[heather@thebakkers.com]

Vanilla spring

I had the same porblem with my 07' vanilla. What you need is a medium or firm spring from an 06-05 vanilla and add a 40mm spacer out of PVC and slightly taper the one edge of the PVC so you still have preload adjustment. I'm 127# and this the only way I could use the fork. Also change the stock 7.5 weight to redline 7.5 weight. It has a lower viscosity and better resistance to temp. change. It is like butter with this setup. I got about 90mm of travel out of the black spring with 2 foot landing to flat now I can bottom it once in awhile from 2-3 feet to flat. If you want to see the spacer and can snap a pic for you. Alot of people have springs laying around I'm sure someone has one.

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

Vanilla spring mode

Here is what I did to make my 07 work. The spring on the left is from an 06' vanilla green weight spring and the right is the black spring from the 07'. The spacer has some rock and roll grease in it. They are the same height and I just made the one edge that goes against the top cap a shave so you still have preload adjustment. An important thing to note is the position of heatshrink on the moded fork. You will had to test out several positions to get it right. It will feel terrible in the wrong position. It seems to be alittle above the half way point on the spring towards the top cap. Good luck.

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

That seems like to much 2.5 wt. I have tried many mixtures and the best is 50% 5wt Redline synthetic and 50% 10wt Redline Synthetic. You get 7.5 wt but with much better damping and the adjustments for LSC, rebound, and Lockout still function. I have used this in all my fox forks (Van 36rc2, 40 RC2, Vanilla 130mm) I even changed the damper oil in the 40 and 36. Check out this site for Oil Info: http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/lowspeed.htm

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

You really need to disassemble the fork and drain the damper completely. I think I used a 1.5mm allen to open up the drainholes on the bottom of the damper and pump the assembly a few times and let it drain upright over night so it can run out. I'm not sure what volume I drained out but I know I dropped 5ml below the recommended when I filled it up. That is how I did it.

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

Too expensive!

You are correct I did price out a custom spring in Ti and the material was $1000.00 because it could only be purchase in ten pound lots. THey put me on a list so if they get the material for another job and have spare they will call me. Custom Spring solution services was the company. I never actually asked for a quote for steel.

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

You are right. That was for my vanilla 130mm fork not the 07' one.

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

Don't fret!

If i had found this thread a lot earlier i wouldn't have purchase my current 2009 Vanilla 36 RC2 and save myself a lot of troubles but since i have it, just have to live with it. My problems is similar to the majority in this thread.
For starters i have a 2008 medium size Heckler, am about 130-135 ready to ride. My problem is i cant get 30mm of sag let alone the 40mm recommended for 'plush' EVEN after changing to the included 'purple' spring. I have since placed an order for a 'black' spring and hope i will get the proper sag by then.
I do not have the luxury of sending it to 'pushed' because sending a 6-7lbs package halfway round the world to the US of A is definately NOT cost effective being one reason. The other is FOX should own this 'issue' and not let another company solve the problem(no disrespect to Push) or else FOX could just sell their business to Push and everyone start buying from Push.
That being said, if the black spring still cant solve the issue i'll be looking at another company's offering in the near future. On a side note, maybe FOX should put a notice on their website that says 'if rider weight is under 140lbs, product might not work as advertised' That may be useful.

This thread is about the vanilla 32mm not the 36. I have the 36 and use the lightest available and it works very well. I adjusted the bottom out to min. in the damper and used my usual redline 7.5 wt ( mix of 5 and 10) it feels awesome! Also the weight of the lightest spring for the van36(35#) is lighter then the one for the 32(40#) version. Seems kind of weird. I weight 127# w/o gear so I'm in your range suited up. It also took about 10 rides to really break in.

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

Buy the black spring!

Ah ok maybe i'm jumping the gun and expecting too much for over-spending on this fork and its still under 10 rides. Initially i was goin to get the Pike 454 Coil but due to no stock was 'forced' to get this. I do hope it'll 'loosen' up a whole lot more in 1-2 weeks.
Thanks for the input.

You will still need to buy the lightest spring from Fox, the fork does not come with it
part# 039-05-050.
I own a pike 454 coil u-turn and it is alittle too stiff for me with the lightest coil for XC riding, if I'm jumping alot it is great. I'm thinking of taking it apart and seeing if I can change the spring some how. Frankenfork here I come!

 

[heather@thebakkers.com]

what I do

Since you are changing the spring I would check the oil levels in both legs, fill with the proper amounts, and I use finishline stanchion lube. I'm not sure what type f riding you are doing but the bottomout threshold is set at max. It can be lowered inside the damper but if you are not confident in doing it yourself send it to fox and have it adjusted. Just ride and lube the stanchions and it will be like butter!