Replacing reservoir hoses questions

So my lt front king coilovers have to long of hoses to the reservoirs. Anyways my question is is if I empty the nitrogen charge and remove the hoses can I just refill the hose and reservoir doing my best to make sure that there is no air in the shock/reservoir/hose, or do I need to do this another way? I was planning on removing the coilovers in order to fill it all back up but would rather not completely disassemble them in order to fill them back up with new fluid and recharge. Thanks for any help on this!

 

You’ve got to remove the coils and drain the shocks. If you’ve got a hydraulics shop near you, you can save a bunch of money - I had 2 hoses made for $50.

 

Yeah theres a few shops around to get hoses made from. so if i drain the whole thing i saw a video where they set piston depth in the reservoir, I'm guessing there isn't a ton of information out about 1) i have the adjuster and 2) what depth does the piston need to be for kings. thanks for any help

 

With no nitrogen charge and a shock which is properly bled, keep things oriented so the oil won’t spill and you have a reasonable chance of changing the hose with minimal oil loss. The shock (damper) needs to be at full extension and not mover with the hose off.

You are going to loose the volume of oil in the hose but if careful you could capture it and use it to refill the new hose. With the last connection made at the high point, I’d push in the shaft a tiny amount to get some air out before sealing it up. A local suspension shop might be a better answer.

 

You could check the separator piston setting depth before removing the oil.

If you are willing to open the reservoir, it will be pretty practical to refill the shock and keeping it high, likely bleed it too. I am unfamiliar
With the king head valve but it should not restrict the flow too much. Open all the adjusters fully when you start.

 

The whole shock much be taken off, disassembled and fixed upright in a vice on your bench top (the main shock body is pointing up into the air).

After installing your new hoses.

Bottom the IFP out inside the resi can (pushed all they way in). As you fill the main shock bodies up with oil (about half way), pull out the IFP in the reservoir (just like a syringe being pulled out) so all that oil sucks up into the resi. Repeat that process of bottoming out the IFP and pulling in oil several times to get all the air bubbles out. One last time pull out the IFP, drawing oil into the resi until it sits about 2/3 in the reservoir. Of course the reservoirs schrader valve cap is off for this whole process, as you set the IFP.

 

Do you know if having an adjuster on the reservoir changes this? Never have been able to figure out 100% how the adjuster even works in the reservoir. Thanks

 

The adjuster in the reservoir is basically a restriction of oil flow on shock compression. The oil flow is the oil the shock main shaft displaced. On rebound there is a check valve. Yes the above method will work.