My buddy had a bad shock rebuilt, the other side blew shortly after which he had rebuilt, and the springs seem fine. The front end is staying compressed and not popping back up. Any ideas?? Think the rebuilds are no good?

double check all the front end parts? Did you guys miss a spacer? Maybe a pivot point bolt is too tight? Is the front end greased up well? Can you compress the shock by hand when its out of the machine? Does it rebound while its out of the machine? Just some basics to reconsider. Sometimes you need to walk away for a few hours and come back to it and something obvious will pop up.

Checked most of that, not sure about the pivot point bolt.

Springs are springs and shocks are shocks so you have only a few things to check. If it went up and down with out any problems before and you put in a new shock and it no longer does, it is almost definitely the new shock. Take out the shock you just put in and see if it goes up and down with one shock in it. You may have to lift it a little. Jack up the front and see if the A arms move up and down easily. if they don't it is an A arm problem. But if it does it is a shock problem. You may have to take both shocks out to see if there is a problem. If the A Arm sticks it is a bad bushing or a bent arm. Either way it is easy to figure out with only a few bolts to remove. Hopefully it isn't an A arm those are expensive.

Thanks guys

Joel, tell him to just ride it, it will loosen up....LOL
1st thing, take out both shocks and check that they compress and rebound on their own. If they do, check all moving parts and bushings and bolts without the shocks and springs in it, and make sure they all move freely. Good luck.

The gas may have leaked out of the shock. I've had it happen to me a few times with rebuilds. Needless to say I don't use that company anymore.

Even though my sled knoweldge is limited that is what it seems like. It was Joe at Troy. Should he give up on rebuilds if they are leaking or is it the rebuilder?

He's the guy I started using! lol.....Never had any issues with joey's rebuilds. If you want call this guy Peter Kates he has a company in bellingham mass that specializes in shocks. I recently sent a shock to him. Had it back in 2 days! he's not cheap but he know's his stuff.

His number is 508-561-4696

Oh well! At least it is not my sled.

What concerns me is that is locked in place? or can you still physically move the front end up and down by hand. Even if the shock was done wrong, you should still be able to bounce the front end. If its locked in place, its something else.

Once it is compressed, it doesn't pop back up. It is not locked, if you lift it, it does come up some but not how it should. We are going to take it apart again and tinker with these ideas.

check your springs around the shocks and make sure they are locked into the proper position. Those springs should have some tension on them, not just be loose. The shocks will dampen rebound and compression, not necessarily raise the front end. The springs do that. Check it out.

My race sled has done that in the past when the gas has leaked out. It bottoms out and gets stuck at full compression. Bang on it and it will come out. I rebuilt mine after that it no issues since.

When in doubt, Bang on it. KInda like you ride isnt it? LOL

The shock works but is getting stuck when bottomed out. He is going back for another rebuild.

There are two kinds of sleds, broken sleds and sleds that are gonna break.

I agree, especially if you ride as much as I do.

Wierd, I just got kicked off the forum. I think I am back, just a test

Joe rebuilt the shock becuase it was done wrong.