Originally Posted by
ufoDziner
This portion of this post is a continuation of my prior post about the McMaster x-rings. I ran them for about 6 packs over a 2 week period. They definitely leak. Way more than the stock o-rings ever did. In addition, they have a small initial stick. I will not be using them again. I also bought the o-rings made of the same material (75 durometer fluoroelastomer). They stuck to the shaft so much that I didn't even bother to try them. My next order from McMaster is going to be for red silicone o-rings that SHOULD be a direct replacement for the stockers.
Next up is a continuation of my pic from last night. I noticed that the aluminum pivot balls seem to wear and get sloppy after a while. RPM makes delirin pivot balls, so I figured I'd give them a try and am quite happy with the results. A little mod to the lower front pivot balls to eliminate the flange and they're awesome! I left the flange on the rears as it provides just enough clearance to keep the springs from rubbing the turnbuckle. I also dremel'd the shock caps so I could use these as well (which is what was shown in the pic last night.
Tonight I decided to rebuild my shocks. I'm no shock rebuilding expert by ANY stretch. Therefore, I could never achieve 0 rebound (my desired amount). I always had some, albeit a small amount. And, if I'm going do a rebuild, why not try out the vcs2 upgrade kit. :-) This rebuild kit converts the shocks to bladder type. After grinding the eyes to fit the delrin pivot balls and drilling a vent hole, I assembled one. Wow! It took 0 effort to achieve 0 rebound. Also, they shocks feel WAY smoother to me. It's a pretty unbelievable transformation as far as I'm concerned. I don't think I'll ever go back to emulsion style. The following is a pic of my new frontend.

Bladder caps on your shocks will reduce overall traction and add a progessive feel to the shock the more it is compressed. They might just leak after some use because of the amount of oil pressing against the bladder is greater than the bladder was intended to handle.