Took a bit of a bath in hydraulic fluid today

[Allgonquin]

Changed my right rear shock. I recently asked about bleeding the hydraulic system, and I think it was Dave who said that there is a bleed screw on the leveling proportioning valve, but of course I decided to crack the fitting on the shock itself rather than do that, as it was easier to get to and the bleed screw was a bit rusty.

So I'm torquing the fitting on the shock to loosen it with a 17 mm box end, the shock is wanting to rotate a bit, but finally it cracks loose, and PSSSSTTTTT shoots out a big stream of foamy hydraulic fluid, covering everything in the wheel well, my neck and chest, and shoots about 8 feet into the garage. So I smother it with my hands and get the wrench on it and tighten it back up to where just a dribble of foamy fluid is coming out the fitting. Did a bit of a cleanup. Well, more than a bit...

Then I go under and try the bleed screw, I get that cracked loose and dribble foamy fluid out of it as well. Finally after about a half hour the dribbling seems to have stopped and I cautiously loosen the fitting on the shock and take it off. The rest was relatively routine, thanks to the suggestion to get the whole kit for mounting, because it had two copper crush washers for the hydraulic hose banjo fitting, which I didn't know were needed.

And fast forward to the test drive, the clunk is gone! The bad news is that the left rear has developed the dreaded clunk now, and I didn't have a kit for it, so I've got to do the whole pressure bleed thing once more :-(.

I'm using a pair of used shocks I bought off someone several years ago, for the life of me I can't remember who!

Rgds,

 

[500AMM]

Hi Allgon

You should have read post #43 in this thread first
http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?1028-SLS-adjustment

Hi.

I recommend you take off the connecting rod and clean & lubricate, that should save it. At the same time you'll be able to check that the SLS really works. Place the car on a "bridge lift", resting on the wheels, leave the car idling, and move the lever on the SLS-valve and notice the movement of the car. The car moves quite slowely. When you move the lever down the car also goes down, and vice versa to elevate.

I also recommend to bleed some air from the system at the same time. It's a bleeding screw on top of the SLS-valve, and you also bleed at the hose terminals up at the hydropneumatic struts. If you elevate the car to max hight first, you get easy access to the hose terminals on the struts. Keep in mind that the system is pressurized, so you don't need to open much to get the mix of air and oil out quite fast. It is a messy job.

Cheers