Quantcast

Broken Fox 40 ti spring arghhhhhhhhh

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
127
For the record I run a green ti spring, so the broken blue was useless to me except for the $100+ I could get for it. My question is though, is it still usable? I would like to sell it to get a little extra paypal money(aka bike fund). I must have ran the preload all the way out, i.e. not enough to touch the spring, causing the last upper coil to break off on a hard landing or something. Not entirely sure though, because there was enough preload to keep the spring from falling apart inside the stanchion. When I took the top cap off to change springs, I proceeded to pull the spring out and the top coil fell off. I took a green steel, and the broken blue ti, and stood them next to each other on a flat, level table. Doing so, theoretically they should be the same height. So, in the picture you can see the actual amount of length lost. Link to picture is below. It appears that somewhere around ~5mm have been lost in spring length. Is this enough to affect travel? If not, will the spring cause damage inside the stanchion by way of not having a flat "seating coil" on one end? I imagine it would be okay to use it still, perhaps requiring a few more clicks of preload to initially engage the spring. I have some nice, large i.d. heat shrink that I use on my 40 springs to deaden the rattle. I could wrap the broken end in it to have some sort of protection over the sharp edge.

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/9294022/


Unrelated - Called Fox when I discovered this(2+ months ago), and they replaced it with a brand new green ti spring. All done over the phone, didn't ask for pictures, serial number, purchase date, nothing. Didn't pay anything, not even a dime for shipping. That's some damn good after-purchase customer support, if I do say so myself. Enough to keep my business. If any Fox people are listening, thanks again!
 
Last edited:

Freeridin'

Monkey
Oct 23, 2006
316
2
Colorado
Grind the top smooth/ flat, maybe run a preload spacer and you'll be fine. If you're selling it make sure you let the buyer know and include pictures.
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
127
I have it listed for cheap, with several pictures of the damage. I just wanted to confirm it would be safe to use, so I can say so in the ad. I think if I heat shrink the end and dull the edge, and you were to put the damaged side up towards the preload spacers, that it would be perfectly fine. The heat shrink would add ~1/2mm to the length which could only help the situation.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
I wouldn't run it personally.
The ends of the spring are designed to be flat as you noticed, and simply filing down the last coil won't give the same result as from factory. Additionally, broken Ti springs in forks (of all brands) are not uncommon, and running a shorter free length spring (as it is now) will put additional stress on the spring. So a) it'll probably be noisier than the standard spring due to misalignment internally and b) it will likely fail again more easily.

Don't think it would really damage anything internally, but really, it sounds like Fox warrantied the spring for you no questions asked and you're trying to make a buck off the failed component that should have gone in the bin. I suppose if someone wants to buy it, let them, but as I said I wouldn't want to run it.
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
127
I wouldn't run it personally.
The ends of the spring are designed to be flat as you noticed, and simply filing down the last coil won't give the same result as from factory. Additionally, broken Ti springs in forks (of all brands) are not uncommon, and running a shorter free length spring (as it is now) will put additional stress on the spring. So a) it'll probably be noisier than the standard spring due to misalignment internally and b) it will likely fail again more easily.

Don't think it would really damage anything internally, but really, it sounds like Fox warrantied the spring for you no questions asked and you're trying to make a buck off the failed component that should have gone in the bin. I suppose if someone wants to buy it, let them, but as I said I wouldn't want to run it.
Well, yeah that's exactly what I am trying to do. I'd rather not throw a $200 ti spring in the garbage if at all possible. The damage is described in the ad and there are pictures of the damage, so buyers are aware.