[Dawson308]

I got my 2010 40 brand new this spring. I have had it apart several times to change the oil. Last time I had it apart about two months ago, I put everything back together properly and I am sure I tightened the nut on the bottom of the dampener rod that holds the lowers on properly. I have since ridden 6 days of hard riding at Northstar and my dampener was performing great this last weekend the last time I rode. I took my lowers off today to change the oil in preparation for my big trip to Whistler coming in three weeks. I found a rubber flap coming out of the end of the dampener. Did I blow the bladder?? I thought if that was the case I would have noticed my dampener malfunctioning. I did a search but I couldn't find any pictures. This is what it looks like:

 

[sleepinggiant]

Yes you have blown the bladder. You may not have noticed a loss in damper performance because not much oil has leaked out of the damper yet. The cartridge rebuild kit, which has a replacement bladder (along with many other o-rings) should run you about $35~40 and you'll need some 10wt oil to do the rebuild. You don't need shaft clamps, but they do make the job easier. Fox has good detailed instructions here: http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/index.htm

 

[Dawson308]

This fork is only a few months old. Is there any way Fox would warranty this?

 

[sleepinggiant]

It's worth a call to see if they will, but unfortunately due to the design of the damper, 6 hard days at N* can do this to a 40. It would be worth your while to see if they'll upgrade you to the 2011 internals, they're significantly stronger. If you do have to send it back to Fox be aware that their turn around time is over 2 weeks at the moment.

 

[slowmtb]

I got my 2010 40 brand new this spring. I have had it apart several times to change the oil. Last time I had it apart about two months ago, I put everything back together properly and I am sure I tightened the nut on the bottom of the dampener rod that holds the lowers on properly. I have since ridden 6 days of hard riding at Northstar and my dampener was performing great this last weekend the last time I rode. I took my lowers off today to change the oil in preparation for my big trip to Whistler coming in three weeks. I found a rubber flap coming out of the end of the dampener. Did I blow the bladder?? I thought if that was the case I would have noticed my dampener malfunctioning. I did a search but I couldn't find any pictures. This is what it looks like:

The number of times I've seen this. Get used to it

 

[JeffKill]

This is why I sold my 40 and went with a Boxxer....

 

[Rhubarb]

Why I am selling my 36 and going with a Lyrik for my slope style rig.

 

[banrider]

so is it possible to retrofit 2011 internals into a 2010 40´s?

It's worth a call to see if they will, but unfortunately due to the design of the damper, 6 hard days at N* can do this to a 40. It would be worth your while to see if they'll upgrade you to the 2011 internals, they're significantly stronger. If you do have to send it back to Fox be aware that their turn around time is over 2 weeks at the moment.

 

[Dawson308]

Thanks for the input everyone. I thought the 40 was going to be super reliable, that's one of the main reasons I went with it. This is seriously disappointing. I have heard of plenty of issues with the Boxxers as well. I feel like any way I go I get screwed.

 

[ridefast]

This isnt a new issue. Ive done a number of these in the past few months alone.

Yea, its a pain in the ass, but consider that the 40 is a very high performance machine, and this is just part of the maintainence plan.

Same as buying a sports car or a high performance computer. There will be parts that need to be updated, fixed, tweaked on a regular basis. Plus, once you know what a blown bladder feels like, you can easily replace it (assuming you have the parts on hand) in a matter of minutes.

While 6 days of riding may or may not be too soon for this to happen, after super hard riding, it may be a good idea to replace oil anyway. Replacing the bladder is a good reason to do that too.

Sucks, but DH aint a cheap sport, ya know

 

[2WLS4EVER]

yes a 2011 will fit. they will most likely warranty it.

 

[RayB]

so is it possible to retrofit 2011 internals into a 2010 40´s?

Yes, I believe this is possible.

You can't retrofit newer FiT internals into the older (model year < 2009) due to the stanchions being longer. The only difference between the '10 and '11 is Kashima coating, newer style knobs, and damper orientation. I'm not 100% sure if they didn't change the lowers ever so slightly (with the rebound know now on the bottom), so you might wanna double-check.

