How To Match Your Shocks

O-rings that are worn won't create a good seal around the shock shaft and could let fluid out of the shock, or worse-dirt in. The tool can at least help you find out how the O-rings are holding up.

STEP 1. Remove the springs and fluid from the shocks. It's best to also remove the piston, but the seals on some shocks may be damaged if the shocks are fully extended with just the bottom E-clip on the shock shaft.

STEP 2. Install the shocks on the tool without the springs installed.

STEP 3. From a fully compressed position, extend the shocks almost to full extension. The gauge indicator will point toward the shock with the better O-rings. If the indicator points dramatically to one side, you might want to replace the O-rings.

Completely drain the fluid out of the shocks before you measure O-ring and/or piston drag. The parts should stay wet, but you don't want standing fluid in the shocks.	The tool is highly sensitive. Here, the pointer shows that the right shock has a slightly better O-ring seal. We added the red line to show dead center. You can see the pointer is only off by one increment.