Have you ever heard of the infamous Fox Float "Suck-down" or "Hydraulic Lock-down"?? This is when the rear shock is compressed and sticks down, it will not return to it's full travel and the further you push down, the further down it stays. This usually always occurs in cold weather. After experiencing an increasingly large occurence of this problem in the repair shop, I have decided to post a couple pointers to help avoid having this annoying and seemingly seasonal problem:
First if you are storing your bike in a hanging position, often the shock will drain oil away from the seal, which will in time begin to dry out the seal and cause ineffectiveness (slight change is seal diameter).
The fix: I find it to be good practice to cycle the shock a few times once taking it down from it's perch, which relubricates the seal causing it to swell slightly and work effectively. Rather than take it down, stick it in the truck, drive to the park in sub-freezing temps, then jump on the bike over the first jump and whoalah! Locked-down. This occurs because the cold, dry seal is not creating a proper seal and air slips past the seal and creates a "hydraulic vaccuum".
Also, I have noticed that this problem is overwhelmingly on brand-new OE spec'd shocks and rarely occurs on aftermarket or previously rebuilt shocks.
If you have not yet serviced your Float shock, it is recommended to do this every 4-6 months. The full factory seal kit is $15 and the rebuild is $15 at our shop. This rebuild completely replaces all four internal seals on the Float shocks and will solve this problem immediately.
I hear people talking on the trail all the time saying, "The shock has to be sent back to Fox when this happens" False. It can be fixed here in fifteen minutes.
:drooling:
First if you are storing your bike in a hanging position, often the shock will drain oil away from the seal, which will in time begin to dry out the seal and cause ineffectiveness (slight change is seal diameter).
The fix: I find it to be good practice to cycle the shock a few times once taking it down from it's perch, which relubricates the seal causing it to swell slightly and work effectively. Rather than take it down, stick it in the truck, drive to the park in sub-freezing temps, then jump on the bike over the first jump and whoalah! Locked-down. This occurs because the cold, dry seal is not creating a proper seal and air slips past the seal and creates a "hydraulic vaccuum".
Also, I have noticed that this problem is overwhelmingly on brand-new OE spec'd shocks and rarely occurs on aftermarket or previously rebuilt shocks.
If you have not yet serviced your Float shock, it is recommended to do this every 4-6 months. The full factory seal kit is $15 and the rebuild is $15 at our shop. This rebuild completely replaces all four internal seals on the Float shocks and will solve this problem immediately.
I hear people talking on the trail all the time saying, "The shock has to be sent back to Fox when this happens" False. It can be fixed here in fifteen minutes.
:drooling:
