Fox 34 air cap socket - DIY

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Don't really care if my bike is dirty or scratched, but I do have a strong dislike for any fasteners or hardware that looks like its been attacked by a ham fisted git.

The black alu air caps that come on pretty much every fork nowadays are particularly prone to looking like shite after being undone a couple of times. The specs also call for a crazy amount of torque (24Nm) for something that has a fine thread and an o-ring seal (eg. requires very little torque to seal properly).

Anyway, long story short, decided to machine a couple of 26mm sockets out of UHMWPE. One with 1/2" drive and one with 3/8" drive. They are no where near as strong as a metal socket, but I don't do the air caps up that tight.

 

FigBo0T

Puts verniers on his headtube
That's brilliant. I'd buy one. Got any in neon yellow? (asking for a friend) :p
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
I'll see what I can do. I only had enough stock in the machine to do the couple I made for myself. If there was enough interest I could probably get a run going. Infact, I've just reconfigured the CNC to make another part out of a totally different plastic. I'll probably have enough stock left over to re-run the program on this different plastic.

Neon yellow? Well we could make them out of HDPE (glorified chopping board plastic) and that stuff comes in almost any colour. Whether it would be strong enough, not sure.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
CNCd out of any plastic/poly would stop making the cap look like shit, I'll take a couple.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Had a bit more plastic left over from this arvo's machining job and cranked out a few more.



I also tested one of the green ones almost to destruction. They are only good for about 8Nm before the plastic starts to deform. If the cap has been done up tight you'll need to use another socket/spanner to just get it started and then you can switch to this one to protect the cap/fork.

I can make a limited quantity for those that want some. The commercial price would be absurd so I'll just give them away. If you find it useful then perhaps you can shoot me a donation of whatever you thinks fair or at least reimburse me for postage. I can do them in 1/2" or 3/8" drive.

@Litenbror - if you're riding tomorrow I'll bring you one then. What size drive suits you best?
 

_______

Is an alien from 2007
The specs also call for a crazy amount of torque (24Nm) for something that has a fine thread and an o-ring seal (eg. requires very little torque to seal properly).
the torque isn't so it seals, it's so it doesn't get hammered loose by that air impact gun behind it, strip the last few threads and then go 0-200-eyesocket in the time it takes you to go "FU..." when you do your last drop.

We lost a 12mm thick laminated window in the workshop one day when the boss's dad decided to undo a 32 air shaft without realising TALAS and Float are different systems and that was just static 90psi. Even if you think "all the air would piss out past the seal first", do you really want the leak?

I'd rather scratch my ano thanks...
 

teK--

Eats Squid
I thought the higher torque has something to do with keeping enough pressure from the inside the stanchion against the CSU. I.e. under torquing the top caps can cause creaking.
 

_______

Is an alien from 2007
sounds plausible as an additional consideration, but most of the creaky csus i've seen creaked on both legs, and often with no service history (so we can assume noone ever pulled the CTD/FIT cartridge). The stanchion should be evenly clamped by the crown during assembly anyway, not using the topcap like a bolt (i.e. if that mattered, it was probably always gonna creak eventually). Fox's line has never wavered from "it was an assembly issue with 2014 forks assembled in the "new" Taiwan factory" as far as I know...
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
the torque isn't so it seals, it's so it doesn't get hammered loose by that air impact gun behind it...
I thought the higher torque has something to do with keeping enough pressure from the inside the stanchion against the CSU. I.e. under torquing the top caps can cause creaking.
Interesting. If that's the case then I'd recommend giving the top caps a final torque with a proper socket. I haven't had a Fox fork for 10 years and back then I'm sure the torque values were much less (eg 14Nm or thereabouts). I've also never had an issue with top caps loosening on my RS forks and I'm sure I never torqued those to 24+Nm.
 

_______

Is an alien from 2007
Fair enough. I never used a torque wrench, but thinking of 24Nm as "the force required to support 9-10kg" on the end of a 12" ratchet sounds about right to me for what I'd consider goodntight. 18Nm is what ridefox says for pre-15 forks, so you were pretty spot on btw!
 
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