The Hyperpro is fully rebuildable. I have the Yacugar branded version of the same shock on my Z and it has been faultless for the last five years on and off-road. I know nothing first hand of YSS shocks other than from the same sources you have already read.

At the end of the day, I think you'll have to bite the bullet and make a decision yourself.

I'd be wary about using spacers to simply raise the front. Yes they will raise it but at the detriment of flexibility and ride comfort/control as you are just introducing more preload. You may find also that the fork sag is hard to set afterwards as well. Spacers are fine if your objective is to increase preload and reduce static or dynamic sag, but they are a bit of a Heath-Robinson way of gaining height and will compromise the forks ability to follow uneven surfaces compliantly when off-road.

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