Fox float r 2007 home service
Hi everybody, at least i found a couple of hours to write a translation of my how to service fox float r shock at home manual originally written on russian and posted here: http://dns-dn.livejournal.com/54017.html
Before you read more, sorry if my english isn't good enough for your understanding.
Well, here is prehistory, why i decided to do all this things by myself.
It begun from scary sounds my shock begun to make. There was only two mechanics that can service fox shock and no one authorized fox service center. One of these machanics refused to help me, the other one's level of knowledge and experience wasn't known by me. And i decided to use internet looking for some info how to sevice my shock at home.
And i found solution at velomania's forum. Registered here and started to read the thread. Home-grown specialists told me that the reason could be in N2 infiltration through IFP in oil's chamber. This is called cavitation and this caused that oil performed to foam, increased it's volume and stopped to work correctly.
So, when i got amateur and really clear and correct manual for home shock service, i decided to start doing it myself. So, let's
1. Gathering required data
The main data source was velomania's forum, how to service fox float shock at home in particular. I started to learn shock design and parts. There i got some problem:
a) There was a N2 chamber in shock body, i can't get pressurized N2, so i decided to pump air cause air consists of 79% of N2.
b) i didn't know N2 chamber's pressure, oil chamber volume and it's viscosity. The only thing i knew was i need to use fork oil. Some guy Corvette from mtbr.com forum helped me. He gave me a link and secret fox's service documents and it was declared here what oil i need to use, what is the IFP settings and oil viscosity.
c)then i needed to make homemade tool to pump my N2 chamber with air. Guys from velomania already did this so i got pictures of this tool. I will describe it in next part of my report.
2. Required tools and parts list
To service your shock you need:
a)Adjustable spanner
b)homemade tool to pump N2 chamber
This was how i made it. I cut presta nipple with some rubbed reserve, the i took usual medical needle with plastic ending, cut this plastic ending so it can hardly be inserted in presta nipple, then i used a lot of glue, and used usual cold patch for tubes. And this tool really works. But we already got some analogs:
c)drilled he key on 4mm
How to drill it i think you know. You can use a drill from 1 to 2,5mm diameter.
d)high pressure pump
e)hex key on 2mm
f)fork oil with viscosity 10W and a syringe to measure oil's volume
g)waste oil container
h)a lot of toilet paper, usual paper
i)any cleaning solvent to clean all the servicing parts
j)a little bit of grease
3. Shock disassembly
How to disassemble your shock:
a) Remove the air sleeve (see air sleeve section).
b) FLOAT R only: Open the rebound adjuster knob all the way fast (counter-clockwise), so oil will drain when removing the shaft assembly.
c) Remove the nylon ball from the threaded pellet retainer hex with a dental pick tool.
d) Loosen the threaded pellet retainer to release nitrogen pressure.
e) Remove the threaded pellet retainer and pick out the pellet (wear safety glasses for this operation).
f) Clamp the body eyelet into the vice.
g) With a 3/4" open end wrench, carefully loosen the aluminum bearing housing.
* Make sure to place the fulcrum point of the wrench away from the bleed hole screw.
Note: If it takes excessive force to loosen the bearing, the contents may still be under pressure. Open a few turns and let pressure dissipate before continuing.
h) Remove bearing housing bleed screw (5/64ths) and steel ball. Be careful; oil may suddenly squirt out.
i) Loosen the bearing completely and carefully work the shaft assembly up and out of the shock body. Set it aside on a lint-free shop towel.
j) Carefully remove the body from the vice, and dump oil into your waste oil container.
k) Remove the IFP. Blow-clean the IFP with pressurized air, pressurizing the shock body through the pellet hole into a rag. Careful, it can fly far far away)))
You can watch pictures at velomania and at crazycyrix's site. I'd say it's the simplest part of shock servicing. Becides, when i turned off the bleed hole screw, oil begun to drain through it and it was more like foam, not oil. So the conclusion about cavication was right. The oil was red color and was still foaming even in waste container, but was pretty clear after one season of riding:
After removing my shaft i checked all the details and they was OK:
You can see N2 port here.
