2014 Fox 40 Float FIT Tuning Thread
- Thread starter ianjenn
- Start date
Was I right about what's involved in changing the travel and a-c height?
There isn't a travel adjuster system. The air piston and spacers is for changing air chamber volume and progressivity of the positive spring. It is pretty quick and easy to do and really helps dial in the fork.
Oh bummer, since the last 40 had such a system I thought this one does too.
Aren't you on a V10c? Why would you want less than the full travel?
I often trail ride my V10 (especially during the off season or when travelling) and being able to lower the front end makes it a much more enjoyable ride on climbs. I use a 2012 888 Evo Ti with a modified 2008 ATA cartridge. Until the lifts open I've got a 35t ring and the 2.5" Dhf Exos and carbon front wheel from my enduro bike on it. It's 29.8lb and I've done some considerable XC rides on it lately. In the 8.5" setting it works pretty well. On flats and climbs I turn in the LSC dials and drop the fork. At the top of a downhill it takes a couple seconds to extend the fork and set the LSC clickers back to normal and I'm enjoying my DH bike on a backcountry descent.
I'm waiting to hear back from Marz if my ATA cart will fit in their new 380 fork. If so it will be the same weight as the new 40 and retain my travel adjust. In that case this will be the bike I'll bring with me to HI next winter instead of my enduro. I'll be winning XC races and leading tours on a V10! (with reversed Spec Command Post for a reasonable seat position)
I'm waiting to hear back from Marz if my ATA cart will fit in their new 380 fork. If so it will be the same weight as the new 40 and retain my travel adjust. In that case this will be the bike I'll bring with me to HI next winter instead of my enduro. I'll be winning XC races and leading tours on a V10! (with reversed Spec Command Post for a reasonable seat position)
Ask them if the 380-damper fits into the 888!
not sure if they talk about 'tuning', since i had the sound off and skipped through all the talking. but heres a vid relating to the air 40!
FOX Air 40 on Vimeo
FOX Air 40 on Vimeo
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You should check out Montana.
I visit my friend in Big Sky now and then. Great mountains, interesting gun culture, hearty women.
waiting... for this White Air Baby..
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Ordered mine on 4/29, mine showed up this week finally. Best fork I have ever owned and ridden on. I got 6hrs on it yesterday at Angel Fire and I was very pleased I waited for this fork.
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I got a few runs on my new float 40 last week; the fork was substantially more progressive than my 2012 van 40. With 70 PSI in the air chamber I was only able to use about 6.5" of travel (I am 205 Lbs without gear.)
I just removed the air cap / volume adjuster and moved some spacers around. The stock setup has four spacers above and four spacers below the volume adjust piston. I reconfigured the spacers so there is one space above the adjustable air piston and seven below. During my parking lot test the fork felt more linear and required me to increase the air chamber pressure to 75psi. Hopefully I can hit the trails soon and do some additional tuning.
I just removed the air cap / volume adjuster and moved some spacers around. The stock setup has four spacers above and four spacers below the volume adjust piston. I reconfigured the spacers so there is one space above the adjustable air piston and seven below. During my parking lot test the fork felt more linear and required me to increase the air chamber pressure to 75psi. Hopefully I can hit the trails soon and do some additional tuning.
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My fork came at 60 PSI and more progressive than I would like. I will adjust the volume adjust piston this week and more riding this week for tuning. For now this is what I am running.
145 LBS with gear
50 PSI
2+ clicks HSC from fully open
10+ clicks LSC from fully open
8+ clicks rebound from fully open
145 LBS with gear
50 PSI
2+ clicks HSC from fully open
10+ clicks LSC from fully open
8+ clicks rebound from fully open
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doing blow off valves on each leg works?
^I'm kinda excited about that feature. All my 888s had to have the adjusters removed and top caps cracked fairly often.
Blow offs work good on mine so far.
Are the forks building up pressure? Are you hearing air rush out when you hit the blow-offs? After just a couple runs, whole day of riding, a week? Have any of you with previous gen 40s experienced pressure build up?
why? is it due old 2008 cartridge?
I like your idea using dh bike overall. it would save me some bikes. I have wondered about a suitable 180mm DC fork (or whether 200mm that uses 20mm spacer) to fit enduro frame from Banshee.
I live about 50 Feet above sea level and went on a trip last weekend to elevation 8,000 feet. After the first DH run I noticed oil weeping between the air cap and my stanchion. I hit the bleed off valves and air blew out for about 5 seconds. After that my fork stopped leaking oil. So I think it is safe to say the bleed off valves air doing their job.
