Thanks for all the advice, this is what I finally did, just in case anybody else finds themselves on this road:
I recharged my damper , I had inadvertently let all the air out and some of the oil (foaming).
I took it off to do it by propping the wing and root of strut. I used a builders tressel and length of wood for the wing and two car axle stands and a cross member under the the section where the strut joins the body.
The oil used is motor cycle fork oil and should have no more than 200ml in. I unscrewed the vale and just poured it in while holding it horizontal.
I brought a schrader screw on fitting to go on the valve with the pin pusher tap at the back so that I could charge it without leaking gas. Other options didnt work. Neither did a 12V air compressor - went down when removing and didnt produce enough pressure.
The screw on value needed an adapter M/F BSP/NPT 1/8" and a parallel reducer M/F 3/8" 1/8" so it would fit a standard BOC flexible pipe with 3/8" BSP fittings appropriate for the regulator. I used a nitrogen bottle with a regulator 3000psi input 30 bar output and charged it to 30 bar. I did this by connecting to the damper, opening the bottle valve, turning the regulator output round to 30bar and then turning the tap on the back of the schrader connector to let the gas through.
Bits were purchased from Duncan Rogers engineering Glasgow.
Sorted at last but quite a saga. Thanks again for all the helpful advice.
If anybody wants to borrow the bits I collected give me a shout.
Graeme Bird
Filling high pressure Suspension units
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Graeme Bird
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Bill McCarthy
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Well done Graeme, you have cracked it. My cousin recovered a Merlin engine and various bits of hardware from a Hurricane that went into a bog after ripping the tail off another whilst doing a turning manoeuvre. The pilot bailed out. Part of the kit recovered was the leg struts which were STILL pressurised. One of the cockpit lights still worked after connecting up to a battery. The Merlin was only 10 days old and is still glistening inside.