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Anyone with any honest recent Fox shock experience?

Devilmanak

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I bought a set of QS3 shocks for my 17 Summit. They were horrible. Softer than stock, they clunked when lifting the front end. I rode them once and got rid of them, never even messed with settings on the rear, the front was so bad. Anyone have any experience with the BRP sold Foxes? Need an opinion on the BRP versions, nobody who sells them, anyone who has ridden them and paid full price. I am planning on buying Freeride shocks for my 19 175, but need an option for the rear/rear.
 

XPWY

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I bought a set of QS3 shocks for my 17 Summit. They were horrible. Softer than stock, they clunked when lifting the front end. I rode them once and got rid of them, never even messed with settings on the rear, the front was so bad. Anyone have any experience with the BRP sold Foxes? Need an opinion on the BRP versions, nobody who sells them, anyone who has ridden them and paid full price. I am planning on buying Freeride shocks for my 19 175, but need an option for the rear/rear.

Agree with this 100% that the QS3 made for a worse ride. I had the coil over version all the way around on a 17 Summit and hated the way that it handled. The front shock springs would also constantly squeak because of poor clearance with the shock body. I like having a softer suspension, without being too soft, and thought that the coil overs combined with the heavier rear torsion springs even on the lightest settings were too rigid. It finally got to the point that I couldn’t stand riding that sled any more. I also tried the air version of the QS3 for 18 and thought they rode better than the coil over version, but still not worth the expense to me over stock. I can’t speak for the BRP direct versions or custom valved versions, but after conversations with a well known shock tuner, there would not have been much tuning involved over the factory setup for my specific weight and riding style anyhow. Whenever I got back on a sled with stock shocks, the sled handled better for me, personally. I’m not a really heavy guy and also not a jumper or bump basher, so results/opinions may vary. Hopefully, one day BRP will offer an upgrade via a snow check option, where you can pay a little extra for premium shocks that are specific to the sled without having to spend 2-3K on trial and error with the aftermarket setups. I have the same sled coming as you do for 19 and will be keeping the stock X shocks.
 
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Devilmanak

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Thanks! The QS3 coilovers I had were from WPS. In 14 I bought the cheaper air Fox shocks through BRP and for the price, was impressed. Super curious to know if BRP did any testing on the Foxes, because Fox didn't do any on the ones they sold through WPS.
 
J

JJ_0909

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The shock itself is VERY good. The tuning leaves a lot to be desired, especially on the coilover stuff.

1) They are going way too crazy on spring preload. You need to back that off.
2) I suggest a higher spring rate personally. Ended up with 125s, 112s would be perfect but they don't make them.
3) Valving too can help.

I know, this isn't what you want to hear, but this is why I'd buy through someone like Tom or a shop who will work with you. Otherwise you will be disappointed.
 
L

logan1080

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I've seen lots of fox shocks break on the arctic cats. Even as early as the first few miles put on the sled on the trail ride in. I wont buy em.
 

Summit74

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Yes the 17 QS3 coil was soft! They had 80lb springs stock on the front shocks. 18’s were valved different and had 100 lb spring stock. I added the 100 lb spring this past season and it made a huge difference. Even fox admitted they screwed up, they upgraded springs and valving free for people that had MY17 QS3 if you mailed them in. I would definitely call Tom’s if your going to go fox again.
 

Nytroty

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I bought a set of QS3 shocks for my 17 Summit. They were horrible. Softer than stock, they clunked when lifting the front end. I rode them once and got rid of them, never even messed with settings on the rear, the front was so bad. Anyone have any experience with the BRP sold Foxes? Need an opinion on the BRP versions, nobody who sells them, anyone who has ridden them and paid full price. I am planning on buying Freeride shocks for my 19 175, but need an option for the rear/rear.


Aren't Freeride shocks expensive? Surprised you aren't going with Raptors all around.....
 

boondocker97

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I've seen lots of fox shocks break on the arctic cats. Even as early as the first few miles put on the sled on the trail ride in. I wont buy em.

FYI OEM Fox shocks are not the same as the aftermarket units. They are thrown together as fast as possible for high production with whatever parts the OEM specifies. Higher chance of damaging a seal and more air in with the oil than there should be. I fixed a brand new shock last season that had a coarse nylon fiber or hair in the air seal and allowed it to leak down. Fox does have a 1 year warranty on their stuff if you do run into problems.

I'm somewhat disappointed that Fox seems to have gotten very corporate. Maybe they can make more money selling their product through Ski-doo and Cat accessories catalogs with generic settings. For that reason I would go through one of the aftermarket dealers (Toms, Carver, Carls Cycle, etc.) to get an aftermarket set of Fox shocks. That way you can actually talk to a person and get a setup that is tailored for you. That is the point of spending big $$$ on aftermarket suspension.
 