Here you can see fox's secret documents to my shock.
IFP setting declared here too. I needed them later.
4. IFP setting and oil filling
So, we got an IFP 57,15mm from th top of the shaft, and i use 62-64mm for sure, oil chamber must be filled such way to maintain 3mm to shaft top. N2 chamber's pressure must be 300psi, and main air chamber i usually pressure to 155psi.
5. Shock assembly
Before you start to assemble your shock you must check that you do have all required details, take a lot of toilet paper, lay down on the floor a lot of newspapers. I also recommend you to take a big waste container cause when you will put oil in shock everything will become in oil. Arrange all the keys near and cleaning solvent too. Be attentive to make all the process step-by-step cause when you miss something you will have to do it from beginning. So, please read careful, this is the main part. Here i go.
a)clean all taken apart parts with cleaning solvent.
b)grease the quad ring on the IFP. You should use the same oil for greasing that you will fill your shock with later. Insert the greased IFP into the body (Use IFP depth table to find proper IFP setting, i recommend to increase your IFP setting for 5mm). Set it aside for final assembly.
c)clamp the body eyelet into the vise and fill the shock's body with oil, left unfilled about 3mm to top.
d)turn off the bleed hole screw about half turn
e)grease shaft carving using usual grease.
f)insert the shaft assembly into the body, be patient and careful, try to insert it slowly. Tighten it about 20ft/lb.
g)ATTENTION! Now we must fill N2 chamber and let an air that could be in oil chamber off. N2 port have no usual nipple, it holds on rubber pellet and metallic pellet retainier that can be unscrewed by 4mm hex key. So, install this rubber pellet, then screw pellet retainier not hard, then insert drilled 4mm hex key, through it insert homemade tool and tighten pellet retainer using medium power so a needle will sit in rubber pellet strong.
h)now you should pump N2 chamber a little to let all an air in oil chamber off. You should arrange your shaft so the bleed hole must be higher than the oil chamber. When you will see that air from oil chamber is gone and only oil drains from it, tighten bleed hole. Then proceed to pump N2 chamber to 300 psi. I think it's almost impossible to pump it to 300 psi cause it starting to loose air, so you will need to pull out a needle as soon as you will see 300psi in your pump's manometer. After that retighten pellet retainer harder. I think, your N2 chamber's pressure will be about 250 psi.
*Note: if you damage original rubber pellet, you can replace it using any high dencity rubber as zigzag84 from mtbr.com forum did:
i)perform air leek test by submerging your shaft into water. If you see bubbles, you missed something or your rubber pellet doesn't work.
j)take your air sleeve, grease it's bottom with oil, it's top carving with usual grease and insert it on shaft. Fill your ait sleeve with 2milliliters of fork oil so it will grease shaft during riding. Insert sag's rubber ring and install your shock on bike. Push on it until you will be able to screw air sleeve and shaft. You need to screw it using your hands' power only. If it will be in oil, and i can bet it will be, you should use some rubber patch and apply it to air sleeve so it won't slip. After that pump your shock as usual.
6. Testing
Test your shock by pushing on it. If it still produces some scary sounds, you didn't do all well and it still some air oi oil chamber. Let an air off from air sleeve, then from N2 chamber, and repeat process from step H. Your rebound adjuster may loose 1 or 2 clicks cause of different oil and N2 chamber pressure.
7. Special thanks
a)first of all really big thanks to EVV from velomania's forum. Without your experience i won't try all this things.THANKS!!
b)everyone from velomania's forum who discussed all the troubles and helped to find out all the solutions.
c)someone called Corvette from mtbr's forum, who gave me fox's secret documents.
d)my brother for his drilled finger when he was rying to drill hex key.
е)to all the sceptics who didn't believe in me and ability to service shock at home.
PS I will update this post when new changes will be performed
PPS fox is really hard to service, horrey for RockShox production!
