Fox Fork - Remove Air Spring from the top or bottom of the leg?

First time doing my own fork seal, foam ring and oil replacement: Fox F29 100mm RL, Open Bath.

I removed the air cap assembly to view inside the chamber and found all the oil from that leg sitting in the air chamber. Drained out 30 ml.

I am going to replace the Foam Ring below the air piston with a scraper seal from Fox to fix this issue. It requires that I remove the air spring assembly from the leg.

I have seen it done both ways on the internet: pull the air spring out the top or remove some additional retainers/fasteners and pull it out the bottom. Is there a greater risk of scratching or damaging if it is pulled out the top? Is it harder to get it back in if you drop it out the bottom. Fox's website shows it being pulled out the top, but when I ordered the scraper seal from Fox the guy I spoke with didn't recommend doing it that way.

 

I've done this too. It's easier to do it from the top. Just use a flat head screwdriver and tap it out from the bottom. So from the bottom tap up and it'll pop right out. When you're putting it back in tape the tip of the screwdriver so you don't break the air piston when you're tapping it back in. Use the low friction seals and your fork will feel totally different. Good luck.

 

I have always removed the piston through the bottom. It is fairly easy, just need to remove the split ring at the bottom and the whole piston easily slides out (just remember to release all the air from the chamber before doing this).

 

I just did this repair to my 2012 Float 32 RL O/B. You must do it from the bottom if it's 2010 or newer (see the note at the top of the linked tutorial). There are 2 cir clips to remove. The clips are kind of a pain but like many things, once you do it you can do it in 1/4 the time next round, lol.

Here is a tutorial on how to R n R it.
http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/QuickTech/AllAirSpringQuickService.htm

Don't worry about the model number in the title not matching exactly, process is the same. Hope this is helpful.

 

Thanks! This is more detail than I could find from my searches. Overall, just removing the lowers, changing oil and seals is really easy, much easier and cleaner than bleeding brakes. I cannot believe that I have been taking my bike to an LBS for so many years for simple oil and seals...

 

How did you get the last circlip, the thicker one, back into the fork leg? Driving me crazy......

 

I can sell that secret for $25 Yeah, it drove me nuts too. If I remember correctly, I ended up kind of threading it/screwing it into its groove as you can't compress it like a single-thick clip. Once it's almost all the in that way, it'll snap in. Hope this helps.

Ex. I got one end of the clip into the slot, spreading it like how a spring would expand. I kept turning it to screw it in. The last end will then be able to snap in.

One other thing--you might have a round rubber washer with a few divots moulded into it in one of the lower legs--or it may still be on the rod. No tutorials show it. It's on the damper side. I discovered it when I was cleaning out the lower legs. Of course, I freaked when it fell out as I had no idea what it was or where it went. Bike Tech Raul at The Path told me it was a cushion so the damper wouldn't slam into the bottom of the lower leg. Your model may or may not have one. If it does, just clean it off and slip it onto the rod while in an upside down position (I didn't figure this out until later and had it rest in the leg tube while in a down position and pushed the rod through it). Either way should position it fine. It's held in place being on the rod and just rests at the bottom of the leg. If yours doesn't have one, then this is all moot.

 

Thanks for the response. i ended up figuring it out, similar to you and spiraling it in...it's great to have a fork with some oil in the lowers on the air side again after months of harshness and not knwing what was wrong with it. I was surprised by the thread on MTBR on this oil migration problem with Fox forks and my LBS didn't know anything about it either. not a great experience with Fox, although they were happy to send me the scraper seal fix for under $2.

 

Anybody know what kind of oil volumes to use on a 32 rl open bath f-series 125mm fork(giant version) I don't see it referred to in their chart. Also I'm supposed to put in 5ml of float fluid into the damper, do i have to remove the top cap to do that? Just changed to skf seals and can't wait to wrap this project up. I'm clearly a noob. Thanks guys!

 

You may have to call Fox and ask for the oil type and volumes. The air chamber is usually 5ml of Fox Float Fluid.

There are some long threads on MTBR about what the oil and fox fluid are generically. After reading I was debating using 10wt Mobil One ATF for the lowers and 80wt gear oil for the air chamber, but decided to spend the extra money on the Fox oil (green) and float fluid. I have an older bike that I may use for the ATF and gear oil test.

 

To address how to add fuild, yes--removing the top cap AFTER releasing the air. I used an old 10ml oral medicine syringe (for squirting cough syrup into toddler mouths) with a length of 1/4" tubing to draw out the old stuff. A pharmacy will probably give you one. That's the only way I thought of doing it. You could probably swab it out with a rag or paper towel.