refilling suspension spheres

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fangy
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refilling suspension spheres

Post by fangy »

Hello,
Can spheres be refilled at B.O.C, or does anyone know somewhere that does refill them?
Thanks,
Fangy.
andmcit
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Re: refilling suspension spheres

Post by andmcit »

fangy wrote:Hello,
Can spheres be refilled at B.O.C, or does anyone know somewhere that does refill them?
Thanks,
Fangy.
Nope, but a few years back you could buy a recharge kit from Andyspares and use Oxygen free Nitrogen from BOC with a replacement sphere end cap with a one way valve designed into it. IIRC, the kit cost me 130quid.

Andrew
KP
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Post by KP »

Is it not true that you generally only get 1 recharge out of them though??
FrankBo
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Post by FrankBo »

Hi, spheres may be recharged by Tecnosir Kit (made in Italy), i think probabilly resellers and installers also in uk .....
Last edited by FrankBo on 08 Sep 2006, 16:22, edited 1 time in total.
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reddeathdrinker
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Post by reddeathdrinker »

Sphere's aren't that expensive, are they?

A set of 6 comes in at under £150, with the reassurance of a guarantee....
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slim123
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Post by slim123 »

Provided that your spheres havent been run completly flat, Pleiades can recon them for £16 per sphere, with a 2 year warranty.

Regards
Slim
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

In my experience the Amtek spheres aren't up to much, and certainly
don't have the lifespan the proper Citroen ones have.

If I top the original spheres up regularly with the Tecnosir kit like car tyres
they remain within their optimum operating level - end of story.

You don't simply recharge them and then allow them to go flat and the
only proviso is the sphere has to be in reasonable health BEFORE you
regass them in the first place - there'll be no point trying to put gas into
a totally flat sphere for the obvious reason the diaphram will be beyond
coping with the full bar pressure again on recharge.

When the sphere is totally flat and it's allowed to bottom out through the
suspension hitting a pothole etc the diaphram will actually puncture itself
against the threaded inner of the sphere's end screw/nipple doing it no
good whatsover...

There's also the option of playing around with the jetting/pressure and
sphere cc size to 'tune' what you specifically want from your car, not the
one size/option fits all that Citroen understanably have to offer - it would
be impractical for them to double or even treble the options of spheres
over and above what they already fonfusingly offer already...

Andrew
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

One further point in favour of regassing in situ is the fact you don't have
to faff about with wrenches etc to try and remove awkward spheres
- ESPECIALLY AT THE REAR! You don't have to remove or change the whole
shooting match, just the end cap; I accept rear ones can be a bit of a
sod on some older Citroens like the CX (especially the estate...) but even
these just need the band holding the ram in place to be slackened so the
ram can be fed forwards to gain a better angle of attack for the regassing
head to screw onto the new one way valves!

It's a very elegant solution and something I enjoy keeping on top of with
the recharger. There will be an overhead of the end valves (still available
from GSF for around 4quid each) and the Nitrogen bottle rental from BOC
but that's because I like having the option handy if the mood takes me.

Andrew
citronut
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Post by citronut »

the problem with re gassing is the nylon blader deteareats over time,and aparently its a natural process for the nitrogen to permiate the nylon,so as they get older the nylon has less abilaty to retain the nytrogen,and i use AMTEC spheres from GSF all the time om my customers and my own cars with out any obvious problems,the last time i had spheres re gassed it cost about 15.00 squide a corner and that was a few years ago,now you can buy spheres from GSF at about 20.00 squide each,so its not realy worth re gassing unless you own the gear to do it
regards malcolm
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

Re-gassing spheres are no longer an issue in Europe.
In remote areas where hydro Citroens are rare it may be an economical solution.
Anders (DK) - '90 BX16Image
philhoward

Post by philhoward »

I've used Westroen in Manchester before - at £25 per refilled sphere (irrespective of type..) with free fitting, it's a winner with me. They also put a 3 year guarantee on all their spheres. Seeing the LHM shower that Doug had from the rear ones, i'm rather glad I had them fitted.

They use the Pleiades type tool, but they replace the clamp bolt on a regular basis as regular use with a lump hammer does tend to weaken them! One let go whilst I was there.

It's a choice, I know..£20-ish for an Amtec one with a 1 year warranty, plus the hassle of fitting, or £25 for a recon with a 3 year warranty and free fitting...even if its a tank of fuel, its gotta be worth it in the long run!

My 2p's worth...
andmcit
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Post by andmcit »

citronut wrote:the problem with re gassing is the nylon blader deteareats over time,and aparently its a natural process for the nitrogen to permiate the nylon,so as they get older the nylon has less abilaty to retain the nytrogen,and i use AMTEC spheres from GSF all the time om my customers and my own cars with out any obvious problems,the last time i had spheres re gassed it cost about 15.00 squide a corner and that was a few years ago,now you can buy spheres from GSF at about 20.00 squide each,so its not realy worth re gassing unless you own the gear to do it
regards malcolm
Yep, you're right, the diaphram will microscopically allow nitrogen through
naturally whatever the sphere and there won't be any EXTRA wear if the
spheres are original and topped up with gas regularly.

I've had an AMTEK sphere fail a week into use on my Cx Gti Turbo and
it's partner two months later with NO offer of a refund when I tried. The
mentality is they're throwaway like an old oil filter and as they're cheap
enough it doesn't matter if they don't last more than a couple of years.

For me personally the economies of scale enter the equation as I have
a particular penchant for hydraulic Citroens with a plan for keeping
them for the forseeable future.

This is all rather a moot comparison as the regassing route has been
made eneconomical due to the AMTEK low shelf price for anyone today
considering the immediate options available. Once upon a time the
savings had a greater margin in favour of the regass route and I've
been doing this for 10 years now.

Andrew
Last edited by andmcit on 08 Sep 2006, 20:25, edited 1 time in total.
philhoward

Post by philhoward »

Granted Andrew...for someone with a fleet, then a refill kit and bottle of Nitrogen has to win - you'll be quids in after a couple of cars (especially if there's an Active or VSX/Exclusive in the fleet).

Might be also worth it if there's a group of Cit enthusiasts in a local area..
nigelc116
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Post by nigelc116 »

What would happen if you refilled them with air, most people have a compressor nowadays.
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john alexander
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Post by john alexander »

Hi I recently posted an enquiry on the the use of westroen spheres , for whatever reason this post never appeared. I just replaced the rears on my xantia 1.9 td estate with GSF ones but can see very little difference in ride quality . Who are amtek???. at least I 've heard of AL-KO . Westroen 6 for £150 worth a go . regards john.
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