Epic fail at step 1 of trying to service my Manitou Swinger 3-way shock.

It’s the smooth housing without any hex nut around it, so there’s nothing to grab when undoing it. I just broke my strap wrench (admittedly an average quality Husky one) trying to undo it. I then sprayed a bit of PB blaster into the joint and tried with some channel locks, but no luck.

I am soaking it again in PB blaster for a few hours, but was wondering if anyone had any experience/tips with getting these apart or knows if they can seize enough to be completely non-serviceable? Full disclosure: it hasn’t been taken apart for 8 years… 😳 Yes, I know I am a numpty for not servicing it sooner, but it has had a fairly easy life and was working great until it developed a leak recently.

Interested in this one, cos just about to do the same on an old Orange Five I aquired for my daughter with the same shock. What oil to use, 20wt suspension fluid ok?

you sure it’s not presursied that can make the air cans hard to release and also dangerous remove the scherder core to be sure. Maybe a better oil strap and a lever will do it.

I was going to use 5wt fork oil as per the service manual.

Success!

The PB Blaster did the trick.

I would certainly recommend using a good quality strap wrench.

That’s good advice about the cores and pressure though slinky. I had already released the pressure but hadn’t removed the cores. Looking at the shock now with cores still in, the effort needed to compress it to screw it back on isn’t enough to cause problems with unscrewing it (I can easily screw/unscrew by hand with little effort). If I’d had a core removal tool or some tweezers handy I’d have done it though just to be sure.

I’ll post back with any tips/tricks I find while servicing it. That can wait until tomorrow though. Big juicy New York Strip steaks marinated in home made zip sauce ready to go on the grill 8)

Top tip- smooth and constant rotational pressure is better than trying to snatch at it.

Smooth and steady with it all is good advice. My workbench and laptop look like the banana bunch jizzed all over it. Managed to get yellow oil everywhere while pulling out the damper shaft. Firstly, it was very hard to undo the shaft. It took a lot of force to get it to loosen. Once that was completely undone, it was also very hard to actually pull the shaft out. I’d suggest holding it in a soft clamp vice and ease it out (might take a few minutes to twist and unwind it out). I just used my hands and it came apart very suddenly and I got oil everywhere. My daughter found it quite amusing. I did not. 😛

Note – they really mean it when they say the IFP (internal damper piston) will fly out when you pressurize the damper body 🙂 I pointed it into a plastic container and some oil came out after two pumps and the third pump jettisoned the plastic piston like a rocket.

The rest of the job was easy – replaced all the o-rings and plastic seals. Stole some tupperware off the missus to use as an oil bath. Dip the whole lot in there while putting back together, making sure to get trapped air out. Tighten up and air up. Back on the bike and working a treat. Hope it hasn’t pissed itself all over the garage floor by the morning!