couple questions on 200x rear shock rebuild

[oldred95]

Finally tore it apart and from what I can tell the only problem was it was low on oil because of a leaking shaft seal. I went ahead and drained and refilled it with ATF and did what the book said to reassemble but I got just a little bit of air trapped in the system still since there is no way of bleeding the air out. It seems to work fine so I guess it won't hurt anything? To recharge the reservoir I just used compressed air at 225 psi. Yes I know the book says 298 psi of nitrogen but air works too. I guess my question is what is the nitrogen charge for? I couldn't see that it did a heck of a lot since the shock worked fine without it but I went ahead and put 225 psi or air in it anyway. Last, the adjuster wheel on the bottom I'm assuming is to set the rebound rate right? I played with it and it seemed to me like it did change the rate but it may have just been me seeing things.

[super90]

Air will work, but nitrogen is probably used for a few reasons. 1. nitron contains no moisture like air does. 2. Air with moisture in could possible become steam and cause big problems! 3. nitrogen is non-flamable, oxygen can cause explosion under some circumstances! 4. Filling from an aircompresser is probably a bad idea since its not filtered correctly.

Getting a shock charged with nitrogen is cheap so that would probably be your best choice. But if you service your shock regularly air should work. I doubt you would ride hard enough for steam to actually occure but its possible.
The adjuster is the rebound, if you set it on 4 like a 200x, it rebounds slower than say 1 or 2.

[SWIGIN]

the trick to getting the air out is hold the rezzy up as high as you can with the shock body in a vise and fill the rezzy with oil till it starts to fill the shock body.

this pushes all the air out of the rezzy and line

and most shops only put 160-200 psi in the shock

[tri-Z ripper]

Also thanks for the info everyone i look forward to dong mine now with advice already given!!