Hoser:

Newbie here. I have owned an FL350 for about 20 years but have not done much with it for the last 10. Now I have a Pilot in the fleet but I want to revalve the rears.

I read your page about the rear shock:

http://pilotodyssey.com/stockrear.htm

How did you get the shock apart? I have rebuilt and revalved many snowmobile (Fox and Ryde) shocks. I have always been able to use a big Cresent wrench on the end cap to remove them. But it does not look like these end caps have anything to put a wrench on to remove them.

Also, is the nitrogen valve the same size as a regular car tire valve? In other words, can I refill the bladder with my air compressor JUST FOR TESTING purposes and refill it with nitrogen when I get it right?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Look at the first pic the parts are in order of assembly, you have the spring off and are down to just the chrome shock body?

Did you already blow off the nitrogen so your ready to take it apart? You don't want to take apart the shock until you remove the nitrogen its ok to take the spring off without touching the nitrogen I am talking breaching the system that contains the oil.

Their is a chrome dust cap that covers the shaft seal (red arrow) I think it unscrews take a small punch and SMALL hammer and tap tap tap the cap and unscrew it once the dust cap is off you will see the wire ring (blue arrow) it might be covered with dirt and crap take a old tooth brush and clean it up be careful not to damage the seal blow it out with compressed air I wouldn't use any solvents on it that might attack the seal if you need to wash it use soap and water, then take a pick and remove the wire ring being careful you don't damage anything around it, no scratching or gouging, like removing the blatter you might need to tap whats below the wire ring to get it out, take something that fits well and push it down, I would not use something sharp like a screwdriver I would use something like the end of your tooth brush, next is the bearing and seal assembly ( green arrow) next is the top out spring (pink arrow)

This is all going by memory I took this shock apart years ago if something don't look right or your not sure let me know I still have this shock some place and can go dig it out to refresh my memory.

The caps on the end of the shock reservoir are a tin cap pressed in I remove them by taking a thin sharp edge putty knife and a SMALL hammer and tapping them out around the edges the sharp edge of the putty knife will try to dig in to the metal and grip it so you can tap it out you will see what I mean when you try to remove it, you can run the shocks without the black dust covers they are like a hub cap on a car.

I charge the nitrogen to #190 the nitrogen is to keep the oil from foaming I don't know how much air pressure you can get in them the blatter is so small, if it has 190 lbs in it and you take a regular tire pressure gauge and try to read the pressure soon as you hear the psssst sound when you attach or remove it the pressure in the ballter will be down to almost nothing if not empty, so I don't know what your testing will be like just trying to use the air, you have nothing to loose by trying... but yes once you remove the dust cap its a regular fitting like a car tire and other ATV shocks you can service.




Have any more questions just ask.

Well did you get them apart?

Yes, thanks for your help. I only had problems in two areas:
1. The dust cap does not screw off, it is just press fit. Just tap it straight out.
2. The nut that holds the valve stack on was very interesting. It is like a self destroying nut. As I un-screwed it, it destroyed the threads on the nut but didn't hurt the threads on the shaft. I just bought a new nut and was good.

But......
Major setback with the Pilot. We went out riding on the 24th. Back at the trailer, we were tying everything down and my wife was helping (bless her heart) and strapped the Pilot down. Well, she didn't get something quite right. We headed out and about two miles down the canyon, while going about 60 miles per hour...off goes the Pilot. My precious Pilot was doing flips and rolls down the road. Luckly, it did not hit anyone and we got it loaded back on the trailer without incident.

It is messed up pretty good. It was in mint condition too. The main frame is tweaked in several spots. And I can no longer get the frames from Honda. I don't know what I am going to do with it. Major bummer! :(

WOW sorry to hear about the Pilot misshap can you post pics of the main frame, I bet you can work out most of it by holding the frame down in one spot and jacking it up in another, slowly work the bends and twist out, this might get you by until you find another frame.

You try Randy at http://www.pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16721 for a frame?

I forgot about that nut, its almost like they pour lead into the threads, you use loctite on the new nut?