[Red Dawg59]

Are the fox shocks gas filled??? aren't they supposed to expand once compressed?

These are off my 2019 X model 1600 miles roughly - the ride is aweful so I removed them - and this is what I found - one seems like it has zero oil in it - and both compress really hard and to unload them you have to pull even harder(I have to pull it to get the piston to expand outward - These fox shock are peices of shit IMO! Honda should be ashamed of this.
What a joke. For the $$$$$ for these machines you'd think they would give you a decent suspension.

 

[BlueDog1210]

What did you replace them with?

 

[Red Dawg59]

I haven't yet - just discovered it toiday - everythings closed today it being Sunday and all -

 

[hondatalonr]

Nitrogen is filled into the rubber circular plug on the bottom of the reservoir with a needle. Not a very good setup and they leak. Can be seen in your second picture. This rubber piece can be replaced with a schrader valve that does not have the leak issues. Shock therapy replaced mine with the schrader valve when revalve was done. These are pretty good shocks when set up right.

 

[Red Dawg59]

Nitrogen is filled into the rubber circular plug on the bottom of the reservoir with a needle. Not a very good setup and they leak. Can be seen in your second picture. This rubber piece can be replaced with a schrader valve that does not have the leak issues. Shock therapy replaced mine with the schrader valve when revalve was done. These are pretty good shocks when set up right.

Yes......I'm sure they are - only after you customize them though......revalve and respring them with the correct parts. - but they should be set up correctly from the factory (on example - no cheap rubber valves that leak)- replacement shocks are $1400......but they don't come with good schrader valves either.......but they should - FOX is being cheap as most of these companys are - having to aftermarket them is BS IMO - but......after researching some..........apparently it's common practice in this off road business - sell you junk so you have to buy expensive aftermarket items to make them usable - Hondas no exception.

Ride safe and ride often!

 

[Ezgoin]

Yes......I'm sure they are - only after you customize them though......revalve and respring them with the correct parts. - but they should be set up correctly from the factory (on example - no cheap rubber valves that leak)- replacement shocks are $1400......but they don't come with good schrader valves either.......but they should - FOX is being cheap as most of these companys are - having to aftermarket them is BS IMO - but......after researching some..........apparently it's common practice in this off road business - sell you junk so you have to buy expensive aftermarket items to make them usable - Hondas no exception.

Ride safe and ride often!

You are 100% correct. Honda should be ashamed for selling a $20K machine with a suspension like the X has, and Fox should be also for allowing their name to go on these shocks. Fox knows how to make a good suspension but I'm sure they won the low bid on this contract!
Bite the bullet and send them of to Shock Therapy, you'll be glad you did.

 

[AZChuck]

I’m pretty sure Honda told Fox what they wanted and Fox delivered. If you were a company and someone asked you for a thousand or several thousand, would you tell them go away? I don’t think so! Bitch at the Honda folks. They’re the ones who also did poorly with front diff seals and a shift mechanism that sometimes goes into low, sometimes not. Those are my problems - other people have other issues.

 

[Go Talon]

If you want a good ride you will have to upgrade your shocks!

 

[TerryH]

Couple of pretty simple fixes for this. I replaced the caps on the shock reservoirs with caps from JC Racing. They have traditional Schrader valves and sole the lost nitrogen issue permanently. The tender springs on the X are the main issue. Several companies sell new tenders but I've have tenders from Bandit UTV Suspensions and they have been amazing. So for around $350 including getting the shocks recharged you have had a very nice ride and no more worry about the shocks loosing their charge. And yes, I agree that it's a joke that we have to do this but I'm glad there are fixes and they don't cost that much.

Here are videos from my YouTube channel on both products. Links are in the show notes. I believe Bandit is still out of stock on the tenders from the whole Covid mess but should have them back in stock in the next week or so.

