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Hydrolastic suspension........

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2023 8:15 pm
by knac1234
Hello,

I just bought a hydrolastic fluid pump from the UK to pump up my Metro suspension.

Fluid is readily available in the UK.....not so much in the US (one place only carries it and it totals out with shipping to $100+ per gallon!).

The pump manufacturer and numerous other places state that a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water is a good substitute.

I found this PDF from Penrite stating the same (but a different ratio of only 1/3 antifreeze to 2/3 water).

https://penriteoil.com.au/assets/tech_p ... 202015.pdf

Any thoughts on the difference in concentrations and also experiences using the substitute of antifreeze/water in general?

Thanks,

Julian

Re: Hydrolastic suspension........

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2023 12:24 pm
by Dave VVC
Hi, what you need to remember, is that the antifreeze not only has
freeze protection, but also has corrosive protection as well, so
imo, the higher the antifreeze strength, the better, as I have seen
brown fluid come out of suspension cans, when it should be green/yellow,
so cans were full of corrosion, which will effect the cans damping ability.
I know that the internal valving is stainless, but lumps of corrosion will
effect the cans valving.

Re: Hydrolastic suspension........

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2023 11:50 pm
by knac1234
Dave,

Thanks for the reply. I lean towards what you are saying, however I think I read in some other article somewhere that a higher antifreeze concentration might alter the damping in the suspension (it compresses differently than water apparently)??

Any thoughts??

Julian

Re: Hydrolastic suspension........

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2024 8:00 am
by Wibblyp
Try it, easy enough to change.