AC

My friend just bought a tc3 team kit, and then bought the threaded shock bodies. My question is, since i helped him build the car ("supervised"), he had problems with the shocks, it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, the air bubbles just wouldnt go away, therefore making that annoying squeeking noise.
As i have made many shocks before, and my pro2 threaded shocks work perfectly, i had a shot... no luck, still air bubbles, and i was only able to get the rebound right on two shocks, and they too have the annoying sqeeking noise.
So anyone know a way of getting rid of those god damn air bubbles???
Also, is it something with team associated kits or something? Because my t3 shocks also are pretty damn impossible to get rid of the air bubbles, also they included dumb ass screws, that were stripped, same as my friends tc3 kit.. Now he has to go out and get some new screws for the car, how frustrating!!!!!
Edit: When the shocks have air bubbles in them, and they make the "squeeking" noise, does it really affect the performace at all? What about rebound? Does that affect performace at all?

fatdoggy

I don't know AE shocks, I've done hpi's and your right there very easy.

How long did you let the shocks sit before you finished them up. When building a shock you first pull the piston right to the bottom of the shock(fully extended) then fill it with oil, push the piston up and down untill all the air under the piston is gone(but only to half way up/down so it dosn't hit the surface), then let it sit for a while with piston full extended until all the bubbles are gone(then redue just to make sure there is no air), then top up if needed so it's very full(overflowing almost) and put on the bladder if they use one and then the cap.

Don't give up on them, even if there a bitch to build they will make your life alot easier because there threaded. Getting the air out of the shocks is important because if you don't they get inconsistancies when driving because the shock action isn't smooth. As for reabound if everything was the same size and both shcoks had no air in them they should rebound back to about the same spot, just fully extend both push them right in so there's no extension at all then let it go, they both should rebound to about half way. I think....

I believe they make a new contrapsion now that can get the air bubbles out of shocks but it's probably way over priced and I can't remember who makes it.

Anybody know?

Coxy

Take the shocks apart again, I think I know what your problem is. With the foam bobbin in the shock make sure it is soaked with oil. The best way to do this is to compress the foam and soak the bobbin. Then when you let go of the bobbin it sucks the oil into the foam. Also make sure you coat the o rings with oil. If this does not work you may have a broken o ring, so check these as well.
You can even fill you shock with oil get the air out of them the best you can and leave the shock un capped over night. The think that Fat Doggy was talking about it a vacuum pump. A little expensive but these things are great.
Also remember when putting the cap on half fill the shock cap. You should get you rebound right. Shock shaft should come out slowly, just make them the same. Doing all this you should not have a problem and have anti noise shocks.

Coxy

AC

Thanks peoples... yeah hpi shocks are so easy to build!! havnt had a problem yet!!
How are Xray shocks to build??

VenomWorldOrder

while we are on the subject of shocks;

which manufacturer in your opinions make the smoothest action and most reliable shocks? i've rebuilt my kyosho v1r shocks heaps of times ( at one point buying a new set for the rear) and found the internals of the shock casing had two rings, or grooves arounf the internal sides.

so what shocks are the best? hudy? trinity? serpent? mugen? losi?

Michael_T

iTrader: (52)

My trick is to grease up the little o-rings. You'll notice the sqeezing sound is the shaft going up and down through the O-rings (that sounded dirty )

Not sure about the other manufacturers, but the Mugen shocks have a little bleed value in the shock which gets rid of excess oil and seems to remove any air in them.

vr01

I find that Losi offroad shocks are the easiest to build. Oh in case you were wondering Venom shocks are basically identical to HPI, Yokomo, AE shocks. So there's no difference, they're all good.

Besercoe

iTrader: (9)

I have found Tamiya shocks to be the smoothest, i dont know what makes them smooth, but their action is very silky.

Xray shocks if you follow the instructions are also very easy to build, just makes sure as always that all of the flashing is removed from the internals, and they are very good, and with the new keyed pistons, you cant strip out the clicker like the older serpent ones.

Coxy

I would have to agree with Besercoe, Tamiya make the best shocks. Get the TRF treaded shocks.

In the latest Car Action they were doing a review on the 414 M2 and it was said that the Tamiya shocks would have to be the best on the market. Even guys using very good touring cars are now starting to put tamiya shocks on there cars as a hot up.

At the end of the day you still have to build them right but its hard to mess up a Tamiya Shock.

Coxy.

AC

Out of my tamiya cars, hpi, associated and xpress, i have found that my ye old tamiya shocks were the easiest to build, and they havnt been rebuilt for around 10years!!!!!
They last forever and are so easy to build. HPI is very close behind, except their action isnt as smooth as it could be..
Team Associated shocks are a bastard to build, and so are xpress, but then again, my xpress shocks were the really shit ones.

VenomWorldOrder

thanks for the advice. tamiya it is then.

ShadowAu

iTrader: (7)

TC3 shocks are not the easiset shock to get working right but once they are they are damn near as good as tamiya shocks, though they do need more regular maintance than tamiya shocks

first of all make sure the rubber o ring that goes on the threads under the cap is in good nick... its only about 10 bucks for a rebuild kit and it has all the o-rings in it... they should last ages... fill the shock with oil and move the piston up and down a few times to get all the air bubbles to the surface... then let it sit until they are gone... top up the shock and move the piston again... if there are no more air bubbles make sure the shock is full of oil... then fill the cap about half full with oil and quickly get them together, holding the shock on an angle of 20 or 30 degrees (doesn't have to be exact)... slowly screw the cap down and you'll hear the excess oil and air being pushed out... its a bit of a pain and it takes a bit of practice to get it right but when you do the shocks will be pretty close to perfect

hope it helps

scottyhill

iTrader: (6)

I definitely vote for the Tamiya shocks.

Especially now you can get them with Blue threaded bodies. Very fast.

AC

Yeah, but then again, so are hpi shocks, havnt had one problem with them, havnt even needed a rebuild!!
As for my team associated shocks, many times a rebuild for them!
Tamiya are the most reliable though.

Coxy

I also rate the ones on the Super Hornet.


Coxy