Choice of shock oil

[Janci]

When setting up a new rig and suspension, how do you make the selection of what oil to use in the shocks?
Is there a general rule to follow?

[King Dork]

As I’ve been tuning my trucks I seem to typically end up in the 40-50wt area. My last 2 builds I started in this range as well and have been pleased.

[JacktheRipper]

Agree 40W or 50W was in the assembly instructions for a truck I have recently built.

A side note, I replaced some shocks, plastic and leaking. When putting the replacements together they had 3 internal valving or flow control offered, 1,2 & 3 holed.

Just saying there is more then one way to control shock rebound. Stayed with the 2 hole cause that was the original design. Kept the other 2, should further adjustment be required.

pep

[JatoTheRipper]

It's a personal preference. Do you like your suspension to be more active (softer) or more resistant to rolling (stiffer)?

In the past I used 35 weight all around. I'm now trying 35wt up front and 70wt in the rear. The theory is that the rear shocks will compress less when doing uphills and also more resistant to flexing and allowing the truck to rollover when sidehilling. I have not had a chance to drive this setup yet though.

[MaX-D]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

In the past I used 35 weight all around. I'm now trying 35wt up front and 70wt in the rear. The theory is that the rear shocks will compress less when doing uphills and also more resistant to flexing and allowing the truck to rollover when sidehilling. I have not had a chance to drive this setup yet though.

This makes sense to me. How much of a factor does the weight of the truck play into this?

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[ferp420]

different brands of shocks are gona use differnt thicknessess of oil and as sead above sometimes the shock comes with different valved pistons inside them a 1 bole piston shock will be drasticly differnt than a 3 hole piston shock ive noticed the chineese off brands have a vary small piston compared to the shock body so they need even thicker oil than say a axial shock

Originally Posted by MaX-D

This makes sense to me. How much of a factor does the weight of the truck play into this?

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vary little

the springs on the shocks do.most of the weight handaling work of the shock they also conrole ride hight

the oil just controles how fast the shocks react

so a heavy rig will sit lower on the shock than a light rig but a heavy rig will also compress faster cause there is more force on sead shock

same with weighted axles heavyer axles will droop out faster than a light axles but to realy be able to gauge how much of a effect the weight would have say a heavy rig vs light rig there would have to be a big differance in weight to be noticable

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by MaX-D

This makes sense to me. How much of a factor does the weight of the truck play into this?

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I disagree with what ferp420 said. Weight of a truck will definitely have an effect on how the suspension reacts.

[FunkMasterFlex]

30wt has worked good for me, filled a set of king shocks with it, I think it’s made by losi

[Nez02]

We’re running 15wt on our dedicated crawling trucks.

[mewalsh100]

My go-to for baseline settings is 35W front and rear. It almost never stays that way, but provides enough feel for some initial shake-down runs to get a handle on what direction I need to go with for the front and rear.

[Inspector86]

Shock oil weight is only one variable used in suspension tuning. Weight, spring rates, shock valving, tires, foams, gearing, ect. all contribute to the overall performance of a rig. How you tune a rig is a completely individual decision based on driving style, terrain, personal preference. For the most part I have stopped giving suspension tuning recommendations because no two people have the same setup or driving requirements. For a new crawler the best place to start is with the manufacturers build recommendations then tune from there.

[lonleycreeper]

To throw another kink in the discussion....

I don't use oil in my shocks, mostly. Plastic bodied Axial shocks....All oil leacks out. Axial Icon's... I really don't know, there might be oil in them still. Traxxas big bores... 30wt Axial oil. Rc4wd superlift friction Shocks.... 3n1 machine oil for lubrication.

I find, that I like the way the truck moves with very little dampening, plus it looks realistic while bouncing down the trail. Another guy I know loves his heavy oils and massive dampening 75 wt+...

It turns out its all about how you drive your rig, and how you wnt it to react. Firmer dampening or none at all, are the extremes.

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

It's a personal preference. Do you like your suspension to be more active (softer) or more resistant to rolling (stiffer)?

In the past I used 35 weight all around. I'm now trying 35wt up front and 70wt in the rear. The theory is that the rear shocks will compress less when doing uphills and also more resistant to flexing and allowing the truck to rollover when sidehilling. I have not had a chance to drive this setup yet though.

I like the way you think. One of the things that I like so much about my Bomber is how predictable it is when I crawl it, and I think that's largely because I run a sway bar in the rear. I get all the articulation that I need out of the front, but the rear stays much more controlled, which makes the overall truck balance much more predictable because the chassis is more or less "glued" to the rear axle. Employing a similar effect via shock tuning seems like a great idea. I may be inclined to approach that with a combination of oil and spring tuning as opposed to just thicker oil.

[Nez02]

Originally Posted by lonleycreeper

To throw another kink in the discussion....

I don't use oil in my shocks, mostly. Plastic bodied Axial shocks....All oil leacks out. Axial Icon's... I really don't know, there might be oil in them still. Traxxas big bores... 30wt Axial oil. Rc4wd superlift friction Shocks.... 3n1 machine oil for lubrication.

I find, that I like the way the truck moves with very little dampening, plus it looks realistic while bouncing down the trail. Another guy I know loves his heavy oils and massive dampening 75 wt+...

It turns out its all about how you drive your rig, and how you wnt it to react. Firmer dampening or none at all, are the extremes.

This is great advice and perfectly said.