I have aquired a scratch on the right hand stantion on my Fox 36 Vans. It runs from the wiper seal to the crown and you can get you finger nail in it pretty much the entire length.

Should I:

a. Not worry about it
b. Arse about with araldite
c. Buy and fit a new crown assembly

Any experiences?

Cheers,

Dan

I've had a smaller scratch on my floats for 2 years now and its not done any damage when they've been stripped. Can't be sure about a big one. Theres gonna be muck and grime getting through seals which could wear bearings and stanchions. That said the stanchions are screwed anyway. May be worth running for a few weeks then stripping and examining for muck. With regular cleaning they could be fine. Not sure how the dampening bits in the leg are protected further down, so they could be vulnerable as well which could increase repair bill if you wait.
Araldite would be a faff. No way you could fill it evenly or level with leg. Probably worse for fork.

A full length scratch suggests something is stuck in the wiper seal or foam ring below it.

Get the lower legs off ASAP and clean out the wipers or replace with new ones. It's a 15 minute job on Fox forks.

You may be able to repair/fill the scratch with nail polish. A few on here have successfully done the same.

I think I have heard of people using clear nail varnish to fill in, and then rubbing down with fine emery cloth…Could be wrong though so don't take my word for it.

Jay

*Just can't type fast enough!*

jasonm945 is right – thread here, for example. Good tip to use suitably coloured nail varnish too…

remove the lowers and clean them. use a clear lack or match it to the colour of the lowers. apply liberally and leave to dry. use a very fine wet'n'dry and with lots of patience rub it off slowly.

might need to replce the seal/bushings too.

Cheers folks. The offending bit of grit was found and removed as soon as. I was more worried about the long term implications. It sounds as if I should probably look at an araldite solution or similar. Agree though that a good clean would be good and I may replace the seals with something better at the very least. Any suggestions?

I managed to quite badly scratch the stanchions on my RS revs only a few weeks after having them. I slowly filled them in using clear nail varnish, then sanded them down so that they were smooth with a very fine grade paper.

This happened in July. Since then I've been riding at least once a week and had no problems. They've held their pressure, appearing to have no air leaks. I just make sure that I clean the seals after each ride by applying some wet chain lube to the seal and compressing the forks. All the much that was on the seal gets stuck in the lube and deposited further up the stanchion, where you can wipe it off easily.

One thing to pay attention to though:

When I was sanding the nail varnish down, I used the sand paper on a sanding block, to try and ensure that I didnt get a small flat spot on the stanchion. Wasn't really thinking properly and ended up with a large worn area on the stanchion, which you can see when you hold it at an angle to a light. But still, 7 months(ish) since doing that and they are still running fine.

I think patience is the key in doing it.

I've repaired quite deep scratchs in my fox Talas 36s. Just fill with araldite and smooth with 1500 wet & dry paper. Takes a long time! I took the forks off the bike and sat in front of the TV. Just keep at it till smooth. You may have to apply the araldite a few times if it doesn't fully bond to some parts of the scratch. Don't worry about wearing down the stantions. I'd say this would be virtually impossible with 1500 W&D.

I think my 36's have now done two peak winters and two weeks in the alps without needing any further attention.