Shocks…

[Dwill]

I'm pretty much done with leaking shocks. I "upgraded" to Pro-Line scaler shocks and they leak almost as bad as the stock Axial shocks the came with the G6 kit.

I'm think I'd like to go with internal sprint shocks. Being new to crawlers though I don't know which might be good or bad.

Will you guys please give me your opinions on which shocks might be good, there's got to be a good set that most of you use.

Thanks for your help.

[snapon boy]

Associated green slime! Watch a utube video or maby 2 on using it. Yes I hate Leakey shocks too.

[Dwill]

Thanks for the tip. I should have posted I'm new crawlers but have been into RC for many years. I've rebuilt these Pro-Lines 3 times now, 4 if you count the tear down and rebuild with the parts that came out of them when they were new out of the package.

I used a ton of green slime each time. The shocks on my B5M and my Tekno 1/8 buggy never leak.

I think I'm just Goni g to switch to internal spring shocks on the G6. Just need info a what a good brand is.

[snapon boy]

Sorry If I was off base or rude. I've not had much luck with any of the crawling type shock . I did use some rc10 shocks that didn't leak hardly any. From what I've read the shocks you have are supposed to be good ones. I was actually thinking of getting them

[CODYBOY]

Traxxas big bore, or kyosho gold are both great shocks.

[Dwill]

Originally Posted by snapon boy

Sorry If I was off base or rude. I've not had much luck with any of the crawling type shock . I did use some rc10 shocks that didn't leak hardly any. From what I've read the shocks you have are supposed to be good ones. I was actually thinking of getting them

You weren't rude at all. I forget that when I'm new to crawling people naturally assume I'm new in general.

As far as the Prolines go, I'm kinda shocked myself that they are leaking so badly or at all for that matter. Proline makes good "stuff". I was ready for them to leak when I first got them, they are assembled dry and would guess more likely to leak than not. They did.

I took them apart used green slime on them and they still leaked. I've now hon through two separate rebuild kits and can't get them to stop leaking. I recently replaced the o-rings with X rings I bought from Macmaster Carr and that seemed to fix them. That lasted a couple days and they started leaking again.

I'm kind of done with them.

[pete959]

I heard somewhere thread tape helps but havent tried

LIFE IS GOOD

[Dwill]

Originally Posted by pete959

I heard somewhere thread tape helps but havent tried

LIFE IS GOOD

Hmmm… maybe… but I'm not sure how that might help. The leaks are com g from the O-ring seals, not the cartridge caps or the shock caps.

I'm going to try one more time to get them to stop leaking though.

Has anyone had any experience with G Made shocks ?

[TacoCrawler]

I can't speak for any particular shock...

but often the shim stack that compresses the lower
end O-rings is not tall enough.

Sometimes that shim stack can be added to
and will compress the O-rings enough to stop leaking.

But if the shim stack were too thick...
it could cause the shock shaft to bind
in it's movement.

Most every rc shock I have used...
will weep past the lower O-rings... eventually.

So knowing how to rebuild and stack the lower shim/O-rings properly
and precisely is the key.

^ if the shock(s) aren't intended to be rebuilt
or spare components are not made available to the public...
I wouldn't buy them from the start.

I've had the Associated and Losi shocks in the past...
and those too will leak after they've been abused a bit.
^ or assembled incorrectly.

[new2rocks]

Teflon plumbers tape around the threads of the lower shock body cap can help keep oil from leaking through the threads. I had to use that on my SC10 4x4 shocks to keep them from leaking badly. But if the oil is leaking between the shaft and o-ring, you're right that it probably won't help. Then again, it can't hurt to try.

I'm surprised at your experience with Proline Scalers. I've had a set in a D90 for over a year with no issues. In fact, almost all of my shocks (which include Axial Icons, various RC4WD Kings, RC4WD RRD Emulsions, RC4WD Ultimate Scalers, stock Ascender shocks, GMade XD piggybacks, and others) have held oil just fine either as they came out of the bag or with nothing more than a little Green Slime added. As TacoCrawler points out, all shocks will lose a bit of oil over time, but it shouldn't be dramatic.

You asked specifically about GMades. I have had the XDs in one of my rigs for over a year, and I love them. Very smooth and very tunable with the adjustable oil pressure. I don't have any experience with their other shocks, though I've heard good things about the Transitions.

One thing to look out for is not overfilling the shocks. Even a little too much oil can cause the pressure to build up enough on compression to force some oil out.

[rjwalker]

I use a thin washer sometimes or two,, green sliming o rings as you go together but test before you put oil in them to see if there is binding.. A tiny bit usually is ok after you get oil in them and run for a bit the tiny tiny bit of binding well usally stop BUUUT,, if it don't take apart and either pull one of the washers or try and find thinner washer can be tricky finding that perfect washer sometimes lol,, and make sure that you put washer on flat side of shock like some of mine the lower screw cap if you look inside you can see were o ring sits kind of a grove so you would put washer in first then o ring and spacer if it has one then lower cap but if lower cap is flat you can just put washer on last sliming as you are put to gather ,,, then pull shaft down and take a Qtip and if you see any green slime on inside try and get as much as you can out with the Qtip with out leveing fuzz not a big deal just bug's me don't think it is necessary... There's my two cents lol...

