X-Fly Shock Oil Change: Damper Side Comes Up Empty.

[(Pete Cresswell)]

Well, it's been two years and about 4,000 miles...and the manual says every
1,000....plus they were making an ugly "clunk" as they topped out... so I
figured it was time to change the oil.

The good news was that changing the oil cured the clunk.

What's bothering me a little is that the right side (damper side) was just about
completely empty of oil....and it was filled to the right level at the last
change.

Been avoiding a seal replacement - figuring that the shocks would tell me when
it's time by letting oil weep out where I could see it.

Seems like there's a very, very slow loss of oil going on here...so slow that it
isn't even visible.

So, the question: Is this normal and the reason that side was empty was just
that I went way too long before changing oil? Or is it time to think about
seal replacement? I'm not real excited about taking these things apart - seems
like there are several areas where a little "oops!" could be the end...
--
PeteCresswell

 

[(Pete Cresswell)]

RE/
>I hope you remmbered that it is filled witht he shock full compressed,
>not fully extended Fully extended they don't look like they have
>much oil in them.

Having forgotton the details since last change, it took a couple of go-arounds
to get the level right. Not much travel when they're overfilled....-)

My error was adding oil with the bike on a rack...I *thought* I had compressed
the forks all the way...but hadn't. Putting the bike on the ground made that
100% clear....

If done right, the whole process is almost trivial: Bleed the air, remove the
caps, drain the oil, compress the forks, fill, replace the caps, pump 'em
up....probably 30 minutes max for somebody who does it right the first time.
--
PeteCresswell