It's thicker than gear oil, but it's not all that special or anything.

You can mix grease with suspension oil to get basically the same thing as float fluid. Just mix until it seems about as thick, it's real viscosity isn't critical for what it's used for.

It has a much much shorter service life than grease, especially in a shock. You'll just pump the fluid into the negative chamber.

 

It has a much much shorter service life than grease, especially in a shock. You'll just pump the fluid into the negative chamber.

Oh, how come?
Should I cancel the order then? It's quite pricy, and if it wouldn't do its job...

 

A one use pack is an adequate amount for most air can seal jobs. Dynamic seal grease works great also, or Slickoleum.

 

Maxima Assembly Lube works great for air can seal jobs

 

Gear oil like you might use in your car or your bulldozer has a lot of drag. You want to minimize drag in your shock, so don't use it. The others have made some good suggestions. If you're in a bind, use the suspension fluid that you have on hand. The viscosity is substantially less, so there will be a microscopic film of oil that you'll notice building up on the outside of the shock. It can be argued that this is good, because the purpose of the Float Fluid is to lubricate the seal. You just get a little more with lighter viscosity.

 

Doesn't the grease that a shock comes with have like 500% more drag than even the thickest oil though? That's what I'm talking about. I'm just wondering whether something like 80W gear oil would work just as well as the Fox Fluid.

 

No, not at all.

Suspension grease is quite a bit slicker than gear oil.

I think you're thinking about very high rpm drag in bearings. At 20,000 rpm, grease drags a lot, but that's all from viscosity. Does not apply to dynamic seal movement.

 

Hmm, ok.
Someone said he replaced the stock grease in his TriAir shock with the Fox blue stuff and it's night and day difference, and since it's quite expensive, I was curious whether gear oil would do just as good job.

 

I've done this back to back, and it makes no difference at all, especially in a shock (due to leverage and all that).

It sounds like that person had a shock that was in severe need of service, and simply adding any lubricant at all is what made the difference.

Anyway, gear oil has friction additives that intentionally add friction. Ultra slick oil does not work in limited slip differentials, so they put an additive package in basically all gear oil to meet a universal standard (GL5). Some oils have more, or less, but its pretty much in all gear oil. The thickness is similar, but the oil itself is not.

You really cant add a high friction oil to a bike component and get top performance.

Dynamic seal grease is fine for forks or shocks. Its a decent grease. Slickoleum got popular because its about 10 bucks for a lifetime supply, and its really good too. I bought my toothpaste tube of it years ago and I hardly put a dent in it!

 

Keep in mind that gear oil stinks in general and can be unpleasant to some.

 

Hell yea. I made the unpleasant discovery when I was changing my SR Epicon fork from grease to oil.

 

Smells 'meaty', lol! I've always been really careful not to get that crap all over my hands when changing diff/transfer case fluid. Even then, there's always the phantom smell of it. It got on 'something' lol!! I'm not sure I'd be too keen on that residue coming out of my shock.

 

Btw Slickoleum is SRAM Butter? I tried googling the former and got pretty confused.

 

SRAM Butter and Buzz's Honey are Slickoleum.

The best bang for buck in terms of cost per ounce/gram is Slickoleum followed by Buzz's Honey and last is probably SRAM Butter.

More specialized or fancy names = more $$$ usually at least in bikes.

Float Fluid is pretty similar to 85wt gear oil so something similar would work fine since you aren't going to be using a metric tonne of it.

 

fox float fluid(the blue stuff) is silicon oil and not comparable with gear oil!

 

fox float fluid(the blue stuff) is silicon oil and...

Did you just make this up?

 

Regarding SRAM Butter, I was told it's meant to be used with forks, and I should get RockShox Dynamic Seal Grease (PTFE) for a shock instead, because reasons.
I'm starting to feel my head inflating like a baloon.

 

Fox Float Fluid is nothing like gear oil. That myth has been going around for years. Torco made it for Fox and it's designed specifically for use in air pistons. It's the same stuff as our red APL (Air Piston Lube), also made by Torco. It's very good for air pistons that are designed to have a layer of oil on top of piston. That changed on a lot self-equalizing positive/negative air forks, as someone else pointed out because it will migrate to other chamber. So, if you fork or shock calls for lube in the air chamber, it's great stuff, otherwise, grease only. I concur with others that Slickoleum is great grease for suspension purposes.

 

Well, I don't know.
Check the service video of my shock and tell me whether you'd stick with grease or put the Fluid in there. The lubrication process takes place around 8 mins in I think.

I guess it won't matter, because the original grease got pressurized from the air chamber into the negative chamber after just a few tens of kms ridden.

 

Yep, you're making it up. Fox Float Fluid is mineral oil (petroleum product). It's an easy validation. Look up the MSDS. It's flammable too, silicone oil is not flammable.

 

do you own that stuff? i do and just for fun i did the test a minute ago
test it yourself, it does not burn

 

Bright guy. Look at the MSDS.

 

post the url, fox doesnt give it and it is not on the bottle
but anyway, recipts may change over time. my blue fox float fluid is not flammable

 

my blue fox float fluid is not flammable

Anyone can put a burning match out in open container of jet fuel. Does that mean it's not flammable?

 

Fox produces the MSDS information and makes easily available to everyone who seeks it.

 

 

Float Fluid is not "Flammable". If you look at the flashpoint in the SDS you will see it is 170c (338f) degrees, this makes it a combustible...like most other oils. You would have to heat the oil to 338º before an ignitions source (spark, match, whatever) could ignite it.

 

The biggest PITA with FLOAT fluid and the amounts suggested is where it goes.
If your shock is mounted with the air-valve up then it all ends up down in your negative chamber. Making it perform worse.
If your shock is mounted with the air-valve down then it all ends up in your shock pump next time you connect it. Eating the pump hose from the inside out.

I only use grease. Slickoleum does great providing the lubrication film required and it stays where it's needed.

 

How much do you use? Do you just coat the entire inside of the air can or air chambers with it?

 

In that case i should work at least a little bit. On my bike, the hole going into the negative chamber is mostly on the upside.
On the other hand, when I removed the air can few days ago, most of the original grease was in the negative chamber regardles, which has me wondering how often should I really relube the thing.

 

Your test shows why even grease is on the thick end, and migrates to the negative and ruins performance. Going even thinner with float fluid would make that issue worse, faster.

The best way to go is to service more often but with less lube. A smear all over the orings is all you need. The manufacturer absolutely overpacks shocks on the assumption that people won't service them.

 

The viscosity is similar to gear oil, it could be made out of unicorn tears and the distilled hopes and dreams of mountain bikers. If the OP is looking for an alternative you can use gear oil without fear of bike calamity.

The amount used in most shocks is a couple of CC so I don't think that would be the difference between mechanized doom and, uh, not doom.

 

I got some Torco MPZ assembly lube because I heard it was equivalent to Redrum. But Permatex 81950 looks like the same stuff but cheaper and easy to find.

 

Probably find that at auto stores?

 

Yeah, I was picking up some stuff at Advance Auto and saw it on the shelf.

 

So what did we learn from this thread?
RustyIron has 3 modes of transport; Cleared2land talks to himself; Dougal still doesn't like Fox; and everyone else has their own opinions and do what they like and are still alive ?

 

Cliffs: buy a mezzer.