FIRST- this is not for me, so I do not need just through them away answer....unless that is the only answer.
Second - I had my stock shocks replaced with only 3000 miles on them. (good thing) so these have very little use on them
THIRD - The shocks were put in bags and packed in a box without an expectation of them leaking oil out (had tape over port)
That was wrong. tape did not hold and oil leaked out in bags. What a mess
Fourth - A friend of mine has need for them, his shocks are leaking oil ( not air) I did not know they can leak oil and still hold air.
What type of oil is in the shocks? looks like a thin light oil....
How much oil does a shock hold?
Are there 2 chambers to a shock? 1 top for air and oil and 2nd oil only (that would explain why a shock could leak oil and not air)
Has anyone done this?
I am trying to help a buddy out for very little or no cost. New pair of stock units are $187.00
Keats, I can't speak for the 13" air shocks, but I have some experience on the 12" that are on my '09 SERG.
The 12" hold about 10 oz of oil. Refilling them is a bear, but first you need to empty them completely. Why, because they have leaked and you don't know from each shock how much oil is missing, so start from scratch with both.
Some have made pumping links that they can put the shock into upside down and just squeeze the shock to pump out the oil. I didn't do this, but I did get out all the oil. If you hold the shock in the middle with the air port down, rock the shock up and down in a tipping motion going back to the air fitting port being down. Hold it there for a few seconds and you will see the oil come out in a small stream and then quit. Repeating the tipping process relieves the air lock inside and tipping back down on the air fitting end will dump out more oil. This may take a couple hours, no joke on that! But it is simple and no tools necessary. I had heard that the shocks hold about 10 oz so I did measure both oil amounts and when the shocks stopped dripping oil, I was just about 10 oz even from both shocks. I bought what most had recommended, synthetic 10w performance fork oil. By the way, I did this to see what improvements I could get from just changing out the oil from stock to the 10w oil. I "believe" I did get some improvement in ride quality from the oil changes but I didn't ride enough last fall with the wife on the back to be sure.
I had an old brass hypo that had the two finger loops on the housing and one on the shaft. I sucked oil into the hypo and then stuck the needle down into the air port opening and this got me into the shock without burping much of the oil back out. I kept repeating this until I had all my 10w in both shocks. Overall it took about 6 hours of time, but only about $15.00 for oil.
The best way to store this type of shock without losing any oil is to use the correct size airfitting plug. You can buy these at most any industrial supply houses. This type of air line is used in manufacturing plants etc. Or you may be able to find a short couple pieces of air line from your dealer or Indy and just fold over the tube to crimp it and then cable tie is to keep the crimp in it, then just push it into the air fitting on the shock. This should retain the oil.
Good luck with your oil project.
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Topic: REAR STOCK SHOCK QUESTION, OK SEVERAL (Read 1335 times)