I read elsewhere about shock covers holding in the heat of friction leading to quicker breakdown of the shocks.

What do you sledheads think?

Maybe the powder coat on the springs but that's about all.

Unless you do alot of hard riding for extended periods of time without stopping you will notice some fade in their performance. I run shockpro shock cover on my ATV and besides a little fade the only other downside is that they do wear the paint off of the springs. But they do an excellent job on keeping dirt and water away from the shocks.

If they do I've never noticed. But they do an excellent job of keeping the salt and dirt off the shafts and away from the seals

Originally posted by FuzzButt@Dec 17 2004, 11:51 AM
Maybe the powder coat on the springs but that's about all.
376474

now that i have read that i'll not use mine.

I have run covers on my 02 since it was new with 0, zero, zip, nada on the problems. I take them off at the end of the season and spray everything down with WD and put them back on before my first ride. I run just as hard as anybody else, and I have never noticed shock fade.

Brian

WFO,
what about the paint on the springs the way others are talking?

I can't see how a cloth cover is going to hold that much heat in considering the ambient temps sleds run in. I have them on my sled & I can't complain about the shock performance.

Ditto. If a person is that worried they could ride the #### out of it and feel for heat. I doubt they can tell a difference. Also I bet 7 out of 10 don't change their shock oil anyway so why worry about this non issue. IMO.

I have never run em, just out of old habit. I am not sure on a sled, as I have never tried them, but the guys around here that run their trucks at Silver Lake sand dunes and such, don't use em on their trucks. They cut the rubber ones off. Theroy is, that what little bit of dirt and moisture gets held in, making the shafts rust worse, cause the contaminates can't fall away from the shock.

I just make sure I hit the shafts with WD-40 a couple of times a year when I am greesing everything up.

as for the heat build up, i don't think so and atleast not enough that anyone would notice. but i wonder still about the wear on the springs, is it true?

The only valid reason I've ever heard for using them is to prevent picking up weeds in the springs when running fields in the Midwest. The dirt/salt arguement doesn't hold up as new scraper lip material/technology has made that a total non-issue (just take a look at MX or mountain bike shocks - none use boots anymore). IMHO they're marketing junk.

G MAN

I went out and double check this morning...NO paint has come off the springs at all. The reason you would want to use these are to keep the snow and ice from building up on the spring and shock. You can damage seals, and the spring if you let the ice and snow build up and it freezes to the shaft and springs as it sits for a long period of time(overnight). If you pack the spring full of snow and keep compacting and adding to as you ride, you will loose travel do to the fact the the spring will "stack up" with it packed full(not good on the suspension).
As I said before, keep the shock and shaft sprayed down with WD and if you let the sled sit for some time in a heated garage, pull the covers off and put them back when you ride to keep the moisture out. I have zero rust and zero paint loss. I also pull with an open trailer as well.

Brian

Originally posted by paul yarek@Dec 17 2004, 10:27 PM
WFO,
what about the paint on the springs the way others are talking?
376755

Originally posted by mxzwfo@Dec 18 2004, 12:55 PM
I went out and double check this morning...NO paint has come off the springs at all.* I have zero rust and zero paint loss. I also pull with an open trailer as well.

Brian
376946

then the decision here in oakland ontario is put the shock covers on. if you see me with shock covers then eveyone can say paul did it because of MXZWFO. LOL.

Originally posted by paul yarek@Dec 18 2004, 11:01 AM
then the decision here in oakland ontario is put the shock covers on. if you see me with shock covers then eveyone can say paul did it because of MXZWFO. LOL.
376947



Now I'm going to have to do it because Paul did it :D :p

Originally posted by Snow-Drift@Dec 18 2004, 01:06 PM
Now I'm going to have to do it because Paul did it* :D* :p
376950

just because i believe in some chicken wing gobbling WFO doesn't mean i'm right. LOL. :crazy:

>>The reason you would want to use these are to keep the snow and ice from building up on the spring and shock. You can damage seals, and the spring if you let the ice and snow build up and it freezes to the shaft and springs as it sits for a long period of time(overnight). If you pack the spring full of snow and keep compacting and adding to as you ride, you will loose travel do to the fact the the spring will "stack up" with it packed full(not good on the suspension).<<

:lmao:

I&#39;m sorry mxzwfo but if that were really the case then you&#39;d better get busy doing the rear shocks too because they get a LOT more snow and ice! :lol:

Thanks for the laugh,

G MAN

Uh, its on there

I seen some shock covers somewhere that snow cross racers use,the top half of the shock cover is mesh and the bottom half wasnt.I guess when racing snow cross the shocks can heat up a bit and these were designed to eliminate any heat build up while keeping out the junk.

your shocks will wear out from normal use before you wear them out from the shock covers,,,,,