Got my Air Shocks, is something wrong?

[mastiffhound]

OK, I clipped the hoses, got them back together then attempted to put a little air in to check for leaks.

Oil spews out the valve at the slightest attempt to put the air chuck on there. I even replaced the schrader valve with a new one. Just spewed oil the same. This can't be right. You'd get oil all over your bike or in your bags every time you tried to change the pressure.

But hey, at least they don't seem to be leaking out of the brass fittings anymore.
When I was a younger, I would have thrown them into the concrete floor, then took a sledge to them. At this point, I'm still mighty tempted to do just that.

[Maxeffort]

Originally Posted by mastiffhound

OK, I clipped the hoses, got them back together then attempted to put a little air in to check for leaks.

Oil spews out the valve at the slightest attempt to put the air chuck on there. I even replaced the schrader valve with a new one. Just spewed oil the same. This can't be right. You'd get oil all over your bike or in your bags every time you tried to change the pressure.

But hey, at least they don't seem to be leaking out of the brass fittings anymore.
When I was a younger, I would have thrown them into the concrete floor, then took a sledge to them. At this point, I'm still mighty tempted to do just that.

Do you have the shocks installed on the bike or held vertical, fittings facing up, when you do this? Otherwise, oil everywhere!

Assuming they are vertical and fitting up, You just have oil in all the lines. It will clear out.

It just takes a very small amount of air volume to fill. 50 Psi max, but 0-15 PSI for a Sportster.

And you need to space the right shock away from the chain guard with a washer(s) between the shock and the mounts.

You’ll get there and I bet you’ll like them.

Here’s a shot of the shock and line on my 1996.

[mastiffhound]

Originally Posted by Maxeffort

Do you have the shocks installed on the bike or held vertical, fittings facing up, when you do this? Otherwise, oil everywhere!

Assuming they are vertical and fitting up, You just have oil in all the lines. It will clear out.

It just takes a very small amount of air volume to fill. 50 Psi max, but 0-15 PSI for a Sportster.

And you need to space the right shock away from the chain guard with a washer(s) between the shock and the mounts.

You’ll get there and I bet you’ll like them.

Here’s a shot of the shock and line on my 1996.

I purged the oil in the lines when I clipped the hoses. They were vertical every time I tried to put air in them. I think it's an inner seal problem. Seller got back to me and said that he must have sent me the shocks with more than 50,000 miles on them.

I resisted my instinct to annihilate them, and now they're going back to the seller. I already packed them up and they'll be sent back in the morning. I'm just going to either buy some progressives or utterly brand spankin' new air shocks.

Whenever I try to save a buck, I get it in the rear. It's just my luck. Example-
Guy-"Hey I got this mint Sporty 1200 for $2000 with only 3000 miles on it, didn't you say you were looking for one?"
Me- Yeah, but I was looking at one at the dealer with 7000 miles for $5500.
Guy- But this one has less miles, looks better, and is way cheaper!
Me- Sweet, it does look mint. Hell yeah you're right I'll take it for $2000!
Me(less than a year later)- Well, it could be worse. I mean I'm only $4000 in the hole for parts and labor. Would have been more if I hadn't done some of the work myself.

I learned a long time ago that with my luck, I was going to have to eat a whole lot of shit sandwiches through life.
The bright side of that is- at least I'll never go hungry

Thanks for all the help guys!

[92 Sporty]

Originally Posted by mastiffhound

I purged the oil in the lines when I clipped the hoses. They were vertical every time I tried to put air in them. I think it's an inner seal problem. Seller got back to me and said that he must have sent me the shocks with more than 50,000 miles on them.



I resisted my instinct to annihilate them, and now they're going back to the seller. I already packed them up and they'll be sent back in the morning. I'm just going to either buy some progressives or utterly brand spankin' new air shocks.



Whenever I try to save a buck, I get it in the rear. It's just my luck. Example-

Guy-"Hey I got this mint Sporty 1200 for $2000 with only 3000 miles on it, didn't you say you were looking for one?"

Me- Yeah, but I was looking at one at the dealer with 7000 miles for $5500.

Guy- But this one has less miles, looks better, and is way cheaper!

Me- Sweet, it does look mint. Hell yeah you're right I'll take it for $2000!

Me(less than a year later)- Well, it could be worse. I mean I'm only $4000 in the hole for parts and labor. Would have been more if I hadn't done some of the work myself.



I learned a long time ago that with my luck, I was going to have to eat a whole lot of shit sandwiches through life.

The bright side of that is- at least I'll never go hungry



Thanks for all the help guys!

First major thing I learned was NOT to use a compressor on these shocks. Hand pump only. I tried my compressor and it drove the psi straight to 80 lol.

From what I have seen you are supposed to put a couple of squirts of air in before you release the pressure.

Now looking at how they were installed on a RK (and others) the brass fittings were facing forward so not straight up. I installed mine so the valves were the same way (facing towards the front)

Sent from my SM-G892U using Tapatalk

[mastiffhound]

I tried my compressor 1st but switched to a bicycle pump when I thought that could be the problem, didn't matter. My compressor is pretty expensive, I can regulate the airflow down to <5 psi. I can fill those little cheap rubber balls without bursting them. The seller said he thought they were shot, and apologized. Said he meant to send out the pair that had 8,000 on them and said the 50,000 mile pair going out was an accident. These were from Detroit, and 50,000 on those chuckhole infested lanes is like 200,000 anywhere else.

Now I'm just looking at getting a brand new set. I went on a 200 mile trip today & I really wished those shocks had worked out for me at about 130 miles in.
Oh well, I got a full refund and learned about air shocks. At this point I'm going to consider that a win.