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I just got back from 3 days up in whistler with the new fork. I set it up initially with 80 Psi ( I weigh 190lbs) and the stock progression setting. I set the dampener to what I used to run my old 40 at; 22 clicks of LS from open, 16 of hs from open and the rebound with just a touch of rebound noticeable in the parking lot test( I used to run the yellow spring in my 40). It it important to note that I did not change my shock settings. I am running a 2013 RC4 with a 450lbs. spring on a on a M9 in the 9 inch travel setting and the linear shock position.
I felt with this initial fork set up, the fork was diving to much in the initial travel and yet never using more than 6-7 inch's of travel on the roughest of trails. I ended up increasing the air chamber two notches towards linear and had to pump the fork up to 85 PSI. I turned my LS down to 16 clicks from open and HS to 12 clicks from Open. Even with this I felt the bike was still kicking me forward a bit through the rougher sections. I called up Fox Canada and they helped me match up the back shock to mimic the fork. I had to soften up my compression settings on the shock, put the shock into the middle progression setting on the m9 ( matchings the forks soft and fast initial stroke and progressive ramp) and sped up the rebound considerably faster on both the fork and shock as compared to what I usually run ( about 6 clicks from fully open on the fork and not sure on the shock)
The changes to the shock completely balanced out and matched the fork. The whole bike tracked amazing through the rough chatter while sitting surprisingly high in the travel, giving it a faster and snappy/responsive feel. What was really impressive was the control and dampening on big flat landers and the how high the fork sat ( yet smooth) through G'd out berms littered with holes. All and all very impressed with the fork. Would love to try it with the 2014 RC4 rear shock, even with all the Low speed turned off on my 2013 RC4, I felt like It could use even less to fully match the fork.
- Mantle
I felt with this initial fork set up, the fork was diving to much in the initial travel and yet never using more than 6-7 inch's of travel on the roughest of trails. I ended up increasing the air chamber two notches towards linear and had to pump the fork up to 85 PSI. I turned my LS down to 16 clicks from open and HS to 12 clicks from Open. Even with this I felt the bike was still kicking me forward a bit through the rougher sections. I called up Fox Canada and they helped me match up the back shock to mimic the fork. I had to soften up my compression settings on the shock, put the shock into the middle progression setting on the m9 ( matchings the forks soft and fast initial stroke and progressive ramp) and sped up the rebound considerably faster on both the fork and shock as compared to what I usually run ( about 6 clicks from fully open on the fork and not sure on the shock)
The changes to the shock completely balanced out and matched the fork. The whole bike tracked amazing through the rough chatter while sitting surprisingly high in the travel, giving it a faster and snappy/responsive feel. What was really impressive was the control and dampening on big flat landers and the how high the fork sat ( yet smooth) through G'd out berms littered with holes. All and all very impressed with the fork. Would love to try it with the 2014 RC4 rear shock, even with all the Low speed turned off on my 2013 RC4, I felt like It could use even less to fully match the fork.
- Mantle
Nothing to do with the air spring I'm running. It's the 888's chassis and seals that make it build up pressure. I've had 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2012 888s that all did it. Some more than others and usually more in one leg than the other. My moto's forks have all done it as well, more in one leg than the other. My friend's Boxxer WC had some pressure built up when we cracked its top caps. I haven't noticed any of my Fox 36 forks building up pressure.
I like the bleeder valves cuz they remove this variable from tuning without having to spend 5 minutes spinning wrenches.
After a few beers, so my reading comprehension may be considerably lower than normal, it sounds like you're saying your fork was wallowing and diving, and Fox's solution was to tune your shock so that it wallows and dives to mimic the fork, which then give the whole bike a more supportive, LESS wallow'y/dive'y feel that stays high in it's travel... I don't know how that all adds up?
The new 40 is by no means wallowy. Keep in mind I was coming off the old 40. A fork that some have felt has a tendancey to dive. Agressive riders were relying heavily on the dampener which affected the whole stroke to keep the front end high and supported. With the new 40 I found just the opposite , I could run the fork with less dampening as the air spring would ramp up mid stroke, supporting the front end. However the bike I put the the new 40 on had a shock which was heavily dampened to match the feel of a heavily dampened fork with a linear curve. I had to make the back of the bike feel more progressive the match the fork. Hehe am I making more sense or maybe its me thats been in the beers 
Wanted to resurrect the thread.
Anyone else not able to get full travel on there 40 float?
