Am at the point of putting the dampers back on my pick-up. Drained the oil, smelly stuff as I was warned. Put bottom plug back in with the springs and lever floppy. Put oil in and lever arm becomes so stiff it won't move after a couple of up and downs. If I release the bottom plug it seems to free it up again. Am I not fitting the bottom plug properly or are the dampers just past their best?
Sounds ideal! The damper arm will be v hard to move by hand - the vehicle has a lot more stored energy than your arm! Depends of course what grade of oil you used - even with EP90 in mine - I was (just) able to move the arms up and down - maybe with an extension lever fitted - it was a long long time ago! Standard oil would be sae20 - better damping with sae30 and better still with sae40. I don't really recommend EP90 for a normal road car......but it gave me no problems.
Should be good - try to get as much air as you can out - but likely they will need a bot of topping up over the first few eeks of use. Don't fill right to the top - leave a wee air space.
Is this the front or rear dampers?Im guessing the front but was curious how you went round topping up with a rear damper as im lead to believe it can only be done off car...
One rear damper is fine - the other sits at an odd angle - just slacken one bolt and remove the other - and swivel the damper till the top sits more or less horizontal - then carry on!
