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Excess grease in fox rork?

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Excess grease in fox rork?
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flag nematon785
Posted: Nov 5, 2023 at 10:28 Quote
So I pulled the volume spacer on my new (to me) used 2021 fox 32 sc because the thing is harsh on any setting. There is a bunch of grease on top of the piston in the air chamber. Is this the typical too much grease from the factory? There is a blob the size the end of my thumb at the knuckle. Ive done lowers many times, but never really torn one of these down beyond that. If it is too much, do I need to pull the air shaft to clean it all up? Thanks for any suggestions.
flag nematon785
Posted: Nov 5, 2023 at 15:33 Quote
Turning the nobs full open, the thing is like a jackhammer. Light on spring rate makes no difference. My tire pressure is high, like 25, but that is because I am a hog ( 200lbs plus) on xc tires. so uncomfortable, I pulled the air chamber spacer, because its not just small bump, but anything I hit at all. My 20 year old marzocchi is a dream in comparison , but it dives hard on braking...still handles big hits any way. I had other older fox floats that just worked like a dream. I know there is something wrong, another fox 32 just sucked it up no sweat, and this newbike needed everything tuned on delivery...rear hub needed full tear down, not from abuse but simply poor assembly. I am struggling with the brakes as well. Metal pads and single pistons (xtr) sound like hell and brake worse. Honestly a full tear down to the bone on the drive train and rebuild. All new fancy parts, just not installed with care and run in nice

I guess I should just pull everything on the fork and get in there and clean her up.

There is my answer. Order the juice, snot and crush washers, read the manual, and set it up right.

Buff the rotors, bleed and new pads,

Get the wheels tensioned by a good builder,

Pull and grease fasteners, all of them.

I should know by now.

Still a sweet bike and a smokin deal, plus I will never be satsfied till I have touched (and screwed up) everything.
flag nematon785
Posted: Nov 5, 2023 at 15:55 Quote
No setting is smooth.

I get the first suggestion here is "you are accidentally setting the fork as hard lsc ish lockout."

It is easy to lock it out on hard compression setting.

Even in open on both dials, it runs like a suspension fork, just super harsh.
flag AliSM
Posted: Nov 5, 2023 at 16:17 Quote
I’m pretty sure the factory 32 sc uses a fit4 damper which most people say is extremely harsh compared to grip/grip2 dampers. If you can’t fix it you could look into swapping it out for a 3-pos grip damper, the one that comes with the performance 32 sc
flag nematon785
Posted: Nov 5, 2023 at 16:38 Quote
I could just swap the damper? On a stepcast? That would be right up my alley, i never lockout. Maybe lazy, but i embrace my go ride not mess with settings lazyness.

If I want firm and light I just throw on a rigid and lose a pound and a half.

Part of the hardtail thing I am into is no monkey-ing with tuning and maintaining every little bit.

Not racing, just riding in the woods these days.

Any suggestions on the grip2 damper for my 32 stepcast?
flag gmoss
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 at 6:43 Quote
I would contact fox to make sure the lower leg dimensions are the same, that it will work.

Is the fork going thru full travel, or not moving much at all, at fully open C?
flag nematon785
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 at 14:05 Quote
The fork goes through 85% travel on a route I use 85% on all forks in the past. If I make a mistake on a g-out or drop, it comes in around 95%.

The harshness is absolutely in comparison to other forks, including a factory fit 32 on a different bike.

25 psi is a guess, i pump to 20, but I know my gauge and it is incorrect and reads low. I aim for 22 up front, and 25 out back, as I am heavy, and they are xc tires with no inserts. I can see the tire spread out some under weight. Not the best method I will admit.
flag gmoss
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 at 16:41 Quote
All forks do not operate the same. My DVO likes to stay up in the travel, with me using 50% give or take where my past forks, Fox 36 Factory and my current Helm use most of the travel. It just works best in that range and I adjusted to where it worked best and that was the result.

I asked because harshness can be a sign of not enough compression damping, riding too far down in the stroke. If you find nothing internally wrong, I would test closer to factory settings. Good luck.
flag nematon785
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 at 19:26 Quote
Thank you for the suggestions. I always run very little compression, and dial rebound to minimum on the curb test to avoid a hop.

I am willing to learn and try new things, i know I'm no expert on tuning suspension.
flag gmoss
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 at 20:06 Quote
Cool thing is, its not set in stone, and what works for you, works. I had a hard time with my DVO to start, then talked to the guys there, got some direction and set it up per their guidance. Got to a point that it worked really well with minimal adjustments, as there are not a lot of clickers to click like on a Factory Fox. Less was more in that case, and their tech just worked different. Its all about paying attn to what is happening as you ride and adjusting a little at a time.

And, there simply could be something wrong. LOL
flag BarneyStinson
Posted: Nov 10, 2023 at 12:26 Quote
Not a 32, but I struggled with my Fox 36 when I first got it.

Then I got it serviced and it was a different bike. It was a ‘22 model bike, so suspect the fork was assembled in ‘21.
flag eshew
Posted: Nov 10, 2023 at 21:07 Quote
Check the negative chamber of the air spring... Friends 36 had a ton of grease in there, removing it increased the negative chamber and smoothed the fork out.
flag Dougal-SC
Posted: Nov 10, 2023 at 22:24 Quote
nematon785 wrote:
Turning the nobs full open, the thing is like a jackhammer. Light on spring rate makes no difference. My tire pressure is high, like 25, but that is because I am a hog ( 200lbs plus) on xc tires. so uncomfortable, I pulled the air chamber spacer, because its not just small bump, but anything I hit at all. My 20 year old marzocchi is a dream in comparison , but it dives hard on braking...still handles big hits any way. I had other older fox floats that just worked like a dream. I know there is something wrong, another fox 32 just sucked it up no sweat, and this newbike needed everything tuned on delivery...rear hub needed full tear down, not from abuse but simply poor assembly. I am struggling with the brakes as well. Metal pads and single pistons (xtr) sound like hell and brake worse. Honestly a full tear down to the bone on the drive train and rebuild. All new fancy parts, just not installed with care and run in nice

I guess I should just pull everything on the fork and get in there and clean her up.

There is my answer. Order the juice, snot and crush washers, read the manual, and set it up right.

Buff the rotors, bleed and new pads,

Get the wheels tensioned by a good builder,

Pull and grease fasteners, all of them.

I should know by now.

Still a sweet bike and a smokin deal, plus I will never be satsfied till I have touched (and screwed up) everything.

A blob of grease on the positive side is fine. It's the negative side that blobs of grease become a bigger problem. Grease can't block ports. It just gets blown out by air pressure.

The jackhammer you've got is harshness from the midvalve, the lack of support and diving is soft compression damping. Both of those need modifications to fix and then a retune. I think I'm the only one with that sorted.
flag HeatedRotor
FL
Posted: Nov 11, 2023 at 10:09 Quote
you remind me of Paul aston, even the attitude.

Curious, why does the port not equalize when theres grease blocking it? but yet has no issue with it cleaned out?

Curious, why do forks suddenly feel better when they are cleaned out? Is that your excuse for the midvalve and ask money for?

Im all for you doing your job but Coming on here prancing you are "the guy" who knows the best. - Every suspension place does that.
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