FOX 3.0 first on road driving impressions

[MCM34]

What did Fox give you for setting the rear shocks? I emailed them and they said orange clickers are for compression and black clickers are rebound. I already know that but would like to know which circuit controls what.

 

[HawaiiStevo]

If you choose to adjust the shocks here are descriptions of how the adjusters work. The orange knobs that face down are the compression adjusters. The black knobs are the rebound adjusters. All adjustments are done starting at fully closed which is all the way clockwise. On the compression tubes, the short compression mainly effects ride zone( this can change if you have changed the ride height with different leaf springs, load, etc.), the longer compression tube effects the bottom out resistance as well as ride zone (notice the tubes overlap each other a bit). The easiest way to adjust compression is to work with the long tube until desired bottom out resistance is achieved. Then adjust short tube to achieve desired ride comfort at ride height. Rebound is adjusted the same way as compression. The long rebound in this application is substituted with the cooler ports which act as a long rebound tube. It is important not to make the rebound too stiff because it will cause packing which will cause the wheel to not drop out fast enough which will make the truck feel harsh and may make you reduce compression stiffness to combat the ride harshness. This will drastically reduce off road performance. Rule of thumb on rebound is to have just enough rebound stiffness that the wheel is able to drop freely but the truck does not feel too loose.

This is copied from the info that Fox Racing sent to me. I hope that answers your questions. Just note the rebound adjustments. Too much rebound and the shock will not extend (rebound) fast enough to react to the next hit resulting in a harsh ride. Somehow people get this mixed up and think that more rebound means the shock will extend faster. I suggest contacting Fox again for more info. For the price of these shocks they should be more then willing to help you. They were actually pretty helpful to me.

 

[HawaiiStevo]

sorry, not on IG

 

[MCM34]

Thanks, that helps a bunch. I've already started messing with them and a couple of clicks is noticeable. 1st thing I noticed was neither shock was set the same from factory. Short compression tube one was at 14 and the other at 22 from closed. Also one of my short tubes only has 26 clicks and all the other compression tubes have 29. Seems to be par for the course for Fox, my new Fox 36 grip 2 on one of my mountain bikes has 32 clicks of LSC and it's only supposed to have 16, early production issue they say.

 

[xxaarraa]

Thanks, that helps a bunch. I've already started messing with them and a couple of clicks is noticeable. 1st thing I noticed was neither shock was set the same from factory. Short compression tube one was at 14 and the other at 22 from closed. Also one of my short tubes only has 26 clicks and all the other compression tubes have 29. Seems to be par for the course for Fox, my new Fox 36 grip 2 on one of my mountain bikes has 32 clicks of LSC and it's only supposed to have 16, early production issue they say.

That's very weird. I know in the motorcycle world, one fork will ship from factory set to different compression and rebound than the other, but on high end suspension setups, that's normal as one will do compression and the other will do rebound. I can't imagine it's the same on our trucks.

There might be a legitimate difference between the driver and passenger side shocks to account for weight of driver, fuel tank, etc.

 

[MCM34]

That's very weird. I know in the motorcycle world, one fork will ship from factory set to different compression and rebound than the other, but on high end suspension setups, that's normal as one will do compression and the other will do rebound. I can't imagine it's the same on our trucks.

There might be a legitimate difference between the driver and passenger side shocks to account for weight of driver, fuel tank, etc.

The rear shocks are not labeled left or right. The fronts are. The long rebound circuits were completely closed in both of my rear shocks. Once I opened those up the ride was immediately better. Makes me doubt that fox sets up these shocks to a factory optimized setup out of the box.

 

[gwgriggs]

Would you mind sharing your set-up for the rears?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HawaiiStevo]

Thats odd regarding the set up or lack thereof for the rear shocks. I have put a deposit on the rears and plan on installing them some time next month. If anybody has set them up please share.

 

[MCM34]

I’ve just started working on them only 1 short 30 mile off road session on them so far running the same stretch. I put deavers on at the same time and they need some breaking in as well.

All settings are clicks out from closed

Short compression tube 22 clicks
Long compression tube 21 clicks

Short rebound tube 19 clicks
Long rebound tube 3 clicks (only 4 settings available)

Speeds are 5-80+ mph on desert roads.

 

[xxaarraa]

I’ve just started working on them only 1 short 30 mile off road session on them so far running the same stretch. I put deavers on at the same time and they need some breaking in as well.

All settings are clicks out from closed

Short compression tube 22 clicks
Long compression tube 21 clicks

Short rebound tube 19 clicks
Long rebound tube 3 clicks (only 4 settings available)

Speeds are 5-80+ mph on desert roads.

Comparing suspension clicks is like comparing insurance premiums - everyone's vehicle and situation is completely different.

I am surprised to hear that users are having to do all the dialing in of such a high end suspension setup. Usually, they ship with a baseline that should work fine for 80% of people in 80% of situations.