Here is the link to fox's secret documents:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gp9k3p
Before you read more, sorry if my english isn't good enough for your understanding.
Well, here is prehistory, why i decided to do all this things by myself.
It begun from scary sounds my shock begun to make. There was only two mechanics that can service fox shock and no one authorized fox service center. One of these machanics refused to help me, the other one's level of knowledge and experience wasn't known by me. And i decided to use internet looking for some info how to sevice my shock at home.
And i found solution at velomania's forum. Registered here and started to read the thread. Home-grown specialists told me that the reason could be in N2 infiltration through IFP in oil's chamber. This is called cavitation and this caused that oil performed to foam, increased it's volume and stopped to work correctly.
So, when i got amateur and really clear and correct manual for home shock service, i decided to start doing it myself. So, let's
1. Gathering required data
The main data source was velomania's forum, how to service fox float shock at home in particular. I started to learn shock design and parts. There i got some problem:
a) There was a N2 chamber in shock body, i can't get pressurized N2, so i decided to pump air cause air consists of 79% of N2.
b) i didn't know N2 chamber's pressure, oil chamber volume and it's viscosity. The only thing i knew was i need to use fork oil. Some guy Corvette from mtbr.com forum helped me. He gave me a link and secret fox's service documents and it was declared here what oil i need to use, what is the IFP settings and oil viscosity.
c)then i needed to make homemade tool to pump my N2 chamber with air. Guys from velomania already did this so i got pictures of this tool. I will describe it in next part of my report.
2. Required tools and parts list
To service your shock you need:
a)Adjustable spanner
b)homemade tool to pump N2 chamber
This was how i made it. I cut presta nipple with some rubbed reserve, the i took usual medical needle with plastic ending, cut this plastic ending so it can hardly be inserted in presta nipple, then i used a lot of glue, and used usual cold patch for tubes. And this tool really works. But we already got some analogs:
c)drilled he key on 4mm
How to drill it i think you know. You can use a drill from 1 to 2,5mm diameter.
d)high pressure pump
e)hex key on 2mm
f)fork oil with viscosity 10W and a syringe to measure oil's volume
g)waste oil container
h)a lot of toilet paper, usual paper
i)any cleaning solvent to clean all the servicing parts
j)a little bit of grease
3. Shock disassembly
How to disassemble your shock:
a) Remove the air sleeve (see air sleeve section).
b) FLOAT R only: Open the rebound adjuster knob all the way fast (counter-clockwise), so oil will drain when removing the shaft assembly.
c) Remove the nylon ball from the threaded pellet retainer hex with a dental pick tool.
d) Loosen the threaded pellet retainer to release nitrogen pressure.
e) Remove the threaded pellet retainer and pick out the pellet (wear safety glasses for this operation).
f) Clamp the body eyelet into the vice.
g) With a 3/4" open end wrench, carefully loosen the aluminum bearing housing.
* Make sure to place the fulcrum point of the wrench away from the bleed hole screw.
Note: If it takes excessive force to loosen the bearing, the contents may still be under pressure. Open a few turns and let pressure dissipate before continuing.
h) Remove bearing housing bleed screw (5/64ths) and steel ball. Be careful; oil may suddenly squirt out.
i) Loosen the bearing completely and carefully work the shaft assembly up and out of the shock body. Set it aside on a lint-free shop towel.
j) Carefully remove the body from the vice, and dump oil into your waste oil container.
k) Remove the IFP. Blow-clean the IFP with pressurized air, pressurizing the shock body through the pellet hole into a rag. Careful, it can fly far far away)))
You can watch pictures at velomania and at crazycyrix's site. I'd say it's the simplest part of shock servicing. Becides, when i turned off the bleed hole screw, oil begun to drain through it and it was more like foam, not oil. So the conclusion about cavication was right. The oil was red color and was still foaming even in waste container, but was pretty clear after one season of riding:
After removing my shaft i checked all the details and they was OK:
You can see N2 port here.
