Glossary

6061-T6 Aluminum - This is the most versatile of the heat treatable aluminum alloys. It has most of the good qualities of aluminum and it offers a wide range of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. It can be fabricated by many of the commonly used techniques and is usually offered in T6 temper for high-strength applications.

7075-T6 Aluminum - 7075-T6 is the strongest and most expensive aluminum alloy that is used for structural and highly stressed components.

Air Spring - Is a contained column of air inside a compressible container such as a bellow or sleeve. They can be used as a primary suspension spring or a secondary component inside a coil

Chrome Silicon Steel - The primary alloy steel wire used for the manufacturing of coil springs commonly referred to as ASTM A 401. The material gets its name due to the fact that it has high levels of Chromium, Silicon as well as Carbon. In most applications and spring wire diameters the Tensile strength will exceed 235,000 Psi. Chrome Silicon Steel is ideal for cyclic compression spring applications and has a better fatigue life than Chrome Vanadium.

Coil Spring - Consist of a metal wire formed into a coil that can store energy when compressed and releases energy as the load is taken off.

Compression Damping - The damping circuit that absorbs the energy of compression forces on the damper.

Damper - A fluid chamber with a means of regulating the fluid flow to restrain the speed of the moving end of the damper during the compression or rebound strokes. A set of forks and a rear shock are considered dampers.

Damper Speed - The relative speed in which the moving end of a damper compresses or rebounds.

Damping - The process of absorbing the energy of impacts transmitted through the forks or rear shock on the compression stroke, and the process of absorbing the energy of the spring on the rebound stroke.

Damping Circuits - There are normally four damping circuits which affect the damper's speed. There is both a low and high speed circuit for the compression and rebound strokes.

Hard Anodize - A dense wear-resistant anodic surface coating on Aluminum parts that has 50% buildup and 50% penetration into the material. In general, hard anodizing is applied following the military specification MIL-A-8625 Type III, Class 1 for non-dyed, or Class 2 for dyed applications. All Hard Anodized FOX products have proprietary post surface treatments that provide ultra low friction and wear to the mating components.

HSC - High Speed Compression damping is the damping circuit in the shock absorber that is tuned to provide suspension travel control at high speed over square edged bumps. Too low of HSC damping will cause excessive bottoming out in rough terrain. Too high of HSC damping will minimize suspension travel in rough terrain and cause loss of traction.

LSC - Low Speed Compression damping is the damping circuit in the shock absorber that is tuned to provide suspension travel control at low damper speed conditions. Too low of LSC damping will cause the excessive travel use, brake dive and wallowing of the vehicle on small bump terrain. Too high of LSC damping will cause loss of traction on small bump terrain.

Magnesium - An excellent lightweight material that can be machined from billet or die-cast. Magnesium has excellent vibration damping characteristics and is 34% lighter than aluminum and 77% lighter than steel.

Negative Spring - A negative spring is oriented in such a way that it tends to compress, rather than extend a suspension shock. A properly tuned negative spring provides an opposing force equal to the seal drag which eliminates the feeling of friction in an air spring system. Negative springs can be a separate air chamber or a small coil spring.

Nitrogen - An inert gas used to pressurize the Internal Floating Piston (IFP) or Bladder system in a gas charged shock damper. Note: Air is about 75% Nitrogen.

Packing - A term used to describe the ride characteristics of a rear shock that has too slow of a rebound setting. A damper with to slow of a rebound setting will stay compressed after hitting one bump and cannot rebound quickly enough to absorb the impact of the second or third bump. The solution is to adjust the rebound to a faster setting.

Preload - Preload is applied to the shock springs in order to bring the vehicle to the proper sag dimension. Adjusting preload to the proper sag dimension insures traction as wheel load gets light and drops into bumpy holed sections of terrain.

Rebound Damping - The damping circuit that effects the stored energy release of the compressed spring in order to reduce the rebounding speed of the damper.

Sag - This term refers to the ammount of total suspension compression when the vehicle is loaded at normal operating weight. This is essential to proper suspension tuning but is often overlooked or adjusted incorrectly.

Damping - The process of absorbing the energy of impacts transmitted through the forks or rear shock on the compression stroke, and the process of absorbing the energy of the spring on the rebound stroke.

Shims - A thin, steel, round, flat washer used to exert resistance on the oil flow through a piston. A series of shims (valve stack or valving) with varying outer diameters and thicknesses are arranged in sequence to provide a damping effect.

Shot Peening - Shot peening is a manufacturing process in which small steel balls are blown with compressed air against a metallic part to stress-relieve the external surface of a part. Shot peening dramatically increases the fatigue life of highly stressed parts.

SLT (Scraper Lip Technology) Oil Seals - Patented scraper lip technology excludes outside dirt and retains internal fork oil. The rubber in the seal is specially compounded for extremely low friction and wear.

Spring Curve - A spring curve is a graph of Force [y-axis] versus Travel [x-axis] measured during compressing a spring system.

Spring Rate - Spring rate is described by force, in pounds or kilograms, needed to compress the spring one inch or centimeter.

Stiction - A combination of the words static and friction. This word is used to describe the tension exerted on the moving damper parts by the stationary parts like the bushings, seals, and wipers. Low stiction is desirable because it has less of an effect on the damping

Titanium - A material with a high strength to weight ratio, that when alloyed (combined) with other Elements can provide the required functional properties for such parts as springs, shafts and fasteners. It is one of the most abundant material elements on earth, but due to the stringent manufacturing standards and high processing costs, the raw material is quite expensive. Unlike steel, and similar to aluminum, Titanium has a finite fatigue life. Density: .162 Lb/Cu-In, Melting Point 3100 Deg

Unsprung/Sprung Weight - The unsprung weight of a vehicle are parts like the wheels, brakes,swingarm and suspension linkage, and the lower half of the shock. The sprung weight is all the parts of the vehicle that are supported by the suspension.

Valves - A term that refers to a series of shims either for the compression or the rebound damping.

Viscosity - A rating system for oils that measures the oil's flow rate through a fixed orifice at a certain temperature. Also known as the oil's weight. Example: SAE 7 Wt.

Viscosity Index - The flow rate characteristic of the oil over a range of temperatures. The VI rating of an oil is directly linked to the oil's transmissibility.