When I bought my FL350, it came with a set of used Works shocks, not installed. The seller said he had them mounted previously but took them off because they went bad. He said he was going to rebuild them but never got around to it. He also said something about them working better if they had spherical bushings pressed into the ends.

I'm just wondering if I should try to rebuild these (or have them rebuild by someone) or just forget about them. I'm very newbish with all this stuff so I don't even know what a rebuild consists of and if it'd be something I could DIY or would have to take them to a shop or send them away. And what the cost of that would be vs. replacing them with something equivalent or better.

I wouldn't even know how to order a rebuild kit. These don't seem to have a model # stamped on them so how would I know what kit to buy?

Here's what they look like:

Those are very expensive shocks. They are NOT junk.
The FL350 rear suspension moves in an arc. That means at least one end needs a spherical end. CurtisR401 would be a guy to talk to about those but I haven't seen him on this site for a while. Send him a PM (private message). There are others here that know stuff on this subject but they don't show up anymore. Even I have given up a bit but do drop in once in a while. We all just got old and moved on. Use the search box. This site has a tremendous amount of info on these machines. Everything you want to know is on this site.

Caution: The FL350 shocks must be a specific length or you will get u-joint bind and bust your axle. The MAX length is 15 1/4".
You can go longer IF you modify the axel yokes. There is a thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17829

You will find it impossible to find replacement shocks. Trust me on that as I have investigated that for years. If you do find one (I have) you will find that the ends where the bolts go have to small of a hole for the bolts we need for these machines. That means you will have to rebuilt and fabricate new ends.

You must also build shock savers or you will destroy your million dollar Worx shocks.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15745&hilit=shock+saver+chain
CO

Go to the very bottom of this thread.
You will see a list of threads that is similar to this one. Hoser set up this site so that when you post a subject a complete list if similar subjects is linked at the bottom of the thread.
Just click on them for more info on the subject you are talking about.
No sense replying to many of those threads as they are very old and many of those people are no longer with us. I'm already a senior and will be 62 in March. Not sure how much longer I will be here either.
CO

You can order the rebuild parts from Works direct (good luck getting them to answer the phone). You can ship them to them to be rebuilt. They told me 3 months were on month 10 now. QSS (Quality Shock Service) ghosted me on my shocks I sent to him. (he still works for works shocks and does this on the side). I asked a friend in California to go get them for me and he did. Then took them to works and found out their main guy is the same guy at QSS. Confused yet??!. Since yours are a standard shock they may be able to turn it around quickly, maybe not. They will always tell You the shafts need replaced (ask member Fully). He rebuilt his own works shocks and has a video on YouTube. Mine are a custom setup for shaft length but 10 months even with COVID is a little much, Especially when you see other people on other forums buying new ones and getting them in a week. You could always try someone local to you. I did that with a set of fox shocks, they quoted 3 months and I had them back in three months.
Bob

Those shocks (pictured) look like a mismatched set to me
One has dual rate springs other doesn't and they don't even appear to be the same length ?

At least from what I can tell....

my 02 cents

It looks like the previous owner went Worx all around.
Looks like one front shock and one rear shock pictured.
CO

Yeah, it's a bit depressing to me as a very recent Odyssey fan, how desolate it is around here. I feel like I'm 10 years too late onto the scene. But I appreciate you guys that are still around and willing to help me out with advice.

Yes CO you are correct, it's a picture of a front and a rear, sorry I should've clarified that.

I actually did find a local guy who does suspension for dirt bikes and such. I called and talked to him a bit and he kind of him & hawed about rebuilding them, but then said he could and admitted he has some rebuild kits on hand. He quoted me $100 to rebuild (each). But... he also asked me how I know they're bad and said if they're not leaking oil I should put them on and try them out and maybe they are ok don't even need to be rebuilt. Does that sound like reasonable advice? I don't see evidence of oil leaking.

Thanks for the tip about the shock saver. I had no idea about something like that, but it makes good sense!

Yes you are a bit late but if you use the search box above you can find everything you need. It is faster to just ask but you'll have to wait for a reply.
Yeah we ain't facebook anymore.

Searching for info:
The best way to find something here is to use the search box above.
In the search box type ONE word ONLY and hit enter. If you don't you will get to many hits.
When the list of threads comes up there will be another search box there on the right.
In that box type ONE word ONLY. Keep doing this as many times as you want until you have narrowed it down. Some common words will be ignored like "Engine" "Honda" etc.
Also at the very bottom of any thread you read will be an area where there a similar threads to the one you are reading. You can click on them to read.

You said you found a guy locally that does shocks.
It appears your boy knows what he is doing. I second his advice to you about put them on and try them. Since they have rez'es you get your boy to at least check the pressure and if it shows pressure you're probably good since no leaks.

