How often does an occasional weekend racer need to rebuild shocks?
How do you tell if you need to other than they leak?

Thx!

With the red o rings - every 2-3 race days ( the o rings are replaced )
With the clear Kyosho o rings - about once a month ( the o rings are cleaned a re used )

take off the spring and feel the consistency of the shock shaft dampening action throughout the entire length of its travel. if its not consistent, rebuild. if one shock doesn't feel the same as the other, rebuild.

Thank you. I have been trying to find those.

Are those actually compatible, or are you telling me to switch to K shocks?

I'd like to get o-rings that might work better than, but fit in, the stock RTR bodies, if that's even possible. I can't buy new shocks at this point.

So, I just want to thank everyone who chimed in, really, whether I agreed with you or not.. and yeah that's probably too much damn time to be talking about leaky RTR shocks on this thread. It did, at least, bring out a lot of interesting info.. (well, for me anyway). I was going to see if AE had anything to say about it, but I'll just fix them myself and STFU. I didn't get an RTR because I'm lazy, I got it because I couldn't spend the money or time on the alternatives. And I expected a quality build. But leaky shocks are common, the fix is cheap, and it's not worth dragging it on any further.

Now can we get back to discussing the +8 chassis and spring color charts please?

Part number, please?

bottom of this link

http://www.shortbusracers.com/2011/0...shock-leaking/

Depending on when your kit was built, it may or may not have the updated AE o-rings in them. The updated o-rings seal better, but you'll still get oil contamination over time. It's unavoidable with o-rings.

To tell, get the updated shock rebuild package, disassemble your shocks, then look at the color of the o-rings. If they're definitely orange, then they're the old ones. The new ones are red.

Also make sure to get a tube of Green Slime. That helps seal the shocks and protect the o-rings from damage during assembly.

A word to the wise: The precise height of the spacer in between the sealing rings is CRITICAL to long term shock performance. Be prepared to experiment with different height spacers if you go this route.

Sweet! Anybody in the Gilbert, AZ area have a few of these they'd be willing to part with?

I wonder if the Viton fluoroelastomer ones are better?

(I just wanted to type the word fluoroelastomer, really.)

has anyone ever used these for their wheels?
any good or should I stick with steel ones from JC?

http://www.rpmrcproducts.com/products/misc/index.htm

Before I had Kyosho shocks on my buggy () I had tried the McMaster Carr buna x rings in my V1 shocks. They worked pretty well but still leak quite a bit more than the Kyosho shocks I currently have. They are a much higher durometer (firmer) than most rings I have had in an RC shock so the spacer is probably even more critical. I tried all sorts of spacer heights but never truly got rid of premature leakage. I was in the habit of re-oiling shocks pretty frequently anyway so it wasn't a big deal for me.

So it's white o ring (in the FT shock rebuild kit - V1 or V2 or either?), then white spacer (what height, same kit?), then x-ring (or another white o-ring if you don't have those?) Is that right? So the x-ring would be the thing at the bottom of the shock body - the thing keeping the shaft dirt out of the shock body itself?

And the ID of the shock bodies for RTR, V1 and V2 are the same, right? (1/4")?

Why is the spacer such a big deal? I assume you're talking about the thickness of the spacer? Or is it the quality?

Are Kyosho shocks the same diameter (not the BB ones, obv.) -- so o-rings etc. are interchangable?