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Re-valving guide for Ironman Foamcell Pros

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  • Re-valving guide for Ironman Foamcell Pros

    Hey all,

    There’s been quite a few requests for more details on how the Ironmans are re-valved, so I thought I’d put together a photo heavy guide with detailed instructions.

    The photo below shows the range of tools required for this job. You’ll also need a basic bench with a vice to hold the strut or shock body. I use a large plastic lid from a plastic box to keep everything in once the strut or shock is disassembled. You will get splashes of oil everywhere, so you should protect the working area with painters sheets or something similar.



    Step 1: Pull the shaft of the strut or shock to full extension, then mark the factory closed position of the dust seal with a piece of masking tape. Keep in mind everything will get covered in oil during this procedure, so make sure the tape is well stuck. Once it is stuck on nicely, make a cut around the edge with a razor blade.





    Step 2: Crack open the top dust seal with the Ironman shock tool. You’ll need some good hard hits with a 3 or 4lb hammer to get them open. Couple of pointers here, you’ll want the shaft fully extended, so pull it out before you put the strut or shock in the vice. Also give the shaft a good clean wipe over with oil so that it is well lubricated.



    Step 3: With any residue on the shaft cleaned up, and with the shaft well lubricated with oil, you can then completely unscrew and slide off the top dust seal.



    Step 4: With the dust seal off, inspect the top of the oil seal for any dirt or dust, and clean it off thoroughly. Make sure the threads are also clean. You can now go ahead and release the inner oil seal. You can do this by slipping a ring spanner over the shaft and threading the nut on, and using a few hard hits with a hammer you’ll release the oil seal.



    Step 5: Once the oil seal is released, you can then slide the inner pressure tube out of the strut or shock body. With the shaft well lubricated with oil, you can slide off the oil seal and set it aside.



    Step 6: Before you start disassembly of the inner pressure tube, inspect the condition of the foam cell and outside tube/threads etc. Before disassembly, I push the foam cell back in, and put a paper towel over the top of the strut or shock outer body. Then I put the outer body in a bucket underneath my bench while I work on the inner pressure tube. This way no contaminants get into the oil that is sitting in the bottom of the outer tube.

    2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

  • #2
    Inspect the foam cell.



    Put the outer strut or shock body away until the system bleeding process.



    Step 7: Now it’s time to start disassembly of the inner pressure tube. You begin by draining all of the oil that is inside it. Start with the shaft fully extended, then poke a small screwdriver or allen key into the back of the spring loaded foot valve. You should keep this oil if it is still new or low km’s, so drain it into a clean container. You can do several strokes on the shaft and drain at fully closed and open position to get as much oil as possible drained out.



    Step 8: Once you have drained as much oil as possible, you can then knock the foot valve off the bottom of the inner pressure tube. Do this with a cold chisel, work your way around, be careful not to damage anything. If you have an assistant, this is a good time for them to hold the shaft for you, otherwise use a piece of round plumbers pipe as a jig and hold it in the vice.



    Step 9: Once you have knocked the foot valve off, you can then push the shaft down through the rod guide until the piston head pops out the bottom of the inner tube. As the working piston head pops out, the piston band will come loose, and any remaining oil above the piston head will come out, so do this in the funnel and drain into your container.



    Step 10: After you have pulled the shaft and working piston head completely through, this is what you will have. Top dust seal, inner oil seal, piston band and foot valve. Inner pressure tube with rod guide still attached at top. Shaft with working piston head.



    Step 11: Now it’s time to disassemble the working piston head. Hold the shaft by the flat in the vice, and grab an 18mm long spanner and crack the top nut. Don’t take the nut completely off just yet, just leave it on loose as you move on to the re-valving stage.



    Step 12: Now it’s time to disassemble the foot valve. Hold the back of the foot valve bolt head in the vice and crack the nut open with a ˝” spanner. Again, don’t completely undo the nut, leave it on loose until the re-valving stage.

    Whitey
    Shockie Maker of the Month Award
    Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 03:18 PM.
    2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

    Comment


    • #3
      Step 13: Once you’ve cracked the working piston head and foot valve nuts, it is time to re-valve both the foot valve and the working piston head. Find a super clean working area for this stage. I start with the foot valve, as shown below completely disassembled. Ironman use a bonder on the threads of the foot valve bolt, so you’ll have to clean up the threads.



      Step 14: Disassemble the working piston head, as shown below.



      Step 15: Grab your new bag of shims, and lay everything out and double check the size of everything.



      Step 16: Reassemble the foot valve with the new shim stack.



      Carefully locate the rebound overflow shim centrally underneath the spring.



      Step 17: Reassemble the working piston with the new shim stack.





      Whitey
      Shockie Maker of the Month Award
      Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 03:27 PM.
      2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

      Comment


      • #4


        Step 18: Now that you’ve reassembled the foot valve and the working piston with the new shim stacks, it’s time to reassemble the inner pressure tube. Begin by torquing up the piston head nut to 40Nm.



        Step 19: Torque up the foot valve nut to 8Nm.



        After torquing the foot valve nut, check the operation of the overflow rebound shim is working properly against the spring by pushing a small washer or allen key against it through each of the large overflow holes.

