I have a set of fox vanillas that are so old that they have mounts for v-brakes as well as discs. The previous owner was running them on a jump bike with slicks being used as a commuter bike. I bought them about six or eight years ago and have used them on a ‘fun bike’ for the street, and on a spare MTB, but never on my main MTB. They felt great when I got them but pretty lifeless now.

I’m guessing that if they’ve ever been serviced it was back in 2006 or maybe 2008, but maybe earlier.

What am I going to find when I open them up?

They’re a proper oil bath, so really simple to work on, just with lots of oil to clean up! I might actually have the service manual at home, will try and remember to have a look.

The only thing I definitely remember is that you need to be careful not to over-tighten the foot nuts on them, as I learned when I sheared off the bottom of the damper 🙁

Thanks for that. Might have to give them a go (and the manuals still seem to be online, though identifying the precise year when all decals were removed before I bought them could be fun!)

I was expecting an answer more along the lines of “if they’ve gone that long without a service the stanchions are likely to have worn quickly and there is a very good chance you’re forks are f-ed”!

That’s what makes proper oil baths so good! unless you’ve lost a huge amuount of oil there’s every chance they’ll be in surprisingly good condition inside!

I’ve never noticed much / any oil coming out of them – I’d kinda assumed that was because the last of the oil seeped out in 2010.

Although they are oil bath, the LH leg actually has very little oil in it. I would be very surprised if the stanchion has survived unfortunately, especially as you say they are a bit lifeless now. I religiously looked after mine but they still succumbed prematurely. Great fork though, Sooooo supple, especially for a light rider. I hope I’m wrong about the wear though. Replaced mine with an RS Revelation coil fork but it was never as good and the LH stanchion is also now worn.

Oh well, someone had to spoil my optimism!!!! Will post in a week or two when I get them open!

Oh aye, I tried to take care of my Fox Vans but they were wrecked (stanchion wear spring side) within a few short years. I would leave well alone if I were you. What has been seen cannot be unseen…

I have a theory why this happened on all my Fox coil forks. I think (know) the spring laterally bends in the stanchion and rubs on the inside of the aluminium tube. This creates aluminium wear debris which obviously collects in the oil and circulates around the fork and acts as an abrasive at every other interface. Explains why the oil at service was always shiny grey as opposed to brown. And this is why I switched to air forks 🙂

Sorry mate, but I thought it best you know—- 😕
The good thing though is that even though the stanchions may be borked, at least they won’t leak air, only oil and may feel ok after a service.

I have left them well alone for years, but its got to a point where I have gone out and bought a set to replce them because my back-up MTB deserves better than these as they currently are.

Now is the time to open them up and (hopefully) learn to service suspension forks and (worst case) get to a point where I can list them on ebay accurately.

Without opening them up I can only advertise them as “don’t feel great, not been serviced for years, quite possibly f-ed”. Hopefully I can get a touch more for them advertising the specific problems as opposed to not knowing anything. And if they are servicable then that’ll be a great bonus!

I’ve done alright considering I bought them as part of a full bike for £150, that I used for a few years then split, sold parts etc etc!