Leaky forks

big_chris-2

During a lap of Cannock today I noticed a build-up of oil around the seals on the right leg of my '09 Fox 32's, and after one of the more bumpy descents there was a trickle running all the way down the back of the fork leg. Doesn't sound good I know, any ideas what might have popped? The forks still seem to work fine.

I bought the forks 2nd hand a Christmas so not sure when they were last serviced (they've been working fine up until now though...)

peter413

This happened on my Floats, ends up they didn't like riding a lot and only getting serviced once a year and the stanchions were a little bit worn (not noticable to your eye though) meaning the seal was letting out to much oil. I got them serviced but two months later one stanchion was silver because dirt got into the seal and wore it away because the seal wasn't forming a perfect seal.

So basically, sounds like you could be in need of new uppers soon. Get them serviced and pray.

big_chris-2

Great! To be honest, they were in pretty much mint condition when I bought them and there's barely a mark on them now so perhaps it's not wear & tear?

How much is a Fox service roughly? Should I start saving now?

peter413

Like I said, you couldn't tell they were worn just by looking at them. Your seals may just be worn though but them replaced now before any more harm is caused.

It's about £100 from Mojo or TF IIRC but if you are friendly with your LBS and they service forks it can be a lot lot cheaper

big_chris-2

I think I'll go down the LBS route, I only paid £250 for the forks so not really up for spending a ton!

Cheers

kdawg74

you canservice them yourself its quite easy, with some good advice on here and some useful vids on youtube.
Seal kit is £15.00, fork oil and float fluid comes to about £20.00 - £25.00 all of ebay.
Does seem a daunting task, but did mine for the 1st time last week and could'nt believe how easy it was.

big_chris-2

I'm not the best mechanic by any means, I can do the basics but I'd much rather leave it to the Pro's to be honest. I don't have a decent enough setup to attempt something like this and I don't have that many tools. Plus, if the bits cost £40 to begin with I'm almost half-way to the TF service already!