Rear Shock Bumpstop Change

[Mr. Richard]

yesterday i was looking at an extra shock i had setting around,,, decieded to tear it down since it was a leaker,, well i figured out how to get it all apart,, easy,, so i figured i would see if the bump stop could be changed with out loosing all the oil. YES it can,, all you have to do is release the nitrogen charge, back off hte preload on the spring,,, unscrew the bottom mount off,, and unscrew off the flange above that,,, the plunger that comtrols the dampening stays in and no oil is lost, slide the bumpstop off and slide a new one on ,,, put it back together,,,

[Rustytinhorn]

Good to know

[Speedway73]

Do you have a local that can re-charge the nitrogen ??

[Mr. Richard]

i run nitrogen in all the tires on all our vehicles,, so its a little easier for me,:D :D :D

[Speedway73]

What's a tank and regulator set-up like that cost??

[Mr. Richard]

i only pay for content ,, the bottle is a rental ,, but since we do so much buisness with praxair they give me the bottle to use,, its $24 to fill it and its 85cu ft,, it lasts a long time too,, you can buy used bottles on craigslist sometimes too,, pretty cheap,, so are regulators.

[Dammit!]

So what you're saying is I could stop by with the R in the truck and you could re-charge my shock. Is that right? :D

[dirtdog]

why couldn't you do this with out releasing the nitrogen?:shrug:

[NOS_350X]

Wow, im suprized, i knew soemthing Richard didnt, WOOT. If you would have asked i could have told ya.

[Mr. Richard]

well ,,, you have to release the nitrogen because it pressurizes the oil,,, oil under pressure will not cavitate,,

[jenndnn3]

Nice Write-up Kasey Thank you..
Just went throught this myself.. took me about 16 phonecalls to find a local fellow to rebuild my leaky rear shock,,

Did you happen to mention somewhere maybe I missed it WHY nitrogen in tires? For those that may not know why? I believe that is a good tip as well all things considering,,,,

[84honda200s]

does this apply to the 200x shocks ?

[Speedway73]

Kasey....What would you charge me to nitrogen charge my '86 Tecate rear shock if I sent it to you?? Spec pressure is 142 psi.

[Mr. Richard]

i run nitrogen in our tires because its stable, it never changes pressure with heat and cool. the nitrogen molecules are twice as big as air molecules so you never get seepage and pressure loss in your tires,, . i think in az its more important because of the large temp swings,, and since the average loss in a car tire is 1.5 psi per month,,, how low are your tires????? costco uses nitrogen here now and several tire shops are starting to switch too,,,

[Mr. Richard]

man there has to be someone closer than me to do it for you,,, call a few welding supply places that fill bottles ,, or maybe a off-road shop,,,

[my90rulz]

I'm surprised You where able to just Twist off the end, i normally have to clamp it in the 50 ton press head the crap out of it and bust it loose....leas newer ones,,,green loctite is horrid hahah

[HondaATC500X]

Good pics and info Kasey. I took apart an old junk R shock probably a year ago or more just to see what it was all about. I got it down to about where you were. I was mostly interested in learning how to remove the shaft but didn't have any luck. I don't think it threads in, I turned mine an awful lot and it never changed. That little valving rod thing at the bottom that the rebound adjuster works off of was semi loose but wouldn't come out either.

[Mr. Richard]

this was an old shock too,,, i have sent out a couple to have done, so i figured it was going in the trash so lets tear it down,, what the heck... now i have 2 nos 250r and 2 nos 350x shocks that i got from our local bike and atv surplus .

[HondaATC500X]

I wonder how you get to the seal..thats what I really wanted to know because if you got that far you could probably match it up with something common from a parts store and you'd be good to go on rebuilding them.

[Mr. Richard]

billy i tore it all the way down just for fun.... the inner parts are application specific ,, i do not think without a "kit" for this exact shock you would be able to do much. the seal looks pretty special in design.

[HondaATC500X]

What did you have to do to get it down to the seal? I wonder who even handles stuff like that...I've been told an average joe can call PEP in cali and they will sell you parts but I've not ever tried it before.

[Mr. Richard]

hmm, i guess i never tried to find parts,,, i know Ron from PEP pretty well , i guess i could call him and ask.... shocks are pretty techincal inside so i guess its easier to outsource them . that way you have a warranty ,also if you want a little difference in performance they can do it at the same time,,,

[jenndnn3]

Try these guys... 1 360 825 2106

http://www.devolracing.com/

I have a local guy who can rebuild em too as long as parts are available...

