HOW TO INSTALL FORK VOLUME SPACERS?
How to Install volume spacers in your fork
What are volume spacers and why are they important?
Volume spacers are small objects that are placed inside of your suspension’s air chamber to change the overall volume of air available for your shock to utilize. They can be added or removed to adjust the rate of pressure change within your fork or shock.
In short, adding volume spacers will increase the rate of pressure rise or ramp up in your suspension while removing them will have the exact opposite. This adjustment can help to prevent bottom out, add support in your mid stroke, and even give a lighter initial stroke to help offset the effects of stiction.
What is needed to install volume spacers?
- Valve core remover (Shop Here)
- Chamferless socket in the correct size for you top cap (Shop Here)
- A socket wrench with a long handle for leverage and control
- A torque wrench with a range that includes your top caps suggested torque
- Something to hold your bike or suspension while you work to prevent falling over
- Shock pump (Shop Here)
- Notepad
- Rag to clean parts
- Correct volume spacers for you application (Shop Here)
Step 1: Prep your tools and find a support for you bike
Step 2: Clean up and note your pressure settings
You want to clean thoroughly around your top cap to prevent dirt and grime from falling inside of your stanchions. Dirt inside your air chamber can lead to major issues in the future. Dirt belongs on the trail, not in your suspension.
While you will want to reset sag after modifying your volume spacer amount, it is still a great idea to note the before pressure settings so you have a starting point for your further tuning.
Step 3: Depressurize your fork.
Slowly loosen your valve core by unscrewing it counter clockwise. Keep this process slow to help prevent your fork from sucking down(when the positive and negative chambers are not able to equalize). It may also help if you lift up on the fork while releasing the air.
If your fork does suck down you will need to pull up on the crown of your fork while holding the wheel firmly on the ground. This will allow the fork to equalize.
Step 4: Remove your top cap.
After double checking the valve core is removed and there is no remaining pressure in your fork's air chamber, you will use your correctly sized, chamferless socket or the proper tooling for your top cap(depending on your forks manufacturer) to loosen and unthread the top cap on your air side only..
A chamferless socket is a socket that has a flat face to rest securely against the wrench flats surface. This is necessary because the wrench flats on a top cap are very shallow and do not offer much surface area to engage.
Step 5: Adjust to your desired amount of volume spacers
It is important to note here that each fork does have a maximum number of volume spacers it can utilize. You can locate all the specifics of your fork on the manufacturer’s website.
Most volume spacers will either thread into or clip on to your air side top cap.
Step 6: Reinstall your top cap
Always begin threading any screw by hand. The top cap is no exception. They typically have very fine threads so you will want to thread it in a good amount by hand before using a wrench to sinch it up.
Step 7: Torque the top cap
The top cap contains a lot of pressure when the fork is cycling so it is vital to properly torque the top cap. All the details about torque ratings of your fork can be found on the manufacturer’s website.
Step 8: Reinstall the valve core
Over tightening this can lead to a leaky vale. Simply handtight with a slight bit of pressure will do..
Step 9: Air up your fork and reset sag
Now your air volume is different which means your fork will react differently to inputs. You need to start from the beginning and reset your sag. We have a video and full blog post available to help you with this process also.
