[elerner61]

I've got a 2004 Fox RL rear shock. It's got roughly 700 miles on it, it's in a Santa Cruz Superlight. My usual setup is with 105 lbs in the shock. My problem is, on cold rides (colder than 35 degrees) air pressure is leaking from the main chamber to the negative air spring side and pulling the shock down. Pumping the shock to 250 lbs doesn't cure this condition. I just performed a total seal rebuild (all seals, bearings, rings...everything) and service of the shock using a brand new rebuild kit from Fox and Fox Float fluid (previously I was using Slick Honey) and the problem still happened. I do have a habit of "liberally" applying Float fluid, leaving extra above the body seal and extra in the Air Sleeve above the Air Sleeve bearing.

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong or something I can do before each cold ride to prevent this? I'm getting tired of riding with a partially stuck down shock and then having to "pop" off the air sleeve after the ride.

Thx.

 

[cort]

I'm sure you did everything correct, here's some info that might cheer ya up and get you back on the bike.

Fox is experimenting with some new seals for the Float models to solve this issue. (for cold winter riders out there) They are supposed to be made out of a different compound - sorry guys, he didn't really get into the details
We complained to them after a customer's Float kept leaking air from the pos to the neg chamber on four seperate occassions. (We examined the body for damage, and replaced the seals. Unfortunately this didn't solve the problem, we then sent it back to Fox- twice - and they couldn't fix it either!)
Fox is now sending us a NEW version of these seals for us to try out.
See what Fox has to say about this - mabey they can put you on the "guinea pig" list as well (haha!)
Should have them tommorrow, i'll keep ya posted on how they work

 

[cort]

We received the new quad seals from Fox today. Visually, the don't look any different (a little darker in color) but physically, they seem less compressable when squeezed with your fingers. So far so good - shock hasn't leak yet!

 

[weaklink]

Cort - What shop are you affiliated with?

I am assuming you are a PUSH guy or another primary Fox Rebuild shop? I am about to get my RL serviced, so was curious.

Thanks!

 

[damion]

Any shop.

I am assuming you are a PUSH guy or another primary Fox Rebuild shop? I am about to get my RL serviced, so was curious.

Thanks!

Just about any shop can do seal rebuilds, so my guess is that he is at a shop in some cold weather, but not a big-leaguer like TF or PUSH.

If you are looking in to a re-valving, go with PUSH. Call them and see what they say about the stick down issue in the cold. If anyone has solid info on new seals, it is those guys.

www.pushindustries.com

 

[cort]

.......

 

[elerner61]

Great News

This info about the cold weather seals is great news. In the meantime, I've developed a workaround that seems to suffice. I don't store the bike/shock with any air in it. At the trail head, I cycle the shock through it's full travel about 10 times. Then I pump up the shock. I've started trading emails with Mike Marquez at Fox. Hopefully he'll be willing to send me some of the new seals.

Thanks all for the information!