        Step 20: Now that both the foot valve and working piston head nuts are torqued up to spec, you can proceed with reassembly of the inner pressure tube. Begin by sliding the shaft back into the tube and through the rod guide.



        Step 21: Before you slide the working piston completely back in, you need to put the piston band seal back on. Lube it up with oil so it slides into the tube easily.



        Step 22: Pull the shaft completely out, and while holding the assembly inverted, fill the inner tube with the recovered oil from the container you have kept it in since the early stages of disassembly. Fill to within around an inch from the top (where the foot valve seats). At this stage you will need to bleed the working piston head, as there is air trapped behind it. For the front struts, the bleed shim orifice is much thinner than the rear shocks, and you will need to do 30-50 short ca. 1 inch hand pumps before the working piston head has fully bled. The rear shocks only take 2-3 hand pumps as the bleed orifice is larger. I usually do around 20 pumps on the struts, and you will see the oil level inside the inner tube gradually falling as oil makes its way behind the working piston head. Keep topping up with the recovered oil until you have completely used all of it, and you need to add some new oil to the top.



        Bottom of the short stroke.



        Top of the short stroke.

        Whitey
        Shockie Maker of the Month Award
        Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 03:34 PM.
        2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Top up at the end.



          Step 23: Once you have bled the working piston head and topped up the inner tube with oil, you can put the foot valve back on. The foot valve is a pressed fit into the bottom of the inner tube, and will require hammering back in with a soft hammer. Keep the shaft at full extension after the working piston head is completely bled.





          Hammer the foot valve in.



          Fully reassembled inner pressure tube.



          Step 24: Now that you have completely reassembled the inner pressure tube, it is time to put it back in the outer tube. Begin by adding some oil to the outer tube, so that when you insert the inner pressure tube, it overflows through the three bleed holes located on the rod guide. I also line up one of the bleed holes so that it is located in the gap between the ends of the foam cell.



          Slide the inner tube in carefully.



          Line up a bleed hole with the gap in the foam cell.

          Whitey
          Shockie Maker of the Month Award
          Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 03:40 PM.
          2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

          Comment


          • #6
            Push the inner tube to the bottom, and make sure the oil spurts up through the bleed hole and covers the rod guide.





            Rod guide is now completely covered in oil.



            Step 26: Once you have the inner tube fully seated in the outer tube, you will be at the starting position for bleeding the rest of the system, which will be with the shaft completely extended, and inner pressure tube completely inserted all the way into the outer tube, with the rod guide bleed holes completely covered in oil. Now slip a washer and a nut over the shaft to use as a puller during the bleeding extension stroke.

            Bleeding the system is the most complicated step of the re-valving procedure. The struts are very difficult to stroke by hand as the bleed shims are finer, but fortunately they usually only need 3-6 full strokes.

            Starting position with shaft at full extension.



            About halfway down through the first compression stroke, oil on top of the rod guide will overflow as the volume of the piston head and shaft displace oil inside the pressure tube and force it to overflow through the foot valve, and up through the outside overflow chamber, past the foam cell and out through the rod guide bleed holes.





            Once you have pushed the shaft all the way to the bottom, you need to start on the first extension bleed stroke. Once you start pulling out, you will quickly see the oil level fall on top of the rod guide as the extra volume of the piston head and shaft is removed from the inner tube. You must at all times keep the rod guide covered in oil up to the lip of the outer strut or shock body. If you don’t cover the rod guide in oil and top it up as the shaft comes further and further out, air will get back into the system and you’ll have to start all over again. Note also that I have two fingers immersed in the oil, which is to hold the rod guide in place and stop it from slipping upward during the extension stroke. If you don’t hold the rod guide in place, it will slip up and be exposed to air. To emphasise: KEEP THE ROD GUIDE COVERED IN OIL AT ALL TIMES DURING SYSTEM BLEEDING, IN PARTICULAR DURING EXTENSION. HOLD THE ROD GUIDE IN PLACE AT ALL TIMES TO PREVENT IT SLIPPING UP DURING THE EXTENSION STROKE.

            Unfortunately no image can convey the difficulty of the system bleeding procedure, it will take 3-6 full strokes on the struts, and 6-10 full strokes on the shocks. During this stroking you will notice air bubbles coming out on the shaft position on the rod guide, and also through the bleed holes, which are connected to the system outer tube. You can see bubbles appear randomly at any stage of the stroke during system bleeding, single bubbles (as in the image below), frothy collections of bubbles etc., and you simply have to keep stroking until you can do a complete stroke where you see no bubbles appear at all during both compression and extension. Bubbles will appear from the bleed holes on the rod guide, and also from where the shaft goes through the rod guide.

            Single air bubble.



            You will use a lot of oil during system bleeding, as it overflows during the compression stroke, and must be topped back up during the extension stroke. In this manner you will flush a lot of new oil through the system. I use Hyplex 15 from Prolube.

