One of my running mates bent up his front left suspension two weeks ago when he ran off and hit a guard rail. So while he was busy mending that, I made off with his bent AGX damper and haphazardly cut it open.

Long story short, here are the photos:

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/1744/img0781ht4.th.jpg (http://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0781ht4.jpg)

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/1857/img0782bu6.th.jpg (http://img502.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0782bu6.jpg)

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6250/img0783fu1.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0783fu1.jpg)

This is an 8-stage adjustable KYB AGX for a NA Mazda Miata. The bent outer housing and bottom mount are from the crash, the chunks missing from the damper shaft are from me not paying enough attention while handling the grinder.

Nice pictures. I always wanted to take apart one of those.

Wasn't there a nitrogen charge inside of the shock? Did you just cut it open and the nitrogen just blew out? I was always fearful of cutting open a shock because I was never sure what kind of N2 pressure was inside.

Nice thread. May be a first. ShawnB can definately add these to the suspension thread.

Nice pictures. I always wanted to take apart one of those.

Wasn't there a nitrogen charge inside of the shock? Did you just cut it open and the nitrogen just blew out? I was always fearful of cutting open a shock because I was never sure what kind of N2 pressure was inside.

chances are any super high pressure was lost during the accident.

chances are any super high pressure was lost during the accident.

Yep. By the time I got the damper it had no pressure of any sort, oil or gas.

That being said, AGX's are pretty low pressure to start with. As you can see, they are twin tubes with no foam cells. My guess is around 3 bar for the gas (max).

So the Gear that spins the adjuster just falls out once you pull the main tubes out? Is the tube just smooth inside besides that/no protrusions from adjusting mechanism's?

So the Gear that spins the adjuster just falls out once you pull the main tubes out? Is the tube just smooth inside besides that/no protrusions from adjusting mechanism's?

The stack at the bottom didn't exactly fall out when I took the inner tube out, but it does look like it's just pressed in. If you crush the tube with a vise it'll probably pop out.

The tube is perfectly smooth with no real protrusions. The only thing that really sticks out is that crown nut looking thing at the top left corner of the first picture, and that just comes out of the bottom. Initially I thought I might have lost a piece during the disassembly, but I rechecked my work area several times and I wasn't able to find anything else.

People always ask me if I can use AGX's as cores. I have never tried but looks like they might work. As long as everything can be taken out the top and they have no protrusions then they should work fine.

Nice thread. May be a first. ShawnB can definately add these to the suspension thread.
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