Advice Needed - Afraid to Turn / Rollover

[VX KAT]

Thanks for that, 'Pro.

I'm 11+ years in with ZERO maintenance to the factory shocks. Probably time to have them serviced or replaced. I'm told they're in pretty good condition, but that was by my wrench, who basically just eyeballed them - several times because of how often he's been under there lately, I'll give him that.

I'll look into a recharge.

Since our shocks are pretty unique in a "normal" truck, is it straight-forward to have any suspension shop do the recharge, or is it any better to send them to that "Bruce" guy for rebuild or recharge?

[SlowPro48]

Since our shocks are pretty unique in a "normal" truck, is it straight-forward to have any suspension shop do the recharge, or is it any better to send them to that "Bruce" guy for rebuild or recharge?

If you're just talking about a recharge then most any motorcycle shop will have nitrogen and quite a few automotive tire shops these days sell nitrogen as well. All you have to do is remove the shocks, pull the metal cap out of the reservoir end to expose a standard Schrader valve just like the ones used to put air in your tires. Flush the valve with brake cleaner or similar because most likely there will be some grunge and grit in it and you don't want to inject that into the reservoir. Have them fill the shocks to 200psi or so and then you'll have to find a cap to put back over the end of the reservoir - because you tore up the metal one removing it - but that's OK it didn't do a very good job of sealing out the dirt anyway. Those band-seal rubber end caps with a hose clamp do a good job. I think they sell them (or more likely a chinese knock-off) at Home Depot.

Now, if you're riding around with chopped up 11 year old oil like Mr. Vendetta and you need to have the oil changed you can usually get that done at a m/c dealership as well - most of them change fork and shock oil - but if you're talking total rebuild (i.e., they're leaking or not damping well even with fresh oil) then you're better off going to a dedicated suspension shop like Bruce's. Some motorcycle dealerships rebuild shocks but most send them off. One thing - if you're going the m/c shop oil change/rebuild route I'd suggest leaving the front shocks in a box and showing them only the rear shocks. If you show them those bass ackwards front shocks they're likely to show you the door!