Broken rear shock. What to replace with?

[PhilCod]

Drive side rear shock broke. I have 6,300 + miles of hard butt whipping rocky trail riding on her, so no real surprise. I do not have a live valve, and I did modify my shocks with Bandit tender springs, and Schmidty Racing caps with schrader valves so I could adjust inflation. I'm thinking I should just replace the rear shocks all together. I am thinking about Elka. I had a set of those on a Rincon, and they were fantastic. But if someone has replace the rears with something else, please let me know your input.

 

[Admin]

 

[Smitty335]

Drive side rear shock broke. I have 6,300 + miles of hard butt whipping rocky trail riding on her, so no real surprise. I do not have a live valve, and I did modify my shocks with Bandit tender springs, and Schmidty Racing caps with schrader valves so I could adjust inflation. I'm thinking I should just replace the rear shocks all together. I am thinking about Elka. I had a set of those on a Rincon, and they were fantastic. But if someone has replace the rears with something else, please let me know your input.



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I've never thought about running different brands front and rear, so I would base my decision on both front and rear even if you just buy the rears for now.

 

[DRZRon1]

Drive side rear shock broke. I have 6,300 + miles of hard butt whipping rocky trail riding on her, so no real surprise. I do not have a live valve, and I did modify my shocks with Bandit tender springs, and Schmidty Racing caps with schrader valves so I could adjust inflation. I'm thinking I should just replace the rear shocks all together. I am thinking about Elka. I had a set of those on a Rincon, and they were fantastic. But if someone has replace the rears with something else, please let me know your input.



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U can always have it repaired if that’s a thought, any descent shock shop can turn that around with minimal fanfare.


Almost seems like something else is wrong to have the springs rub like that. Just an fyi - the nitrogen just keeps the oil from cavitating.

 

[Hometeam]

Drive side rear shock broke. I have 6,300 + miles of hard butt whipping rocky trail riding on her, so no real surprise. I do not have a live valve, and I did modify my shocks with Bandit tender springs, and Schmidty Racing caps with schrader valves so I could adjust inflation. I'm thinking I should just replace the rear shocks all together. I am thinking about Elka. I had a set of those on a Rincon, and they were fantastic. But if someone has replace the rears with something else, please let me know your input.



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I have a buddy running the stage 5 Elkas on his X and is really happy with them. But I also think Bandit makes a set for the X that are pretty nice and less money than the Elkas.

 

[CID]

Drive side rear shock broke. I have 6,300 + miles of hard butt whipping rocky trail riding on her, so no real surprise. I do not have a live valve, and I did modify my shocks with Bandit tender springs, and Schmidty Racing caps with schrader valves so I could adjust inflation. I'm thinking I should just replace the rear shocks all together. I am thinking about Elka. I had a set of those on a Rincon, and they were fantastic. But if someone has replace the rears with something else, please let me know your input.



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@JWB recently put a full set of Bandit shocks on his X2 for ~$2400 and is very happy with them.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Almost seems like something else is wrong to have the springs rub like that. Just an fyi - the nitrogen just keeps the oil from cavitating.

Cheap springs bow, it's just the way it is. Run quality springs like Eibach, Hypercoil or Swift and bowing and rubbing will never be a problem.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

I would personally send the shocks to a competent shock tuner to get the broken one fixed and then have the set revalved and resprung for your machine and riding style. It's going to be the most cost effective way to get your shock fixed and get the ride tuned up all at the same time.

 

[PhilCod]

U can always have it repaired if that’s a thought, any descent shock shop can turn that around with minimal fanfare.


Almost seems like something else is wrong to have the springs rub like that. Just an fyi - the nitrogen just keeps the oil from cavitating.

The rubbing is due to the shock being broken in 2 and the loose piece rubbing against the spring. I guess I could buy the parts from Fox to fix it. I'll look into that.