Devilmanak

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Aren't Freeride shocks expensive? Surprised you aren't going with Raptors all around.....

Not that bad. (Discount.) I was thinking of parting out my 18 Freeride and keeping the shocks. The 18 Freeride shocks are the first Freeride shocks that I have had since 2013 that I thought were close to right. (Narrow FR.)
 

Devilmanak

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Dec 12, 2007
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FYI OEM Fox shocks are not the same as the aftermarket units. They are thrown together as fast as possible for high production with whatever parts the OEM specifies. Higher chance of damaging a seal and more air in with the oil than there should be. I fixed a brand new shock last season that had a coarse nylon fiber or hair in the air seal and allowed it to leak down. Fox does have a 1 year warranty on their stuff if you do run into problems.

I'm somewhat disappointed that Fox seems to have gotten very corporate. Maybe they can make more money selling their product through Ski-doo and Cat accessories catalogs with generic settings. For that reason I would go through one of the aftermarket dealers (Toms, Carver, Carls Cycle, etc.) to get an aftermarket set of Fox shocks. That way you can actually talk to a person and get a setup that is tailored for you. That is the point of spending big $$$ on aftermarket suspension.

I spent $10K in shocks for three sleds from a custom shock guy in 15. (Discounted.) They were not tested and didn't work for crud. I was one of the test monkeys and got my money back for two sets. Anyone can sell a pretty shock, and realistically, 90% of folks don't know any better, they have a pretty shock. Like the guy that wants the best of everything but just does fun runs and parties the whole time.
 
T
Jan 12, 2010
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I spent $10K in shocks for three sleds from a custom shock guy in 15. (Discounted.) They were not tested and didn't work for crud. I was one of the test monkeys and got my money back for two sets. Anyone can sell a pretty shock, and realistically, 90% of folks don't know any better, they have a pretty shock. Like the guy that wants the best of everything but just does fun runs and parties the whole time.

Your completely right with that 90%, most of them don’t even really know what each dial really does on a shock. Most people just need a simple rebound dial and that’s it. High and low speed rebound and compression gets to complex for them.
I strongly don’t recommend air shocks, I’ve tried a bunch of them when I use to race. Airs are getting better, but they are still not there yet. A proper tuned coil shock will always feel better IMO.
As a ex shock tuner I preferred people to come to my shop with their sled or bike, than I could ride with you and tweak stuff and dial it in with the customer learning what each settings does. Sold my shop and now just do it for a few friends.
 
S
Mar 6, 2008
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...............
I’m not a really heavy guy and also not a jumper or bump basher, so results/opinions may vary. Hopefully, one day BRP will offer an upgrade via a snow check option, where you can pay a little extra for premium shocks that are specific to the sled without having to spend 2-3K on trial and error with the aftermarket setups. I have the same sled coming as you do for 19 and will be keeping the stock X shocks.

I see you are sticking with the sock shocks this year but light, no jumper and no bump basher. Just curious, why did you even get aftermarket chocks in the first place? Was it the sled parts shopaholics gene that got the better of you or? =) (I know, buying sled part IS fun!)

For 999 people out of 1000 the stock shocks are more than capable. Getting the right springs for the rider's weight is often necessary though, and if that isn't enough, get a revalve by someone that knows what he is doing.
 

XPWY

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I see you are sticking with the sock shocks this year but light, no jumper and no bump basher. Just curious, why did you even get aftermarket chocks in the first place? Was it the sled parts shopaholics gene that got the better of you or? =) (I know, buying sled part IS fun!)

For 999 people out of 1000 the stock shocks are more than capable. Getting the right springs for the rider's weight is often necessary though, and if that isn't enough, get a revalve by someone that knows what he is doing.

You are correct about the stock shocks working for the majority of riders. I’m not necessarily light, just not heavy either, about 200lbs with my pack on and ready to ride. In my case, I just wanted to try something different since we’ve essentially had the same type of shocks since the XP days. I wanted see if all of the hype behind the higher end shocks was worth it or not. For me, and the type of riding that I like to do, IMO the shock packages that I tried were not worth the cost. That’s not to say that there aren’t some great setups out there that work well for some, but the bang for the buck just wasn’t there for me.

With no way to try before you buy, unless you have a buddy or a dealer that runs one of the packages, it’s tough to spend that type of money just to see if something is better or worth it. Here’s to hoping that BRP will one day be able to offer a middle ground on a factory upgrade, (for a reasonable cost), that’s developed specifically for this sled. That would take the trial and error aspect out of the equation and satisfy those of us not needing a full aftermarket setup, but that would still like to have some options and newer technology in this area.
 
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Nytroty

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Tried them in 15. Not impressed, although I heard from folks that he admitted that they were not right and may be better now.

