Air Bubbles in Shocks?
 

I am rebilding my losi 8ihgt shocks with new o rings. I have the losi shock balancer tool. What is happening is I fill the shock up, push it up and down to get the air bubbles out, wait a night then push the air bubbles out again, then I screw the cap on. I push it around a few times and when I open it to put more or less fluid in there there is a BUNCH of air bubbles!! the o rings are new so I want to know why this is happening? It's been 2 days and I havent even got 1 shock perfect yet!! thanks!

I have had a shock do that before. Put nylon tape on the treads where the cup screws one and it stoped geting air in there. I don't know if thats whats wrong with your shocks but its worth a try.

This is with all 4 shocks. Last time it did the same thing but I just winged it.

I dont have any nylon tape. Can I use Associated Green Slime, diff grease or somehting in that area?

I don't no what Associated Green Slime but you want a tread sealer. I would not use pipe dope because you would probly never get the shocks apart.

How are you filling the shocks? Piston position etc?

The shock piston is at the bottom when I am filling the shocks. I dont go up all the way when gettign the air bubbles out,about 80% up then all the way down when getting the air bubbles out. I let the air bubbles get out when the shock is at the bottom of the shaft.

Push the piston up about 1mm from the bottom, then fill the shock about 50%, then rotate the piston around (do not pull the piston down or up) and bubbles will rise to the surface, after you have done that and think there is no air bubbles under the piston, blow hard on the shock and if no more bubbles rise to the surface fill the shock then push the piston up around 3/4, then rotate the piston again, if no air bubbles rise to the surface slowly pull the piston down and rotate it at the same time till its all the way to the bottom, then push the piston up around 3/4 of the way, then put the cap on, tilt the shock so its on a 45 degree angle with the bleeder hole in the cap facing up, then rotate the shock barrel not the cap to bleed them and tighten up the cap. Shouldnt take you more than 10 - 15 min to do all the shocks.

I like to position the piston about a 1/4 way up the stroke , then start putting fluid in. I will pour some in and let it drain through the holes in the piston, then add a little more and do the same until the fluid level is above the piston. Then I top it off and stroke the piston a couple times then let the shocks sit with the caps off while the remaining bubbles rise and pop. Then I put the caps on with the shocks angled and the bleed hole at the highest point. This method produces some really smooth shocks for me.

Thanks FrankBlack and NCWC!!!

I find the higher the push the piston up to fill the shock, the bigger the bubble under the piston and the longer it takes to get the oil under the piston and push up the bubbles, if you only push it up 1mm there is only a small amount of trapped air under the piston and doesnt take long to get oil under there and get rid of the air. The way i just described you dont have to let the shock sit, you can get teh shock filled and ready to go in minutes which is what you need if you gotta do it at the track.

You are right about that. It would make it much quicker to get the job done, but I have never changed fluid or bled them at the track. I go to the track to have fun, and bleeding shocks aint as fun as BS'n with the boys:D. Thats just what I do at the shop. You know, the "no rush method".:lol: