Has anyone rebuilt their shocks yet?

[Mountainsofbeer]

How often are you supposed to rebuild shocks when your crawling/trailing?

I would have rebuilt them twice already if I was bashing or jumping my TRX like SCT truck etc. But I'm guessing that when you drive low and slow and your not blowing out shock caps and beating the shocks into submission you can extend the intervals?

Is 35wt. team associated oil close enough to what Traxxas put in there?

[clm]

All I have done is top up the shock on mine, took a bit of effort to unscrew the top and it wasn't so easy to bleed but I managed.

I would assume that unless your shock leaks or you want to change to new oil weight or shock pistons there would be little reason really to open up the shocks. As speeds decrease dampening gets less relevant and springs get more important or at least that's how it seems to me, even then barring damage most rtr shocks get ignored until owners have to mess with them and that's on high speed bashers.

I used Associated 35wt to top mine up, but that was because it was all I have at the moment

[fomoco]

the bottom caps where the shock shaft goes thru was really super tight , enough that it was binding the shaft , I removed the orings applied some green slime from associated an also went with 30 wt oil an only snugged the bottom caps down, what a difference, that made, no leaks an very smooth action now, no leaks before but shocks were sticking, so this was sorta my rebuild to them.

[HumboldtEF]

Stock it comes with 30wt

I don't know much about mixing different weights, although I used a bit of 25wt on one of my front shocks which was causing a bit of sag and it seems to be okay.

I'd say a rebuild is only needed when the oil has leaked out enough to make you want better damping which depends on how you drive and how often.

[fr8cture]

I need to get some lighter oil with the traxxas shocks 30wt seems very stiff compared to SCX10 or other shocks.

[Inspector86]

I pulled my shocks apart, cleaned and lubed the seals with Green Slime and refilled with 10wt oil. Shocks are MUCH smoother and the overall suspension movement is much more compliant. I also adjusted the spring seats to reduce spring pre-load to as little as possible.

[binaryterror]

There is a problem in the x-ring pack I'm finding, as mentioned here too...it's way too tight.

The stock shocks come with a black spacer in between 2 x-rings. Pretty standard set up for Traxxas and works. The issue is when fully tightening the bottom cap (not normal for Traxxas) the 2 x-rings plus the black spacer is too thick, which causes the x-rings to bind to the shaft. Even with oil or green slime I was getting friction reducing the movement it would be better but if you let it sit it would return to too stiff.

I used the normal white spacer from a Big Bore rebuild kit, while it is shorter it's not by much, it is a better height and frees up the drag without causing leaks. But now I am running thicker oils and the shock works correctly finally.

[Natedog]

Only refill or rebuild shocks to change damping and/or if it's been months and the oil is dirty.

Binaryterror, great fix!

[wrightcs77]

I used associated V2 12mm shock rebuild kit for the spacers (since I had them sitting on my desk). Much smoother.

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[binaryterror]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Binaryterror, great fix!

Edit, this Traxxas shock rebuild kit TRA2362? Could you use calipers and measure thickness of the spacer from this kit you used?

Yes they are from the 2362. I just had 2 kits sitting there and thought I'd try.

I don't have more and I'm headed to the ECSC so it's all packed. Once back I will get measurements of the white spacers because technically you could just sand the black ones down, the difference is very minor but night and day when installed.

[HumboldtEF]

I was just about to measure the spacers from the 2362 Rebuild kit but its listed right in the instructions, 2.5 MM thick. I double checked and it is correct.







I probably wont install these until tomorrow so I'm not sure how well they work out yet.

[HumboldtEF]

So its a bit tricky to measure but I believe the stock (black) spacer is 2.8 MM compared to the 2.5 MM spacer out of the 2362 rebuild kit.



I greased up the seals and refilled the shocks with 20 wt and they feel pretty smooth.
These shocks are just not a good design though, the lack of a bladder combined with not being able to fill the shocks much means you're left getting air mixed into your shock oil.
But if you've got this stuff laying around why not.


EDIT: after installing them back on the truck they do feel quite a bit smoother, forget the above trash talk on the design. The old spacers made the suspension stiff until you worked it free a bit, now its always smooth and moves very freely. Another thing that I did was when tightening down the cap on the bottom of the shock I snugged it up pretty tight but not fully tight, I found that fully tight made the shocks stiffer. I also used teflon tape in the threads of the lower cap to help prevent leaking.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

So its a bit tricky to measure but I believe the stock (black) spacer is 2.8 MM compared to the 2.5 MM spacer out of the 2362 rebuild kit.



I greased up the seals and refilled the shocks with 20 wt and they feel pretty smooth.
These shocks are just not a good design though, the lack of a bladder combined with not being able to fill the shocks much means you're left getting air mixed into your shock oil.
But if you've got this stuff laying around why not.

I know that everyone has been working on a fix for getting these shocks to free up a little. Here is mine that I shared with Natedog.
I didn't take photos, but my shocks are butter smooth and no leaks yet.
So I took my shocks apart and the reassembled them with this formula.
Started with a traxxas blue x-ring then a losi white o-ring from this kit (LOSA5326 10MM rebuild kit). Next is the thin clear washer from the Traxxas big bore rebuild kit (# 2362) and last is a Blue x-ring. I used the losi green shock grease with each layer. The losi white o-ring and clear washer take the place of the black spacer. When I put the bottom cap over the shock shaft I put a little of the shock grease in it and tighten the cap. When I'm about 3 threads from being tight the grease starts to push out along the shock shaft, here I work the shaft in and out as I tighten the cap to seat all the rings. I used 20W oil, and the shocks are now very functional. This is close to the same formula the comp crawler guys use for modifying their Axial shocks. So as they say, "To each his own".
Ernie

[chipgibbs]

Best tip for the TRX4 yet. Thanks

[HumboldtEF]

You might do what Biggreen96 has done and put a sticker on the shock to keep the cap from unscrewing further
Stock shock tuning / lower cap mod.