official xfusion rl2 fork service and tuning thread

dwyooaj · May 7, 2014

Well ive ridden it a few times with the midvalve reinstalled but teh shimstack altered (i put one of the small pivot shims between the 10 mm face shim and the 8 mm support shim). It feels just about what mullen thought, about 25% of teh way between stock and midvalve removed. I think replacing teh face shim with a .1 mm shim will be the way to go. unfortunately I have to have that size custom made, I have requests out to a few machine shops for pricing, heard back from one but they have a $150 minimum order. Im waiting to hear from a local guy to see what he can do. Does anyone else wnat any? Illreport back.

06HokieMTB · May 7, 2014

Sure. I'll take one for if/when I open mine up. Depending on cost though

grok22 · May 7, 2014

Is the mid valve the only tunable shim stack? Or is the base valve able to be adjusted as well?

dwyooaj · May 8, 2014

I think the mid-valve is the only adjust for teh base valve; after I took off teh mid-valve and looked down the circuit it looked like a straight shot to teh port that can be closed by the lockout switch.. tehre is also a high-speed circuit with some bigger shims, I didnt tear it apart that far. You can see it in my pic #20. Those look like standard msizes I think thats what xfusion cutom-tunes if you want them to. But i could be wrong as to the exact names/functions of these stacks.

dwyooaj · May 8, 2014

If anyones ineterested I talked to a guy who can make me .1mm 3 mm ID 10 mm OD shims to replace the .15 mm stock face shim. Basically cost is about $50 for 1 shim, but like $6o or so for 10, the cost is mostly in the setup. So let me know ASAP if you want one and ill have them made and well split the total cost. id like to order them tomorrow because im going to be out of town camping next week. caveat: the stock shim measurements posted here are from my sweep, and I suspect its the same for the slant and the trace but dont know for sure. the 32 mm forks may have a different sized shimstack.

Ramjm_2000 · May 8, 2014

I'd be in for 1.

two-one · May 9, 2014

I really think you should look for the tuning possibilities in reducing the stack preload on the "high speed stack" for a plusher ride over rough terrain.
Is it so difficult to disassemble?

cobym2 · May 9, 2014

I took out the damper and the "midvalve" "cap" thing and noticed that there were only 3 shims of 3 different sizes arranged in a conical stack. I wonder why in the pics there were 5. I rearranged the shims so that the smallest shim sat in between the two larger shims - hopefully to achieve better small bump compliance while not completely losing the mid-valve effect.
Anyway, testing around the block, I felt as if the fork were slightly more plush. Real trail testing tomorrow.

Anyway, some tips:
1. Use the right tools - I tried a socket and it almost mangled the top cap (those things are on TIGHT). Got these from lunar bikes and they're perfect.

2. You can do the tuning mod without taking the fork completely apart. Just remove all air, unscrew the damper top cap, compress fork and lift the damper until you can access the wrench flats on the main tube. Some oil spillage is possible though. Then you can unscrew the top half of the damper assembly.

dwyooaj · May 9, 2014

Cobym, which fork do you have? Mine is a sweep it would be interesting to know how the shim configurations differ for the various rl2 forks. If your big shim is 10 mm and the middle one is 8 it should have the same effects as my stack. i also put one of teh small pivot shims between the 10 and 8 mm shims but would like it a tad softer so want to try the thinner face shim too.

1.Was your socket end ground flat? Mine was and it worked fine. The lunar tools are also a great way to go.

2. Great idea!

dwyooaj · May 9, 2014

two-one said:
I really think you should look for the tuning possibilities in reducing the stack preload on the "high speed stack" for a plusher ride over rough terrain.
Is it so difficult to disassemble?

Might try that down the road, looks like i would have to get some very flat wrenches to get at some of the wrench flats, but shouldnt bee too difficult. that stack looks like a straight stack of 4 -6 shims, might be interesting to change that to a taperd stack. And since those are likely standard sizes would be cheap to mes with. If anyone has any advice on specific mods to that stack that would be great. But IMO the fork feels really good on rougher terrain with bigger chunk/hits, its the small-bump sensitivity i need to open up. However softening up the big stack might help with fast sharp stutter bumps.

kand · May 9, 2014

I'd be in for 1.

grok22 · May 9, 2014

dwyooaj said:
Might try that down the road, looks like i would have to get some very flat wrenches to get at some of the wrench flats, but shouldnt bee too difficult. that stack looks like a straight stack of 4 -6 shims, might be interesting to change that to a taperd stack. And since those are likely standard sizes would be cheap to mes with. If anyone has any advice on specific mods to that stack that would be great. But IMO the fork feels really good on rougher terrain with bigger chunk/hits, its the small-bump sensitivity i need to open up. However softening up the big stack might help with fast sharp stutter bumps.

