FOX 34mm Fork Low Friction Flangeless Dust Wiper Kit [Rider Review]

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It's that time of season to refresh the suspension. And if you have a Fox fork, they have you handled with their Low Friction Flangeless Dust Wipers. Our friend, Raj, just did some service on their fork. See what they have to say!

Overview

Before buying the Fork Dust Wiper Kit and fluids I did my research on what I needed on the ridefox.com site under the Help > Bike section. Here you can type in your four digit Fork ID and it will give you a list of available procedures and a fluid chart. Once I knew which fluids and how much I needed, I went ahead and purchased the dust wiper kit for my Fox 34 Rhythm Fork. No matter if your fork is a Rhythm, Performance, Elite, this wiper kit will fit either level.

As far as tools and materials needed for this service, make sure you have the following: set of Allen wrenches, small torques adapters, metal or rubber picks, lint free towels, isopropyl alcohol, dust wiper setting tool (or a large plastic bottle cap which I’ll explain later), and finally some slick honey or slickoleum fork grease. Once looking at a how to video about 3 times over!

Once releasing the air from the fork I started on removing my fork lowers. Getting the fork lowers off is pretty straight forward. But in my case the crush washer on my damper side was not moving and took me about 30 minutes to remove so I could actually pull the lowers off. There's not much to damage in the way of the crush washer, but be careful to not mess up the bolt threads if it gives you hard time. Once getting your crush washers off, you then begin to drain the old fluid and wipe clean the lowers and the stations.

Next comes the dust wipers and seals. These are pretty straightforward to take out. The foam seals are easy to take out, but the dust wipers require a little more force. Once again I ended up using screwdriver to get the dust wipers off but was extremely careful to not scratch the inside of the fork.

During this time I soaked all my seals in Fox Gold Bath so they were ready for installation. Once putting them in, I was ready to install the dust wipers. At this point you can use a specialty tool to hammer in the dust wipers. They are a very tight fit to ensure dust and debris do not enter the fork and they have to be pressed into the fork. Specialty tools can be ordered online, however I opted for a plastic cap from a large Kroger Electrolyte bottle. Depending on the size of your fork (34,36,40) you can probably find a cap in your fridge or panty that will fit your dust wiper diameter. After carefully hammering on the dust wiper with care and precision, I made sure the top of the wiper was aligned with the top of the fork mounting area. It is important that you don't over press it or get it in unevenly as it can affect the seals.

By this time the hard part of the install was over. Add your new bottom out o-ring, and now it's time to put your fork lowers back on and add your bath oil and fork oil. Check the proper measurements needed for the air and damper side because they can be different and will cause issues if you don't put in the right fluids. Once getting the oil filled you can replace the crush washers and put your air and damper bolts back on. Just be sure not to over tighten them.

Final Thoughts

Overall the first time to do this procedure will take a little longer than needed, but I think the next time you do it will be much faster. In total it took me like 1.5 hours to do this. I think it's a good 45 minute job if you have experience and even quicker if you have the right tools. I didn't have a good bike stand and some of the specialty tools needed to do this, but that didn't stop me from getting it done. I saved loads on labor doing it myself and have taken pride in knowing I'm taking care of my ride!