jayr

Just a wrap up FYI, and thanks again for the suggestions. What I have learned- It is indeed a Jitsie made by TRP. It is rebuildable. The screw in the bottom of the body is indeed a nitrogen recharge port. It is simply a small rubber plug formed into a threaded holder (which is covered by the small M4 philips screw and Oring) and a suspension shop can refill with a fine syringe fitting on their nitrogen tank for cheap..($20 done at 2-wheel in Guelph ON Canada). An oil change/refill/seal is in its future, but for now, the seal and shaft looked great so I tried this cheap step first. An oil refill (there) starts at $150 and I found that the hacker PO neglected all the linkage bearings sooo badly that they are all badly pitted and needing replacement, so it's coming apart again soon anyways. Bottom line is that with the N recharge, it feels marvellous- nice damping, zero gurgling sounds, and of course, it rebounds itself without he spring. No N leakage from the 'violated' rubber plug so far. Delightful result. <JR

Thanks a bunch for all the suggestions- it was partly in jest, what I said about the self-tapper, I certainly hope that is not the case. As for professional help (!), yeah, that would of course be the smart thing to do, but I typically only resort to prof help after I have ruled out my own abilities, and with only PT work now, cash flow reinforces that philosophy. The comment about the nitrogen port under the screw makes sense, and I have seen talk of shops retrofitting other brands with schrader valves to allow recharging. I have nitrogen, good tools and the schrader in hand, think I will cautiously dig in. What was described (bubbly, semi-damped) is exactly what happens! I think there is a distinct possibility that the PO tried to change the oil for some reason by removing this screw and failed to realize the need for the nitrogen charge afterwards. I will post a followup, but thanks again for the suggestions. JR

Hello, fellow plonkers, just an old guy from Ontario Canada with a 2.9T suffering from 'Jitsie-2low-oil'. I have putted around on TLs & TYs for 30yrs and recently bought this 2.9T that some, ahem, maniac mechanic owned. It seemed like a great deal- 1800 CAN$ for an 03 in 2011, despite showing many battlescars. Oddly, I lacked the common sense to spend adequate time evaluating the back end; the PO said it was almost new and it seemed to damp well and did not show any leakage, but of course, after its (to me) maiden voyage, it seems that the rear shock is low on oil- when you first bounce the rear, it takes about 3 hard bumps to get the oil affecting the rebound, then if you continue, it seems to have semi-passable damping. Changing the rebound damper adj collar just makes it harder, but that syndrome remains. The shaft bushing (if that's the word) feels tight and the chrome is perfect, so I am hoping that it simply needs more oil. The shock, from all appearances, is a Jitsie unit and has a small philips* screw on the bottom of the body, which makes me wonder- Can this shock be refilled, and if so, what weigh of oil would be good? I have lots of tools, taps, even have a few Schrader valve stems with tapered pipe thread interface that could be fitted in that location, if that makes sense. As for now, I can find nothing when googling Jitsie+rebuild here or anywhere else. Any help would be most appreciated. * I said 'Philips', but would not be the least bit surprised to find that my BYM friend had taken out what was in there and driven a self-tapping sheet metal screw into it! THe spring adj nuts look like someone whacked them with a sharp chisel and a mallet! Thanks, JR