A CLOSER LOOK - FOX Factory

A CLOSER LOOK:

FOX FACTORY

Tuning Is The Key To A Well-Rounded Shock Package:

From Victory to Showroom

There are several ways to design and manufacture shock absorbers to meet a price point. Hot on the heels of FOXequipped drivers taking overall victory and sweeping several classes at the desert races in late 2020, we asked FOX Off-Road Applications’ engineers, Mason Powers and Scott LeSage, to walk us through the steps FOX takes to develop shocks strong enough to win races while also providing comfort and control on everyday vehicles you can buy off the dealer lot.

Photos provided by FOX Factory

“The shock architectures are extensively tested and designed to meet a price point and durability standards,” Powers explained. “FOX puts major engineering resources into testing and developing shocks both in the race and Original Equipment (OE) world. Our seal packs and durability standards withstand thousands of miles of heavy/extreme abuse. Ultimately, tuning is the key to a well-rounded shock package.”

According to LeSage, other companies have worked for decades to control the motion of the wheel and chassis in cost effective ways.

“My understanding is FOX didn’t take that path; (founder) Bob (Fox) focused on making the best product he could,” he said. “This led to both durability and performance, but as we all know, that isn’t cheap. Strength doesn’t have to be the inverse of comfort. The shafts, shims, seals, and pistons used in OE truck shocks are strong enough to survive thousands of off-road miles. FOX started with race only parts and has adapted them into `everyday’ vehicles. Now, we have part sets for each application, and not so much cross over, but sometimes that can come full circle and actually help race products.”

Q: Surely the rigors of racing require a different engineering approach to suspension manufacturing compared to developing OE shocks for Ford, Jeep and Toyota. Or do they?

“Once large-scale production is introduced, designs change for material or labor costs, and the manufacturing methods adapt to the needs,” LeSage said. “Interestingly enough, both OE and race products benefit from each other. As process control is improved, and material costs are lowered from OE level volumes, some of that will trickle down to the race products. Unique load cases and design freedom in race and aftermarket shocks can serve as a test bed for our OE developments. “A good example of that is the IFP bump stop, a relatively new aftermarket product that

was tested and released to the public. It made its way onto a Jeep OEM vehicle, which required even further testing and development. The lessons learned and reduced cost of the shared parts was then returned to the aftermarket version increasing the durability of the product for the end user and the profit margins for FOX.”

According to Powers, original equipment shocks are vehicle specific and require much higher fitment and clearance requirements as well as direct development with the OE customer.

“Similarly, the OE typically dictates the tune,” he added. “In the OE world, you also have the ability to mass produce parts at high volume which means you can design a shock that can benefit from the use of forgings and high-volume manufacturing processes. “With racing and aftermarket (AM) shocks we like to standardize our part set so that the industry doesn’t have to try hard to make our shocks fit vehicles. However, we design our parts to be adaptable to any vehicle which allows us to create part volume because the parts are shared across different vehicles and fitments. That’s why when you buy a FOX aftermarket or race product, they all have the same look and feel.” According to Powers, FOX also develops shocks with racing rules in mind. “Some classes require certain types of shocks and a certain number of shocks which results in trying to develop shock packages that can achieve the maximum performance for those specific rules,” he added. “In the racing space FOX and/or the racer handles the tuning. In the AM space FOX handles the tuning.”

Q: When Jeep, Ford and Toyota come to FOX for suspension solutions for vehicles like the Mojave, Raptor and TRD Pro, how do you factor in performance and durability to handle road and off-road demands on the vehicle without compromising either?

“We offer the customer different technologies such as bump stops, Hydraulic Top Out (HTO), Bottom Out Cup (BOC), or Internal Bypass (IBP),” Powers said. “But in reality, it depends on what can package on the vehicle and what the customer is willing to change to accommodate the package. High-performance shocks require a lot of room on an OE vehicle which results in a space vs. performance trade off. We also have to take into consideration what the vehicle is capable of handling — from a shock force point of view.”

“When we pitch and develop a performance package to an OE customer all these things are considered; once an agreed-upon target is achieved we start the process,” he added. “The main thing to take from all this is that the on- and off-road characteristics are dictated by the OE partner and require a lot of testing and development with those customers and their requirements in mind. Once a package is designed, we put it through extensive protocols with our test department so that we adhere not only to the OE standards, but also our own internal standards for durability.” ght

Editor’s Note: We thank FOX Factory for their industry insite and contribution to this issue of DirtVenture.

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