            Step 27: Once you have completely bled the system, extend the shaft all the way out to ensure maximum system oil capacity during the last extension stroke. With the shaft fully extended and well lubricated, slip the inner oil seal back over. Give the oil seal a good coating of oil on its shaft seal so it slips easily over the shaft. Double check the spring retainers on the seal are all properly located. Push the oil seal through the oil that is sitting on top of the rod guide and make sure all air is pushed out.

            Carefully slip the oil seal onto the shaft at a slight angle.

            Whitey
            Shockie Maker of the Month Award
            Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 03:49 PM.
            2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

            Comment


            • #7
              Carefully slide it down the shaft.



              Wiggle/rotate the oil seal into place and push it down through the oil that is sitting on top of the rod guide.





              Pull down on the oil seal as shown below to ensure it is sitting directly on top of the rod guide.



              Step 28: Once you have inserted the inner oil seal, the final step is to thread the top dust seal back on. At this stage I usually leave a small layer of oil on top of the oil seal, as the oil seal can slide up and down slightly, and there is the potential to drag in air through the shaft seal. You can mop up most of the oil on top of the oil seal, but as I have said it can slide upward, so I normally leave a thin layer.

              Mop up most of the oil and leave a thin layer on top of the oil seal.



              Slide the top dust seal over the shaft and slip it down ready to screw in place.



              Thread the top dust seal fully closed until the masking tape lines up again. It will take several hard hits with a 3 or 4lb hammer to hit the dust seal fully closed.



              Hammer the dust seal closed.

              Whitey
              Shockie Maker of the Month Award
              Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 03:55 PM.
              2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

              Comment


              • #8
                Back to fully closed position.



                NOTE: As the top dust seal is threaded closed, it will push out most of the oil sitting on top of the inner oil seal. Any remaining oil on top of the inner oil seal will be stroked out during initial operation of the strut or shock on your vehicle. Don’t panic if you see an oil stain appear after your suspension install, as it is just the residual oil from on top of the inner oil seal, and it is NOT a leak.

                So after 28 steps you have now re-valved a strut or shock. Give the reassembled strut or shock a spray down with degreaser and you are finished!

                Clean up time.



                Please note that if you sustain damage to any of the components during re-valving, that all components are available from Ironman. I have re-valved 150 struts and shocks and have not damaged anything so far, just take your time, be systematic and careful and in no time you’ll discover that you can rebuild/service your own struts and shocks in the comfort of your own garage!

                Any questions, ask away!

                Best

                Mark
                Whitey
                Shockie Maker of the Month Award
                Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 03:58 PM.
                2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Hey all,

                  After reading through the re-valving guide, if you're wondering about anything technical to do with the Ironman Foamcell Pros, there have been several threads discussing them.

                  Initial thread prior to the group buy beginning, valving details etc., testing discussion etc., can be found in here;

                  http://www.pradopoint.com.au/showthr...-foamcell-pros

                  The Ironman Group Buy;

                  http://www.pradopoint.com.au/showthr...-Pro-Group-Buy

                  Technical review thread on the rear shocks;

                  http://www.pradopoint.com.au/showthr...the-Prado-rear

                  Technical review thread on the front struts;

                  http://www.pradopoint.com.au/showthr...-the-Prado-IFS

                  Further technical discussion regarding the high critical damping at low velocity developed in the custom Ironman valving;

                  http://www.pradopoint.com.au/showthr...uts-and-shocks

                  Best

                  Mark
                  Whitey
                  Shockie Maker of the Month Award
                  Last edited by Whitey; 26-09-2017, 04:04 PM.
                  2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Mark - what a great DIY manual you have provided. I look forward to my install and am now much more confident about my own capacity to service and maintain. Like most things, you learn by watching once - and your guide provides the information we all need Well done!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Bloody hell Mark! You have done all that 150 + times? You are indeed a champion for the cause. By the way, mine has settled in beautifully after about 1500 km. The bum is still up around the 840 mark when the car is empty but I have a huge desert trip planned for next May after which I am sure will see it settle a little further. Neil

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        seems much easier to let you do it Mark!

                        What an effort for the Prado community - not sure you're going to survive all the Bundies that'll be shouted to you at the next GTG!

                        I'm a long way off this upgrade to mine, but now I'm less fearful of having to do it myself, as you'll no doubt be over it by the time I get around to funding it.

                        3 cheers for the shock-guru!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Absolute legend. The skill and knowledge in this forum is next level!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Awesome work Mark.

                            As a suggestion - could you post up a link to the entire process as a PDF? Just incase of another photobucket saga.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Hey all,

                              Here's a link to the pdf for the re-valving guide;

                              https://www.dropbox.com/s/3zn4t12ge5...hitey.pdf?dl=0

                              File can be downloaded from the "Download" link in the upper right corner.

                              Best

                              Mark
                              2006 GXL petrol auto. ARB deluxe bar x3 HID IPF's, ARB alloy roofrack, ARB awning, BFG A/T, Safari snorkel, Piranha breathers, Pacemaker extractors, custom Ironman 45710FE 436-569mm with Dobinsons 350, custom Ironman 45682FE 383-618mm with Dobinsons 487, Firestone kevlar 60psi airbags, 30mm extended Roadsafe links, AMTS bashplate and recovery points, ABR Flyer with Powersonic AGM.

                              Comment

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