MX-Tech shock assembly

[MXTex]

I'm servicing the Kayaba shock on my 98 KX250. It has MX-Tech valving and piston. To this end, I have a couple of questions.

1) Orientation of the shock piston. There are 4 ports serving each valve stack (rebound and compression) One set of ports has one hole in each port. The other has two holes in each port. Which set of ports serves which valve stack. When I took it apart, the dual hole ports were serving the compression stack; I think.

2) Compression stack. In comparison to the rebound stack, there are no transition shims between the different stages. Is this OK? The rebound stack appears to have transition shims between each stage; but the compression stack doesn't.

The reason I ask these questions is because I had it serviced locally last and am not 100% convinced it went back together as MX-Tech intended. It's probably OK but I want to make sure.

I can post pictures of the piston and shim stack if that's appropriate.

Thanks,

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

Jim,
From the sounds of it things are ok.. We don't use transitions per common methods, and our latest stuff offers no transitions in any shape or form..

When we did your shock we used a "hybridized" transition that had offered different shim rates that where never independent of each other. This allowed for a smoothly operating shock if it changed speeds during the compression stroke. Presently I believe with tracks offering as many jumps as they do now that this concept has seen its better day. We traded some sense of compliance with a set-up that offers a more uniform feel. If you dyno it, you would not notice much difference on paper, in feel however, it’s quite a bit different..

Hope that helps..

BR,
Jer

 

[MXTex]

Thanks Jer. Am I OK on the piston oientation too? Dual bore ports serving compression?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

As I understand your info, yes it is correct. If you like you could put a photo in and I'll confirm..

 

[MXTex]

OK; here's three pictures. I'm thinking the dual port bores face the shim stack in the upper portion of the picture (compression), and the single bore ports face the shim stack in the lower portion of the picture (rebound). Please validate or correct. Thanks a million.

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

Jim,
Thanks for taking the time however the pictures are worthless.. :)

Let me make this easier yet..

The stack with the biggest OD's closest to the piston go on first. Followed by the piston with the largest FACE OD on the largest SHIM OD..... Thats Compression..

Then the smaller sized Shim OD stack... Thats rebound..

BR,
Jer

Those dang black pistons are not photogenic..

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

Looking again the first picture is the compression face.. Those will match the stack starting with a 42mm shim..

 

[MXTex]

Got it. Thanks. By the way, when is the next suspension seminar?