Why do we flip shocks the upsidedown?

[liketocrawl]

I was wondering why most people flip the shocks upside down? to prevent leaking? You get the same amount of travel. I am going to switch to droop and I bought the TCS hard internal springs to lock out the rear suspension and medium internal springs for the front.

[mexiCAN]

all that heavy fluid gets moved down lower

[roadkill424]

a lot of shocks have a pivot ball on the bottom of shocks, and when upside down it puts the pivot on the chassis which lets it traval smoother.

[liketocrawl]

Originally Posted by roadkill424

a lot of shocks have a pivot ball on the bottom of shocks, and when upside down it puts the pivot on the chassis which lets it traval smoother.

There are pivot balls on both ends of a shock? I wil go with the lower center of gravity for 200. My only debate is does the 1oz. of lowered weight really make a difference.

[run2jeepn]

Originally Posted by liketocrawl

There are pivot balls on both ends of a shock? I wil go with the lower center of gravity for 200. My only debate is does the 1oz. of lowered weight really make a difference.

Every little bit counts...

[JaynDrea]

I tried it on my AX-10 and it popped the cap right of one in the rear within minutes...

Jason

[Stormin2u]

JP is right every little bit helps. I even try to use as little paint as possible when painting a body. It' one of reason I like the little bodies, it's all about CG.

[helhedded]

Originally Posted by JaynDrea

I tried it on my AX-10 and it popped the cap right of one in the rear within minutes...

Jason

this happened to me too, but let me ask this... Have you limited your flex any yet? I think I had about 70 degrees of articulation when mine would pop off. I have since gone down to about 45 degrees. I haven't ran them upside down yet (waiting on parts), but I'm thinking it has alot to do with the amount of stretching (flex) that the shock has to go through.

[HndsWthtShdws]

Less shock leakage. Fluid cant leak out the shaft seal when the shock is upside down.

[liketocrawl]

Ok. I switched to a droop set up with medium internal springs and 55wt shock oil, now the truck seems to sit really low. I think there is too much droop. How do you know when there is too much? the lower links are almost below level.

[j33pownr]

There is no 100% correct setup. Drive it and see how you like it. Most droop setups do try to get the links parallel with the ground so I say run it as is and test it to see if you like it.

[liketocrawl]

Originally Posted by j33pownr

There is no 100% correct setup. Drive it and see how you like it. Most droop setups do try to get the links parallel with the ground so I say run it as is and test it to see if you like it.

I understand but there is a point of too much and I was just wondering what that was. It just looks wrong.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by liketocrawl

I understand but there is a point of too much and I was just wondering what that was. It just looks wrong.

Sounds like something my wife tells me. :-(



If you get your belly hung up alot then bring it up some, try putting the 1/2 spacers on the shaft to pick it up some.

If you have to much articulation/droop try putting spacers inside.

Trial and error, find your trucks sweet spot where it likes to be, appearance only works when its sittin on your shelf.

[chops1sc]

I tried turning mine "up-side down" for clearance reasons, and the one thing I noticed was the air gets trapped around the piston. When the shock starts it's cycle that air causes the shock to kinda "jerk' or "slip" a little bit (am I making sense?). This caused the travel to be inconsistent and erratic (whew, some big words there). I changed back to the "normal" position. But then I realized half the time at least one or more shocks will be either horizontal or some other position other than when the truck is sitting on a level surface. So, the air is gonna move around anyway. If you have bladder shocks there is no air, but for emulsion shocks like most of us use there will always be air in the shock.

[TwistedXT]

Originally Posted by liketocrawl

Ok. I switched to a droop set up with medium internal springs and 55wt shock oil, now the truck seems to sit really low. I think there is too much droop. How do you know when there is too much? the lower links are almost below level.

you can never roll too low. the whole point of a droop setup is an ubber low center of gravity and a breakover angle when it is needed. On the blackjack im building right now with TXT axles, the driveshafts actually angle up to the input shafts on the axles and the links also angle up. She runs a Delrin skid on the bottom for a reason. Belly draggers all the way! also running the shocks upsidedown to bring everything lower down.. the lower the better!

Crawling tips:
Get the motor as low as you can, clock the tranny if needed

get the battery as low as you can.. axle mounted - front preffered or on the links

run the shocks upsidedown

run droop with internal springs

get the esc and receiver down as low as you can, rear axle preffered

slam the body down as low as you can!

[reddevildemo]

On 1:1 you want the shock body at the bottom and the boot up top, this gives smother action. If you put them on the other way you get more bounce in your suspension. This is only true with the non gas charged shocks. It has something to do with the valving inside the shock and how the oil passes through them.

[liketocrawl]

What happens when you move the shock from the inside to the outside of the chassis?

[helhedded]

Originally Posted by liketocrawl

What happens when you move the shock from the inside to the outside of the chassis?

you get a weird looking WIDE chassis!

[liketocrawl]

Testing different set ups is the only way to know. I just like reading other opinions.

[TwistedXT]

Originally Posted by liketocrawl

What happens when you move the shock from the inside to the outside of the chassis?

the farther out that you mount the shocks from center the more stable the chassis will be but you also get less articulation. as you move the shocks inward you actualy gain articulation. also.. by moving the shocks outward, you are pretty much running the shock inline with the axles rotational axis. - thus the shock would have 100% effectiveness.. as you move it inwards, you gain travel but loose effectivness... ie.. 45 degrees inward gives you @ 25% more travel but only 50% effectiveness... make sence or am i talkin out my ass?