200x Shock Rebuild

[whyhike82]

Im pretty much running a straight spring on the back of my 200x. Where is the best place to get this thing rebuilt? I have seen some post on here about this but i cant seem to find them. Thanks, Matt

[PWK39]

take it off the bike clean it up and look at the shaft real good with a light if it is pitted at all it's lunched .I would do that before anything to determine if its rebuildable.

[oldred95]

Probably leaked all the magic smoke out. Actually its just ATF. "Rebuilding it" is simple, and even simpler if you have a book. You take the shock off, unload the spring, take the spring off, take the hose off the shock body and drain/pump what little old nasty oil is left. On the reservoir just turn it upside down and shake it to get all the nasty oil out you can. Refill with clean ATF and try not go get any air in with the AFT. I honestly do not know what the stupid Nitrogen charge is even for. I tried the shock both with and without an air charge and it felt exactly the same. I just pumped the compressor up to 225 and put some air to it. The air has not leaked out and neither has the ATF. The shock works just fine. All was wrong was it was low on oil due to the seal leaking but it took a period of 25 years or so to leak it out.

[Dirtcrasher]

Honestly, Amongst other properties, Nitrogen is an inert gas and free of contaminants and the air we breath is filled with junk and moisture. Which will eventually contribute to filthy oil and worn shock components. I'd charge it with nitrogen.

[oldred95]

Honestly, Amongst other properties, Nitrogen is an inert gas and free of contaminants and the air we breath is filled with junk and moisture. Which will eventually contribute to filthy oil and worn shock components. I'd charge it with nitrogen.

Actually the air we breathe is 78.08% nitrogen so technically speaking it is nitrogen charged. I could just let the air out of it and pull a vacuum on it and turn it into a black hole so to speak since there is nothing inside a vacuum and I bet the shock would still work exactly the same. I would like to see a cut away of the reservoir to see exactly what kind of smoke and mirrors work is going on inside it.

[super90]

Theres lots of threads about shock rebuilds, but anyway I asked the same thing and found out about the air and moisture. I wouldnt use air since it would contain water that would corrode the inside of the shock.

[Dirtcrasher]

Actually the air we breathe is 78.08% nitrogen so technically speaking it is nitrogen charged. I could just let the air out of it and pull a vacuum on it and turn it into a black hole so to speak since there is nothing inside a vacuum and I bet the shock would still work exactly the same. I would like to see a cut away of the reservoir to see exactly what kind of smoke and mirrors work is going on inside it.


You can do whatever you want but don't be ignorant (I don't mean that it a bad way) If I felt like researching it, I'm sure there are many facts about running the right gas in your shock aside from contamination. There is bladder inside the resevoir and running plain air in your shock will contaminate everything. Nitrogen isn't very expensive at all, the problem is that most guys aren't geared up to pressurize shocks.

If you want to rebuild your shock with plain air, have a ball and let us know how it works.