Craig, now that I try to remember what I actually did, I really only topped up the oil in the damper then bled it. Now you are going to say this is bad, baad, baaad. I know what you mean though. Before topping up with oil I could see there was no leak from shock, it was dry and subsequent damper removals to change/check air piston seals show there is no leak. But for there to have been a need to top up damper in first place it must have leaked, I hear you say. My thoughts too but where did it go? How did air get in? It's been OK ever since though.
I don't think I was advocating anything regarding doing a rebuild of a Lefty, part, full or half-arsed, just that I try to lube the telescope bearings as often as I should, I just used "bearings" as a general term for the telescope parts, and leave them alone as I don't have tools to do a proper job on them. When time comes I'll fork out the money for an expert to do it properly. All the measuring of tolerances to get them working properly is not something you can learn in a day as you know.
You've also reminded me it's getting near time to do the cambelt on my Passat 1.9TDI. That will be getting a new belt, tensioner pulley and water-pump. You almost have to remove the entire front of car to do it. It's a few years since I've needed to change a cambelt, on an old Scirocco GTX, just remove cambelt cover replace belt, done. No major dismantling, no requirement to change tensioner, a simpler job in simpler days for simple old me.
