I cleaned everything up and got the reservoirs mounted before the New Years Afton trip. I shortened the hoses to get the reservoirs where I wanted them. I actually mocked everything up this time so I didn’t run into another tweaked hose issue. After I got the hose length dialed and the shocks reassembled, I charged them and let them sit for a few hours to make sure I didn’t have any leaks. Sure enough, one hose was leaking at the reservoir. I realized when I assembled that fitting I didn’t put any oil on the tapered portion, which I did on the second shock after the first fitting was a pain the tighten. The lack of oil on the fitting ended up tearing the hose within the fitting. I pulled the shock apart yet again and cut 1” off the hose and oiled the fitting - success this time. I was going to paint the shocks and reservoirs, but was running out of time. Maybe during the next prep I’ll make that happen.
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Previously the reservoirs only had a single hose clamp holding them against two rubber mounts on the frame and they hung down low, all done by the previous owner. I ran them like that for seven years with the only issue being that the upper uniball bolt would kiss the hose. They are now more protected and nothing hits the hoses, plus I used two weld-on reservoir mounts with hose clamps.
I made it out to Afton Canyon for New Year’s. The truck did great and I put ~40 dirt miles on it. I was the only one with a truck and also brought my bike out, hence the lower miles. It was still a good time, despite raining most of day two. My passenger front bedside mount (done by previous owner) DNF’d yet again. I’m going to finally solve the problem as it fails every other trip.
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Overall I’m happy with the truck and just need to put some time and money into it to dial in the lighting, tool box mounting, and other odds and ends that I didn’t do when I did the cage. Despite the little shit to do, the truck is ready to rock on any given day.
