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Prefer no oil and from time to time I have shocks I don't get rebuild parts for or simply won't use new rebuild parts on. As a former watchmaker I would recommend silicone grease. Used it on all sorts of o-rings in watches. It's keeping gaskets (and shocks) smooth for years. My personal preference is the Moebius 8513. For a nice and even layer of grease I have had some success applying the silicone grease with foam rubber and carefully dabbing the o-rings.

newob wrote:

jwscab wrote:I put a few drips of oil in to assemble and make them smooth, but that's all. Definitely not 'dry', but empty.

good point. green slime work well also.

this is what i use. it works good.

Just a question: If leaking isn't a concern, what are the benefits of having dry, empty shocks on shelf-queens, if any? Other than saving a little time and money, I guess?

Generally agree to have oil in self queens, my problem is too many grandmas with sligth signs of incontinence...

My problem is remembering what oil is in what car. I even made a handy dandy spreadsheet to keep track of all my setups but somehow it never gets updated.

LurkingCAT wrote:Generally agree to have oil in self queens, my problem is too many grandmas with sligth signs of incontinence...

Leaking shocks don't sound so bad now.

most of mine are empty, without seals fitted, but then they were either leaking or needed a rebuild for whatever reason, so i didn't see the point in putting in new seals, there mainly the same as current cars are using so there's no worry about supply for me, the cars that i might want to run are filled, or i steal a built set from one to service another if it's going to get a run out

Green slime liberally applied to all seals. I don't see any reason to have fluids in a shelf car, just another variable to make a mess if they end up leaking. I used to fill shocks, even rebuilt ones only to leak and have to pull the shocks apart, soak them in soapy water to clean residue and build them dry.

I just rebuilt two sets of shocks and I used the green slime on the seals and no oil. If I ever run them, I just fill them with the oil I need. No muss no fuss no mess.