I am attaching several pdf's that I have on worx shocks. You can download them.
That's all I got on those shocks.

One final comment. You better run avgas. You can run a 50/50 mix AV/pump if you want but you have to bump the octane. The gas of today is not the same as 1985.
You have been warned.
CO

Edit: I find it hard to believe they all went bad.
CO

Thanks so much for those documents. I joined some of those FB groups and that's how I got hooked up with these 350's I got now. But I really despise the interface. It's so inferior to a dedicated forum I just don't understand why everyone gravitates to it, unless it's because they do everything on their phone and maybe FB is better suited to that. I'm 52 so I still prefer to do mostly everything on a desktop PC.

Regarding the gas, is it just the octane that needs to be higher or do you need lead or both? And what happens with poor fuel? Detonation? Coming from tuning in the automotive turbo I4 world, I have always read that detonation isn't a major concern above about 5500rpm because it doesn't have time to occur. But I know 2-cycles are different beasts.

Another thing of note is that the original spec called for 20:1 fuel mix but I've read all over that with today's oils you can run 32:1 or even higher. Since the oil lowers the octane (right?) I'd hope that running the higher ratio would offset at least some of the effect of poorer gas quality.

There's a place about an hour away that sells a couple different kinds of race fuel but I don't think any are actually "avgas". They also sell methanol that I had used in an injection system on my Toyota MR2 turbo and is much cheaper than racing fuels and very high octane. But I presume that trying to boost the octane with methanol would be just as bad as trying to do so on a car (its very corrosive on parts not specifically designed to withstand it). Same would be true of E85 which I now run in my MR2 and nets me just about identical gains to the methanol injection.

Most run 32:1 you can run higher but always use good quality oil.
93 Octane is what I run and it works fine. Generally, the higher the octane the safer you are, but there's a point where you are just wasting your money.
AVGAS is usually around 100 Octane and much cheaper than race fuel, which is why CO suggests you run it.
Just make sure to always check your jetting no matter what combo you go with.

Yep, too high octane is more than a waste of money, it costs power too. I watched back-to-back dyno tests with various octane rating fuels that proved that point.

One of my more immediate plans will be an EGT gauge, definitely before I do any mods to the intake/exhaust. Once it warms up around here...brrrr

Oil mix:
Recently a guy dropped off his FL350 that he just bought. He mixed his fuel 20/1. That thing would NOT run. It just blubbered. I thinned it out with some straight avgas and it runs like a top. I run my machines 50/1 but I have liquid cooled all of them. If your is still air cooled you have to run more oil but NOT 20/1. Today's oils are not the same as 1985 oil and neither is our fuel.

Fuel:
This is one of the most deadliest things to an oddy.
Your fuel flow must be 4.5oz in 10 sec or more. If not you will lean out and melt a piston. You MUST flow test your fuel pump. I have a channel on youboob and there are are couple of videos there on that. Type in "canadian oddy". There will also be links and info on that here if you use the search box.
I run avgas because of octane issues. Today's fuels are shyt and it's not 1985 anymore -- unfortunately. Today's fuel detonates and you'll blow a hole in your piston or just turn it to liquid aluminum and smear it down the cylinder (ring lock) ---- ask me how I know. The oddy runs very hot. The Engine is behind the seat and therefore gets limited cooling. I don't know what kind of smoke the guy was on when he designed this machine. The limited cooling causes your intake charge to have elevated temperature. This causes detonation. The air cooled oddy is a poofkaboom waiting to happen. There are an amazing amount of Engine blow ups on this site, look it up. The oddy WILL run with pump gas as Lanix can verify, but it ANYTHING is a bit off you lose your Engine. It does not need very much of an octane boost but in my opinion pump gas needs a little boost for and oddy Engine.
Just my opinions.
CO

getting back to your shocks, the worx shocks are from my understanding far better than stock, you need to check the reservoir to see that it holds nitrogen pressure, don't use air.
I second the statement to put them on and see if they work, if there is no oil you will know as they would just act like a spring with no damping.
it seems they should have spherical bearings, as CO mentioned the angles change as it goes through the motion, are the bushings in them solid or do they have rubber that allows them to move a bit?
If you find they do work, hold the nitrogen charge and do not leak, you may then consider servicing them by just having the oil changes and the o-rings on the head seal replaced.

My 350 has the tank above the Engine and no fuel pump so as long as the filter is good I figure I should be ok on that front. I wouldn't be averse to throwing some octane treatment into the gas. There are certain brands that are pretty good where a bottle can raise the octane of 15 gallons of gas 1 or 2 whole points.

I'd be willing to put a water cooled head kit on this buggy if necessary, but wouldn't that be more for handling long stretches of WOT (Wide Open Throttle) operation? Where I'll be riding there's way to many twists and turns (and trees) to get more than a few seconds of WOT (Wide Open Throttle) at a time. Maybe just a fan mounted above the Engine would be sufficient?

