do i have to wait to put my shocks on?

[McGyver]

hey, i have a new set of billy sports and the have been horizontal for a while. the bently manual says that i need to wait 24 hours with them vertical at room temp before i can install them. do i really need to wait?

[McGyver]

com on people, i have everything set up and i am just waiting on an answer.

[E30_fiend]

I have never heard of that. Maybe with stock shocks thats true but with Bilsteins it should be just fine to install them no matter how they were positioned in storage

[McGyver]

cool thanks. im trying to do the rears tonight and i dont want to blow my brand new toys.

[Stu]

I've always heard that they should be stored upright for 24 hours and have done that with every suspension I've installed. It may be a myth, I'd PM HellaBad about it.

[E30_fiend]

I've always heard that they should be stored upright for 24 hours and have done that with every suspension I've installed. It may be a myth, I'd PM HellaBad about it.

Ive never heard that but for reference, I had my shocks laying sideways in my trunk for a good week before I put them on and when I installed them, I took them out of my trunk and put them on. No problems after about 12k. Not saying that you SHOULDNT do what the Bentley says, but maybe I was an exception to the rule.


Good luck





Taylor

[e34john]

I don't know, but I stood the ones I had up as directed. Don't know if it matters but I wouldn't want to do the install twice. Stand them up now and do the job this weekend?

[Stu]

Ive never heard that but for reference, I had my shocks laying sideways in my trunk for a good week before I put them on and when I installed them, I took them out of my trunk and put them on. No problems after about 12k. Not saying that you SHOULDNT do what the Bentley says, but maybe I was an exception to the rule.
Good luck
Taylor

Sure, all around. I read on a Koni label once back in the 90's that the 24hr deal was SOP, so I followed it. Neither here nor there.

[McGyver]

so i have the socks and springs on, but the car on jackstands in my garage. so hopefully everything will be fine. the only thing is that it will be pretty cold in there tonight. o well, im not taking them off now!

[Voluted]

Maybe shocks filled with oil need to be stored like that? I would think since the bilsteins are nitrogen filled it wouldn't matter but i'm just speculating.

[ieatpeople]

i have never heard of this....


maybe thats why my last set of shocks blew within 4k miles. they went from fully compressed in the box, to fully extended, then on the car with 1.5in drop springs within 20 mins.

[NC325iC]

i can see how it would cause a problem, laying them on their side could allow the oil to flow through the valves into the adjacent chambers. I dont think it would cause any permanent damage to install them like that though.

[3bvert]

I think your fine
as said before , I think that is more related to the older oil shocks, when I got my new billy-sports I dont remeber seeing anything about sitting upright before install ( a few months ago)
however, mine sat installed on the car for two days before the weight got put on them ( while I was doing brakes etc)
local tires shops store them on thier sides, put them on , and you go
of course thats not billys

but for you they have been sitting in the correct position overnight, and nitrogen is not reactive to the temps your dealing with

[StereoInstaller1]

hey, i have a new set of billy sports and the have been horizontal for a while. the bently manual says that i need to wait 24 hours with them vertical at room temp before i can install them. do i really need to wait?

Yes, you do. Apply this rule to ALL shocks, forever, and you will have much better performance and far better life out of them.

All shocks have oil in them.

The "Nitrogen" part is the part normally filled with air. This would mean less bubbles, so more consistent valving.

If the pockets of oil have not drained to the proper chambers before they start jerking up and down, they may never separate the way they are supposed to, so there will be pockets of fluid in the shock.

This would mean higher pressures on the seals and they would blow out prematurely.

GL!
Luke

[Hellabad]

hey, i have a new set of billy sports and the have been horizontal for a while. the bently manual says that i need to wait 24 hours with them vertical at room temp before i can install them. do i really need to wait?

That is old advice. A long time ago, oil in shocks came from whales and dead dinosaurs, and was very thick when it was cold. Any of the shocks in the last 25 years, will have a much improved oil, and you can basically just bolt them on the car and run them.
If there happen to be air bubbles, all shocks are designed to self-bleed (emo shocks FTW) and the bubbles will be gone after the second little bump.


When we run a shock on the dyno, we take it out of the flat UPS box, and put it right on the dyno. During the dyno warmup cycle, which lasts 30 seconds, you can hear the shock bleed the bubbles within the first 5-8 seconds.

So, don't worry.