GrMeyer Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Came by this site that will take anyones ?'s out of doing their own shock rebuilding Hope it helps everyone. http://borynack.com/XR650R/xr650r_shock.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Came by this site that will take anyones ?'s out of doing their own shock rebuilding Hope it helps everyone. http://borynack.com/XR650R/xr650r_shock.htm I spent 4 years working for Thyssen Krupp Bilstein. I worked in the offroad dept building 2.0 and larger shocks. Btw... the hand adjuster for the blackhawks... my idea. Anywho... as far as the oil level specs and things of that nature, I can't argue with. As for the process, I have some issues with cleanliness. Every shock we built was in a dust free room. Probably overkill, but using a road cone to fill the oil? All you need to do is plunge the piston and shaft assembly up and down until no more air bulbble come out, and top off the oil as necessary. Other than that, the overall dynamics of shock internals is pretty accurate! Great post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrMeyer Posted December 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2009 What is some of the Oils and weights/viscosity that you recommend for shocks. Like I know Elkas have 2.5 weight in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyhighprerunner Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I actually just rebuild the coilovers in my truck(had to change shims). But anyways in the offroad part king, fox and im guessing bilstein (Matt can chime in at any time!) uses the same type of oil. So i would assume that you could replace your oil with the same oil that elka uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrMeyer Posted December 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I actually just rebuild the coilovers in my truck(had to change shims). But anyways in the offroad part king, fox and im guessing bilstein (Matt can chime in at any time!) uses the same type of oil. So i would assume that you could replace your oil with the same oil that elka uses. I guess its time to re email them and find out the oil they use. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I guess its time to re email them and find out the oil they use. Thanks SAW, Bilstein, Fox, and DOUCHEtech use 5w oil... king uses 10w due to their seal tolerances being complete and utter shit. Elka's are a good quality shock. Don't run anything thicker than 5w. ATF is a good substitute in a pinch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrMeyer Posted December 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2009 SAW, Bilstein, Fox, and DOUCHEtech use 5w oil... king uses 10w due to their seal tolerances being complete and utter shit. Elka's are a good quality shock. Don't run anything thicker than 5w. ATF is a good substitute in a pinch. Well this is the email I got from Elka We use Elka oil but you can purchase 2.5weight shock oil at your local dealership (Silkoleen, belray and others will be fine). Also what type of ATF if ever in a pinch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted December 24, 2009 Report Share Posted December 24, 2009 Well this is the email I got from Elka We use Elka oil but you can purchase 2.5weight shock oil at your local dealership (Silkoleen, belray and others will be fine). Also what type of ATF if ever in a pinch. To start off, when I say don't run anything thicker than a 5wt, I meant a 5wt SHOCK OIL. ATF is different. Silkolene does make a 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10wt shock oil. I think it's called Pro RSF. Don't hold me to that though. Shock oil is generally over priced. I've seen some Baja motorcycle racers run oil as heavy as 30wt in their forks for the 1000. The "weight" rating can vary in any synthetic, or semi synthetic oil by 10-15% legally. A 2.5wt oil is probably more of what ATV shocks or Motorcycle Forks use, because they are smaller, and have significantly less weight on them. Especially Elka's due to their extraordinarily tight seal tolerances. Automotive shocks can handle a heavier weight oil, obviously because they are bigger in overall dimension therefore the valving plates are bigger, pistons are bigger, get hotter, and have much more weight on each shock. Usually a standard Dexron 1, 2, or 3 is roughly a 10wt oil. I know Castrol Full Synthetic Dexron ATF is rated at 6.8cst, (or 10wt). Now, the only real experience I have is with offroad stuff. 2.5" shocks and above. The only thing you will hurt by running an oil too thick, is your shock will be stiffer than if you were running a 2.5wt or 5wt oil. It will be more noticeable in the rebound speed more than anything. Probably 90% of people wont be able to tell the difference between a 5 or 10wt oil. I had several racers that ONLY ran Castrol synthetic ATF. For three reasons... they could get it free, it lasted MUCH longer and it seemed to handle extreme heat better than shock oil. If you're going to have the shock apart, revalve it to one step lower on compression, and two lower on rebound. You'll never know the difference. Another good thing about using ATF is it's red. Most shock oil is a light blue, or sometimes even clear. When the shock starts to seep oil, you never know. With ATF it's bright red, very easy to spot a leaking shock. Hope this sheds some light on the shock world. I'm finally glad the last 5 years of my life building shocks was good for something. If there's any local people around here I'd love to spend an afternoon and tear into some shocks, and show everyone how to do it on their own. There's quite a few little things that if done wrong, can destroy a shock in 10 minutes. Which is why I hesitate just telling someone how to do it. It's one of those, "nah, I need to show you how" moments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrMeyer Posted December 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2009 (edited) Hey thanks for some more info. I'm not worried on valving due to having compression and rebound adj on the shock. Or do I still need to move the shims around? Where are u locaited. PM if u wouldn't mind. And if u know anyone in the arizona state. I think u cleared up a lot of ?s people have to ask about shocks. Edited December 25, 2009 by GrMeyer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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