Abrams, I think you'll appreciate the Schrader valve cap over that needle setup. When I raced enduros and MX I would exclusively used nitrogen in the piggyback. I find that I don't need to run nitrogen in my KLX shock, as I'm not doing constant hammering for long periods where the shock really benefits from the characteristics of nitrogen. Being able to use a mountainbike shock pump has been nice since it provides an easier capability of monitoring shock bladder pressure, and I can adjust a bit for altitude a bit if I feel it necessary.

Nitrogen is great, but it's not necessary in all cases. I no longer punish the shock for really long periods where heat build up affects bladder pressure. I still ride some pretty harsh terrain in single and 2-track venues out west. I just don't have to do it until my tongue hangs out anymore.

 

Thanks brother, that is a great piece of information. I already have a shock pump, and I don't have the physical stamina to out-ride the shock anyway. I'll skip the Nitrogen fill for now.

Got the shock apart and cleaned up. Oil looked like puddle water, everything else looks good to my untrained eye.

Drill bit should be here tomorrow, and the cap toward the end of the week.. so maybe I'll have her together before the weekend.

Oh yeah. RT lists the SMGV 4402 for the '09+. It is also listed as "Heavy Valving". I guess that is to go along with the recommend 7.4Kg rear spring...lol I'm only running a 6.2 (could probably use a 6.4 or even a 6.6) so I'm anxious to see if they are on the money with their shim stack.

 

Bleed hole drilled and Gold Valve assembled. Now waiting on the bladder cap so I can reassemble the shock. It took me awhile to get the threads right so I could install the nut on top, but once I got them cleaned up a little more it when right on.

 

For your shock spring, you could save some $$ by using an automotive coil over spring.
Convert you shock spring rate and dimensions from metric to pounds and inches. Here is one off many companies that sell them:
Coil-Over Springs - Coil-Over Suspension Springs | Hypercoils.com

Hyperco Catalog | Performance Suspension Springs & Components for catalog.

Disclaimer: I haven't used their products.....just an example.

Ride on
Brewster

 

Rear shock is finished and mounted... only got a short ride on cold oil as it is pitch black and raining. Suggested settings might be a little firm on compression, so I turned the clickers out a few clicks. All my high-speed rough trails are all spider'd out for the rest of the summer, so I'll have to settle for some good pasture runs tomorrow. Process was not difficult and the replacement cap from Racetech is top-notch.

 

I got a little riding in before the heat ran me back into the A/C. Too freakin stiff with the suggested settings. Felt unbalanced front to rear. I dropped from the suggested 165psi in the shock down to 145psi and removed clicks from the compression on the shock. That made a difference for the better, but I never got it where I wanted it and ran out of clicks.

So... back to the shed. Pulled it all apart and using the Racetech chart, I went down two steps on the high-speed compression and one step down on the low-speed and settled at 150psi. No logical reason why except for reading on a CRF forum where a guy went down 3 steps on HS and one on LS from recommended for Enduro and was happy.

Trial and Error FTW!

Night and day.... now I'm getting close. I can probably get it where I want with the clickers now. It's definitely feeling plush, although the *** end rises a little more than I want jumping small rises (no big jumps for me... too old for that ****). Some of that is simply technique and getting used to the new valving.

Small square edge hits have disappeared, and the rear will dance right over a six inch log *grin.

Now I may have to revisit the forks, as they might be lagging behind the shock..LOL

 

Found this thread when searching for shim stack info for a gold valve front fork install. I also purchased the 2040 and was going to use your stack setup, but for whatever reason my package did not come with all the same size shims, so I improvised and used a different combo. So far I'm happy with the result, i had previouly re sprung for my weight, now i have plush square edge eating suspension and that harsh mid stroke spike is gone. I will be looking to do the rear next.

 

I'm glad it helped you out... I ended up re-shimming a little lighter in the forks and have been very satisfied with the ride. Well worth the minimal dollars spent and time invested in upgrading.

 

did you find the fork oil level from the factory was too high or after the gold valves it made the ride better in the forks?

 

To be honest, I did not check the level from the factory, I set the level at 100mm and used 5wt, Motul fork oil. I wanted to use 5 wt, the brand only because I had it on the shelf at home. By the way, 100 mm is exactly 500cc of oil. From what I understand no matter what you do with the fork, oil level, oil viscosity or spring size, only a revalve will get rid of the mid stroke spike that is built into the kawi valving. There is no doubt that this mod is value added.