Fox 36 Grip 2 - Service a new fork to remove excess grease?

PB Forum :: Fox Racing Shox
Fox 36 Grip 2 - Service a new fork to remove excess grease?
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flag BobAG
O+
Posted: Jun 21, 2020 at 13:45 Quote
I have a ~6 week old YT w/ a 150mm Fox 36, GRIP 2. I'm alternately very impressed by and also frustrated by this fork, but creeping slowly towards dialed.

It takes big hits from jumps and drops very well, and is pretty comfortable to pedal, however I've struggled a bit with how it feels on fast impacts/square edge hits and chattery sections when it can start to feel a bit harsh to me.

At this point I have the high speed compression fully fast (16 out), the low speed pretty fast, but a bit slower, and a moderate amount of rebound on each. I've settled on running a bit under the recommended pressure after playing around with lower/higher/at recommended - I'm 215, and I've currently got 82psi with one volume spacer in there, and it's definitely the best it has felt so far.

However, I've seen a few things mentioned about the amount of grease in the fork from the factory, and saw, for example, the Lost Co video on installing the GRIP 2 where there was just a TON of grease on the brand new fork he took apart. My assumption is that they do this thinking that a lot of their customers aren't going to take very good care of their fork, and it's better to overdo it so things don't wear out as fast when they aren't taken care of properly, and that people who service regularly will clean it up and put a more reasonable amount of grease on things...

Which leads me to - would it make sense to go through the trouble of pulling the essentially brand new (I guess I've got 370 miles and 43 hours on it) fork apart and cleaning it up and putting it back together? Have folks done this and seen improvements in the kind of stuff I'm referring to?

Thanks for any insight...
flag Xanderxcl
Posted: Jun 23, 2020 at 9:21 Quote
I would say its not worth it to pull apart until it needs to be serviced. If you are having trouble setting up the fork i would see if a bike shop near you rents a shock wiz
flag TwoWheelMike
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Posted: Jun 24, 2020 at 8:46 Quote
What is "a moderate amount of rebound?" Having a rebound that is set too slow is one of the main reasons a fork can feel harsh on chattery sections.
flag BobAG
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Posted: Jun 24, 2020 at 8:51 Quote
TwoWheelMike wrote:
What is "a moderate amount of rebound?" Having a rebound that is set too slow is one of the main reasons a fork can feel harsh on chattery sections.

HSR: 9 out from closed
LSR: 6 out from closed
flag BobAG
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Posted: Jun 24, 2020 at 8:56 Quote
Also the bike felt pretty damn good yesterday, so maybe I should shut up and ride. Smile
flag Throckmorten
Posted: Jul 13, 2020 at 9:12 Quote
Take 20 mins and watch these two videos.

It sounds like you have fallen into a common trap of tuning for one bump instead of a section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3cgJIteQ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ydae6yOdA
flag Xanderxcl
Posted: Jul 13, 2020 at 14:40 Quote
Throckmorten wrote:
Take 20 mins and watch these two videos.

It sounds like you have fallen into a common trap of tuning for one bump instead of a section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3cgJIteQ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ydae6yOdA

So how do you reccomend setting up the suspension? With faster or slower rebound dampening?
flag BobAG
O+
Posted: Jul 13, 2020 at 16:26 Quote
Throckmorten wrote:
Take 20 mins and watch these two videos.

It sounds like you have fallen into a common trap of tuning for one bump instead of a section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3cgJIteQ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ydae6yOdA

Some good info there... though I'm not entirely sure what to do with the information yet other than maybe try slowing down my low speed rebound.

I did some bracketing over a section that had a lot of chop, but I'm good at second guessing myself.
flag BobAG
O+
Posted: Aug 7, 2020 at 19:01 Quote
I borrowed a Shockwiz and have been playing around with it the last week or so, with kind of mixed results.

I had the fork feeling really pretty damn good after a few rides with it - it had me remove a fairly substantial amount of air from what I had been running, and really did help me dial in the compression and rebound...

But it told me to add a volume spacer (I had removed one from the 2 that came installed originally, so I just had one), and then it had me install another... now it thinks I'm very dialed (92%, I think? It wants the high speed compression faster, and I can't go any faster) based onr what I asked for on the tune (Neutral - Poppy), but I think I much preferred it with the single volume spacer, so I'm going to go back to that and see what it tells me on compression/rebound (I think this will change once I've removed stuff again), and see where I land. Main difference was lower pressure, a bit slower rebound, a bit faster compression.

I ran it on my rear shock (DPX2) tonight, and where I had it to begin with was very close to where it is saying I'm dialed. Again, faster compression, slower rebound, and I think it does feel a bit better.

