Click on photo for details of original installation.
The shocks required a rebuild after two years and then again after 3 more years. The second time around I decided to undertake that job myself. Ground Control was quick to send rebuild kits and were good about providing instructions.
Step 1 is to remove to shrader valve and degas the shock. Forget to do this and you will have quite a mess. I made some plastic blocks to clamp the shock body in the vise. I also made a simple wrench attachment to unscrew end caps. The chainsaw on the workbench was not needed.
To remove the adjuster knobs you need to screw the red knob down until it bottoms. Heat the blue knob with a torch to break down the Loctite. You'll need some red Loctite when you put it back together.
Closeup of the shock piston after removal
There was a little bit of scum hidden under the white plastic sleeve and the piston assembly. This build up is after 3 years of use.
Here is all of the parts after disassembly
The one sucky thing about a complete disassembly, the adjuster assembly is sealed and requires you to cut the tack welds for a 100% teardown.
A dremel cutoff wheel does this nicely.
Here is the adjuster housing after removal. The white o-ring is the main seal, the hole is the bypass for the compression adjuster... I think. The black o-rings hold the ball bearing in place for the 3 position detent for compression.
To remove the adjuster shaft remove the snap ring at the top and pull the rod through the shaft. The snap ring is floating so you may have to push the rod in first and then pull it back out to expose the ring...
This is how the adjuster goes together. The hole in the left recess holds the detent ball which rides in the grooves of the adjuster rod. That provides the 1-2-3 position for the Compression
The needle on the end of the adjuster rod provides the rebound adjustment.
Dyno plots were very similar between all 4 shocks. The center red traces are full soft, The yellow traces are position 2 on compression and 1 turn off of full hard on rebound, and the outer red traces are full hard. The nitrogen pressure is set at 180psi. We increased it up to 200 and the convergence point on the left axis moved up some... I didn't record how much and I didn't try degassing a little because I was out of time. Click on the picture to actually see the plot.