XRAY - Model racing cars

Hi,

I am new to the boards. I seem to be having issues with shock o-rings and leaking.
Does anyone have any fixes.

Leaking shocks has been a problem for many but its mainly just down to being over filled which is very easy to do. The large volume ribbed membranes / diaphrams solves allot of it but is how they are built in the main cause.
For me fill the shocks as normal & allow to stand so trapped air bubbles can escape, now partially screw on cap. From this point angle shock to 45 degs so blead screw is facing up & turn shock body into shock cap so vent hole is always facing up. Take your time turning to allow excess oil & air to escape as whole process per shock will take between 30-45 seconds. Rushing this process traps excess oil & over preassure's internals leading to collapsed membranes or leaks from seals due to hydraulic lock as it has no where else to go.

There is another option of drilling a small hole in the top of the cap & placing some foam between the cap & membrane which is givng better consistency. For this I will post a tip in the tip & tricks section when im happy with testing results & posting the correct info.

Yes thank you. I am new to the Xray shocks. I used to do the foam trick to my Losi 8.

It works if your confident to do the mod. I have tried the shock video tip Mr Drake posted a while back but on the xray shocks has not given me consistent rebounds with the ease he shows so still experimenting & is why Im waiting before posting a tip.

thats cause Adam has done it 1k times.

Its strange cause Ill fill the shock up with oil and when you go to compress and rebound the shock to get rid of the air bubbles I just end up letting more air bubbles in. Doh

trust me ive built just a few shocks & like your experiencing is inconsistency in results. Over coming shock boots & other factors it where more consistency in the build I was trying to find as the results have never been spot on.
Whether im trying to be to perfect in my build is another thing & many will post up works for me but if i set to 50 % I would exspect both to end up the same & im not getting that consistency yet every time.

I trying various things to get consistent rebounds without all the pushing & pulling, so have a mixture of membranes, foam spacers & caps to make it easier just need to collate the info, just takes time.

well thing is I have been building rc shocks for years. My Hot Bodies car I could build the shocks with my eyes closed and they were the same amount of rebound etc. So I was doing Xray shocks and Im stumped. LOL

Without going off topic to far guys, I noticed the word consistency or lack of, popped up there a couple of times.
Well if you haven't already, try using the Losi shock build/matching tool. It's a well thought out, easy to use bit of kit and does exactly what its meant too. Just to pick up on a comment Bren made, you can never be too perfect with any suspension build. So don't panic you're not being overly fussy

Although I've only found my way into RC 1/8 off-road in the last year or so (having had previous experience with off-road suspension building and set-up but on a larger scale) I think the first thing I did was pull apart the shocks and rebuild them. And being somewhat fanatical about how shock builds should go, I invested in the Losi tool.
I liked it immediately and have found the rebuilds I've done so far, to be pretty much spot on.
As you boys know, suspension is king in the world of racing, especially off-road, and if you get it dialled in, the dividends are plenty

I appreciate the comment on the matching tool but its not quite what im coming from.
Basicly other shocks can be filled with oil, compressed to a point for a desired rebound & then tighten the caps, hey presto the rebound is what you set.

Due to tolerances position of bleed hole or somthing in the xray shocks I cannot get this old school rebound setup to work. I can produce the rebound desired but it takes far longer than it should take & if your rushing like it can happen on race days the inconsistent or differences soon creep in.

So Im just playing around with different things to achieve a quick way to achieve it & in a way it can be easily replicated by others.

Your welcome. Ah, I see what you're trying to achieve now, so thanks for the outline. If I have a eureka moment I'll pass it on.

For your info... I got the alternative o-rings from another manufacturer just to be sure and they are still unused in my parts box! 2010 car and no leakage issues with shocks. And I build the shocks another way. I put the bladder on the shock, press it down, then hold it down and move shaft upwards as far as I want, oil escapes. Then pull back the shaft so bladder is held on the shock and screw on the top.

thx for the tip. I will try that.

I also take a long time to push out the oil, it's the only way to stop it shooting the shaft to full length just as you nip up the last tiny bit. Sometimes it will give the rebound to 50% but find it pull back in 25% from full extension. Get 50% rebound another shock and it doesn't pull back in at all .

Good luck with the testing Bren.

I guess I'm one of those lucky people, I rebuild my shocks more often than I probably should, only problem I run across is slight differences in rebound after tightening the top, but its hardly anything to worry about. Shock leaking only occurs when i rebuild shocks in a air conditioned room and let my buggy or truggy sit in direct sunlight in my pickup for a couple of weeks in the middle of summer, I kind figured that migt happen. with any shock especially of this size and the forces these have, you will have a lil leaking, but I can run a full weekend of racing and they are still as full as they should be. I also try to rebuild them with the ambient temperate in mind of the track im going to, you rebuild them at home in the cool air and then take them to a hot race day they will leak as the shock oil has expanded with the rise in temp. wish I could remember this post I read on shock and the fluid dynamics involved with the oils, some of the calculations and terminology was a bit over my head, but there was some interesting stuff said about how temperature affects the oils in shocks. I'd like to hear your methods of with the foam inserts above the bladder, I tried that and I must of done it wrong cause it seemed worse, but I used some AKA foams from an old tire and I don't think I had them cut to the right size, one of those rush jobs, sitting at home watching tv as I tore everything down on my parents coffee table.