If your talking liquid R's the look for TRX parts not ATC... Parts are still available ( or were about 2 mths ago when Mine went through it)


Oh yeah.. those just for RECHARGING nitrogen,, you have to go to someone capable of pressurizing at 170+ pounds... Not many tire companies or COSTCO are set up via nitrogen to do that,,

[joe45]

Where did you get a new bumb stop from?

[HondaATC500X]

I will check that out Jen, thanks. I'm mostly interested in learning how I can do the recharging/oil seals/valving etc. myself. I know it can be done and thats mainly what I'm aiming to figure out :)

[Mr. Richard]

Oh yeah.. those just for RECHARGING nitrogen,, you have to go to someone capable of pressurizing at 170+ pounds... Not many tire companies or COSTCO are set up via nitrogen to do that,,


THEY HAVE THE CAPABILITY ,, USUALLY DON'T WANT THE RESPONSIBILITY . MY NITROGEN BOTTLE HAS 2800PSI, MY REGULATOR GOES UP TO 200,, SO ITS NO BIG DEAL,, most air compressors are set at 135 to 150 psi so its not that much higher than that.

[jenndnn3]

Maybe in AZ, but here where I am at, they barely carry nitrogen let alone are set up for it. We pulled it out of cars' tires because nitrogen is not readily available. :burnout:


The poor guy did attemp to fill it, so responsibility was NOT the issue here. He felt so bad when it would not work. Said it made a barely audible "pf" sound couldnt even muster a "poof" got a good laugh though. The tire company was only set up to 60 pounds I think it was. Anyway he was so unwilling to take responsibilty he even called a few people to find it for me..:hail: I am sure he prob be a little put out by that statement.:slap: :lmao:

Tire companies are not the best place in some areas.. Try industrial wholesale parts places. Like Hydralics companies.

[HondaATC500X]

Yeah probably the best thing to do if someone was going to be spending a fair amount of time doing this would be to go get a bottle from the local welding supply along with some hoses and regulators and just have them right on site. Probably be a little bit spendy up front investment (300 or so I'm guessing, about the same price as one good stock shock revalve cost if you sent it off)

[joe45]

These guys have but they don't have specs for a 250r.

http://www.moto-pro.com/Browse_Category.asp?strBrowse=SHOCKBOTTOMBUMPERS

[Mr. Richard]

billy you can get nitrogen bottles off craigslist all the time cheap too,,, and the content of the bottle is cheap,, $12 for a 125 cu ft bottle,,, $40 regulator and any ole air hose will do,,,, so you can get into it pretty cheap.. jenn why would you let the nitrogen out? it will be good forever if you never get a flat,,, and you can add plain air to it without any effects,, if you needed to.

[HondaATC500X]

Dang thats an awful lot cheaper then I imagined! Craigslist isn't real popular out here but I'll keep an eyeball on it and the local for sale magazines and stuff.

[jenndnn3]

Well Because LIKE I said nitrogen not a knowledgable thing around here,, so when people dont know it they get rid of it.. Anyway a tire was low at the dealership, when he went to fill em up couldnt get it so they took it out.. ( you know the final shake down before they hand the keys and car over to you with pretty bow on it after its bath and fluid check) Nt a big deal, cause we can always put it back in and it was too late for us to say anything. At the time we were learning about it too. I always love CRASH courses..


Joe I think I have the SHOWA bumper its done Off the shaft size.... Im sure if you called they would easily be able to match it up..

[joe45]

cool thanks

[FlyingW]

Kasey, getting back to your original post, I have the shock apart but where do I get a new bump sto? I have 4 shocks and not a good stop on any of them.

[Speedway73]

14 or 16mm shaft ??

[FlyingW]

14mm

[Mr. Richard]

i had one from a bent shock i used... i would think any shock rebuilder can supply you with one... let me make a few calls too maybe i can get some from a friend i know,,,

[FlyingW]

true enough, I'll check with the local off-road places around here.

[Speedway73]

Moto Pro suspension in OR. He suplied me with most of the parts to rebuild my '86 Tecate shock. I got a new Kayaba bump stop from him too.

[FlyingW]

I chose a different approach. The last thing I wanted to do was depressurize the shock to take the end off to put a new bump stop on. I keep all kinds of bits and pieces of stuff and I had 2 large heavy rubber grommets from a 220v electrical plug. I had 2 that were perfect and to get the right height I put 2 grommets on. I cut both of them on one side and slipped them around the dampening rod. The inside one I drilled a 1/16 inch hole through the rubber across the cut and poked a piece of aircraft tie string through the holes and tied it off. Since the bottom grommet was sitting in the cup, there was no need to tie it off. It worked beautifully and I'll probably never need to change them. Cost....free. I like free