I would personally send the shocks to a competent shock tuner to get the broken one fixed and then have the set revalved and resprung for your machine and riding style. It's going to be the most cost effective way to get your shock fixed and get the ride tuned up all at the same time.

Thanks, now that you and Ron have both said that, I will look at that option. I do have Bandit tender springs on the front and the back, but it may be time just to send them both out. I did break one of the Bandit springs on the front. They replaced both free of charge. So I may look at what they have to offer.

 

[DRZRon1]

The rubbing is due to the shock being broken in 2 and the loose piece rubbing against the spring. I guess I could buy the parts from Fox to fix it. I'll look into that.

Thanks, now that you and Ron have both said that, I will look at that option. I do have Bandit tender springs on the front and the back, but it may be time just to send them both out. I did break one of the Bandit springs on the front. They replaced both free of charge. So I may look at what they have to offer.

Jeez - something just seems to be wrong with the setup of the shocks or you are a madman pounding that machine.

Broken shocks, springs, etc… nothing against bandit but I put all 4 of their tenders on my 2X day 1 - and that lasted about 50 miles since they didn’t do much of anything except take my time swapping springs - ended up biting the bullet and got FCR to respring and revalve all 4


the slowpoke man knows his stuff - good quality components go a long way !!!!!


Good luck getting them fixed up and let us know what you end up with .

 

[ScottJ24]

The rubbing is due to the shock being broken in 2 and the loose piece rubbing against the spring. I guess I could buy the parts from Fox to fix it. I'll look into that.

Thanks, now that you and Ron have both said that, I will look at that option. I do have Bandit tender springs on the front and the back, but it may be time just to send them both out. I did break one of the Bandit springs on the front. They replaced both free of charge. So I may look at what they have to offer.

You WILL NOT be sorry having the shocks revalved and resprung!!! I had mine done and it now rides great.

 

[PhilCod]

Jeez - something just seems to be wrong with the setup of the shocks - They lasted 6,100 miles

or you are a madman pounding that machine. Yes I think this is the issue.

Broken shocks, springs, etc… nothing against bandit but I put all 4 of their tenders on my 2X day 1 - and that lasted about 50 miles since they didn’t do much of anything except take my time swapping springs - ended up biting the bullet and got FCR to respring and revalve all 4
I put the Bandits on and also re-valved the shock at the same time, so I think I had a different experience. I went with TerryH's set up.

the slowpoke man knows his stuff - good quality components go a long way !!!!! Absolutely agree. He has helped me with a lot of set up stuff.


Good luck getting them fixed up and let us know what you end up with .

 

[PhilCod]

It turns out the shock isn't broken, the threads have been worn down by the plastic sleeve that goes up and down.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Id send them out to a shock tuner and have them revalve/respring the shocks and have the bad shock body replaced. It's going to be your cheapest option and will get you the best overall results.

 

[PhilCod]

Id send them out to a shock tuner and have them revalve/respring the shocks and have the bad shock body replaced. It's going to be your cheapest option and will get you the best overall results.

I agree. I have a trip the first weekend in May. After that I'll send them out.

 

[KenThompson]

Drive side rear shock broke. I have 6,300 + miles of hard butt whipping rocky trail riding on her, so no real surprise. I do not have a live valve, and I did modify my shocks with Bandit tender springs, and Schmidty Racing caps with schrader valves so I could adjust inflation. I'm thinking I should just replace the rear shocks all together. I am thinking about Elka. I had a set of those on a Rincon, and they were fantastic. But if someone has replace the rears with something else, please let me know your input.



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I love my Elka stage 5’s, spendy, but I can set the compression and rebound for deep whoops, or Rocky Mountain’s. Make sure they are totally adjustable . Compression and rebound. It blows me away when these guys say they sent their X shocks to Shock therapy and had them rebuilt. They spend big money, but still can only adjust the compression. Then they say that they are the best. I guess they don’t realize that there’s a thing called rebound that needs to be adjusted too.