Yeah I heard the same thing about the Worx shocks being way better than stock. What's funny to me, coming from the FL250 is that the FL350 already rides like a Chrysler in comparison. (I know, I know Cadillac is typically used in that reference but I'm a Mopar man hahah). So going to the Worx would be like gravy.

Come to think of it, there is a reservoir bladder floating around in the box with the rest shocks, but none of the reservoirs are apart so I'm not sure if he had one apart already and just closed it up w/o the bladder or what. I think it's time I PM him on FB to ask him what the story is. I thought he said he had them on before, but maybe he was just planning on mounting them.

Ok, I clarified some things:

He did have them mounted and they did go bad and leak oil. He said he replaced the seals in them but they need new reservoir bladders and a charge.

So...I guess as long as he did an ok job of rebuilding them, maybe I'll be ok. The bushings look solid, not flexible so I still figure I should get Heim bushings installed. I have a hydraulic press so I might be able to do that myself

Shocks:
Ok that answers that.

Fuel tank:
Since you are running gravity feed there better be the larger float valve installed or you could lean out at WOT (Wide Open Throttle).

Liquid cooled head:
It all depends on what kind of guy you are and what kind of riding.
If you are a former race car driver like myself and my brother then liquid is the way to go.
Also if you run the desert then it's a must in my opinion. Engine works hard, limited air flow. Mount a fan -- I did not have success with this.

Suspension:
There is nothing wrong with the stock rear shocks. You just have to replace the springs with some #150 units from eibach. The original spring rate was WAY to high.
CO

I have no idea about the float valve but my guess is it is just stock. Would it be bad to run a pulse pump with gravity feed? That'd be easy enough to do. I do have the original tank actually would like to put that back in. The PO said it was rusty and had a pinhole in it somewhere. It doesn't look too bad from the outside so I was thinking of doing the Caswell tank sealer treatment.

And nope, I wasn't a racer...just like my spirited driving on and now off the road I live in Pennsylvania so no desert around here. Summer-times can occasionally get into the 90's but 80's is more common and most places to ride around here usually is in the country where there's trees, shade, etc. I have 15 acres at the family homestead, mostly wooded, where I'm making trails and would eventually like to have some kind of circuit where me and my friends can have some fun.

Gravity feed & pump:
Actually that has been done here many times.
The only issue is that you must run the Honda check valve and return line to tank.
If you don't then the pulse pump over powers the float valve and you flood your carb.

Stock tank:
I don't know anything about Caswell tank sealer.
My guess is it's just a band-aid fix. It's probably good for a lawnmower or weed-eater but for an oddy I would just say no. You don't want to be 40 miles back in the bush (like we are) and then have it fail. Wish I was near you, I would fix it for you. If it was me I would get an air hose, turn down the regulator on the compressor, pump up the tank with about 2 or 3 psi and then spray the tank with soap water to find the leak. Then weld it up. You could also fill it with water and watch for a leak. Then weld it up. I would braze weld it. Another fix (depending on where it's located) you clean the leak area to metal and JB Weld it.
CO

When I had 350's, I had Works shocks all around on them. I had one 350 built for a 135lb. rider and the other for a 200lb. rider. There was a major difference between the two depending on the weight of the rider. The Works shocks are night and day different from stock, especially if built for your weight. I would have them completely re built for your weight and you will love them. The works shocks also came with different upper bolts and hard plastic sleeves that went through the bolts. I believe this is how they adjust for the different angle the shock travels through its path.

I wish you were near me too hehe :)

Here's that sealant: https://caswellplating.com/epoxy-gas-tank-sealer.html

I have read comments on other sites where people claim it is the best product on the market for the purpose when compared to others (POR15, etc.). Though I've never personally used it myself.

I'm around 135 myself. And the guy I got them from was around my size, but no idea if he ever had them tuned specifically to his weight. To adjust that, you would have to change the springs wouldn't you? Or just the charge pressure? Or both? If they are just the "stock" tune, would they be set for a happy medium, so for a rider of say, 175lbs?

btw, here's what I've got going on...

http://www.pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20856

Springs and valving. Mine were triple rate shocks. I'd send them to Works.

Update...

I sent these shocks to Worx a couple months ago and just got them back. It'll be a little while before I install and test them out but they look good and I have only good things to say about dealing with Worx. These shocks were not originally for an FL350 but Worx had good communication, having called me a couple times with questions about how I wanted things done with them, spring rates, and so forth, and they set me up with a proper bolt kit, installed spherical bushings, etc. Price was around $850 total for parts and labor for all 4 which I think is reasonable.

I have another set w/o reservoirs that I'll probably send them.