Alternative Shock oils.

[z381472]

Anyone try Bicycle Fork Shock Oils,
Or Dirt Bike Shock oils, or any other kind?
Much cheaper if they work.

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[svt923]

Most bike and motorcycle fork oils are really light compared to what most RCs use. Belray 30wt fork oil is only slightly heavier than Associated 10wt shock oil (118cst vs 100cst). Most trucks are made for something around 30wt RC shock oil which is somewhere around 2.5X as viscous at that heavy by motorcycle standards Belray fork oil. There is also the mater of exactly what goes into the fork oil formulation and will it cause swelling or degradation of the silicone o-rings used in RC shocks. There was a lot of crossover from motocross in the early days of off-road RC racing and if fork oil was truly as good or better than silicone oil, the racers would have jumped on it.

While motorcycle fork oil is way cheaper per ounce, there is not a one size fits all viscosity. I probably have 20 bottles of various shock oil weights in my workshop for tuning purposes, managing 20 RC sized bottles is much more manageable than 20 quarts of fork oil.

[Crunch]

Not to mention 20qts of oil for filling RC shocks would be a lifetime supply for 10 people

[z381472]

Ok, Thank You. I thought Viscosity was a standard measure. But the formulation og the oil being different makes sense.

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Originally Posted by z381472

Ok, Thank You. I thought Viscosity was a standard measure. But the formulation og the oil being different makes sense.

Viscosity in and of itself is a standard property, but Wt. (weight) is a number that may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Cst (centistokes) is a standard measurement of viscosity and most shock oils list Cst somewhere in addition to their wt. value.

[OnTheTrail]

Hmmm.....learn something new each day. Do the differing weight ratings vary between RC and automotive oils like they do with the motorcycle industry?

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Originally Posted by OnTheTrail

Hmmm.....learn something new each day. Do the differing weight ratings vary between RC and automotive oils like they do with the motorcycle industry?

I've never really spent much time investigating springs but generically speaking they shouldn't vary. Springs should all be measured in "Lb/ft" or "Lb/in" so there shouldn't be any variance. The length portion of that measurement is typically reduced to 1 so spring rates typically show as just "Lb" since you can ignore the denominator when it's 1.

Shock oil is the only product segment that I've found that has this issue.

[Benp]

I watched a YouTube video a bit ago regarding this. I found it really interesting. He even tested motor oil if I recall.

I found it.


https://youtu.be/vBreP0AnUfU

[OnTheTrail]

Originally Posted by QuesoDelDiablo

I've never really spent much time investigating springs but generically speaking they shouldn't vary. Springs should all be measured in "Lb/ft" or "Lb/in" so there shouldn't be any variance. The length portion of that measurement is typically reduced to 1 so spring rates typically show as just "Lb" since you can ignore the denominator when it's 1.

Shock oil is the only product segment that I've found that has this issue.

Thanks. I was referring to oils weights, not springs. Good info on the springs though.