Fox Fork oil - Should I just buy Silkolene RSF 10 Fork Oil

[nathanm]

Want to service the old F100 forks I bought (when they arrive) and they appear to need around 270 odd ml of Red Oil.

This stuff appears to be expensive and harder to get. I read it's just Sikolene RSF 10 fork oil, is this correct. if so it's only $22/ltr on MXstore.

To save a WTB, anyone got a pillow pack of float oil they can send/sell me?

 

[Haakon]

Damper oil - motorcycle shop. Whatever is on special. Lowers - any synthetic car engine oil.

 

[Isaakk]

I just picked up a bottle of 10wt fork oil from Supercheap and used that in the cheapie Float 32s I have. Stays lubricated & oil doesn't weep past seals, damps & rebounds properly (Evolution RL open bath), so seems to work a-okay.

 

[Jim Junkie]

Want to service the old F100 forks I bought (when they arrive) and they appear to need around 270 odd ml of Red Oil.

This stuff appears to be expensive and harder to get. I read it's just Sikolene RSF 10 fork oil, is this correct. if so it's only $22/ltr on MXstore.

To save a WTB, anyone got a pillow pack of float oil they can send/sell me?

I used the Silkolene RSF 10 in the damper for some older Fox F100 with FiT damper that I had. Ghetto bleed with a big syringe & removing the fit unit seemed to work a charm. I had got a seal kit to replace the seal heads & some rings in the air spring side, which came with a small sachet of float oil, so I used that on top of the piston on the air spring. For lowers I used Fox 20 Gold which is easy to get a hold of, but I imagine there'd be a good number of suitable substitutes around for that.

Forks worked a whole lot better after that. Turns out having all the bath oil in the air chamber doesn't work so great. The old damper oil was gross too, definitely not red anymore.

 

[link1896]

I’ve real pillow pack oil, it’s bloody thick, and nothing special.
I prefer Clevite engine bearing assembly lube, it’s a lot better in air cans/fork air springs.


Is this for the main air spring chamber? Can send either.

 

[The Duckmeister]

My Fox F100 is running fine on Penrite fork oil which I picked up at Supercheap, but any moto or automotive place will have something similar. I use 15wt in the lowers for bushing lubrication, and just a dribble of it in the air chamber for the piston (you can also use it in varying quantities as a token substitute to alter chamber volume & compression ratio), and 5wt in the damper (FiT RLC). Being a lightweight & fairly tame rider, the lighter oil makes the damper a bit more responsive, but needs the controls wound up a bit when the going gets chunkier, where a gluggy thicker oil takes the small bump compliance off but handles bigger/heavier stuff better. Beauty of using different weights of the same basic oil is you can mix your own blends to fine tune the damper.

 

[nathanm]

so I'm not super mechanically minded when it comes to fork servicing. What I'm looking at doing, as per the, service instructions is a lowers service. According to what I've seen you also need to pull the damper? (I think) out and inspect seals, reinsert and drop 5ml of float fluid into that "chamber" then drop 150/25ml of 10 wt fox Red oil into the lowers. I'm assuming this is a pre-2010 fork but will find out when it arrives.

I've got some 10wt Castrol fork oil kicking around so I'm assuming it might be the go to use that in the lowers?

 

[The Duckmeister]

You generally shouldn't need to pull the damper to do a lower service, although some open bath dampers may be exceptions. Usually you just need to undo the retaining nuts/bolts on the fork tips, give them a whack to unseat the shaft ends from the lower and slip the lower off. Have an oil pan under the fork to catch the oil that will (should) drain out.

 

[nathanm]

You generally shouldn't need to pull the damper to do a lower service, although some open bath dampers may be exceptions. Usually you just need to undo the retaining nuts/bolts on the fork tips, give them a whack to unseat the shaft ends from the lower and slip the lower off. Have an oil pan under the fork to catch the oil that will (should) drain out.

yeah done a few RS lowers, but as part of the old model Fox F-Series forks 30 hour service you have to/should replace the float fluid that goes in above the damper?. There's 5ml under the air cap for some reason, but I suppose I can just drain that and left the shaft/damper in place.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Got a link to the service guide for the particular fork?