They must be better now..... Several sets of Fox, Zbroz, freeride, and now raptors over the years. And the raptors are by far my favorite! I haven't ridden my brothers 18 165 Freeride yet though. Excited to try that! Also very curious to hear what the new Raptor valving is all about. I will be chatting with them on Saturday at Haydays.
 

Adam12

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All this shock talk has me thinking about mine. Forgive the newb question but can you do anything to stock SP shocks? I see it says "Do not disassemble" so I assume they are what they are. I would really like to set these things to my weight but don't want to drop $$$$ on a full setup. Maybe my next skidoo is an X.

This is what happens when you have 15 years between snowmobile purchases and living location, haha.
 
J

JJ_0909

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FYI OEM Fox shocks are not the same as the aftermarket units. They are thrown together as fast as possible for high production with whatever parts the OEM specifies. Higher chance of damaging a seal and more air in with the oil than there should be. I fixed a brand new shock last season that had a coarse nylon fiber or hair in the air seal and allowed it to leak down. Fox does have a 1 year warranty on their stuff if you do run into problems.

I'm somewhat disappointed that Fox seems to have gotten very corporate. Maybe they can make more money selling their product through Ski-doo and Cat accessories catalogs with generic settings. For that reason I would go through one of the aftermarket dealers (Toms, Carver, Carls Cycle, etc.) to get an aftermarket set of Fox shocks. That way you can actually talk to a person and get a setup that is tailored for you. That is the point of spending big $$$ on aftermarket suspension.

This isn't true. I've peaked behind the curtain here. There is one assembly line for all their powersports stuff. Likely the same group of employees (or machine) putting your fancy Burandt edition EVOLs together is the same guy/machine putting the OEM stuff together. They build stuff for economies of scale.

End of the day suspension is only as good as the tuner. That's it. The inner workings of all these shocks, especially the coilovers, are very similar.

Getting the valving, spring rate, balance of the sled right is what counts. That is why I think you need to go with an aftermarket guy offering fox stuff and you will be happy.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Fox from a durability or engineering perspective.

Why my opinion kinda matters: I'm a suspension tester in a different industry. Have become a suspension tester to a lesser extent in powersports.
 
T
Jan 12, 2010
204
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BC
All this shock talk has me thinking about mine. Forgive the newb question but can you do anything to stock SP shocks? I see it says "Do not disassemble" so I assume they are what they are. I would really like to set these things to my weight but don't want to drop $$$$ on a full setup. Maybe my next skidoo is an X.

This is what happens when you have 15 years between snowmobile purchases and living location, haha.


There is a lot you can do to those sp shocks, you can take them off and play fetch with a dog and when your done and bored of that you can play toss into the garbage cans.
 

boondocker97

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This isn't true. I've peaked behind the curtain here. There is one assembly line for all their powersports stuff. Likely the same group of employees (or machine) putting your fancy Burandt edition EVOLs together is the same guy/machine putting the OEM stuff together. They build stuff for economies of scale.

End of the day suspension is only as good as the tuner. That's it. The inner workings of all these shocks, especially the coilovers, are very similar.

Getting the valving, spring rate, balance of the sled right is what counts. That is why I think you need to go with an aftermarket guy offering fox stuff and you will be happy.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Fox from a durability or engineering perspective.

Why my opinion kinda matters: I'm a suspension tester in a different industry. Have become a suspension tester to a lesser extent in powersports.

Really? Wow I figured there was sort of an A team and B team based on what I've seen just messing with suspension for fun in my garage. Worst OEM Cat one I took apart with less than 100 miles on it had a ridiculous amount of air in the oil. Not sure if it was the assembly/bleed procedure that was lacking or just a bad IFP o-ring. Local suspension shop a few years back said he noticed quite a bit of air in OEM shocks in general. Thought maybe the speed of production was partly to blame. Cat bean counters used to hold back the potential of the shocks, but that has gotten a little better in recent years.

I agree with your other points. I still like Fox, but would definitely purchase new from a tuner as you said.
 

boondocker97

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I spent $10K in shocks for three sleds from a custom shock guy in 15. (Discounted.) They were not tested and didn't work for crud. I was one of the test monkeys and got my money back for two sets. Anyone can sell a pretty shock, and realistically, 90% of folks don't know any better, they have a pretty shock. Like the guy that wants the best of everything but just does fun runs and parties the whole time.

That sucks, sorry you had a bad experience. If someone is shelling out for a full suspension setup, and is honest with a tuner, they should get one revalve/respring on the house if they aren't happy with it IMO.

Unless you have some setup knowledge, have the desire to learn, or have someone willing to help you on setup, a monotube without any adjustments other than preload is the best bet for that 90%.
 
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