# Upgrading Rock Shox XC 32 TK Coil?



## IPunchCholla (Dec 8, 2013)

Hello,

I am mechanically fairly adept, but new to suspension forks. 

Got this fork and wanted to check out which coil I had. Took off the preload cap and unscrewed the cover. This exposed the coil and I see that it is red meaning a medium coil. Good enough. Looking at the charts I see that my weight (180) is exactly between a medium and a firm. 

So now I am thinking about changing out the coil for a solo air or getting a firmer coil (been bottoming out occasionally). But paying an LBS to do it isn't worth it to me for this low end of a fork. So after looking at some videos I have a couple of questions so I can decide if it is more trouble than it is worth.

How do I remove the spring? I can compress the fork to expose it, but it won't pull free. I took off the retaining bolt on the bottom of the fork, but the coil won't come free. Do I have to remove the lower legs? Is there some other trick to pulling the coil?

If I do remove the lower legs do I need to refill the oil on the lockout/rebound adjust side of the fork if I don't remove it?

I guess what I am really looking for is a video/tutorial/manual of servicing this fork or upgrading the coil to a different coil or solo air. I've been searching but can't find anything except people saying they did it but with no steps.

Thanks for any pointers


----------



## IPunchCholla (Dec 8, 2013)

Found the service manual (finally) for the xc32 solo air. Should be able to figure it out from here. Thanks


----------



## zarr (Feb 14, 2008)

would this help?
How to change (tune) the fork spring on a mountain bike. Rock Shox Recon example. - YouTube


----------



## IPunchCholla (Dec 8, 2013)

zarr said:


> would this help?
> How to change (tune) the fork spring on a mountain bike. Rock Shox Recon example. - YouTube


I saw that. Doesn't seem to apply to the XC 32. Thank you for posting it though.


----------



## moefosho (Apr 30, 2013)

My advice is to not upgrade a low end fork in that fashion. Start saving a little bit and get something that is a bit better in quality. $250 can get you a used fox these days that will be MUCH lighter, smoother, and have more adjust-ability.


----------



## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Getting the right coil for that fork sounds reasonable to me.

I don't know if I'd buy the solo air cartridge. I guess it would depend on how much extra I'd have to spend.

Supposedly this fork will also accept a nicer damper, but do your research.


----------



## faceplant72 (Oct 25, 2009)

If you want to pull the spring to either grease or change it you will need to pop the spring shaft out of the fork lower by backing out the bolt at the bottom of the leg (don't remove it all the way) and give it a few soft taps to push out the shaft. Like at ~2:11 in this video.

How to service your RockShox forks lower legs - YouTube


----------



## IPunchCholla (Dec 8, 2013)

faceplant72 said:


> If you want to pull the spring to either grease or change it you will need to pop the spring shaft out of the fork lower by backing out the bolt at the bottom of the leg (don't remove it all the way) and give it a few soft taps to push out the shaft. Like at ~2:11 in this video.
> 
> How to service your RockShox forks lower legs - YouTube


Thanks! That is what I needed to do. I found it in the manual that addresses it for the solo air version but not the spring. In earlier models it looks like you could just take the peeked knob off and pull the spring.

The service manual is here http://cdn.sram.com/cdn/farfuture/2.../gen0000000004444_rev_b_sektor_recon_xc32.pdf


----------



## IPunchCholla (Dec 8, 2013)

AndrwSwitch said:


> Getting the right coil for that fork sounds reasonable to me.
> 
> I don't know if I'd buy the solo air cartridge. I guess it would depend on how much extra I'd have to spend.
> 
> Supposedly this fork will also accept a nicer damper, but do your research.


I will use something to test travel on my favorite trail to see if I need to go up a spring. 
Solo air spring is $65 on eBay ($25ish more than a spring?) and it doesn't look like a difficult install. Not sure about performance but being able to set sag with air soul be nice.


----------



## davesupra (Sep 2, 2013)

pcmxa said:


> I will use something to test travel on my favorite trail to see if I need to go up a spring.
> Solo air spring is $65 on eBay ($25ish more than a spring?) and it doesn't look like a difficult install. Not sure about performance but being able to set sag with air soul be nice.


I just wrapped a zip tie around the fork (I have an XC30) to see how much travel I was using. My bike came with a stiff spring, and was way too stiff, I changed it to the medium (red) and it's about perfect for me (175 lb). I hope that helps.


----------



## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

pcmxa said:


> I will use something to test travel on my favorite trail to see if I need to go up a spring.
> Solo air spring is $65 on eBay ($25ish more than a spring?) and it doesn't look like a difficult install. Not sure about performance but being able to set sag with air soul be nice.


If you're bottoming out hard enough to notice, than you're using your full travel. IMO, it also means you should go up a spring. I use an air spring, which I realize is a little different. I tune my bike to use full travel, but I don't notice it bottoming out. I figure that means I'm not plowing into my bottom-out bumpers excessively hard, and I'm also getting all the travel I paid for.


----------



## IPunchCholla (Dec 8, 2013)

AndrwSwitch said:


> If you're bottoming out hard enough to notice, than you're using your full travel. IMO, it also means you should go up a spring. I use an air spring, which I realize is a little different. I tune my bike to use full travel, but I don't notice it bottoming out. I figure that means I'm not plowing into my bottom-out bumpers excessively hard, and I'm also getting all the travel I paid for.


Good info. Another reason perhaps to upgrade to a Suki air. (Some up for 61 on eBay). I am 178 currently (down from 231) and an planning on losing another 10 to 15 so having a tunable spring would be nice.


----------



## sp00n82 (Sep 23, 2013)

I'm planning to replace the spring on my XC 30 TK as well. One thing that isn't 100% clear to me after reading this thread (there still aren't any howtos whatsoever regarding the XC TK on the net...), are the lower legs going to have to removed to replace the coil or not? Or do you just remove the preload cap, and make a few taps to the bottom of the lower leg with an allen key inserted into the bolt?

And when performing this procedure, will any of the oil inside the fork spill out and need to be refilled? And if yes, which one is it (lower leg has 5ml 15wt, and upper tube has 100ml 5wt according to the spec sheet). On the video for the lower leg removal, some oil does spill out, but I'm not sure how much of this actually applies to the XC30 TK.


Also, is it possible to travel the coil versions of these forks to 120mm? It seems to be possible for the Solo Air springs by removing some spacers, is this something exclusive to the air versions, or is there some similar possibility for the coil ones as well?


----------