 

[Isaakk]

The 5ml of float fluid is for lubrication of the spring (shouldn't go in damper side?), if you're just doing lowers you can leave the spring assembly as-is without problems, but probably a good idea to do that too, especially if it's been a while since last service or service history is unknown. What you do with the damper depends on the model of fork, and whether it's a closed damper (FIT etc) or open bath. If it's 150ml in the lowers of the damper side, is likely open bath.

Which exact fork/year is it?

 

[nathanm]

The 5ml of float fluid is for lubrication of the spring (shouldn't go in damper side?), if you're just doing lowers you can leave the spring assembly as-is without problems, but probably a good idea to do that too, especially if it's been a while since last service or service history is unknown. What you do with the damper depends on the model of fork, and whether it's a closed damper (FIT etc) or open bath. If it's 150ml in the lowers of the damper side, is likely open bath.

Which exact fork/year is it?

yeah you're right it's the (air) spring side. Everything about the fork is unknown, by the 1 facebook picture I'm banking it's a circa 2008-10 F100RL so open bath I'd almost guarantee, thus the need for so much oil.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Found the Fox oil volume chart, but their proper service docs are damn near impossible to find now.. F100s changed from Open Bath to FiT cartridge dampers in 2010; the large oil volume indicates you'll have an '09 or earlier fork.

You don't have to drop the damper guts if doing a lower service, but given you'll be draining all the oil when you drop the lower off, it's not much of an extra step to give the damper assembly a clean while you're at it. The air side can be untouched. 10W oil is normally a bit on the heavy side for a damper bath, but given in this instance the bath is both the damper fluid plus lubricant for the stanchions, it needs a bit more body to stay up in the bushings & not drain straight back into the puddle at the base of the leg, but not so thick it can't flow through the damper properly, so Fox specify it as a trade off.

One word of warning: The newer flangeless dust wipers that Fox have been using for the last few years (and fully compatible with older forks) are absolute bastards of things to get in. Unlike the older ones which were mostly rubbery plastic things which had a decent bit of flexibility to wriggle in place, these new things are predominantly brass (I think, or maybe a brass-coloured anodized aluminium) with a thin rubberised coating, and have basically nospringiness to wriggle with. If they go wonky when trying to seat, they'll bend and then they're fucked and won't go in at all.You really need to use a proper wiper press tool the right size to have a decent hope of getting them in, but even that can go awry sometimes.

 

[Nerf Herder]

If you are just looking for cheaper generic shizzle ... stop reading here

I highly recommend trying WPL suspension oil. The lads at MTB Suspension Centre are now distributing as well as using it in their operation. Well above my head, and completely ignoring the environmental aspects of the product ... which nobody cares about ... performance benefits are there to be had.

good people, good product.

 

[kten]

If you are just looking for cheaper generic shizzle ... stop reading here

I highly recommend trying WPL suspension oil. The lads at MTB Suspension Centre are now distributing as well as using it in their operation. Well above my head, and completely ignoring the environmental aspects of the product ... which nobody cares about ... performance benefits are there to be had.

good people, good product.

Not sure if your comment about nobody caring about the environmental aspects is serious or not?

Also, what performance benefits are there over the equivalent Motorex?

 

[Nerf Herder]

Not sure if your comment about nobody caring about the environmental aspects is serious or not?

Also, what performance benefits are there over the equivalent Motorex?

always relatively serious, mostly.
Recent poll and via experience ... people care but won’t stump up ... specifically for suspension oil, chain lube, bike wash. If it doesn’t hit a price point just shut up already.

re performance. It’s outside of my experience ... but in speaking with Simon ... and my interpretation of what he was saying ... it adds suppleness ... best to talk to the experts.