Would cone wrenches be thin enough?

Just picked my fork up today. It's sitting in my trunk right now while I'm at work. Driving me nuts I can't play with it.

dwyooaj · May 10, 2014

i think a cone wrench would work. If i remember correctly its 12 mm, i have some cone wrenches but theyre bigger.

d-bug · May 10, 2014

Ramjm_2000 said:
Dbug

Can you post a pic of the modified footnut? I'm trying to wrap my head around why a half nut works better than a full nut.

You guys figured it out with words, but a picture is worth a thousand of them. So here you go

This was my original footnut. You can see the silver area on the piece on the right, that's where the threads stripped when I tried threading it on like I've done with all Fox and RS forks I've had.

dwyooaj · May 10, 2014

Well so far there are 5 takers for the shims. I called the guy back today and left a message, im sure ill talk to him in the near future and order a small batch, maybe ten or a dozen in case anyone else chimes or i want to keep a few spares. Ill update on this thread with price and ETA.

Ramjm_2000 · May 10, 2014

sounds good. I might actually be in for a second for my Velvet (vs. My sweep)

cobym2 · May 10, 2014

dwyooaj said:
Cobym, which fork do you have? Mine is a sweep it would be interesting to know how the shim configurations differ for the various rl2 forks. If your big shim is 10 mm and the middle one is 8 it should have the same effects as my stack. i also put one of teh small pivot shims between the 10 and 8 mm shims but would like it a tad softer so want to try the thinner face shim too.
1.Was your socket end ground flat? Mine was and it worked fine. The lunar tools are also a great way to go.

2. Great idea!

I have the sweep.
Socket was a bad 12pt unground one, but which worked on my fox 34. The xfusion caps are thin and soft. Good thing I stopped after one try.

Anyway, I tried the small shim sandwich which you mention on a real trail today. It feels plusher with better small bump sensitivity, but only very slightly. The mid valve is still very much present, which is good (one of the reasons I bought the fork and sold the divey fox 34). I'll probably try it with the cap removed just to see how it is without.
FYI, I refilled the cart with golden Spectro 5wt which should be same or close to stock. Should I go with a lighter oil?
The sweep fork doesn't feel bad, but it's just that my other bike has a coil marz 55 rc3ti. Hard to beat a coil in terms of plushness and it's maybe the reason I'm unconsciously looking for that coil feel. Attainable? Or am I just fooling myself.

dwyooaj · May 10, 2014

cobym2 said:
FYI, I refilled the cart with golden Spectro 5wt which should be same or close to stock. Should I go with a lighter oil?

The sweep fork doesn't feel bad, but it's just that my other bike has a coil marz 55 rc3ti. Hard to beat a coil in terms of plushness and it's maybe the reason I'm unconsciously looking for that coil feel. Attainable? Or am I just fooling myself.

the cst value of 5w spectro fork oil is 21.7, the stock oil is 14.5. Thats significantly thicker. Unless you used the "cartridge fork fluid" whic is 16.2, close enough.

yeah, thats where im at. Ive only ran coil forks before and thats what im used to, so trying to do what i can to get more suppleness out of this air fork. Everyone who says air forks feel as good as coil these days is just high (especially your Zoke!). But with rear shocks, its getting pretty close.

dwyooaj · May 10, 2014

Coby, do you want one of the thinner shims?

cobym2 · May 10, 2014

dwyooaj said:
the cst value of 5w spectro fork oil is 21.7, the stock oil is 14.5. Thats significantly thicker. Unless you used the "cartridge fork fluid" whic is 16.2, close enough.

.

Aha. So that's why. I have a bottle of 2.5 wt coming so I'll try that first.

official xfusion rl2 fork service and tuning thread

dwyooaj

06HokieMTB

grok22

dwyooaj

dwyooaj

Ramjm_2000

two-one

cobym2

dwyooaj

dwyooaj

kand

grok22

dwyooaj

d-bug

dwyooaj

Ramjm_2000

cobym2

dwyooaj

dwyooaj

cobym2

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