I weigh 175-180lbs geared and have my volume adjust at the most linear setting with 65lbs of air pressure, 5 clicks of LS comp in from full open and 10 clicks of HS comp from full open and I'm still unable to get the last 1.5" of travel.
Anyone else not able to get full travel on there 40 float?
I weigh 175-180lbs geared and have my volume adjust at the most linear setting with 65lbs of air pressure, 5 clicks of LS comp in from full open and 10 clicks of HS comp from full open and I'm still unable to get the last 1.5" of travel.
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CraigS - I found I needed to pull the fork apart and check fluid levels as they were miserably short of the 50CC's that were supposed to be in both legs. 15CC in one side, and maybe 1 or 2 CC in the other. After adding the proper amount the fork feels/works much better and I'm getting full travel.
I'll check it out, Thanks!
I have to adjust the Air Spring and maybe make it a tad less pogressive. I still have not gotten full travel running 4 clicks of LSC and like 2 of HSC. I have 75-80 PSI in it as well. Muddy how did you check oil level measuring or drain and refill yourself?
Just pull the lowers off and drain out the oil in and replace, really simple, unbolt and lightly tap the lowers. If you're not sure how just google it or Fox should have on their website. Each side should have 50 CC's.
Does Fox suggest a certain oil or can I run anything in it? I just got it back from them this week after the rebound knob ripped off. AWESOME that is just asking to fail I really want that to be a flat knob like the top adjusters are....
Fox Green 10wt is what is recommended and works best in the lowers.
There should be a cap for the rebound adjuster, it is designed to stop that happening (transfers force to footnut / casting). Would be pretty impressed if you had the cap on tight and managed to damage the adjuster - but if you did, that's pretty rare and I've never seen it happen before.
There should be a cap for the rebound adjuster, it is designed to stop that happening (transfers force to footnut / casting). Would be pretty impressed if you had the cap on tight and managed to damage the adjuster - but if you did, that's pretty rare and I've never seen it happen before.
Well I have had some saddle time aboard the fork so here are the quick Pro/Con I have found.
Pro
1. Sort Of Light
2. Stiff (not as stiff as older 40)
3. Good Dampening (seems pretty consistent over rough slow or high speed chatter)
4. Pretty Adjustable
Con
1. Having to mess with the Air Spring ( I HATE ADJUSTING STUFF)
2. Not quite as smooth as the Dorado
3. Tad heavier than was claimed if the 3 scales I used were right...
2.
Pro
1. Sort Of Light
2. Stiff (not as stiff as older 40)
3. Good Dampening (seems pretty consistent over rough slow or high speed chatter)
4. Pretty Adjustable
Con
1. Having to mess with the Air Spring ( I HATE ADJUSTING STUFF)
2. Not quite as smooth as the Dorado
3. Tad heavier than was claimed if the 3 scales I used were right...
2.
Interested to know what you weigh and what your settings and air pressure are.
I cannot get the last 1 1/2 of travel.
I dropped the lowers and made sure each leg had 50cc. The fork feels great, just cannot get all the travel.
I cannot get the last 1 1/2 of travel.
I dropped the lowers and made sure each leg had 50cc. The fork feels great, just cannot get all the travel.
I am at 4 LSC and 2 HSC now fast rebound and at 80 PSI. I think changing the air chamber volume will allow more use of HSC and full travel.
I weigh 175-180lbs and have the volume adjustment at the most linear with 65psi.
LSC is at 3 clicks in from full open.
HSC is at 4 clicks in from full open.
I've purposely cased jumps and drops and cannot get all the travel.
LSC is at 3 clicks in from full open.
HSC is at 4 clicks in from full open.
I've purposely cased jumps and drops and cannot get all the travel.
quick question.. since im reading people here are finding low oil volumes in their new float 40s, do you think i should drop the lowers on my new 2013 coil 40 and check the oil volume?
this is what i bought (if it even matters):
http://www.go-ride.com/product/13fox-racing-shox-fox-40-fit-rc2-kashima-black-blue-ti-spring-2448.htm
oh and yeah i know its not a 40 float.. but i just figured id ask here so i didnt have to make another thread.
this is what i bought (if it even matters):
http://www.go-ride.com/product/13fox-racing-shox-fox-40-fit-rc2-kashima-black-blue-ti-spring-2448.htm
oh and yeah i know its not a 40 float.. but i just figured id ask here so i didnt have to make another thread.
In terms of performance how is the air spring comparing to a tried and true coil...is the cost justified over the 2014 coil version? Weight is not a concern, however, unable to make use of the fork's full travel is (any update on that?).
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