I'm a little worried I've got some rattle/clunk in the damper side of the fork, but it's more likely the OneUp EDC stem I installed w/ the non-starnut preload, even though it kind of feels like it's that side of the fork. I will likely go get a starnut put back in the steerer tomorrow and see if that clears that issue up, then possibly look at that preload kit again and seeing if I can sort out whatever is going on there.
flag ALSORAN
FL
Posted: Aug 21, 2020 at 1:50 Quote
Does your fork suck down if you let all the air out??? If it does pull the air spring out give it a good clean up (there will be a ton of grease in it) and reinstall it correctly.
flag provin1327
O+
Posted: Mar 10, 2021 at 19:59 Quote
Every owner of a Fox fork should open it up and clean the spring. I've read about this issue on many different forums so I decided to open up my brand new 2021 Fox 36 Grip2 and yep, still tons of grease being applied at the factory.
flag KoenR
Posted: Jun 8, 2021 at 9:52 Quote
provin1327 wrote:
Every owner of a Fox fork should open it up and clean the spring. I've read about this issue on many different forums so I decided to open up my brand new 2021 Fox 36 Grip2 and yep, still tons of grease being applied at the factory.

brand new fox 38 here that sits 1cm / 0.4 inch in it's travel - from what I learned this is indeed probably grease in places where it shouldn't be which leads to a bit of pressure in the negative chamber.

It doesn't seem to bother the performance, but can it damage the fork using it as is?
(I'm not trusting myself taking the fork apart)

Thx!
flag provin1327
O+
Posted: Jun 8, 2021 at 11:24 Quote
KoenR wrote:
provin1327 wrote:
Every owner of a Fox fork should open it up and clean the spring. I've read about this issue on many different forums so I decided to open up my brand new 2021 Fox 36 Grip2 and yep, still tons of grease being applied at the factory.

brand new fox 38 here that sits 1cm / 0.4 inch in it's travel - from what I learned this is indeed probably grease in places where it shouldn't be which leads to a bit of pressure in the negative chamber.

It doesn't seem to bother the performance, but can it damage the fork using it as is?
(I'm not trusting myself taking the fork apart)

Thx!

It can't damage the fork but it sure will effect performance especially if the negative chamber is packed full of grease. Pulling the air spring and checking isn't really that difficult.

https://www.ridefox.com/fox17/help.php?m=bike&id=1058
flag loudv8noises
O+
Posted: Jul 1, 2021 at 8:43 Quote
i had the same problem with my 36 grip 2 and am about your same size.

The solution i found is that the recommended rebound settings are just off, dont trust them.

There is a lot of overlap between HSR & LSR knobs for the rebound circuit. What you need to do is go fully closed or 1 click out on the HSR and just tune rebound with the LSR adjuster. This will allow you to get the robound fast enough to recover after sharp hits/chatter. Dont be surprised if you end up with some goofy setting like HSR nearly closed and LSR few clicks from fully open - the fork will work.

I was at my wits end with this fork until i figured this out from a vorsprung suspension youtube video.

Also these forks like higher pressures, i wouldn't try to get suppleness out of the fork by running a lower pressure (i tried this repeatedly) because it just destroys your mid stroke support and makes the bike too soft. The problem is the rebound. focus on that.

btw i did a lower leg on my fork expecting tons of excess grease, while there was some, i didn't notice any major difference in performance. Stick to tuning clickers.
flag Ed284
O+
Posted: Jul 15, 2021 at 15:20 Quote
What year is your fork? Let me share my experience with 2020 Fox 36 160mm Grip 2 (older model).

I recall reading about cleaning out air chamber but figured I would defer it to the next service. Rode the fork for 2 years and it never felt right. Played with settings and ended up with 1.75 tokens (1 token shaved down) (225lb rider weight).

I recently swapped the fork from a Hightower LT to a Megatower. Fork felt like crap on the Megatower. It was way too harsh. I thought the poor feel was related to geometry and lack of fork service.

I serviced the fork (lowers and damper fluid) and found a decent amount of grease in negative chamber so I cleaned it out and put it all together with same settings (83psi, HSC 12, LSC 9, HSR 3, LSR 4, 2 tokens). I rode it and it felt even worse. It was so harsh I thought I screwed up the service and was considering purchasing a new fork.

Before giving up, I revisited tokens. I ran the fork with 1 token with 90psi and it felt really good. Took another ride with .75 token with 93psi and it felt even better. Ended up with 93psi, HSC 12, LSC 9, HSR 3, LSR 5, .75 token. Fork feels amazing with plenty of support, bottom out resistance, and small bump compliance.

I am baffled with the difference in performance. Could the cause be the excess grease? Maybe. If it was the grease then I feel like an idiot for running the fork like this for so long Frown

I would recommend revisiting your tokens and possibly cleaning out the negative chamber.

Good luck!
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