[joe.bielski]

Hey, I've got the same proline scale shocks and was pretty disappointed with them too. Leaked from the bottom and the bottom caps would get unscrewed a lot even if I put thread lock on them. One of the reasons they leak from the bottom is the they bind up HORRIBLE when moved at all side to side. The upper shock mount "balls" don't allow any movement from side to side. So when the shock gets moved laterally at full extended, it kinda bents the shaft away from the shock body and oil has more room in the seals to get out.

I ended up using the metal balls out of SSD rod ends. Getting them in the top shock cap was a bit difficult (use some grease too), but once in it's SOOOOOOO much better. The shock now can move freely in ANY direction, not just kinda swinging to the front and back. When installing the shocks back onto the truck, just use a 3-4mm spacer between the shocks and shock mounts.

If you have any rod ends laying around, try the balls from there, I'm sure other makes will fit just fine.

I also used the teflon tape on the bottom threads of the shock body and think that helps too. I've got wicked steering throw so the tires would unscrew the bottom caps too. Since putting teflon in there, no problem.

I also put some shrink tubing over the spring retainer and a bit of the spring. No more lost spring retainers.

Hope this helps.



Before I did this, I was about to give up on these, but this stuff is damn expensive and I couldn't justify getting a different set. After doing this stuff, the shocks went from "meh" to pretty great shocks. I really like them now and I haven't seen any oil coming out yet after several moths of use..... yet :P

[Dwill]

Originally Posted by joe.bielski

Hey, I've got the same proline scale shocks and was pretty disappointed with them too. Leaked from the bottom and the bottom caps would get unscrewed a lot even if I put thread lock on them. One of the reasons they leak from the bottom is the they bind up HORRIBLE when moved at all side to side. The upper shock mount "balls" don't allow any movement from side to side. So when the shock gets moved laterally at full extended, it kinda bents the shaft away from the shock body and oil has more room in the seals to get out.

I ended up using the metal balls out of SSD rod ends. Getting them in the top shock cap was a bit difficult (use some grease too), but once in it's SOOOOOOO much better. The shock now can move freely in ANY direction, not just kinda swinging to the front and back. When installing the shocks back onto the truck, just use a 3-4mm spacer between the shocks and shock mounts.

If you have any rod ends laying around, try the balls from there, I'm sure other makes will fit just fine.

I also used the teflon tape on the bottom threads of the shock body and think that helps too. I've got wicked steering throw so the tires would unscrew the bottom caps too. Since putting teflon in there, no problem.

I also put some shrink tubing over the spring retainer and a bit of the spring. No more lost spring retainers.

Hope this helps.



Before I did this, I was about to give up on these, but this stuff is damn expensive and I couldn't justify getting a different set. After doing this stuff, the shocks went from "meh" to pretty great shocks. I really like them now and I haven't seen any oil coming out yet after several moths of use..... yet :P

Thanks, the side to side movement issue makes sense. I've noticed the shocks done sit straight vertically with the spacer on the top mount and if you take the spacer off the spring hits the frame

I have some nylon shock mount for my B5M that have a spacer made to confer the nut that keeps the shock mounting stud on. That nylon mount will let the shock move side to side a bit and can sand the standoff down to get the shock as close to vertical as possible.

I'm doing another rebuild on the schools tomorrow. I think I'll I'll try those bushings when I put them back on.

[Sneetches]

I just assembled some Pro-Line scalers so I'll have to see what my experience is with them. Otherwise, Traxxas Big Bores are pretty popular and it's easy to see why once you get some.

[wsmb]

Originally Posted by new2rocks

Teflon plumbers tape around the threads of the lower shock body cap can help keep oil from leaking through the threads. I had to use that on my SC10 4x4 shocks to keep them from leaking badly. But if the oil is leaking between the shaft and o-ring, you're right that it probably won't help. Then again, it can't hurt to try.

I'm surprised at your experience with Proline Scalers. I've had a set in a D90 for over a year with no issues. In fact, almost all of my shocks (which include Axial Icons, various RC4WD Kings, RC4WD RRD Emulsions, RC4WD Ultimate Scalers, stock Ascender shocks, GMade XD piggybacks, and others) have held oil just fine either as they came out of the bag or with nothing more than a little Green Slime added. As TacoCrawler points out, all shocks will lose a bit of oil over time, but it shouldn't be dramatic.

You asked specifically about GMades. I have had the XDs in one of my rigs for over a year, and I love them. Very smooth and very tunable with the adjustable oil pressure. I don't have any experience with their other shocks, though I've heard good things about the Transitions.

One thing to look out for is not overfilling the shocks. Even a little too much oil can cause the pressure to build up enough on compression to force some oil out.

+1 on the gmade piggybacks, and I am incompetent at building and with some green slime I put together some leak free well performing shocks

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by Dwill

...I should have posted I'm new crawlers but have been into RC for many years. I've rebuilt these Pro-Lines 3 times now, 4 if you count the tear down and rebuild with the parts that came out of them when they were new out of the package.

