GEN 1 Noisy Fox 3.0 Rears, beating the dead horse.

[Jonny Noll]

So I've been on my new Fox 3.0's for about 300 miles now. 60% ON Road.
From Day 1, the rears have been noisy as shit. Everything is tight, nothing has play in it, everything is properly torqued. I'm running 200psi nitro and seem to have found pretty good settings on the adjustors.
The OEM shocks were very quiet in comparison, even with 60k miles on them.

Aside from the noise, and what feels like a clunky short dead space at the beginning of the stroke (both ways), they perform awesome Off Road. So I love them and hate them at the same time.

But driving around in the city, they just **** me off every time I hit an expansion joint, pothole, or any kind of heave/crack in the road. Especially with my windows open. So much clunk. If I bounce up and down in the bed of the truck while it's not even moving, I can hear and feel the dead space clunk in the stroke. Seriously sounds like what loose shock bolts would create, but again, nothing is loose and the shock's spherical joints are nice and snug with no unusual play in them. Brand new stuff.

Reasons I've been given for the noise, and have been attempting to forcefully accept:
1) "Racecar Parts make Racecar Noises". My favorite.
2) "Bypass shocks are just loud".
3) "The bypass valves are metal and make clunky clicky noises".
4) "This is completely normal".

I've had A LOT of trucks, motorcycles, Jeeps, Rock crawlers, and cars with performance suspension. Some even with Fox. And I have never experienced or had to tolerate any slop in suspension components. I am obsessive about my vehicles having tight and quiet suspension. BUT, this is my first set with bypass tubes.

Should I just accept this and shut the hell up? Or should I explore another brand of shocks? What about recommended rear bypass settings for an empty truck while being used on road?

 

[DFS]

So I've been on my new Fox 3.0's for about 300 miles now. 60% ON Road.
From Day 1, the rears have been noisy as shit. Everything is tight, nothing has play in it, everything is properly torqued. I'm running 200psi nitro and seem to have found pretty good settings on the adjustors.
The OEM shocks were very quiet in comparison, even with 60k miles on them.

Aside from the noise, and what feels like a clunky short dead space at the beginning of the stroke (both ways), they perform awesome Off Road. So I love them and hate them at the same time.

But driving around in the city, they just **** me off every time I hit an expansion joint, pothole, or any kind of heave/crack in the road. Especially with my windows open. So much clunk. If I bounce up and down in the bed of the truck while it's not even moving, I can hear and feel the dead space clunk in the stroke. Seriously sounds like what loose shock bolts would create, but again, nothing is loose and the shock's spherical joints are nice and snug with no unusual play in them. Brand new stuff.

Reasons I've been given for the noise, and have been attempting to forcefully accept:
1) "Racecar Parts make Racecar Noises". My favorite.
2) "Bypass shocks are just loud".
3) "The bypass valves are metal and make clunky clicky noises".
4) "This is completely normal".

I've had A LOT of trucks, motorcycles, Jeeps, Rock crawlers, and cars with performance suspension. Some even with Fox. And I have never experienced or had to tolerate any slop in suspension components. I am obsessive about my vehicles having tight and quiet suspension. BUT, this is my first set with bypass tubes.

Should I just accept this and shut the hell up? Or should I explore another brand of shocks? What about recommended rear bypass settings for an empty truck while being used on road?

If you want the bypass valve performance, you have the bypass valve noise, there's no way to bypass that problem.

 

[Pacific Wheel]

Some say the Icon's are a little quieter but I think you're gonna have this noise either way with the bypass valves.

You might try a GEN2 OEM 3.0? But I think the length is different.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

As soon as I started reading your post and before I saw your 4 reasons why such is happening, my reaction was going to be, “race truck parts, make race truck noises.” Lol glad to see others have already covered this. But to answer your question, yes, move on and enjoy your shocks. If you want better performance off-road, then that’s what you have to deal with. KINGs are the loudest and I psyched myself into accepting the noise as a badge of honor. After all, real trucks rattle

 

[Deleted member 12951]

I had Fox 3.0 in the front and ICON RXT System in the rear. No noise issues. Thing ran great on road and especially in the dirt.

 

[Jonny Noll]

Well, fair enough! I'll quit my bitchin' then. Maybe I'll add a Whipple to divert my auditory senses elsewhere.

 

[Jakenbake]

Well, fair enough! I'll quit my bitchin' then. Maybe I'll add a Whipple to divert my auditory senses elsewhere.

To “Show you a little trick to take your mind off of that pain”

Go find a truck with king 4.0’s in the rear and then your’s will be hardly audible in comparison.

To be fair diagnosing sound issues over the computer/phone is difficult. Does it literally sound rhythmic and more like clicks or were you describing a thud with the dead space comment?

You may have that ole worn out harmonic vibration device on the driver’s rear frame rail that could be the thud and the clicks would be the bypass tubes.

another check would be to fully close the tubes or close them more and see if the sound changes.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Get Stainless Works headers and true dual exhaust and you wont hear any noise, not even your neighbor "TURN YHAT ******* TRUCK OFF!!!" Love my exhaust.

 

[II Sevv]

I have Icon 18” bypasses and they’re absolutely silent. I rode in a truck with Fox bypasses and wanted to jump out the window the noise was so bad in comparison. The coilovers don’t make noise as they’re not external bypass but if you want quiet shocks you can go get some icon rear bypasses. Or maybe even just swap out the adjusters assuming icon sells an adjuster in a compatible thread pitch? I have Kings up front and they also felt like they had “dead space” when they were new but I added preload and decreased oil flow with the adjuster and it fixed that

 

[BillVickers]

If you want the bypass valve performance, you have the bypass valve noise, there's no way to bypass that problem.

II SevV has this exactly right. The noise means they are working. Be thankful you did not convert to Kings.