Rear shock advice

Hi all

Well if anyone has noticed my Sunn rebuild post they will have read my tail of woe :facepalm:

Almost finished , ridden around the garages and i really liked it !
spring was too soft so back into the dingy garage to wind some preload on the shock , didnt notice that actually the shock body was moving not just the spring .
Anyway , huge bang and oil everywhere :shock:

I thought to myself that i could screw it all back together , fill it up with oil and off we go .
Not so , charged with nitrogen hence the bang !
Been hunting for a cheap replacement but cant find anything , seems a really odd size and very short travel .
I make it 195mm eye to eye but with a stroke of about 30mm .
anyone got any ideas at all ?
Paul

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You can get plastic spacers that slide onto the shock shaft that limit it's travel.
Kes

Re: Re:

scottproonly":vms1sxea said:

You can get plastic spacers that slide onto the shock shaft that limit it's travel.
Kes

Click to expand...

That might be an option then , that's assuming I can find a coil shock of course
Paul

Paul.

Probably best to reply here in anglo-land rather than over in frogville

I'm guessing there's no gas fill port on the shock? I've been unable to track down any photos, but I would have thought it could be put back together and refilled with air. You lose some temperature stability and there's a bit less gas seepage, but other than that, should perform just as well.

If it's got a schrader on it, I don't see any reason not to bung some oil back in it and pump it up. If it hasn't, I'd think it should be possible to (mis)use whatever port was used to fill it at the factory, given a little ingenuity.

Can you get me some photos?

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Hi Tufty
Ahh that's much easier
There is no valve on mine unlike some I have seen , also found a broken seal / guide on the piston too :facepalm:



Here are some pics

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My shock has no valve on it but I'm guessing it's charged via this port at the top via a non return valve at the end of the piston ?
It went with a hell of a bang I know that :shock:

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Fox rear shocks, 200 mm eye to eye, so 5 mm longer but 57 mm travell so may be too much.

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Look out for a cane Creek AD5 air shock, should be about the same eye to eye but can't remember the stroke.
heres a pic of it one my no longer owned Kona U'hu:

If it's hard plastic, are you sure the seal is busted, and not just split like a piston ring?

Sure looks like a split "piston ring" to me. Its more of a bushing than a seal.
The "valve" will be underneath that flat screw in the eyelet housing that is shown in the last picture. It will likely be a rubber "block" that has to be penetrated by a fine needle. You will need a rather good pump, too. Most of those shocks need a whopping 300-400 psi. I have a rock shox pump that barely makes that.
If you put some effort and brains into it, I am sure you would be able to reassemble that dampener. Question is: Is it worth the time?

195mm is a very common length. I would not bother with stroke length. I'd just get a new fox platform dampener, those work really well.
Or a used cane creek as those are very easy to service. No Oil. No weirdo seals. And the performance is ok.