Great write up. The only thing I didn't see you comment on is the dividing piston depth(or as its was call in the write up "by-pass valve"). There should be a measurement from the open end of the reservoir to the dividing piston. This should be set and then tighten seal head at the shaft.
Thanks to the guys putting this DIY together.
Good point! A couple things to mention regarding that:
1. Since fluid is uncompressible, the amount of fluid that drains out, must be the amount of fluid that goes in.
2. Gauging purely on bypass diving piston (air+fluid separation point) is not necessarily a good way to judge the amount of fluid to put back in. Reasoning is as such: the piston may have shifted and caused a vacuum chamber to manifest in the fluid section. This will give you a "false" indication that more fluid exists. If you fill with too much fluid, you end up not being able to fill the air chamber with enough volume (not pressure) of air.
We have made this mistake already, and the symptom is: the shaft will not return to full extension as quick (since too much fluid = too little air volume, even though it is at 240psi = no enough force to excrete the shaft displacement)
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Then we come to the question of, how to bleed air if: the dividing piston is bottomed out and there is still an air pocket below the dust wiper cap (no fluid is bleeding out)? If this is the scenario, something is wrong.
Check the following steps again:
1. When you are inserting the shaft assembly back into the fluid filled shock tube. The shaft must be in full extension (out-most position). This way you are minimizing the fluid displacement the shaft itself imposes.
2. The dividing piston should not already be at the bottom most position. You should use the piston as a syringe to suck a small amount of fluid to the bypass to make room for the shaft assembly insertion without overflowing. Once shaft/dust wiper assembly is inserted and fully tightened, press down on the dividing piston to bleed.
3. If you put the same amount of fluid in that came out, there should be minimal amount of fluid to bleed out (mostly air).
