{"id":560,"date":"2025-10-10T18:24:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T22:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/?p=560"},"modified":"2025-10-10T18:24:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T22:24:43","slug":"rear-shocks-been-staring-at-these-a-while-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/10\/rear-shocks-been-staring-at-these-a-while-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Rear Shocks… (Been staring at these a while now)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bit of Back-story:<\/strong> Over Christmas, I treated myself to a pair of Rupert\u2019s books \u2014 one for the engine, and one for everything but<\/em> the engine. (Because why make things easy and put it all in one?) They\u2019ve been brilliant references for my B40 project, and I\u2019ve even exchanged a few emails with the man\u2019s team. A fine chap named Dave Smith replied with extra details \u2014 clearly the poor soul assigned to deal with daft questions from folks like me.

I\u2019d reached out for more info on the tool used for dismantling the rear shocks \u2014 specifically, the one meant to remove the chrome collets. Mine, naturally, wasn\u2019t working. (Because why would it?) I just wanted to confirm a few basic dimensions, but Dave went above and beyond \u2014 sent photos, measurements, and probably wondered how someone could overthink a spring compressor quite this much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Screen shot of email body sent to me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The magic number, as it turns out, was 32 mm<\/strong> \u2014 that\u2019s the proper compression point for the spring, or so the gospel according to Rupert says. I can\u2019t say for certain, but I reckon I convinced myself it was fully compressed somewhere around 24 to 25 mm<\/strong> \u2014 optimism is a powerful tool, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday afternoon found me over at Mario\u2019s, where the two of us gave it a proper go. With a bit more persuasion (and a few creative words), we edged closer to the 32 mm mark I\u2019d scratched on my tool. Somewhere between 30 and 32 mm, one of the chrome collets finally surrendered \u2014 followed shortly after by the second, with just one more encouraging turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for that minor counterbore some folks swear by \u2014 I\u2019m fairly certain it serves no real purpose except to waste a bit of time and metal. I skipped it entirely, and my tool worked just fine, thank you very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The shock assembly (in all its glorious pieces) is shown to the left, and I can finally get on with cleaning it up. I gave the hydraulic portion a few test strokes \u2014 purely scientific, of course \u2014 and it seems to be working fine, no oil leaks in sight. The seals aren\u2019t replaceable, but let\u2019s be honest, at this age I\u2019m<\/em> barely replaceable either.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now comes the great debate: do I settle for a good cleanup and maybe a bit of nickel plating to make them look respectable again, or do I fork out roughly $175<\/strong> for a shiny new pair? My wallet says \u201cpolish it,\u201d but my pride says \u201ctreat yourself.\u201d We\u2019ll see which one wins \u2014 odds are, it\u2019ll be the cheaper voice in my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on that triumphant note \u2014 naturally, the universe had to balance things out. My trusty compression tool decided to retire early, failing spectacularly while I tried to tackle the next shock. Aye, nothing says \u201cprogress\u201d quite like ending the day with a pile of parts and a broken tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it\u2019s back to the drawing board (and the grinder) to rebuild the compression assembly \u2014 stronger, smarter, and hopefully daft-proof this time. Until then, the last shock will just have to sit there looking smug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned \u2014 because if history\u2019s any guide, the next update will feature either triumph or more swearing\u2026 possibly both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bit of Back-story: Over Christmas, I treated myself to a pair of Rupert\u2019s books \u2014 one for the engine, and one for everything but the engine. (Because why make things easy and put it all in one?) They\u2019ve been brilliant … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":566,"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions\/566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.brainwalkers.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}