Advise needed for modern fork- Xfusion RC32

Motomax

Dirt Disciple
I bought this fork for a song on a close-out website. Got it installed; setting sag required much less air than suggested. First ride was awful. Very harsh, so bad I only rode half-hour and quit. Tore it down to check for lube; looked good. Then I noticed the air spring did not move smoothly but chattered and took a lot of force, even with plenty of Slickoleum. The piston has a quad ring ( cross section like an X). I think the sealing edges are too tight. So then I found an appropriate size O-ring and got that installed and things are looking up. PSI now in normal range and feels good on the shop floor. Our weather here has been crap so no rides yet. Bike has been up on the stand for several weeks.
Last night I tore it down again to change the negative coil spring to a lighter one. All goes well, button it back up, and can't get any PSI to register on the gauge. Keep pumping, gauge comes up, and then POP! Blew the air side wiper out of its seat.
I figure that air is leaking past the O-ring and into the lowers. I could go back to the quad ring but how to get it working properly? If it was that bad how could Xfusion ship them out in such a poor state? Another issue is the wiper seal- I was able to push it back in place with just hand pressure while the fork was still assembled. Do I replace with new wiper? I thought I had read in a very long Xfusion thread on MTBR that someone had glued their wipers in place.
Sorry for the long story but really would appreciate any help. I don't have much invested in this but it's going to keep me awake at night. Thanks in advance.
 
Hello did you ever figure this out? My rc32 always felt stiff like no oil in the lowers. Just recently the wiper on the air side always popped off. I reseated by hand and came off. Looking for the proper o ring, maybe the quad ring is bad. What size o ring did you use? I think air is leaking into the lowers and making it pop off. Wish I could glue it on lol
 
Sorry to say that life has gotten in the way and I haven't ridden in months. I tried several sizes of o rings with results as follows: 22 (ID) x 3 (cross section) was too loose against the o ring groove and leaked into lowers. 22 x 4 and 21 x 3.5 - both had OD too large, wouldn't fit inside the stanchion. So now I'm back to the original quad ring. It does feel better after re- installing it several times; I'm hoping it will wear in and lose the harshness. Also hoping that the wiper stays in place w/o a bunch of messing around. Will say that it feels better on the shop floor. Hope to get in a ride this week if our monsoon lets up.
 
I hope the newer 34 (or is it 35) mm versions I recently bought are not like you've described. I'm not sure my son would really notice but he's chosen them over an rs pike (by name and looks over function).
 
I finally got out for a ride today. The fork was fine. Maybe the secret is tearing it apart 3 or 4 times?
 
Back
Top