I used a ton of green slime each time. The shocks on my B5M and my Tekno 1/8 buggy never leak.

I've been doing RC for years, know how to build shocks, my Proline Scalers were same way when I bought them, leaked just sitting overnight on my crawler after building and installing. I pulled the all apart and didn't see any tears, rips, etc in o-rings, no burrs on metal, scratches on shafts, so I called Proline and they sent me rebuild kits for them, been ok since I rebuilt them. One key is never overfill shocks, with the caps off push the shafts in as far as they will go when on the truck, the oil should not overflow out of the shock when you do this. Do this with the lower spring retainer and bumpstop (if any) installed to get true shock full compression. Leave teh springs off when you do this. I found out that I had been over-filling my Axial Honcho kit shocks....because I'm running without the stock black rubber external travel limiters (as most peeps seem to do) which allows about 10mm more compression travel...that extra oil has to go somewhere and it's going to pump itself out right past the o-ring seals and out the bottom...if it doesn't blow the top caps off. I now fill them less than I used to.

Originally Posted by CODYBOY

Traxxas big bore, or kyosho gold are both great shocks.

X2 I have a set of Kyosho Golds from like 1990 on a monster truck and they still don't leak!

Originally Posted by TacoCrawler

I can't speak for any particular shock...

but often the shim stack that compresses the lower
end O-rings is not tall enough.

Sometimes that shim stack can be added to
and will compress the O-rings enough to stop leaking.

But if the shim stack were too thick...
it could cause the shock shaft to bind
in it's movement.

Most every rc shock I have used...
will weep past the lower O-rings... eventually.

So knowing how to rebuild and stack the lower shim/O-rings properly
and precisely is the key.

^ if the shock(s) aren't intended to be rebuilt
or spare components are not made available to the public...
I wouldn't buy them from the start.

I've had the Associated and Losi shocks in the past...
and those too will leak after they've been abused a bit.
^ or assembled incorrectly.

Great ideas!

Originally Posted by new2rocks

Teflon plumbers tape around the threads of the lower shock body cap can help keep oil from leaking through the threads. I had to use that on my SC10 4x4 shocks to keep them from leaking badly. But if the oil is leaking between the shaft and o-ring, you're right that it probably won't help. Then again, it can't hurt to try.....One thing to look out for is not overfilling the shocks. Even a little too much oil can cause the pressure to build up enough on compression to force some oil out.

X2

Originally Posted by joe.bielski

Hey, I've got the same proline scale shocks and was pretty disappointed with them too. Leaked from the bottom and the bottom caps would get unscrewed a lot even if I put thread lock on them. One of the reasons they leak from the bottom is the they bind up HORRIBLE when moved at all side to side. The upper shock mount "balls" don't allow any movement from side to side. So when the shock gets moved laterally at full extended, it kinda bents the shaft away from the shock body and oil has more room in the seals to get out.

I ended up using the metal balls out of SSD rod ends. Getting them in the top shock cap was a bit difficult (use some grease too), but once in it's SOOOOOOO much better. The shock now can move freely in ANY direction, not just kinda swinging to the front and back. When installing the shocks back onto the truck, just use a 3-4mm spacer between the shocks and shock mounts.

If you have any rod ends laying around, try the balls from there, I'm sure other makes will fit just fine.

I also used the teflon tape on the bottom threads of the shock body and think that helps too. I've got wicked steering throw so the tires would unscrew the bottom caps too. Since putting teflon in there, no problem.

I also put some shrink tubing over the spring retainer and a bit of the spring. No more lost spring retainers.

Before I did this, I was about to give up on these, but this stuff is damn expensive and I couldn't justify getting a different set. After doing this stuff, the shocks went from "meh" to pretty great shocks. I really like them now and I haven't seen any oil coming out yet after several moths of use..... yet :P

Yes, more good info, I've seen plenty of shocks that dont' come with proper upper mounts and they end up binding with angled side loads that wear out the shafts and create leaks and binding suspension. Somebody else also mentioned that lots of steering can allow tires to contact shocks and unscrew the lower caps, it can also move the spring preload collars, so good to check everything!

[DeviledEggs]

I think its Dlux that sells metal mounting balls for big bore shock caps. Before I found them I drilled out the holes in my shock caps to accept Traxxas hollow balls. Then I put o rings on either side of the cap to prevent it sliding over the ball. Still allows for plenty of flex.

[Dwill]

Well, the good news is I've 3 packs through the G6 since I rebuilt the shocks and so far no leaks !!!

I toghtened the cartridge caps tightly using a pair of pliers, I wrapped the caps in tape so I didn't ding the up too badly. They had in fact come loose; I've never had that happen on any shocks I've had before.

I also took Joe B's advice and came up with a way to mount the shocks so they have som side to side movement at the upper mounts.

Last I took a little more time and made sure I didn't overfill the shocks with oil.

Not, sure which so,union worked; maybe all of them. But no leaks so far.

[Dwill]

I want to circle back and say thank you to everyone that's offered up suggestions on ways to fix up my leaky shocks.

Thank you for the help.

[new2rocks]

Glad to hear it's working out for you.