XRAY - Model racing cars

I recently bought some replacement seals for my shocks. They are little purple o-rings and they come with assorted c-clips that are also used in the shocks. When I changed them out the old seals were orange and I didn't notice it at the time but they are slightly larger than the purple ones. Anyway, the purple seals leaked all over the place after one practice round and I had to rebuild. That is when I noticed the size difference. I am using the aluminum shock bodies. I have an Evo2 and a FK04 and the orange seals came out of the original Evo2 shocks. My newer shocks that came with the FK04 have the purple seals.

Basically what I am saying is that there are apparently two different shocks with two different seals. So how do I get new orange seals if I need them?

The orange o-rings are old ones used 1 or 2 years ago. The FK from last year and FK05 include the purple o-rings. The orange o-ring was a bit larger. On one side it seals a bit better, but because it is tight, it also little bit slows down the movement of the shock shaft making the dampening not that perfect like the purple o-rings do. The purple o-rings are a bit smaller and they allow the shock shaft to move perfectly free thus making the shock dampening perfect. Being the purple o-rings a bit smaller a tiny amount of oil leaks out but as team drivers including factory R&D team assured me, it is a tiny and ninimum amount that does not make any problem. If your shocks leak too much, there may be some other problem and I suggest to rebuild. Otherwise if the shocks leak just a bit, it should be no problem and nothing to worry about.

Qwiglee,

Make sure you have the balck O-ring on the shock bottoms as well (check the manual to see which one I mean). If you forget that one the shock will leak the way you describe.

If you have those one (and possibly replaced them with new ones) you may want to put some diff grease on the purple O-ring just before you seal the cap. Diff grease is much thicker than the oil and will seal the damper a lot better without the drawback of added resistance that you get from the old orange O-rings.

Thanks for the responses...

Tonyv: I am not sure which o-ring you are talking about. The little purple ones go into the plastic lower shock caps but other than that I see no other seals on the bottom of the shocks. Anyway, if there was an o-ring missing then wouldnt it leak with the orange seals too?

I am using the aluminum shock bodies as well, maybe this contributes to the leaking of the purple seals? When I first built the FK04 kit I used the standard plastic shock bodies with the purple seals and they worked fine. After a while of racing I transferred the aluminum shocks from my old Evo2 to the new T1fk still with the orange seals in them.

I have rebuilt these T1 shocks many times and although they work well for a few runs they always leak slowly...they always have a coating of shock oil on the outside which attracts dirt. I am getting very close to switching to another brand of shocks entirely.

Qwiglee,

Have a look at this image: .

See the little black O-rings right next to the O-rings you've been talking about? These are very important and must be installed on the bottom of the shock housing itself. The shock end-cap will fall over this O-ring which is part of the sealing mechanism.

Just ask Jilles. It took me three days to figure out when I forgot to put these O-rings on...

I suggest using Green Slime (from Team Associated) instead of diff lube. It will seal the shaft without adding the "stick-tion". It gives you a better shock whether or not you have a leakage problem.

--mark[/quote]

I totally agree, they are very smooth after the green slime treatment. We've never really had to many leaks, provided we remember to tighten the lower shock cap.
Phil