Aaaahhhhh AE shock building. A subject close to my heart. As you've hinted it makes no engineering sense whatsoever to have air in shocks in my opinion. I can't think of another "shock" application where there would be air actually mixed in with the shock fluid intentionally but there you go.
I suppose there are plenty of other people on the board who have tried these things, and various others to get AE shocks to work properly, but the things I've tried include fitting Traxxas diaphragm bladders and using the Yokomo caps.
My experience is that the bladders make the shocks smoother (as you'd expect with no air bubbles), but with not quite enough volume compensation, so the shock can't fully compress using the stock caps. I found that they leaked sooner, presumably because they compressed hard and blew the seals a little.
The Yokomo caps are a great time and mess saver since they have little "bleeder" holes in the cap so you can adjust the amount of air without that "fill up, cap on, test, cap off, add/subtract oil, clean mess, repeat" nonsense.
The other thing I've seen guys do is simply use Losi shocks with various results.
One thing I haven't tried, but willl be giving a go some time is to try the TC3/4 compensation method where there is a compressable foam collar around the shaft on the inside of the shock which squishes when the shock is compressed. It works OK on the road shocks, would probably require two or more of the foams for the extra size of the B4 shocks. Might be worth a try.
*SIGH* If only TRF made off road dampers .......
MIKE
Originally Posted by tony2
I! have just finished build my B4 my first RC 10 car, alter years of Losi is there Supose to be air in the shocks? I cant build them with out air bubbles