Originally Posted by
mrgsr
hi guys does anyone have issues with the shock bladders swelling up?
i built my aluminium shocks when new in 10 mins and they were perfect, a month later i took the oil out to put some lighter oil and now when i screw the cap down the bladder feels tighter in the body and oil wont bleed out the hole
You need to replace the bladders pretty often, I think I replace them about every 6 weeks.
New bladders give better performance and it makes it a lot easier to build shocks.
The way I would recommend building the aluminum shocks is the way Jilles Groskamp builds them in the redrc video.
After you filled the shocks and let the air out you drop the bladder in and pinch it a little so the lip of the bladder will sit flush with the shock housing, it shouldn't pop up again.
Before you put the bladder in you can determine the amount of rebound you will end up with by pushing in the shock shaft, for making sure you will have the same amount of rebound on both sides you should place something between the rod end and the housing.
You can use an O ring like Jilles does but I prefer using Caster clips because these are non-compressable. I like to use 4mm of clips all around, for low traction I go to 6mm and very high traction I use 2mm.
After the bladder has settled you can drop in the plastic rod end/insert and screw the cap on.
Another tip on building the alu shocks is to check the plastic shims which go into the lower part of the shock.
Most of the time the small plastic shims fit too tight around the shock shaft and cause excessive drag. Most of the time you can see your shockshafts going dull after a couple of runs.
Increase the diameter of the shims until they will move freely along the shaft, they are only for compressing the o-ring, not for sealing of the shaft.
If you build your shocks like this you will end up with 4 perfectly smooth and matched shocks.
