Quick shock rebuild question

[Andy_C]

Fitted the new seal kits to the shocks this afternoon - going out for a ride shortly

For some reason on one of the shocks if I fully tighten the plug with the seal in, the action becomes very stiff, if I back it off just a 1/4 turn it is fine.

I am hoping that 1/4 turn from tight will still allow the O ring to seal, and the plug will not work loose.

I double checked everything in the build up of the piston etc, and everything is in accordance with the manual.

Cant be a bent damper rod otherwise surley it would be stiff / not work well wherever the plug is.

Interesting that it was the same when I took it apart - the action was very stiff.

Looked at the shock manual and I cannot see any reason why this should happen. Any thoughts, anyone else ever come accross this?

[BumbleBee]

Possibly the face on the body that the plug is tightening up against is not square to the axis of the bore. Or the face on the plug is not square to the axis. When you tighten the last bit, either would put the axis of the damper rod out of alignment with the axis of the bore in the body.

[Andy_C]

Guess that would make sense, possibly why the old seal was leaking.

Good news is that it roughly 1/4 of a turn away from fully tightened no signs of an oil leak in about 300 miles.

[BumbleBee]

Sometimes also the thread on the plug (or the body) doesn't go quite to the end and when tightening it hits the end of the thread and not the tightening face and everything goes wonky.