Here you can see fox's secret documents to my shock.
IFP setting declared here too. I needed them later.
4. IFP setting and oil filling
So, we got an IFP 57,15mm from th top of the shaft, and i use 62-64mm for sure, oil chamber must be filled such way to maintain 3mm to shaft top. N2 chamber's pressure must be 300psi, and main air chamber i usually pressure to 155psi.
5. Shock assembly
Before you start to assemble your shock you must check that you do have all required details, take a lot of toilet paper, lay down on the floor a lot of newspapers. I also recommend you to take a big waste container cause when you will put oil in shock everything will become in oil. Arrange all the keys near and cleaning solvent too. Be attentive to make all the process step-by-step cause when you miss something you will have to do it from beginning. So, please read careful, this is the main part. Here i go.
a)clean all taken apart parts with cleaning solvent.
b)grease the quad ring on the IFP. You should use the same oil for greasing that you will fill your shock with later. Insert the greased IFP into the body (Use IFP depth table to find proper IFP setting, i recommend to increase your IFP setting for 5mm). Set it aside for final assembly.
c)clamp the body eyelet into the vise and fill the shock's body with oil, left unfilled about 3mm to top.
d)turn off the bleed hole screw about half turn
e)grease shaft carving using usual grease.
f)insert the shaft assembly into the body, be patient and careful, try to insert it slowly. Tighten it about 20ft/lb.
g)ATTENTION! Now we must fill N2 chamber and let an air that could be in oil chamber off. N2 port have no usual nipple, it holds on rubber pellet and metallic pellet retainier that can be unscrewed by 4mm hex key. So, install this rubber pellet, then screw pellet retainier not hard, then insert drilled 4mm hex key, through it insert homemade tool and tighten pellet retainer using medium power so a needle will sit in rubber pellet strong.
h)now you should pump N2 chamber a little to let all an air in oil chamber off. You should arrange your shaft so the bleed hole must be higher than the oil chamber. When you will see that air from oil chamber is gone and only oil drains from it, tighten bleed hole. Then proceed to pump N2 chamber to 300 psi. I think it's almost impossible to pump it to 300 psi cause it starting to loose air, so you will need to pull out a needle as soon as you will see 300psi in your pump's manometer. After that retighten pellet retainer harder. I think, your N2 chamber's pressure will be about 250 psi.
*Note: if you damage original rubber pellet, you can replace it using any high dencity rubber as zigzag84 from mtbr.com forum did:
i)perform air leek test by submerging your shaft into water. If you see bubbles, you missed something or your rubber pellet doesn't work.
j)take your air sleeve, grease it's bottom with oil, it's top carving with usual grease and insert it on shaft. Fill your ait sleeve with 2milliliters of fork oil so it will grease shaft during riding. Insert sag's rubber ring and install your shock on bike. Push on it until you will be able to screw air sleeve and shaft. You need to screw it using your hands' power only. If it will be in oil, and i can bet it will be, you should use some rubber patch and apply it to air sleeve so it won't slip. After that pump your shock as usual.
6. Testing
Test your shock by pushing on it. If it still produces some scary sounds, you didn't do all well and it still some air oi oil chamber. Let an air off from air sleeve, then from N2 chamber, and repeat process from step H. Your rebound adjuster may loose 1 or 2 clicks cause of different oil and N2 chamber pressure.
7. Special thanks
a)first of all really big thanks to EVV from velomania's forum. Without your experience i won't try all this things.THANKS!!
b)everyone from velomania's forum who discussed all the troubles and helped to find out all the solutions.
c)someone called Corvette from mtbr's forum, who gave me fox's secret documents.
d)my brother for his drilled finger when he was rying to drill hex key.
е)to all the sceptics who didn't believe in me and ability to service shock at home.
PS I will update this post when new changes will be performed
PPS fox is really hard to service, horrey for RockShox production!
Here is the link to fox's secret documents:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gp9k3p