Boxxer travel problem

[dandan]

Hi,

I have a set of 07 Boxxer world cups... I have noticed if I don't ride the bike for a few months I am losing half the travel.... they still work (compression/rebound etc) but I only have a few inches of travel and it does not rectify. The first time this happened I re-built them changing some o-rings, thought it was fixed and got full travel again. The second time I bought a complete service kit and changed all the o-rings etc and it has happened yet again.... if I ride the bike everything is fine... its only when I leave it sitting (upright) in the garage for a long period of time.

I suspect oil may be leaking through to the bottom of the fork... I want to make sure I fix it this time round!!!

Was wondering if anyone has heard of this before? And what they found?

Regards,
Dan.

 

[3viltoast3r]

Does flipping the fork upside down and cycling through its travel a few times rectify the problem? Fox recommend you do this occasionally, and I imagine it might help BoXXers

 

[dandan]

I actually tried that... turned the bike upside down for a couple minutes and compressed forks several times with different rebound/compression settings but did nothing

 

[Landon]

Boxxer Travel Problems

When you say reduced travel, does the fork bottom out too early or does it not return to full height?

Sometimes the damper shaft O-ring will spring a leak. Oil in the damper leg will drain straight into the lowers and the fork will have limited travel. If you removed the lower legs and found that a lot of oil drained from the right side, this might be the problem.

 

[VTSS350]

Hi,


I suspect oil may be leaking through to the bottom of the fork... I want to make sure I fix it this time round!!!

Was wondering if anyone has heard of this before? And what they found?

Regards,
Dan.

There is bugger all oil in the left air leg. Only 5ml and its a closed setup on the right hand leg.

Sounds more like dud air piston seals.

Are you loosing pressure??

 

[GORDOK]

Hi,

I have a set of 07 Boxxer world cups... I have noticed if I don't ride the bike for a few months I am losing half the travel.... they still work (compression/rebound etc) but I only have a few inches of travel and it does not rectify. The first time this happened I re-built them changing some o-rings, thought it was fixed and got full travel again. The second time I bought a complete service kit and changed all the o-rings etc and it has happened yet again.... if I ride the bike everything is fine... its only when I leave it sitting (upright) in the garage for a long period of time.

I suspect oil may be leaking through to the bottom of the fork... I want to make sure I fix it this time round!!!

Was wondering if anyone has heard of this before? And what they found?

Regards,
Dan.

I have a set of 08 world cups and this has happened to mine! Over a period of 2 weeks the forks travel decreased until the 8 inch travel has now become 1 inch travel. The forks work as normal, no bottom out, return to full travel ok, but they will not compress any further than 25 to 40mm. No adjustment, compression, change in air pressure etc. makes any difference. Have not opened them yet but was thinking along the lines of the floodgate adjustment staying shut. Would be interested to hear any info. Regards Gordo.

 

[dandan]

There is bugger all oil in the left air leg. Only 5ml and its a closed setup on the right hand leg.

Sounds more like dud air piston seals.

Are you loosing pressure??

The left air leg is perfectly ok... pressure is good. The problem is definately in the right leg.

Landon: Yes I suspect this is the problem.... the first time I pulled the forks apart I wasn't thinking of this and can't remember if much oil came out. The second time I remember there being probably 30ml (should be 15ml) and I know I did not overfill the first time cause I measure it exactly ... however 15ml more shouldn't cause such a reduction in travel would it? Maybe it can. I will be pulling them apart again next week and will take notice of how much oil this time! If it is the damper shaft o-ring any suggestions as why it would be failing so quickly? I changed this o-ring the first time AND the second time it happened. This has been over approx a 2 year period with very little riding... prob 3-4 races a year with basically no riding in between (hence the sitting in the garage for long periods). Strange!

 

[dandan]

I have a set of 08 world cups and this has happened to mine! Over a period of 2 weeks the forks travel decreased until the 8 inch travel has now become 1 inch travel. The forks work as normal, no bottom out, return to full travel ok, but they will not compress any further than 25 to 40mm. No adjustment, compression, change in air pressure etc. makes any difference. Have not opened them yet but was thinking along the lines of the floodgate adjustment staying shut. Would be interested to hear any info. Regards Gordo.

Hey Gordo... sounds exactly like mine except I did not notice the decrease... just pulled out of the garage and half travel gone!

I thought it may have been the floodgate too but both times after pulling out the motion control the floodgate was fine and operated fine. However I did notice one thing about the floodgate... not sure if it is a fault or not but when the compression know is turned fully to the last click the floodgate is completely closed. Now this definately can not be a good thing for the forks if you were to ride it in this position!!! I just make sure I am always at least one click back so oil can get through.

Dan.

 

[Landon]

15cc Max

A maximum of 15cc should be in the lower legs. At bottom out, there's not a lot of space left inside and more than 15cc will start to limit travel.

If you've replaced the damper shaft O-ring and it still leaks, you might need to replace the whole damper shaft and seal head. Other factors like bent or twisted lower legs can cause the O-ring to leak.