Shock Rebuilding / Vehicle Downtime

[Moby]

If they are intended to be rebuilt you can rebuild them. That's not intended to be a smart-a$$ reply. Lot's of things say for factory use only.

As @linuxgod says, the question is what tools are needed and can you get the parts. King/Fox/Radflo/Sway-a-Way are intended for easy service, parts, etc. They are designed to be easy to go into. That may not be the case here and more specialty tools required.

You may be ahead by just replacing them. Keep the springs and see if you can just get the dampners.

 

[Climbingnut]

I watched a video by a Canadian guy who replaced the bottom spherical bearing. I’ll have to ask around about getting rebuild kits. My nearest ‘service’ center is a 4 day drive away in Johannesburg, South Africa. So, if I could get the gas and rebuild kit, having the tools on hand do to it all would be worth it to me.

 

[linuxgod]

I watched a video by a Canadian guy who replaced the bottom spherical bearing. I’ll have to ask around about getting rebuild kits. My nearest ‘service’ center is a 4 day drive away in Johannesburg, South Africa. So, if I could get the gas and rebuild kit, having the tools on hand do to it all would be worth it to me.

If you do the rebuild, take pics and write up the details. I bet a lot of BP-51 owners would be really appreciative of that in the future

 

[Climbingnut]

Here’s a link to the youtube vid for changing the lower spherical bearing: . I was looking today for a rebuild kit. That has been tough to find. If anyone has leads, I’d be interested. Likely I’ll install them on the VDJ79 double cab I’ll be getting soon, so it would behoove me to learn a thing or two about repairs

 

[borfoo3]

Here’s a link to the youtube vid for changing the lower spherical bearing: . I was looking today for a rebuild kit. That has been tough to find. If anyone has leads, I’d be interested. Likely I’ll install them on the VDJ79 double cab I’ll be getting soon, so it would behoove me to learn a thing or two about repairs

Nice find. For my KING rebuild I'm considering swapping a rubber bushing in place of the spherical bearing.. just need to find the right size

 

[bloc]

Nice find. For my KING rebuild I'm considering swapping a rubber bushing in place of the spherical bearing.. just need to find the right size

Have you had problems with the king spherical bearing?

 

[borfoo3]

Have you had problems with the king spherical bearing?

Living in a sandy area with high salinity water means they're always noisy, squeaky and creaking most of the time.. WD40 helps for now.

 

[Moby]

WD40 will pull a lot of dirt in. You might look at a waxed based lube. On my bike race chains I wax them for lowest friction and to repel dirt, which adds more wear and friction. The stuff I use won't work here but this might be worth a try: SILCA Super Secret Chain Lube - https://silca.cc/collections/chain-lube-wax/products/silca-super-secret-chain-lube

That said I swapped to rubber bushing on my Bilstein 7100. But they didn't tolerate the misalignment well and were a semi regular maintenance item.

 

[boofaz]

Called Slee today and they said ARB will only do in house rebuilds of these. Called ARB and it's a 2 month turnaround but the rebuild is free. Don't know if he meant while under warranty or not but that's what he said.

 

[TeCKis300]

Living in a sandy area with high salinity water means they're always noisy, squeaky and creaking most of the time.. WD40 helps for now.

Agreed and it's going to be the type of use and local variables that are the big differentiators for how long spherical bearings last. Different types of contaminants and abrasives are going to be affect the level of wear and corrosion for these open type joints. There's different quality units too, some may last longer than others. Ultimately all will need maintenance or replacement, and that's the trade for a race type part that handles more abuse and delivers more precision for a shorter interim.

What you're saying may be something to weigh for upgrade considerations.