 

[Ezgoin]

I’m pretty sure Honda told Fox what they wanted and Fox delivered. If you were a company and someone asked you for a thousand or several thousand, would you tell them go away? I don’t think so! Bitch at the Honda folks. They’re the ones who also did poorly with front diff seals and a shift mechanism that sometimes goes into low, sometimes not. Those are my problems - other people have other issues.

I’m sure Fox did provide exactly what they were asked to provide and at the cost they were allowed, but since they undoubtedly know what they put there name on they have to be a bit embarrassed! But if Polaris, Kawasaki, CanAm, and Yamaha can manage to put together an acceptable factory suspension in the same price point, I would think Honda could have done a lot better. I’ve driven both the R and X, and the R, while not great, is way better than the X in the suspension geometry.

 

[Red Dawg59]

Couple of pretty simple fixes for this. I replaced the caps on the shock reservoirs with caps from JC Racing. They have traditional Schrader valves and sole the lost nitrogen issue permanently. The tender springs on the X are the main issue. Several companies sell new tenders but I've have tenders from Bandit UTV Suspensions and they have been amazing. So for around $350 including getting the shocks recharged you have had a very nice ride and no more worry about the shocks loosing their charge. And yes, I agree that it's a joke that we have to do this but I'm glad there are fixes and they don't cost that much.

Here are videos from my YouTube channel on both products. Links are in the show notes. I believe Bandit is still out of stock on the tenders from the whole Covid mess but should have them back in stock in the next week or so.

Thanks for the input Terry - great info and videos - I've got the caps coming and cross over rings also - springs are something I'm still researching - Thanks again!

 

[TerryH]

Thanks for the input Terry - great info and videos - I've got the caps coming and cross over rings also - springs are something I'm still researching - Thanks again!

I'm certainly not the shock or spring guy but after bugging the guys at Bandit to death this is what I understand. Their train of thought is to view the entire spring stack as working together vs the tender transferring to the main as it is with a crossover and a typically much longer tender spring. They are figuring the optimum length for both springs and treating them as a unit. The companies that are using crossovers are treating each spring independently. Neither is right or wrong. There are lots of ways to skin this cat. I'm sure you found the same thing I did in your research. No 2 shock guys seem to do the same thing to get the same result.

 

[Red Dawg59]

I'm certainly not the shock or spring guy but after bugging the guys at Bandit to death this is what I understand. Their train of thought is to view the entire spring stack as working together vs the tender transferring to the main as it is with a crossover and a typically much longer tender spring. They are figuring the optimum length for both springs and treating them as a unit. The companies that are using crossovers are treating each spring independently. Neither is right or wrong. There are lots of ways to skin this cat. I'm sure you found the same thing I did in your research. No 2 shock guys seem to do the same thing to get the same result.

I hear ya - I'm going to try both methods as I have some rings coming from "Poly Performance" and see if there is any "real" difference - or not -.....................because if you get a simular ride with different set ups - the only "real" difference of the two would be the highly overpriced cross over rings.

Annnnnd..............Like Rosanna Rosanna Danna Anna says from Saturday nite live - "It's always something" - LOL

 

[antares7751]

What are the torque specs for the shock mounts?

 

[Red Dawg59]

Good n tight! LOL.................but I believe its 95 ft lbs -

 

[antares7751]

Good n tight! LOL.................but I believe its 95 ft lbs -

 

[antares7751]

Thank you!

 

[AZChuck]

Re the crossover rings, look around on the web. There are some for less than $10. As they say, "It ain't rocket science." Look here - FOX SHOCKS 234-00-356-2

If you don't have crossover rings, the two springs function as one (unless one goes into coil bind). If the two springs are equal, when you hit the crossover rings, the spring rate doubles. If the lower is twice as stiff as the upper (say 300 lbs/inch lower, 150 pounds per inch upper, when you hit the crossover ring, the spring rate goes from 2/3 times 150 pounds= 100 pounds per inch to the full 300 pounds per inch of the lower.

Re stiffness of the shock, Fox told me they typically have 100-150 psi gas load to keep oil foaming down, so that just shows up as preload on the springs.