shaft still “stuck”? Has something come apart internally? Should I just hit it harder?

The bottom of the damper is stuck/seized in the lower leg casting even though you’ve taken the bolt out – thats the ‘stop’.

Wind the bolt back in partially – and give it some more welly to crack it free. Make sure there are plenty of threads engaged so that you dont strip them – but equally make sure the bolt is not bottomed out, otherwise its not going to break the damper free. I’d wind all the way in then back out two turns, that’ll give you a couple of mm.

Use a suitabe drift or punch, larger diameter than the bolt head, and keep it straight. Dont just swing a hammer at the bolt head.

Alternatively, find a matching, but longer bolt with the same thread size/pitch that you can sacrifice if you really need to bray it.

Yup, hit it again, and got it free. Threads still ok.

And: these forks are almost bone dry, wtf.

I undo the bolt a few turns, then whack the socket. Sometimes I have to do this twice.

BTW I have done mine and put 20ml in each lower instead of 10. Seems to help.

Rings in, oil in, all done back up, back on the bike. Seems a little softer to the hand, certainly less stiction. Will be interesting to get out on it soon.

Oen thing I’m noticing is a slight metallic noise when I compress the forks now – as in, front brake on full, in the shed, put weight on front. “Clong” kinda noise. Cannot tell if it’s the hub, the fork, or the headset, or how I have done this.

The only thing I can see is that the headset might have a little play in it: the top cover is rubbery and clearly is meant to slot into the layer beneath it, but it doesn’t appear to want to go. Is this another case of “hit it harder”? Or is the cover not really likely to be the issue here.

Taking a break from the shed for now, anyhow.

2-3 ml of oil in the air spring really helps as well. You can just do it through the top cap.

Thread hijack….

I managed to get a pair of these last year from CRC very cheap but haven’t installed them yet. It seems to be that they are short of lube from the factory so what exactly do I need to do before first ride?  There’s mention of fitting foam rings?  Also, any special tools needed to get the legs off? I’m usually a rockshox fettler, so these are the first Mark/Fox I’ve tinkered with?

procedure is pretty much exactly the same as for rockshox forks

youll need 10ml of fox 20wt gold in each lower leg (though mine had plenty in)  and some 34mm foam rings

(99% sure that clonking noise was the front brake, btw. forks nice and smooth, no stiction at the top. looking forward to getting out on them.)

@rockhopper70 Here’s the official dismantling guide for a full service: https://www.ridefox.com/fox17/help.php?m=bike&id=1052

for a lowers service, do steps 1/2/3, stop, and then replace foam rings as per https://www.ridefox.com/fox17/help.php?m=bike&id=622#part6497

That is to say: remove the rebound knob (2mm hex), unthread both nuts either side (12mm socket) about halfway, tap/tap/tap/tap with a rubber mallet / deadblow hammer until you’ve got the lowers moving off the threads, remove nuts totally, remove lowers over oil pan and drain. Clean out inside lowers, lube up two new foam rings with oil, insert foam rings into the obvious gap at the top of each lower. Small amount of slick honey on the rubber wiper seals. Lowers back on not quite all the way; 10ml Fox 20wt into either side, lowers all the way on, nuts on, torque up to 5.7nm, tidy up everything. Let the air out if you want, but only after you’ve got the lowers off, and put 60psi into the airspring before you put the lowers back on.

Christina Chapetta’s Pinkbike video on a lowers service is on a pair of Z1s, which are fairly similar, other than having different threads either side. She uses the official Fox tool for screwing onto a thread to hammer it (so you don’t strip the nuts) but honestly you can hit a socket. The main difference to Rock Shox is you use a socket, not a hex bolt, to remove the lowers.

But don’t trust me on that, trust the manuals.

I bought a pair of 34/36mm rings, some oil, syringe, and suspension grease from https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/bits4bikes for around £20.

If you’re looking to take the tops off, you’ll need a flush 26mm socket; Fox make one, but so do Unior and Park, and you can also get spanners.

i just used an adjustable spanner for everything

If you’re looking to take the tops off, you’ll need a flush 26mm socket

I use a big adjustable spanner. It’s not ideal and you have to be pretty careful.