Replaced the fork seals ($35) & fresh oil ($17) off the Fox RLC 32 F100 forks on my ’08 Epic the night before ready for a bit of ‘dusting off session’ at the Westgate dirt crits.
Way easier job than I originally thought & offered my services to a mate in a similar state with his forks. Although I must admit, it was pending a proper test ride to cover off the quality of my workmanship, and I'm happy to say they came off a treat. Things I found doing this job:
• Fork oil purchased from a motorbike sho 10wt. Volumes are easily found out on the web, just look for, "Fox forks oil volumes" surprisingly enough.
• Didn’t bother with the ‘Fox Fork Fluid’ in the air chamber (5mL), just replaced the oil bath in the spring & dampener sides.
• Old fork oil was white with water contamination, also was far less than the 150mL & 20mL volumes specc’ed in the service manual. I've never had these forks apart since I bought them new in 2009 (my Epic is the result of parts from various bikes & new parts).
• Forks remained on the bike, just inverted the bike & removed the lowers (2x nuts & a very slight tap of a plastic headed hammer). Oil volumes remained in the top part of the uppers & only drained out when I righted the bike over a container.
• New oil seals was pressed in using a wide plastic conduit pipe section, hammered in with the palm of my hand & finished with a tap from a block of wood.
Fox Forks RLC 32 F100 2008 - Oil volumes.
Dampner side, 10wt, 150mL
Spring side, 10wt, 20mL
Airchamber, Fox Float Fuild 5mL
The big difference was that dampening was far more pronounced & found that I had to back off the rebound & low comp a click or two, also the bounce wasn't as harsh as before, you could feel an easy cush in the first part of the travel which then progressively firmed really nicely.
Something else after the ride last Thursday night, I experienced a fair bit of ghost shifting & really should have looked into it as my Epic had been sitting idle for 6months after a batch of wet rides, which should always be followed by a review of all the cables (inners/outers). Also lost a 'bar end plug wacking a straight line through a curvy piece of trail, boo.
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