Fox X2 Stuck - Bad Decision?

[Mr Dog]

After a troublesome time with my Fox X2 I decided it was either time to throw it in the trash or have a go at rebuilding it myself. I had the shock repaired under warranty about 18 months ago due to cavitation. Since then, due to moving house, then an injury that has kept me off mountain biking for almost a year, the shock has had almost no use. Despite that it seems to have managed to cavitate whilst sat doing nothing. I bought the necessary service tools and prepped to strip it down. As I slowly let the air out the shock sucked down. I followed the advice on the fox site and pumped air back in, then let it out slowly but every time it sucked down again.

So in my wisdom and against the advice from Fox that it may kill me, I removed the lower air can retaining clip, put the lower axle back in the eyelet and wrapped a towel around it and started to twist the air can back and forth. It has come away from the seal head slightly but not willingly. This gave me time to question my choice here so I decided to back-track. A quick search online does not show anyone removing the air can of an X2 in this stuck down condition so im not entirely confident in the outcome.

Maybe I should have not given up so easily and cycled the air in and out a couple more times to try and get it to not stick down?

Unfortunately there appears to be no going back from where I am as I cant get the can back up far enough to get the circlip back on.

So - anyone out there have any advice?

 

[Oakhills]

They should warranty it with a 2024 Factory version. Voluntary recall.

 

[wenna]

I think you can just pull the aircan off but with a big pop if it's sucked down.

 

[Mr Dog]

Thanks. I managed to get the air can and clip back on. Pumped it up and released the air slowly about 10 times and finally got it to not suck down. I stripped it completely down….. then found out about the recall. I’m going to reassemble it, hit up the local service center and see if I can get it swapped. Hopefully after that I can have a consistently working shock and no more injuries.

 

[wenna]

I bought the necessary service tools and prepped to strip it down

I'm thinking of getting the tools myself as I always service everything myself.

Did you manage to find any of the tools at a good price aftermarket?
Would you say some of the tools are not needed and other tools can be used instead?

This is my first Fox shock and I've only had experience with Rockshox and DVO.

 

[Mr Dog]

I'm thinking of getting the tools myself as I always service everything myself.

Did you manage to find any of the tools at a good price aftermarket?
Would you say some of the tools are not needed and other tools can be used instead?

This is my first Fox shock and I've only had experience with Rockshox and DVO.

I got some tools from a US seller on eBay. There seem to be a lot of low cost options out there. You will need the shock body clamp and the shaft clamp, this is usually on the same tool. Then you need the clamp to unscrew the main seal. That will get you far enough in to change the oil and main seals. I purchased other tools to remove the comp and rebound adjusters but was able to get the cavitated oil out without having to remove those. I also bought an IFP depth tool but not convinced it’s necessary. I think you could use a depth gauge on a caliper. The only thing I am missing to rebuild is a fill adapter for the piggy back. This is needed to bleed and re-pressurize the shock.

Once you get into into it, it’s pretty straightforward to disassemble. I have not put it back together yet so can’t comment on the rebuilding process. There are several YouTube videos that walk through the process.