Someone on here (forgotten his forum name, sorry C) very kindly passed on a ruined Hilo to me since I kept asking around.

It was empty of about half its oil and all its pressure when I got it, so I thought I’d refill it and see what happened. I went on a family ride, without really testing it, and it pissed oil everywhere when I sat on it. Not sure what I was expecting 🙂 Anyway, when it was out of oil and I was sitting on air, I could see bubbles leaking out of the seal.

So after a little googling I found ‘improved’ seal kits from two places in the US and one in Israel. They claim a redesigned seal to prevent leaks. When they arrived I had a close look and the main seal was indeed different. It had the downward pointing lip that you get on suspension forks, that allows pressure in the oil chamber to force the seal onto the shaft tighter. The original XFusion one didn’t have this, which seems bizarre. Oil under pressure would be directed between the shaft and the seal to squeeze out. Perhaps this is why people seem to have problems with these?

Anyway, for anyone else having these problems, the improved seal kit could well help. Mine seems to be holding pressure so far.

eBay linky

I might pick that up for next time my Hilo needs a service. Thanks MG.

I’ll be taking a spare seatpost next long ride though 🙂

Ones I’ve seen leak have been through the top which is the two small o-rings where the lever pushes to actuate it.

It held oil on today’s 1.5hr ride. It’s tight though – might need a bit more air, because it didn’t come back up a couple of times.

Fitted an Israeli sourced seal kit to my HiLo about six months ago, it’s been fine since…

Did you have problems with leaks before?

Used the same seal kit to great success after my Hilo started sinking and leaking oil. Only been for a few rides but no leaking oil yet. Recommended.

Pleased (and a bit suprised) to hear you are getting some use out of it !
Yep, on the last couple of time I used it, lots of oil was leaking out of the top, but since the seals had just been replaced, the notion of getting different ones didn’t occur to me (though admittedly my level of technical knowledge runs to knowing which spanner to hit things with!)

Don’t worry, I don’t want it back ! I use that bike for long rides so reliability is pretty important

Charity donation on its way, as promised.

I’ve just sent my Hilo back for a warranty job after it lasted a handful of rides before spaffing its guts up all over itself. They really are the component equivalent of a drunk teenager vomiting outside a kebab house

drunk teenager vomiting outside a kebab house

My thoughts also re the HILO SL. It lasted about six rides before spewing oil out the top. No warranty job as i bought it second hand albeit completely unused. Ordered a seal kit which makes no sense relative to the instruction video on the x-fusion website as it shows him installing several other seals in the top cap area but none in the pack fit, nor were any in there when i took it apart! Emailed them but no reply. On the verge of chalking it up to a bad experience and getting one of the new reverbs as i want to ride the bike.

Now I’m no business guru, but if you were running a large manufacturing company, in a competitive market, then you’d think that if there were people offering aftermarket solutions to fix your shit design, then maybe you’d want to think about changing your shit design, to one that other people are proving works a damn site better.

Having had issues with X Fusion before, with another nackered Hilo, their customer service is absolutely appalling!

The seal kit is a good upgrade bins – you can send me yours if you like and I’ll sort it next time? If you don’t trust yourself, that is 🙂 I’ll also do yours Gotama if you like – doesn’t take long.

The 3rd party kit I used had some extra seals in it, but apart from that it made sense.

Have to agree with Binners – first and last purchase from X Fusion

Then again, Mr Molgrips might have enough work to set up a business 🙂

I wouldn’t mind – only takes 20 mins to do.

Whilst you are here Chris – how old is that post? Just curious, cos there’s a little wear here and there and I wonder how long it took to sustain it.

Re the product itself – have you lot seen the maintenance schedule? Replace cable every month? Seriously? Full service every six months or 50 hours? That’s taking the piss.

Maybe I should set up a business!

Thanks, appreciate the offer but will have a closer look first. Mine is the SL model so the seal kit in your link doesn’t fit. I think the seals used are slightly different hence why the x-fusion vid doesn’t entirely make sense albeit they say it’s for all three variants. Not to mention they decided to film a service vid of a largely black post with a guy in a black tshirt wearing black gloves making it that little bit harder to follow what he’s picking up! Tempted by cheapness as it came with frame, albeit no blame attached to seller at all. Won’t make that mistake again.

Mine is the SL model so the seal kit in your link doesn’t fit

I think there were others for SLs, it’s worth a Google.

I watched the video, but didn’t bother referring to it when I opened it up. It’s very simple inside.

Did you have problems with leaks before?

Yes it had started leaking, and gotten progressively worse over the course of a couple of weeks, but it was well over four years old and still on the original seals.

I have had it apart a couple of times to clean/service before so I was already familiar with the whole disassembly/reassembly/bleed process, it’s a very simple bit of kit, simpler than many forks… The full kit was handy I also replaced the inner seals on the actuating shaft and the valve, one was a bit damaged, so I did the rest to be on the safe side…

And yes, there are different seal kits for the different versions, the SL has a larger diameter “stanchion” I believe…

Whilst you are here Chris – how old is that post? Just curious, cos there’s a little wear here and there and I wonder how long it took to sustain it.

Bought July 2013, but actually used very little – it was on my ‘other’ mountain bike and I had various minor issues with it from the start. It may have been damaged in a crash I had early on (I was, which is part of the reason why it didn’t get much use that winter). One of the problems I had was due to the fact it had a single bolt clamp to hold the saddle and a tendency for the saddle to suddenly tip backwards.

have you lot seen the maintenance schedule

Does anyone take any notice of these ? 😯

Considering setting up a website to offer servicing with better seals.. what do people think? Sounds like if XFusion are that bad they might appreciate a third party?

.. what do people think?

Sounds good to me , mines working ok at the moment but I’ve not had it long!

Could be interested. I recently picked up a 2nd hand one that doesn’t return to full height…suspecting a seal issue but havent had time to properly take a look yet.