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So, I’ve got a pair of 150mm travel 2018 fox 36 performance elite forks that I plain can’t get to move more that 140mm through their travel.
The 140mm travel limit persists even when I’ve let all of the air out of the forks (including the air in the lower legs which was burped through the fork seals) and have the top cap off the air spring.
I’ve not got as far as stripping the lower legs yet, to see what else I can find, but I was wondering if anyone here might have any suggestions for things I could try?
Could/would too much oil in the lower fork legs stop the fork moving through its full travel or would bottoming out simply push the excess past the fork leg seals?
I’d put money on there being too much grease in there.
Have you measured the stanchion? Think some 150mm forks could actually have 160mm stanchions limited to 150mm movement.
Could/would too much oil in the lower fork legs stop the fork moving through its full travel
Yes
I’d put money on there being too much grease in there.
Where do you think the excess might be? I’ve read tales of the negative spring being pretty much solid with grease but can’t see how this would limit the travel. Is it common for these to ship with a load tucked away somewhere else in the fork?
And yes, I did get out the ruler to check this one. It almost seems odd that the maximum travel was pretty much bang on 140mm. Was wondering if this might mean something of the wrong size has been built into the fork but couldn’t think of anything that would reduce the travel but leave the extra stanchion showing (unless they do extra long damper assemblies).
I have the same issue on the same forks so interested to find the answer to this as well.
I’ve not fitted mine yet, so had optimistically hoped a few pumps on the bars with them would “free” them up but from the post above that’s not looking the case.
Are these the FIT4 ones off CRC? I stripped mine and there was alot of grease but they do go to 150 with no air in. Never had full travel whilst riding even with 30% sag and no tokens- I think of it as a feature of them not diving.
Same forks here! Mine have three tokens in though so im not after full travel..
Well, if I get the time this weekend I guess I’ll be stripping the lowers and having a look inside the negative air chamber.
If I can’t find anything in that lot then I guess I’ve got a set of 140mm forks rather than 150mm ones. Unless simply putting them them back together with the right amount of grease and oil fixes the issue.