Tools

Pictured is the nitrogen manifold used to charge the dampers (aka. shocks) on the Rodeo.  A manifold is required because the small amount of gas released from a standard Schrader valve connection as it is being disconnected, is a significant proportion of the shock gas chamber volume.  Testing has shown that our Sway-A-Way shocks lose about 10% of their charge just by checking their pressure with a standard gauge.

A. Manifold, B. Schrader connection with separate valve release, C. manifold pressure, D. Manifold pressure release valve, E. Manifold pressurisation valve, F. High-pressure pipe, G. Nitrogen high-pressure regulator, H. Bottle pressure, I. Regulated pressure, J. Bottle connection.

For those interested, the manifold (A) is a Race Tech part, whilst the regulator (G) is a Vulkan F20 Nitrogen Type 50.  Both can be sourced from a good motorcycle shop.

It's pretty important to get the car clean before attempting to fix anything.  One of the disadvantages of offroad racing is the lack of a nice clean track and the guarantee that taking a car out will result in bringing it back covered in dirt/mud/sand.  Using a high-pressure cleaner is a relatively easy method of removing most of this dirt.  Note that this particular model (a Karcher 360) is probably the bare-minimum you'd want to use, as it still takes a couple of hours to spray down a car with it.

One thing to note about these models is that the water should always be connected and on when the unit is turned on.  Failure to do so may result in an internal valve failing.  Further use has also found that running even slightly hot water through the units can also render them unusable.  The problem evidently lies in the internal components melting due to the 'high' temperature and can be caused by simply leaving the feed hose in the sun for a while without using it.