Fox 32 F125RL not getting full travel

[Mojoman]

Ever since getting my bike I have been pretty miserable with the amount of travel the fork was giving me. I was running pretty low air pressures and still could not get the full travel amount (even after fully deflating the fork!). It was quite disappointing as you can imagine, even my Epicon seemed better and I was ready to have the Fox swopped with the Suntour fork!

 

Anyway I did some googling this morning and came across an article that said if you are not getting full travel on the Fox then bleed out the air, open up top of the left leg (air side, you will need a 26mm socket) and check the amount of fluid in there, its supposed to be 5ml, I had more than 35ml in there!

 

So if your Fox F125Rl is not getting full travel then give this a go!

Looking forward to 4pm now!

[Headshot]

Spot on - by adding float fluid - the thick blue oil Fox re-brand and is really some super heavy gear oil, you reduce the air volume in the air spring. This makes the fork spring far more progressive and i you add too much, will result in the spring preventing the fork reaching full travel. It is however a useful tuning aid because Fox don't make volume reducers for their forks like some manufacturers.

 

I am interested - was your fork new ie did it come ex factory with so much oil in the spring?

[Mojoman]

Spot on - by adding float fluid - the thick blue oil Fox re-brand and is really some super heavy gear oil, you reduce the air volume in the air spring. This makes the fork spring far more progressive and i you add too much, will result in the spring preventing the fork reaching full travel. It is however a useful tuning aid because Fox don't make volume reducers for their forks like some manufacturers.

 

I am interested - was your fork new ie did it come ex factory with so much oil in the spring?

Its brand new, off a 2011 Giant, no marks on the nut to indicate anyone has ever opened it either. Its seems to be quite common? Some people say there is a o ring that the oil in the legs is getting past and its a Fox fault but I just think someone put too much in to begin with!

 

I could only get around 1/2- 3/4 travel.

[droo]

I've seen this often, and I've still got no idea how it happens. I doubt it's bath oil getting through into the spring - there's enough positive pressure in there that if anything the float fluid would leak out.

 

My best guess is that the filling system at the factory went for a loop one day and a batch of overfilled forks got out.

[raymakestv]

Anyone know about the lefty having a similar problem? I have the 2013 lefty, pretty new and it only travels 63mm even when air is out. Its a 29er 90mm pbr

[Headshot]

I've seen this often, and I've still got no idea how it happens. I doubt it's bath oil getting through into the spring - there's enough positive pressure in there that if anything the float fluid would leak out.

 

My best guess is that the filling system at the factory went for a loop one day and a batch of overfilled forks got out.

 

And on opening my 2013 150 mm Talas a month ago, I found almost no lube oil in the left leg - feels much slipperier with some 15wt washing around in there.

[Alouette3]

How much travel are you getting?

 

I have that same fork on my Trance, works like a charm but has never used the full travel to the top. I'm 68kg without kit and running it at 50psi.

[missioner]

Ray lefty's have entirely different internals to all other suspension out there. Send it in, Cannondales aftersales is awesome. I had a client at Sani2C break his 4 month old lefty on his Scalpel. They drove him a new one down from joburg so he could continue riding the next day. His broken lefty was replaced with a new one after returning home

[droo]

And on opening my 2013 150 mm Talas a month ago, I found almost no lube oil in the left leg - feels much slipperier with some 15wt washing around in there.

 

How long have you been riding it? The lube oil in Fox forks is pretty thin and runs past the seals faster than you'd think, which is why stanchion wear is usually more severe on the spring side - hence their recommendation of a lowers service every 30 hours.

[gyro]

_{had same issue with F29 - could only get 60mm. pulled about 30ml oil from above the air piston (should only have 5ml in there). and it was mixture of fox fluid (blue) and bath oil (green).}

Edited January 9, 2014 by gyro

[Mojoman]

How much travel are you getting?

 

I have that same fork on my Trance, works like a charm but has never used the full travel to the top. I'm 68kg without kit and running it at 50psi.

Getting just about all the travel I want now, there is about 20mm available for those 'special' moments! (not sure if thats the right way to ride but I think it works for me).

 

I am around 95 or so with all the crap I carry and water, let the fork down today to around 80psi. Had it at 100 yesterday and it was far too hard. I originally had it around 60psi and the fork was only getting around half its travel.

[Louis for real]

I Have exactly the same problem with my 2011 Giant trance... will give this a flamingo and see what happens...thanks for the tip

[dadels]

This is a known issue with some fox forks made in the 2010-2012 range.

 

Fox's fix for this problem is to replace the foam ring on the air piston with a rubber oil scraper but unfortunately not all of the forks air pistons had a foam ring to replace. In that case you can replace the air seal and see if it helps but unfortunately there is no guarantee.

 

 

For more information google “fox oil migration” or read through this thread http://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspension/bath-oil-migrating-top-air-piston-734912.html

 

Good luck

[Mojoman]

So it looks like the foam ring on the air assemby needs to be removed and replaced with a seal. I will try and contact Fox and see where I stand with this as the bike was bought in Sept 2013 so hopefully they will do this under warranty.

[Mojoman]

I've seen this often, and I've still got no idea how it happens. I doubt it's bath oil getting through into the spring - there's enough positive pressure in there that if anything the float fluid would leak out.

 

My best guess is that the filling system at the factory went for a loop one day and a batch of overfilled forks got out.

I had to take my brake caliper off the bike today for a clean so I thought I might as well quickly pop off the lowers and do the 30hr service. I also wanted to see how much fluid was in the air side. There was hardly any so it definately manages to get up to the top somehow.

[Mojoman]

Omnico is going to be sending me the replacement seal.