Sucks to hear about/see your fork. I've been through that once before, as well as a similar freak incident with my old 36:

If you're cool over the phone, Fox will simply choose to warranty it.

 

[tuumbaq]

The only difference between the '10 and '11 is Kashima coating, newer style knobs, and damper orientation.

Sorry to break it to you my friend but the 2011 fork is a complete new beast with an entirely NEW damper. I have no idea if you could retro fit a 2010 with the new guts but I doubt FOX would do that anyway unless if the OP purchased the new damper.

I've had pretty much every single generations of 40's since they first came out years ago and only had ONE blown bladder.Im not sure what actually causes this but numbers of people Ive met with the same issue are usually running no or very little compression.Once they've used all of the available travel, there's nothing to prevent a sudden rise of pressure inside the bladder and then BANG!...

lol I dont know, thats my theory anyway.Out of curiosity, what settings are your running ? Im running the compression almost half way in for both LSC and HSC and I never have this problem.The 40 has a very good, speed sensitive damper and it was meant to be ran with only 2-3 clicks in...kinda silly to pay premium for a high performance product to go and rely on a 50 dollar spring and have your fork track like a pogo stick


Learn how to rebuild your cartridge, its simple and you should do it every so often anyway...BTW you will need to replace that bladder and the cap as well...Cant re-use them once this happened and make sure to lock-tic that nut if you rebuild it yourself.

 

[gemini2k]

Wha?? Seriously? Get a 888, I'll give you a deal on a new 2010 one if you want.

 

[Dawson308]

Sorry to break it to you my friend but the 2011 fork is a complete new beast with an entirely NEW damper. I have no idea if you could retro fit a 2010 with the new guts but I doubt FOX would do that anyway unless if the OP purchased the new damper.

I've had pretty much every single generations of 40's since they first came out years ago and only had ONE blown bladder.Im not sure what actually causes this but numbers of people Ive met with the same issue are usually running no or very little compression.Once they've used all of the available travel, there's nothing to prevent a sudden rise of pressure inside the bladder and then BANG!...

lol I dont know, thats my theory anyway.Out of curiosity, what settings are your running ? Im running the compression almost half way in for both LSC and HSC and I never have this problem.The 40 has a very good, speed sensitive damper and it was meant to be ran with only 2-3 clicks in...kinda silly to pay premium for a high performance product to go and rely on a 50 dollar spring and have your fork track like a pogo stick


Learn how to rebuild your cartridge, its simple and you should do it every so often anyway...BTW you will need to replace that bladder and the cap as well...Cant re-use them once this happened and make sure to lock-tic that nut if you rebuild it yourself.

I weight 170 with the stock spring running 6 clicks hsc and 4-6 clicks lsc. Will I need something special to clamp the dampener in the vice if I rebuild it myself?

 

[tuumbaq]

I weight 170 with the stock spring running 6 clicks hsc and 4-6 clicks lsc. Will I need something special to clamp the dampener in the vice if I rebuild it myself?

It does help to have the proper vise but it's still "feasible" even without it...You could even build one out of 2x4 or rap it with a tube and clamp it with your bike stand ...Im sure you can find away to do this.

The HSC on a 40 need 4-5 clicks before it actually engage and does something...so at least yours is open...I wouldnt hesitate to run more of both.

 

[spocomptonrider]

The number of times I've seen this. Get used to it

Sooo many, I keep up on maintenance and I've gone through a fair few of them, end of the season and I'm moving on to a 2011. The worst part is it's a pretty involved fix, not that difficult just time consuming. A friend of mine built the clamps exactly as tuumbaq described, they work a treat. just trace the outside of the cartridge on the 2x4 and cut/ sand it smooth.

You might as well learn to do it yourself rather than shipping it back to Fox unless they're gonna hook you up with 2011 insides. You'll be doing the job more than once and the more you do it the easier cleaner and faster its gonna be.

