Inner Wire Ring Retaining Clip Removal

[Oldnag]

Does anyone know how to remove one of these clips? It is on an air shock from a GL1200 LTD. It is a Showa MG9-951 air shock. All the videos I have watched of people doing this have shown a different type of retaining clip than this. I have never seen this before.

Any help would be super, um, helpful.

[Rambozo]

Wire clips typically require that you push down on the seal, to make room, then use a pick to hook the end and wind them out.

[Oldnag]

Thanks for taking the time to reply to me Rambozo. I am going to stop in to get some of those "dental pick" like tools and I am going to take your recommendation to try to put some force pressing down on top of the seal. I'll post to let you know how it goes.

[WingAdmin]

Yes, have the bike on the center stand so there is no weight on the front wheel, then push the seal down. It helps to have a flat blade screwdriver as well to hold the other end of the retaining clip, otherwise you just end up spinning it around and around in its channel. The trick is to get one end free and pull it up and over the edge of the shock, then you can easily pull it out the rest of the way.

Much easier putting it back in than it is getting it out.

[joecoolsuncle]

dont forget to release the air pressure!

[Oldnag]

Well, here is what I found out.
Rambozo's idea of putting pressure on the seal worked very well. In my case there is an outer washer between the retaining clip and the seal so that is what I put pressure on. How I went about putting that pressure on the outer washer should probably go to the grave with me. It involved my truck, a hydraulic jack, and some really dangerous stuff involving those two items. So, I put that pressure on the washer, it backed slightly off the retaining clip, I got under it with a pick and some other implements I had at hand. It took me a while, but it worked.

On an interesting note, the stuff I blew out of the shock after I got that clip out was not similar to anything else I have seen mentioned in any of the videos or documents outlining how to rebuild these shocks. There was another mystery retaining clip that blew out as well which surprised me. I figured it out though. It is the inner retaining clip, whereas the one I have been struggling with thus far was the outer retaining clip. All the other stuff fits between these two retaining clips.

The first pic shows the little groove way in the shock that the mystery retaining clip fits in.

This next pic shows all the stuff that blew out of the shock. It goes back in like this:
1. mystery retaining clip (I believe this is its actual technical term)
2. metal shaft guide
3. thin washer
4. seal
5. outer washer
6. pain in the ass outer retaining clip (another technical term there)

Thank you to all of you who chimed in here to help me out. It is very appreciated.