[monolink]

I bought BLT on 7th of December and since then I have had troubles with Fox RP3 shock. Three times it got so called "stuck down" and lost its stroke length. Now it is in authorized Fox service again. They told me, that they faced such issue only once and they finally discovered, that GT frame was crooked and that I should measure my BLT if it is not the case. I am not sure I can do it myself, any advice about technology of such measurement in home conditions ? And have you ever heard about crooked Santa Cruz frame ?

 

[mtnbikej]

I bought BLT on 7th of December and since then I have had troubles with Fox RP3 shock. Three times it got so called "stuck down" and lost its stroke length. Now it is in authorized Fox service again. They told me, that they faced such issue only once and they finally discovered, that GT frame was crooked and that I should measure my BLT if it is not the case. I am not sure I can do it myself, any advice about technology of such measurement in home conditions ? And have you ever heard about crooked Santa Cruz frame ?

They had issues in the past with the Superlight. I know of 2 or 3 personally that had the rear triangle not line up with front triangle correctly, causing the shock ot have to work in an odd angle.

mtnbikej

 

[DMFT]

That is not right. One of the wrenches at my LBS (I wrench there too p/t) had his RP3 get stuck like that, and a Specialized with a Triad did the same thing.
I don't think it's some kind of epidemic or anything, it just happens when something internally gives up the ghost. What kind of conditions are you riding in? From what I've heard Air Shocks in general don't like real cold weather.

 

[TNC]

I think Fox got a bad batch of Q-seals or something, because there seems to have been a more than normal frequency of "stuck downs" on new shocks IMHO. Darren at PUSH posted a good pic and explanation of the Q-ring. Apparently the quality of the seal and installation setup of the seal are critical. On the other hand, maybe the demand and number of Fox air shocks has just increased to such a degree that we hear about more instances of this failure causing the stuck down condition. This seems to be more frequent on new shocks lately which does tend to indicate either a seal quality or installation problem...perhaps? I had the same thing on my DHX Air, but it has been totally reliable after repair since then...fingers crossed.

 

[tscheezy]

I had one of the first RP3s. It got stuck down long ago. The replacement (new shock) stuck down. My DHX Air got stuck down. It is just a design issue where air burps past the main body seal into the negative chamber which occurs sometimes and does not seem to be strictly due to a "bad batch of seals" though Fox likes to roll this argument out. I have been able to eliminate the problem by adding a thinner viscosity lube for the main body bearing/seal. I use about 2-3cc of 15 or 20wt fork oil.

 

[monolink]

That is not right. One of the wrenches at my LBS (I wrench there too p/t) had his RP3 get stuck like that, and a Specialized with a Triad did the same thing.
I don't think it's some kind of epidemic or anything, it just happens when something internally gives up the ghost. What kind of conditions are you riding in? From what I've heard Air Shocks in general don't like real cold weather.

Always it happened in freezing conditions, I reported this fact to the Fox service, but they assured me it can not be the matter. But funny thing, even though they are so sure, they advice me to put the bike outside for let us say 10 minutes, to get it used to freezing temperature.

 

[TNC]

To Fox's credit..

I had one of the first RP3s. It got stuck down long ago. The replacement (new shock) stuck down. My DHX Air got stuck down. It is just a design issue where air burps past the main body seal into the negative chamber which occurs sometimes and does not seem to be strictly due to a "bad batch of seals" though Fox likes to roll this argument out. I have been able to eliminate the problem by adding a thinner viscosity lube for the main body bearing/seal. I use about 2-3cc of 15 or 20wt fork oil.

They never yanked my chain when calling them from the shop. In fact about all I got was, "this happens sometime". I like your idea of adding some thinner lube during servicing. That might alleviate the tendency of cold weather failures especially. This shock has been awesome otherwise. The only other shocks that I was able to get this kind of overall plushness out of on my Bullit was a longer stroke Fox RC and a Cloud 9, but those two shocks produced a boat load of pedaling inefficiency and mushiness. The DHX Air maintains a very good pedaling efficiency, even with the Propedal backed off.

 

[DMFT]

The thin oil may help in most conditions, but I think that rubber starts to do funny things in extreme cold.

 

[wandr]

They told me, that they faced such issue only once and they finally discovered, that GT frame was crooked and that I should measure my BLT if it is not the case... And have you ever heard about crooked Santa Cruz frame ?

A couple of us in this previous thread:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=151895

Just posting to point out that it's not an isolated incident. My BLT was only in use for 6 weeks when it happened to me.

 

[monolink]

I bought BLT on 7th of December and since then I have had troubles with Fox RP3 shock. Three times it got so called "stuck down" and lost its stroke length. Now it is in authorized Fox service again. They told me, that they faced such issue only once and they finally discovered, that GT frame was crooked and that I should measure my BLT if it is not the case. I am not sure I can do it myself, any advice about technology of such measurement in home conditions ? And have you ever heard about crooked Santa Cruz frame ?

Dear all, just to keep you informed about the thing, this morning I got a call from the local Fox service and they told me, that Fox announced that they have installed main body seal from new material for last two months and now they have just discovered it does not resist frost. They will contact all authorized services worldwide to change the seal in near future. Thanks god.

 

[bikerx40]

Dear all, just to keep you informed about the thing, this morning I got a call from the local Fox service and they told me, that Fox announced that they have installed main body seal from new material for last two months and now they have just discovered it does not resist frost. They will contact all authorized services worldwide to change the seal in near future. Thanks god.

This issue has been going on for almost a year now, why would a change in material over the past 2 months have any effect? See Tscheezy's solution, as it seems to be the only thing that'll help your issue- it's worked great on my wife's Fox Float which was sticking down.