Bit of a shock rebuild today, fresh oil and a new spring in there. Thought people might like to see the amazing contraption me and my mate built to get the shock compressed and the spring out. First, drill a small hole in the cap on the end of the reservoir to let the gas out. Only drill just through the surface, theres a bladder in there which you dont want to puncture. Then tighten the rods down and then you expose the nut on the bottom of the rod. Count how many threads this nut is out and write it down! Take a 22mm spanner and undo the fork from the end of the rod. One this is done, ease the nuts off on the rods to free the spring off the shock totally and remove the whole thing from the compressor. You can then prise the dust cover off the bottom of the main body of the shock with a small drift. Back to the reservoir, tap the cap on the back of the reservoir until it drops a few mm, exposing a circlip inside the body. Remove the circlip then do the same on the other end too, so the bladder comes out. Now back to the main body; push the plate down a little and youll see another circlip in a groove in there, remove that, clean off any debris that mayve collected over the years, then pull the rod, so that the seal head, shim stack etc all comes out. Empty the oil. You should now be left with just the body and the bladder on the end of the hose. Pop the body in a vice, facing upwards, with the hose at the bottom. Fill it with new, good quality shock oil, and gently pump the bladder, getting all of the air out. Make sure its 100% air free. Now push the rod back in. Oils going to go everywhere, just ease it in, you dont want any air trapped, hence the oil spilling isnt a bad thing. Rebuild it as you took it apart. On the reservoir, where you drilled the small hole in the end cap, drill the hole out a little larger, fit a new tyre valve, a good quality metal one, then refit it. Once the shock is back together, either get a metal bodied pump (it needs to be OK to go to about 180psi) or take it to a suspension service centre, who can fill it with nitrogen to the same pressure. Nitrogens better because it doesnt expand with heat, but for road use, where it wont get as hot, airs fine. When refitting the the top of the shock itself, as I mentioned earlier, make sure the lock nut is at the same amount of threads out as it was previously, otherwise the adjuster will be in the wrong place, either wont turn in very much (full adjustment) or will turn loads and do nothing (always feeling soft).
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 16:51:50 +0000
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