BenG

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Curiosity got the better of me so I decided to strip down my spare damper to see the inner workings and also see if I could find out why it had gone ‘soft’.
I really had no idea what to expect as ive never seen the insides of a Remote Reservoir Damper before but I did have a picture in my head of how I thought it might work, As expected it was a lot different to how I imagined!

First of all I had to depressurise the damper so it didn’t go bang in my face, but more importantly so it didn’t fly across the garage and hit the car. I just pressed on this valve:

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper031.jpg

The bottom then had to be pressed inside slightly to allow me to remove the metal ring, removing the ring allowed me to pull the bottom part out of the Remote Reservoir completely.

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper034.jpg

The Remote Reservoir is divided into 2 chambers separated by a sliding seal. The bottom chamber contains the pressurised gas; the top chamber contains some of the oil.

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper035.jpg

The Remote Reservoir can then be removed completely. At this point I got covered in oil! :

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper015.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper016.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper017.jpg

The whole top adjuster was removed the same way as the bottom, by pressing it in slightly and removing a metal ring.

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper018.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper020.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper021.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper004.jpg

The sliding seal:

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper028.jpg

Now that everything was removed I got interested in how the adjuster worked so began to strip it down and figure out how it worked. Ill try to explain it the best I can.

This is the adjuster on the ‘soft’ setting:

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper024.jpg

This is the adjuster on the ‘firm’ setting:

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper025.jpg

As you can see there is very little movement from the fully ‘soft’ position and the fully ‘firm’ position.

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper038.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper039.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper040.jpg

SachsRemoteReservoirDamper041.jpg

The hole in the middle is where the oil flows through when the piston is compressed. On the rebound stroke the oil flows through the 4 small holes, it’s a set rebound.
SachsRemoteReservoirDamper045.jpg

This is the part that resists the oil flowing through the hole. It sits over the hole.
When you turn the dial to the ‘firm’ position the spring is compressed which in turn puts more resistance on the oil flow creating a firmer damper.
SachsRemoteReservoirDamper044.jpg

So there you go….

Unfortunately I couldn’t strip down the main part of the damper as you need a special tool. If anyone wants to lend me one that would be good. I couldn't find any problems inside the Remote Reservoir so the problem must be inside the main part. Dodgy seal I would imagen.
SachsRemoteReservoirDamper036.jpg

:)

Ben.
 

BenG

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shiftspark said:
son of solo said:
interesting, typical bloke though doing it on the kitchen work top... :D

Just thought he had a nice garage :lol:

So how much are you charging to refurb ?

Ha :lol: . I did it in the garage first but went into the kitchen to take some pictures. I was home alone !

To be honest If I had the parts it would be easy enough to do. I would like to have them put on a Dyno afterwards though.
 
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If it could be confrimed what gas is used to pressurise the resevior (probably just air) then you could inflate them once they go soft to rule out depressurisation. (air escaping the unit)

One possible reason for the damper going soft could be the sliding seal that separates the air/gas and oil, once air mixes with hydraulic fluid it would make the damper soft (think brake fade caused by air)

If some want's to check the pressure on their dampers it would set a bench mark to check from.

As side from that a refurb is straight forward, infact i reseal similar cylinders every day.

As for seals just go and see you local seals and bearings company, most will be able to obtain what ever you want, so long as it's not sachs specific.

Chris
 

BenG

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Ill have to look into it to make sure, im sure BG Motorsports will tell me. They may tell me what gas is used too, and oil.
Infact ill ask them for a detailed procedure on how to do it too :wink:

:)
 
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First of all I had to depressurise the damper so it didn’t go bang in my face

I used to work for a motorsport suspension manufacture and there were more than one hole in the roof when people had forgot to de pressurise the damper #-o

I would assume the main piston just has a series of washers of varying size to damp the shaft. I think it would be easy to get the washers but not so easy without part numbers. Someone may be able to get hold of the technical drawings with tolerances and stuff....
 
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There is a place in Hemel Hempstead that sells bearings, transmission seals and v belts called Stateline bearing and transmission. Don't know if that helps. My dampers are slowly leaking oil, presumably from one of the seals. It has made the ride alot less damped over small bumps, I'm going to get them serviced soon, so will ask about rear damper upgrade possibilites
 

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Another thing to add. As we have been informed the casing of the Reservoir moves up towards the bracket when the pressure decreases. This in theory should be true, however, when I de pressureised the damper the casing did not move up to the bracket, it was only when I physically pushed the casing up that it moved. So anyone who has not had there dampers serviced may want to try physically pushing the casing up to the bracket as it may be low on pressure but the casing may not have moved !
 

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BenG said:
Another thing to add. As we have been informed the casing of the Reservoir moves up towards the bracket when the pressure decreases. This in theory should be true, however, when I de pressureised the damper the casing did not move up to the bracket, it was only when I physically pushed the casing up that it moved. So anyone who has not had there dampers serviced may want to try physically pushing the casing up to the bracket as it may be low on pressure but the casing may not have moved !

they were not under load though when you needed to push them - i suspect that under load they may show this movement....
 

BenG

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Yes but under load or not the casing should not move due to the pressure inside am I right ? (unless you apply a force which is greater than the force from the pressure)

Look at it this way...

Say the damper was low on pressure and I pushed the casing up to the bracket, then say I fitted the damper to the car and put it under load, technically the force and amount of the oil flowing into the reservoir should force the casing downwards because the reservior is filling with oil the gas is put under under more pressure. On the rebound stroke the only thing to allow the casing to move back upto the bracket is the gas pressure ? if this is low the casing will not move from the original position, unless its physically forced ??

Or am I talking rubbish ??
 
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BenG

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Also, I depressurised the damper completely before I pushed it up. I dont think the casing would stay pressed upto the bracket if there was any pressure left in them, the pressure would force the casing down. I think there would have to be 'none' or next to no pressure in the damper for the casing to move up to the bracket. Therefore, The movement from the casing will only tell you if the damper is out of pressure completely and not just whether its low.
 
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Must have missed this thread, interesting read and some good pics.

BG Motorsport are going to return me my damaged piston once they have fixed the nearside faulty damper. Will be interesting to see the insides of the main shaft.
 

BenG

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Are your kitchen tiles capsicum red!? :D

I like red :p


Must have missed this thread, interesting read and some good pics.

BG Motorsport are going to return me my damaged piston once they have fixed the nearside faulty damper. Will be interesting to see the insides of the main shaft.​

Yes that would be good if you could upload some pictures of the shaft. I couldn't get into mine as I didn't have a tool to remove it.
 
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