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Upping the compression damping on a 888r

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Haven't touched my Foes in about 4 years, rode it last week, seals were dry and puked out the oil. Just popped new seals in it and replaced the oil, and it seems way too soft.

Fork in question is a 2004 888R

I believe I've got all the air bled out of the cartridge, seemed good to go anyway.

Have the correct amount of oil, and the travel seems decently progressive.

The springrate seems good, sag is right where I want it, and I can preload it just right to wheelie/bunny-hop/whatever.

The problem is I'm blowing through the travel way too fast. I can't quite bottom it out in the neighborhood, but dropping off my planter-bed I can blow through about 7" of travel, way too much for an 18" drop.

Thinking since I can't revalve like a truck shock, step up from 7.5wt oil to 10. Does that make sense? Does it sound like I mite have other issues?
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Going to hit the Moto shop for some oil tomorrow.

The question that still has me wondering is, what could have changed, thing used to be just fine with stock 7.5 weight oil. Granted I've put on a couple pounds since then, but I can't see much a weight difference between me today in boardhsorts and a T-shirt, and 4-5 years ago with full armor.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Unfortunately those forks just don't have much compression damping available, and any change you can make is usually between little and none.

10-15wt in both legs would be a start (10 won't make much difference), but you can also close off the bleed holes on the compression side cartridge (the holes along the tube, not the ones at the bottom) to get a bit more damping. If I remember correctly you can get away with closing them all because any less makes an insignificant difference - Marzocchi used to make a sleeve to do this but you can make your own with PVC pipe or even just use a few wraps of masking tape.

Going up a spring rate might help too, even though you say you're happy with it. I think the most useful change would be swapping in the RC2 cartridge from the 2006 version (LSC adjuster on bottom of rebound leg) if you come across one.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Was not aware that they had bleed-holes in the cartridge, couldn't even figure out how to hold the cartridge in place so I could unscrew the nuts holding them into the bottom of the lower. If I can figure out how to get the thing out, I'll sleeve it to block the ports.

Think I've got some 15wt, didn't think I should jump that much, 7.5 to 10 is night and day on a truck shock, but maybe I'll give it a go on this thing.


Down the road, the whole fork is getting ejected, it's served me well through a few frames, and could stand to have a fresh set of lowers. If I'm going to spend the money for lowers, springs a new cartridge etc, may as well just replace it. Toward the end of summer it'll get either a 40 or a Boxxer more than likely.
 

GodSmack

Chimp
May 27, 2013
88
0
BC
Go with the 15 weight oil. If you increase the oil height the fork will bottom out less. Or maybe your just not used to the way a Marz fork perfoms? Fox and Rock shox stay more in the mid travel. Zokes forks bottom out quite a bit on an aggressive DH run. Its called a plush fork!
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
I'd up the oil weight, it's the cheapest and easiest method. I rode a friend's 888 RC (I think the one after the R, 2005 maybe?) and it bottomed under brake dive. Didn't feel overly undersprung (definitely was a little) but dialing the compression all the way in did nothing. rebound had a good range though.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Pretty sure the RC is the R, but they added a letter since they introduced another model just under it. Sounds exactly like how my fork is handling.

It's 100 in the garage and I've got a cold, so no motivation to go change the oil, but I've got the 15wt for whenever I get around to it.

Anybody know how to actually get the cartridges out of the lowers? Still would like to figure out how o do it if I want to block off the bleed-holes.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
Somebody else will chime in, i'm sure, but I think you need an impact wrench in order to prevent the cartridge from spinning. I think you can also do it by compressing the fork and then undoing the footnut.

I don't know much about the fork, except that it's some weird bastardization of a late model RCV and two 8" cartridges that read C and R...and that C just spun like a rockshox rebound adjuster.
 

Lelandjt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2008
2,508
821
Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
I think you need an impact wrench in order to prevent the cartridge from spinning. I think you can also do it by compressing the fork and then undoing the footnut.
Yes, without an impact wrench I've found the best way is to have the wheel on the bike and a friend pushes down as hard as they can on the handlebars. This should create enough grip between the cartridge and the lowers to keep it from spinning when you loosen the footnut. When you put it back on use the same technique and only torque it as hard as needed.