P1000 Dialing in the Fox Q3's?

[mjn]

Has anyone messed with the preload on the Q3's? All I've done so far is change the settings from the middle to the soft setting. It's excellent for slow to medium speed stuff, it really soaks up the bumps nicely.

I imagine if I were to pick up the pace, I'd want to crank it up a bit.

I haven't touched the preload yet, the collars are all at the top. Obviously if I took a ride where I had some weight in the back, I'd want to crank them up a little, but has anyone really spent some time dialing them in?

 

[Admin]

 

[ohanacreek]

Has anyone messed with the preload on the Q3's? All I've done so far is change the settings from the middle to the soft setting. It's excellent for slow to medium speed stuff, it really soaks up the bumps nicely.

I imagine if I were to pick up the pace, I'd want to crank it up a bit.

I haven't touched the preload yet, the collars are all at the top. Obviously if I took a ride where I had some weight in the back, I'd want to crank them up a little, but has anyone really spent some time dialing them in?

I originally set my preload to stock ride height UNLOADED with all the accessories mounted.

The front seem to be fine when I use the 3 settings, soft for technical, medium for somewhat sported driving and hard for rough trails at speed or a little airtime.

The rear have started to sag with me using them around the homestead and carrying about 75-100lbs of gear for a day of trail riding.

I just added pre-load today with the gear loaded up to get them to factory ride height with the stock tires on in the rear.

Disclaimer: Mine are not a factory part number they are a pre-production set off a SEMA build, they have dual springs instead of dual rate, and the rears are a smaller diameter than the factory available part number, but shocks are shocks.

I may play with changing the rear springs out for a heavier set and have less preload the softer spring stays almost fully compressed, but the SEMA build they came off of didn’t have any real accessories to add weight not even a roof.

 

[ButchersHook]

I picked up my 18 LE over labor day weekend. Been hauling gravel the last couple nights. Going from the load level shocks on the deluxe to the fox..the fox need more pre load. Sagged more then expected. Anyone know if fox sells a tool I'd hate to scratch them up with a channel lock

 

[ohanacreek]

I picked up my 18 LE over labor day weekend. Been hauling gravel the last couple nights. Going from the load level shocks on the deluxe to the fox..the fox need more pre load. Sagged more then expected. Anyone know if fox sells a tool I'd hate to scratch them up with a channel lock

I don’t like the tool I have from eBay so I would suggest calling Fox

 

[ToddACimer]

Here's where I'm at after 900 miles with my Fox shocks. I'm running 28x10x14 Quadboss tires at 11 psi. I typically ride with 2 adults in the front seat and no rear payload/passengers. I have 1" rear wheel spacers and no rear sway bar. I ride smooth sandy terrain in Med and hard packed rough rocky terrain in Soft. I've never used Firm. I like the ride during aggressive riding in the MED setting but soft really soaks up bumps when terrain is rough. Soft is way too soft for 55mph gravel roads, the machine never settles into corners. I like this set up but it does require a flip of the settings several times a day if terrain varies.

Front .77"

Rear 1.45"

 

[Neohio]

I picked up my 18 LE over labor day weekend. Been hauling gravel the last couple nights. Going from the load level shocks on the deluxe to the fox..the fox need more pre load. Sagged more then expected. Anyone know if fox sells a tool I'd hate to scratch them up with a channel lock

Look online for a williams hook spanner wrench.
I am not sure which diameter to suggest, but you won't find a better tool for it.

2"-4 3/4" Williams 474 Adjustable Hook Spanner Wrenches
4 1/2"-6 1/4" Williams 474A Adjustable Hook Spanner Wrenches