Removed the Custom Axis rear shocks and removed the springs so I could inspect the shocks and document the springs and their settings.
For documentation purposes the right rear shock is the first I took apart, and the first shown in this thread.

The shaft seal had a little oil and dirt by the seal, not leaking but what I could call weeping, ALL shocks leak some oil every time the shaft travels in and out of the shock it will drag out some oil with it past the seals, if you have ever driven a cycle or quad far enough without servicing the shocks you will find them low on oil but no signs of leaks, this is normal, most the time you never see any signs of oil by the shafts of the shocks and seals because you wash it off when you wash the machine, the rubber bumper at the bottom of the shock is dry if you ever see oil on the rubber bumper SERVICE THE SHOCKS that's a leak not a weep.

At this stage of the game I am not going inside the shocks and am not going to change the oil until I get the correct springs installed and test the shocks, then if I need to change the valving inside I will change the oil then, if it turns out I don't need to change the valving I will then just change the oil and possibly the shaft seals, I will be monitoring the 'weep' signs on the shafts during testing.

Before I removed the spring I took some reference pics for the future, first is the threads showing at the top of the spring adjust.




Next is the springs themselves, the top spring is the NEW spring that came with the Pilot its 12" long has 11 coils, wire is .400 the numbers on the spring are 275569 1200.250.0150.0S
The middle spring in the pic is the spring that was on the bottom when installed on the shock, its 11-78" long 12 coils, wire is .411
The bottom spring in the pic is the spring that was on the top when installed on the shock, its 12" long 14 coils wire is .411 has #125 stamped on it.


Springs off the as found oil spot by the seal, 'weeping'.


Distance from where the spring seats (right side of pic) to edge of the right edge of the collar, the collar is 1" wide. (this is how you adjust the crossover?)

This is a snip from a PM conversation I had with Dave-Co while I was still on vacation out West, his suggestions for springs on the rear.

Hi hoser, good to hear from you. I recommend a 100 spring on the bottom and a 80 spring up top in the rear.

Anybody have suggestions where to order new springs?
Anybody have any used 100 and 80 lb springs they want to sell?

I have 100 as tender and 125 as main. I have that dial on the rezzie set to 3. Hoser I don't know what that dial does but Im asuming something to do with valving. I took a couple "high" jumps(not sure just how high compared to what I can take in a stock pilot) at LS and bottomed out with this set up, still waiting for EZpilot to load the video so I can see how much air between me and the ground, I might have took flight?? Dave-Co told me that in order for those Axis shock to function properly on the pilot it would need some valvework, Maybe why he recommends 80 over 100, like I said I hit bottom at 100 over 125, maybe I need to adjust that dial or maybe adjust the crossover point to let the main take over sooner. I have my preload at 2" like in your pic, not sure where crossover is I would have to measure. I know theres a lot more to this than just picking a setting and seeing if it works but I have so much other stuff going on I just havnt had time to punch in the parameters at Sway Away's SUSPENSION WORKSHEET. On buying springs, I bought mine from PitstopUSA http://pitstopusa.com/i-5061949-eibach- ... 00-lb.html . Summit has them on sale but even with free shipping at Summit still cheeper at Pitstopusa

My clicker was set on 3 also, I assume that is the compression dampening like most all other shocks and usually the higher the number the stiffer the dampening is, with the spring off I set it at 1 then compressed the shock all the way then set it to 8 and tried it again I could not feel a lot of difference between the settings, probably need a shock dyno to really see what the difference is.

Preload setting you seen on my shocks, with the shock on the bench its just enough preload to keep a slight tension on the spring, I didnt even need to back off the adjuster to remove the spring keeper I just compressed the spring by hand and removed the keeper (thing at the bottom, very end of your shock) before I reinstall the shocks I will wash them really good including the threads so the adjusters will turn easily, had a hard time getting the lock nut on mine to turn until I sprayed a little PB Blaster on it and let it soak a min or so then it freed right up soon as the solvent got into the threads and broke the tension.

Thanks for the info and links, cant wait to see that video of your landing too.

What other spring brands will work or are available? Anybody? I want to explore my options.

I have the same Custom Axis shocks on the FL800.
Good reading here:

http://www.customaxisshocks.com/files/Axis_Manual.pdf

http://www.customaxisshocks.com/files/C ... g_Tips.pdf