 

[buildyourown]

It's not that hard. You can buy the parts cheap online.
http://www.enduroforkseals.com/index.html

Buy some Enduro seals while you're in there and they will last MUCH longer than stock. Overall, the Fox is plenty reliable. But you should know how to do the maintenance yourself.

 

[freeridefool]

the whole rebuild on a 40 takes like an hour, two hours if your retarded. having to do maintence on a fork is a pretty bad reason to not buy a fork. get the rebuild kit, maybe two and google how to do it right.

 

[Kanye West]

If they had a compensator piston with a spring behind it instead of the bladder, that fork would probably never need working on. Something similar to the Showa/Kayaba twin-chamber forks. Easy, self bleeding, adjustable damping progressiveness, reliable as hell.

The bladder idea in a sealed damper is a silly one from the beginning. No real professional suspension shops in the moto/ATV or off-road world swear by them, and many will just remove bladders in existing shocks to put in a compensator piston. A couple shops sell them as moneymakers, but ask any of the tuners and their honest recommendation is to go with a piston, even if it costs less. There is an ever so slight increase in breakaway friction over a bladder but a huge amount more reliability. No getting stranded with a pogo stick.

 

[slowmtb]

For those of you that do not know, a friend has just fitted the whole '11 cart assembly in his '10 40z and it works mint.

HTH

 

[S.K.C.]

If they had a compensator piston with a spring behind it instead of the bladder, that fork would probably never need working on. Something similar to the Showa/Kayaba twin-chamber forks. Easy, self bleeding, adjustable damping progressiveness, reliable as hell.

The bladder idea in a sealed damper is a silly one from the beginning. No real professional suspension shops in the moto/ATV or off-road world swear by them, and many will just remove bladders in existing shocks to put in a compensator piston. A couple shops sell them as moneymakers, but ask any of the tuners and their honest recommendation is to go with a piston, even if it costs less. There is an ever so slight increase in breakaway friction over a bladder but a huge amount more reliability. No getting stranded with a pogo stick.

...exactly!


This is very interesting...

I'm more familiar with Boxxers and 888's so 40's are a bit of a new thing to me. I did manage on several occasions to fondle/hold a 2010 40 damper unit and the bladder set-up always struck me as odd...

So what exactly is the difference between the 2010 bladder and the 2011? Thicker walls? Does one have to run a significant amount of compression to avoid bladder issues but at the sacrifice of performance (too much compression = hard compression stroke)?

It seems nuts that riding a fork for a week under rough conditions with hard compression spikes will inevitably lead to damper failure (bladder rupture).

Makes me wonder if going with Avalanche internals might not be such a bad idea after all...

 

[Lelandjt]

I thought the 40 was going to be super reliable, that's one of the main reasons I went with it. This is seriously disappointing. I have heard of plenty of issues with the Boxxers as well. I feel like any way I go I get screwed.

You're missing the obvious, 888s are bombproof.

 

[Dawson308]

Thanks for everyone who gave me helpful advice. I replaced the bladder and have it all back together now. It was easy, just took a couple hours.

 

[sleepinggiant]

I did manage on several occasions to fondle/hold a 2010 40 damper unit and the bladder set-up always struck me as odd...

So what exactly is the difference between the 2010 bladder and the 2011? Thicker walls?

The 2011 40 damper is quite a bit different from the 2010. The new F.I.T. damper that Fox introduced for the 32mm class of forks has been applied to the 36 and 40 for 2011. The damper has essentially been inverted, the bladder has been enlarged, and it now sits at the top of the cartridge. As the fork compresses, instead of expanding against the aluminum end cone of the damper rod, it now expands against the inside of the stanchion tube. The couplers at the ends of the bladder have a significantly stronger interface than the old design. And as a fun side note, the test the 40 cartridge is put through now is a replica of Gee Atherton's down the Maribor WC track.