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Shock tuning

D

danmac

Pebble Pounder
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
193
Location
las cruces
So I'm building new Shocks and had questions on piston hole count to oil weight. I've used Google but not much but build threads but no general how to.

Any long timers here know of a guide I can read.
 
Duuuude's right... It would really help knowing more about what you're going for. I've been on here for awhile and I don't know if I have ever stumbled across a shock "cheat sheet". General rule of thumb is fewer and or smaller holes in the piston=more resistance. So if you have a scale shock such as an Old Man Emu, and your piston has 2 small holes, and you're sick and fill'er up with 5k diff oil like me, you will have a crazy-slow rebound and plenty of damping. On a light rig this wouldn't be much fun. On a heavy rig, it works quite well and looks scale. Bigger and or more piston holes=less resistance. I have always just gotten by using the stock pistons and just tuning the shocks with different oils... It's not like a race car where one more hole in the piston is going to shave a second off your lap time.
 
Reflektr said:
I have always just gotten by using the stock pistons and just tuning the shocks with different oils... It's not like a race car where one more hole in the piston is going to shave a second off your lap time.
Click to expand...

When it comes to crawlers with no real speed involved, exactly.
 
Currently it'll be a 1.9 almost scaler. Xr mod, over/unders,
Tekin roc with a mmp axial jk body so not heavy up top tss scx hr chassis and gmade piggyback xd103s.

I built the first 2 and have the 3 hole and 45wt losi shock oil. Tires are proline tsl xl with duces wild foams.
The 45wt is the heaviest I have right now.
 
No need to get too excited then. If it seems slow to react, lighten the oil. If it's too floppy, thicken the oil or use pistons with fewer holes.
 
Duuuuuuuude said:
It's not that big of a deal with slow moving crawlers. Compared to my go fast stuff, I spend very little time tuning crawler shocks.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. I do however spend a lot of time refilling the shocks on my crawler. Even my pro,ones are only good for a couple packs before they need a top off.
 
In my opinion here is a good place to start. Run a stiffer spring combo in the rear and softer in the front. They are dual spring shocks. I don't have a soft spring in the first stage and progress to a stronger spring later in the stroke. I keep the spring rate equal through the entire stroke. I'm not sure if this makes sense or not. I only have the front springs just firm enough to hold the front of the truck up and not sag more than 5-10mm. I kept swapping out for stronger and stronger springs in the rear until I started to see the results I was looking for. My truck is about 8lbs and I have 45W oil in my shocks that have two hole pistons. I started w/ 30w oil but the rebound was crazy fast for my taste. I'm thinking of going to maybe 60W or maybe 45w fronts 60 W rear, just to see what happens. I still think it's a bit too quick. They are not really high volume shocks they are pretty scale. I am pretty sure your shocks are bigger so that can change things. Plus you have that adjustable compression too so you need to consider that also because my set up does not have it. This is why there is no "guide" for this, it just doesn't work like that. The heavier your truck gets use thicker oil. I lean my front shocks back and run the rears as close to vertical as possible. Get a good assortment of different rate springs for your shocks and a few bottles of different weight oils. It is shock TUNING so you should expect much trial and error as there is no magic setup that works for every truck, driver and terrain. You will run a wide variety of combos of springs, oils, and mounting positions before you start to see what works for your truck and where you drive it. Take notes, only change one thing at a time and make changes in small increments. If something doesn't work or makes it worse you will know what to change back. If it helps keep moving in that direction until you start to see negative gains in performance. Then back up into where it was running good last, and try changing something else. I'm still experimenting, that's what tuning is all about no matter what the application. This is all stuff that has worked for ME.
 
Last edited:
No offense, but that is a horrible tuning method. And yes, there are actually several guides and methods to suspension tuning, but they all require an understanding of how all the components and adjustments work. It's a lot to take in, and it's easy to get overloaded in information.

Once you do understand, you can tune fairly quickly, especially on a crawler.

By leaning your shocks back you are effectively reducing spring/oil rate and causing them to react in a progressive manner, meaning the farther they compress, the weaker they become. Unless you want or need that, stand them up.

Typically you want a light oil with a stiff spring, and visa versa. Light/light makes for a floppy and loose ride, stiff/thick makes for a hard one.

While there is no magic "one size fits all" tune, the goals are the same: stability and control.
 
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