A Question of Shocks In the Box & Releasing The Compression Band Prior to Installing?

[IzzyO]

I'm just looking for some input here. Pretty much every type of shock that I've ever seen has come compressed in the box. Besides the obvious of keeping the shocks compressed for shipping purposes and until being installed for ease of installation, is there any reason to keep the shocks bound/compressed as they come in the box? The reason I ask is that recently I opened some shocks & cut the compression bands to put some protective film on them to keep from corroding/rusting out. Installing the shocks a week later was no biggie, just needed to compress them a little as they were installed.

Someone saw what I did and told me it was bad that the shocks had sat fully extended for a week prior to being installed but didn't care to elaborate further. My question is, is this true? Will releasing the compression band of the shocks and allowing them to sit fully extended for a week cause issues? I'm struggling to see how this is an issue since I've often opened and fully compressed/opened shocks (priming) in the past prior to installing.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you,

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[SSinGA]

I don't see how it could be. Also scoured the Bilstein site and couldn't find any warnings about leaving a shock extended.

 

[Hootbro]

My understanding of shocks and their storage and whether compressed or extended while stored comes from the oil inside them.

When a shock is stored, the oil will pool on one side. When new and compressed, the act of releasing the band and the gas charge portion will cause the oil to now circulated between the chambers and circulate the oil fully and lubricate both sides of the fluid/gas transfer chambers within the shock.

With a shock extended and left stored for a long length of time, the recommendation is to fully compress and release the shock multiple times before installing to circulate the oil. Failure to do so may give dead spots and the feel the shock is not working properly.

 

[kevman65]

My understanding of shocks and their storage and whether compressed or extended while stored comes from the oil inside them.

When a shock is stored, the oil will pool on one side. When new and compressed, the act of releasing the band and the gas charge portion will cause the oil to now circulated between the chambers and circulate the oil fully and lubricate both sides of the fluid/gas transfer chambers within the shock.

With a shock extended and left stored for a long length of time, the recommendation is to fully compress and release the shock multiple times before installing to circulate the oil. Failure to do so may give dead spots and the feel the shock is not working properly.

^^^^

This.

Short term storage before installation, no issues.

If going to store for a period in the fully extended range, cycle shock to lubricate inner seals.

 

[Rusty PW]

It's mostly for smaller packaging. My 3" King shocks were not compressed and banded. The same for my JRZ coilovers. Smaller the package, the more you can get in a given space. And the cheaper it is to ship.

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