Enjoy a quick video, blog and some detail photos which detail adding volume spacers to Ohlins TTX Air Shocks. Now, Ohlins has some great data on their site as well, we’ll provide a couple links below, but here’s a couple real world tips and tricks for the Ohlins TTX Air Shock spec’d on the 2022 Mondraker FOXY Carbon RR.
Airing Down an Ohlins TTX: A Bit Different Than I’ve Been Used To
Let’s start with really the biggest difference I felt like I came across when changing volume spacers on the Ohlins TTX. When you release the air the shock compresses. With some force!
Aired down – and compressed! I took out the valve stem just to make sure I had all the main system open…
This created two interesting problems for me until I got it confirmed from our mechanics…
I watched the Ohlins video and saw the shock compress but didn’t think much of it (or didn’t think of what I was really seeing I guess!)
So, I went to air down the TTX like I had so many other shocks with a 3 way wrench. Except, when the TTX compressed the head of the shock grabbed the wrench and pinned it to the frame! Well, I thought, I’ll just air it up – oh wait, there’s a three way stuck in the way… It wasn’t too hard to get some leverage on the rear triangle to free the wrench but I did feel like a rookie for sure. I included the clip in the video since its kind of funny I suppose.
Now, the other issue, I immediately recalled other brands of suspension that if you aired the shock down and it went down (suck down as it’s called) it was going to be a somewhat sketchy problem to disassemble it. So I grabbed Tracy and made sure that 1 I hadn’t skipped any steps and 2 wasn’t going to have a shock detonating with a loaded negative air chamber damaging anyone in the work area…
Turns out this particular shock just needs to be unthreaded for a bit to come loose and allow for the volume spacers to be accessed.
If you watched the video the rest of this is just to help reinforce your understanding – and it’s great for SEO too right?
Loosen the Air Shaft
Loosen the air shaft which clamps down the outer sleeve. This is done with a bottom bracket tool. Be patient and get a good grip on it. After a couple turns you can easily turn it by hand and put the tool back on the table.
Once you’ve cleared the threads the shock will extend like the image below.
Ohlins TTX Volume Spacers
This TTX carries two different types of volume spacers, in two different places. When you open the shock you will see the two band volume spacers spec’d on the 2022 Mondraker Foxy’s shock.
The other volume spacer, which gives you the most amount of ramp rate increase is located at the other end of the shock on the shaft.
It is a puck style volume spacer and 1 and only 1 spacer should be installed on the inner shaft.
First pull back the retainers.
Carefully move the retainers out of the way and pull out the volume spacer.
In this case the was the Ohlins E volume spacer (the biggest available in the kit) and since I wanted to max the volume spacers I simply put it back in its place.
Maximum Volume Spacers for Ohlins TTX
At this point I needed to determine how many volume spacers I could add to the shock.
Using the Ohlins chart from the TTX owners manual, and a distributor to figure out the part number for the shock I determined I could run 20,000 cubic mm’s.
The stock puck was 12,000 and the 2 bands were 2,000 each – meaning I could add two additional band spacers.
which I did.
To finish adding volume spacers to Ohlins TTX Air Shock simply reassemble the shock in reverse order of disassembly.
One thing to make sure of – the outer air can has a locating tab, insure that it is fit into the proper slot during reassembly.
IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS OF YOUR MECHANICAL ABILITY, HAVE A PROFESSIONAL SERVICE OR CHECK YOUR WORK!
Check out more on the Ohlins’ TTX on BikeCo.com:
Ohlins TTX Owners Manual (page 11 illustrates volume spacer options)
(note – one of the manuals indicated a higher max PSI than was shown on my shock. I deferred to the detail ON MY SHOCK. If you have issues or questions with that contact your sales team or Ohlins for confirmation)