Wraith Kit stock Shock issues

[SynisteR6]

Hi Guys and Gals. First time poster, long time lurker. I'm just finishing up my first kit build and having some issues with the shocks. In googling the net I didn't find anything other than this person on another forum exibiting the same issues but I didn't see any confirmation it was resolved. They put it best what I'm experiencing:

... when I was compressing the shock to test them, there was a lot of resistance and they wouldn't fully compress. And it wasn't bottoming out on the top of the shock tower either.

Just doesn't make any sense as the shock fluid should flow through the holes in the piston. The weird thing was that when I forced it it blew the bottom of the shock out as if it was building pressure behind the piston ..... verry odd. never seen this before.

Ideas, thoughts ?


Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[wwmkwood]

You put too much fluid in your shocks. When you push the shaft into the shock the shaft displaces the fluid. This is why there is a bladder with air to compress under the cap. It's kind of a fine line between getting enough fluid and too much in each shock.

[Odd-M]

Just toss them and buy propper shocks. I ditched the stockers before even trying them. After hours of fidling with them, I never got the bladder to seat properly and found it extremely difficult getting right lvl of oil in them. Either too soft, sucking the bladder inside, or too much making them too hard to compress, popping the bottom out when forcing them together. Chances are they will leak badly as well.

I recommend Traxxas Bigbores aluminum, which was a joy to mount up compared to the stockers. They also work very well, both the plastic Ultra and the aluminium Bigbore. Not a single issue on my rigs besides a bent shaft after a very ugly jump. No leakage or wear on my bashers and they get far more abuse than any crawler ever will endure.
Have read good things about Gmade and Proline Powerstrokes also, if you spend some more.

[SynisteR6]

Originally Posted by Odd-M

Just toss them and buy propper shocks. I ditched the stockers before even trying them. After hours of fidling with them, I never got the bladder to seat properly and found it extremely difficult getting right lvl of oil in them. Either too soft, sucking the bladder inside, or too much making them too hard to compress, popping the bottom out when forcing them together. Chances are they will leak badly as well.

I recommend Traxxas Bigbores aluminum, which was a joy to mount up compared to the stockers. They also work very well, both the plastic Ultra and the aluminium Bigbore. Not a single issue on my rigs besides a bent shaft after a very ugly jump. No leakage or wear on my bashers and they get far more abuse than any crawler ever will endure.
Have read good things about Gmade and Proline Powerstrokes also, if you spend some more.

yeah, I've been looking into Gmade and Proline's but want to wait and try and enjoy it a bit before upgrading it. I appreciate the comments but looking for more ways to fix the problem.

[jmayer54]

Ditch them I am now running rear 22t shocks on all four corners handles awesome

[Stuck]

Nothing wrong with the stock shocks if you build and bleed them right, but that goes for any shock. I ran them on my Sporty rig for a year without any problems. IMO they are a pretty descent shock for being plastic.

[Calderwood]

There is nothing wrong with the stock shocks. If you do a good job building them they will serve you very well. Like any shock you use, when you build them pack the lower cartridge with associated great slime and don't build them at full rebound. Easy.

[Stuck]

Originally Posted by Calderwood

There is nothing wrong with the stock shocks. If you do a good job building them they will serve you very well. Like any shock you use, when you build them pack the lower cartridge with associated great slime and don't build them at full rebound. Easy.

X2 on the grease and when building them run both o rings together on the bottom of the stack. so instead of o ring/ spacer/ o ring go spacer then both o rings. This will keep them from leaking

[JOHNSON!]

You simple have to much fluid in the shock. This is how I build and bleed shocks: Pull shaft all the way down, fill the body a little more than half full, stroke the shock 8 times ( do not allow the piston to come out of the oil) let it set until all the air bubbles are out, you will be able to look down through the fluid and see if there are any air bubbles. Next compress the shock until the bump stop bottoms out on the shock body, then add fluid to just below the top of the body. Put the bladder on then the cap, only screw the cap on a couple turns. Pull the shaft down about 5mm, the tighten cap. Pull the shaft out all the way it should not suck back into the shock. If it does then it is one of two things: not enough oil or it still has air in the body. Now push the shaft in all the way it should have little to no rebound, if it does rebound the it is on of two things: too much oil or air still in the shock. Rebound amount is all personal preference and how you like the suspension to work. On a crawler i like no rebound, I also race offroad 1/10 scale and most of the time prefer a little rebound depending on the track. Everyone says the stock shocks are junk, if you build them right they work great and don't leak. Yes they are not aluminium but they don't need to be either, put the money into tires,foams,knuckle weights, something that will make it crawl better if that's what you use it for. Make sure you trim the parts tree material off the pistons and don't kick the o- rings when put the shafts in. Team associated green slim is also a very good product to use in shock building, it helps seal the o-rings inside the cartridge. Hope this helps.

[Cmarcan167]

JOHNSON! great tutorial on how you build shocks...I may incorporate some of this procedure into my own technique.

[SynisteR6]

Great advice guys, I'll give that a whirl... have to see if I can find some of this "green slime" stuff, never heard of it.

[Calderwood]

Originally Posted by SynisteR6

Great advice guys, I'll give that a whirl... have to see if I can find some of this "green slime" stuff, never heard of it.

You should be able to get it from your hobby shop or rpp or wherever you choose but this is what you want: FT Green Slime Shock Lube: Team Associated - Champions By Design - Nitro and Electric RC Cars

[Odd-M]

Have tried the method explained further up here, and many others found on the internet, without luck. After hours of frustration I banged my head in the desk and ordered the Bigbores. I acutally gave the stocks another try the other day, but still not able to get it right. Must be doing something wrong if others are getting it. Either way, my impression is that for most people they DO leak. And I find other brands a lot easier to work on

Have a SCX10 Rubicon kit on the way. Will give those aluminum Icon a chance. In instructions them seem to be bladderless, just a o-ring at the cap. If no luck I'm going Bigbore on that one also.

[Robny]

I had similar if not t- same issue when I built mine, I'm not new to building shocks andposted a similar question here. I decided ti replace mine as I just could not get them to work, however I would have changed them in the near future anyway.

If its not an upgrade you normally do then stick with and try what has been suggested, seems like they work for a lot of people. If like me and you're likely ti swap out your shocks anyway then I would just do it now to save your self time and effort.

Good luck

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[SynisteR6]

I haven't done it on anything but my mini e-revo, I'm still relatively new to this RC stuff. Started less than 2 years ago with a used stampete xl5, now between me and my daughter we have 3 2wd stampedes, an HPI blitz ese, mini revo, and the wraith. The wraith kit is my first build and my first scale/crawler/trail type. I have been looking into aftermarket shocks, I'm just trying to postpone spending any more $$ for a while.

Here's a pic of the rig: