ANOTHER fresh Littlemotor build?!? 😜🤘

[Littlemotor]

Man, I love reading your builds. They get me going back on RC! I actually took 4 months or so away from RC. then I got back on and read one of your builds, and now I'm back in full force!

That’s killer buddy! Glad you’re back, and happy to have inadvertently twisted your arm! Thanks for the props as well big homie, I appreciate it!!

 

[Lukedavis]

That’s killer buddy! Glad you’re back, and happy to have inadvertently twisted your arm! Thanks for the props as well big homie, I appreciate it!!

I need to get a tekno

 

[Littlemotor]

I need to get a tekno

They’re a lot of fun for sure! Definitely get your money’s worth with ‘em IMO!!

 

[CertifiedMike]

A bit late answering this but O.S. stands for Ooooohhhh Smooooke!!!!

 

[DavidB1126]

I need to get a tekno

We'll split it. I get the center. You get the front clip. And @luke66 gets the rear clip. Sharing is caring!

You get the T. I get the EK. @luke66 gets the NO. Lol

 

[9x19]

You do realize I have as many flashlight rides as I do nitro, yes? Had electrics “figured out” since the 80’s up through today holmes..

You ain't gotta lie to make friends ... someone said.

 

[luke66]

I need to get a tekno

Or maybe one two or two thousand

 

[Littlemotor]

Just sizing up a bit of what’s in store..

BigDog props to THE @SoCalTazer for the OG hookup on further unobtanium, and nonexistium parts!

 

[Littlemotor]

Time to tear these fools down. I did some fairly serious work making these bad boys work on a vehicle they were never meant to ever see. I’m NOT the first to do this by any means, -however I absolutely am the first to run them as I have them outfitted now.

I DID get detailed photos of that procedure-but I’d be “pulling the curtain back” as they say; and I’m not quite ready to do that just yet..

Now that I know what I’m working with, and have a proper plan of action; I’m gonna disassemble everything, inspect for possible failures, typical (and normal) wear & tear, and then clean everything up. I’ll separate what I’m using, from what I’m keeping for spares, and they’ll be ready to rock when the build begins. I’ll be sure to include my “leg work” at that time for all to see exactly WTF the “Mad Scientist” has come up with, and why..

Fashioned up a catch-all for my fluids using a standard cardboard box from Amain, filled with a paper towel bearing, and wrapped/secured with a 1gal Ziploc for when the fluid seaps through… And it WILL, lol..

Start by removing the spring retainer, cap bushing, and spring. Then we’ll lose the rod ends.

These next two are out of order, but you get the idear.. Carefully remove the ride height adjustment collar. Be very careful here… These dudes are 20+ years old.. If it fights you, slow the faaack down. The o-ring that keeps the collar from moving while driving is not gonna be in tremendous shape at this age.. You do NOT wanna destroy your ultra fine shock body threads, nor collar threads..

Annnnnd into the Naphtha bath over night, or for 24hrs.. Likely the latter..

This is what I’m talking about. The o-ring has had it. It played nice, and was toward the end, so I was fortunate..

This one however-has some nastiness in the threads that my small, stiff bristle brush wouldn’t remove. Take care of the problem BEFORE it’s a disaster. The BEST option here is my CMD Extreme Pressure Lube, but it doesn’t play nice with o-rings, and I didn’t want to risk destroying a possible good one, so I just used lithium based Green Slime.. Worked flawlessly.

Beginning to pull piston/shaft assemblies, and drain the bodies..

 

[Littlemotor]

Pretty cool little treasure find here.. On the right is a kit piston, usually delrin, a composite, or nylon these days (so I’d be talking out of my asss if I tried to pull from my ol’ memory bank exactly what the old dudes were made of), and on the left-we have a super pimp Fioroni “dual action” machined piston.. Cool concept for sure-though I’m unsure exactly how effective it is.. The logic here is that it move faster within the shock body under rebound than compression as the machined reliefs send the fluid out past the external o-ring, but still dampens normally under compression. These will likely be tested out in the FRONT-where they’re far more likely to be beneficial IMO.. There are only two out of the (8) shocks I received in this exceptional hook-up. I also have standard 2-hole (absolutely standard back in the day), as well as some 4-hole dudes to play with. I’ll also be drilling some of the spare 2-hole’s to 3, and possibly 4-hole. 1/8 off-road shocks can be a lot of fun to explore, and test imho..

As far as I can tell-ALL of my bladders turned out to be in tremendous shape after I removed them from the caps..

This was the one that went in to soak immediately due to some junk in the threads..
It was time to pay the piper, and this time I DID choose to use the CMD. The BODY, and COLLAR, are far more important to me than the o-ring after verifying that I had plenty of them in excellent shape. Again-fix it BEFORE it’s a disaster. Especially with literally unobtanium parts..

 

[Littlemotor]

After… CMD will absolutely save your asss with archaic parts disassembly, AND treat your 1/8 off-road ring and pinions RIGHT. One of my favorite things I have in the RC Dungeon… Nothing else even comes close in my personal experience-and I’ve used it all. Keep your Lucas. -Only way you’ll ever get my CMD is after prying it from my cold dead fingers.. It eleventybillion% saved this non-existium shock body, and collar. I’m stoked.

Onto the cartridge seals stack.. I actually have some ULTRA tiny Matco Tools snap ring pliers that I was going to use for these little guys, but they were legit .2mm too large.. I used a super killer old German pick to gently pull them from their bore.. I didn’t lose a single one.

Inventory, kill count, and soak what I need to in Naphtha.. Very nice. -outta (8) used 20+ year old shocks, there are a total of (8) bad parts. That’s dammiit TREMENDOUS.

(3) collar o-rings
(2) cartridge o-rings
(1) cartridge plastic o-ring
(1) rod end
(1) “buggy front” shaft


Keep in mind the amount of BNIP “spares” I received with this dealio… I’ve been fortunate enough to have had nothing but absolutely PHENOMENAL dealings with our boy @SoCalTazer for over 20yrs now, and this one is no different. ALL shock parts in 1/8 off-road are 100% “consumables” imo. I could not have asked for a better year down, & subsequent inspection result here.

 

[Littlemotor]

I’m tellin’ ya-if you ever have the opportunity to deal with my boy-do not hesitate for a second.. Now we go waaaaay back, but still.. Dude looked after his boy for sure here.

The soft parts “trash pile” is minuscule… The rod end is in the mix, but inverted until I swap the pivot ball into a fresh unit, and the shaft is in there with the rest, but not hard to find and swap out with one of the (4) brand new ones he included for when I start this build..

I’ll bag all this up properly, but as of this time tomorrow-mission accomplished. Just wanted to get my ducks in a row, and not have to fool around with excessive “prep-work” during this build. Also in the unlikely event that Steve didn’t have me covered, I’d go ahead and order up what I need.

I'm pumped AF… Cannot WAIT to finally pull back the curtain, and get started on this one.. Gonna be pure unadulterated LUNACY. Stay tuned fellas!

 

[WickedFog]

Get them oily rags off that yoga pad ya madman!

I spilled a little cup of WD40 on my Axial pit mat and now it has a damn sunken spot on it. But it's out of my work area. I throw a clean towel down now if I'm working with oils.

It's about to get serious up in here! The most anticipated build thread in a good while

 

[Littlemotor]

Get them oily rags off that yoga pad ya madman!

I spilled a little cup of WD40 on my Axial pit mat and now it has a damn sunken spot on it. But it's out of my work area. I throw a clean towel down now if I'm working with oils.

It's about to get serious up in here! The most anticipated build thread in a good while

It’s silicone. I always get after it with Simple Green. Hasn’t eaten it up yet-just leave a shiny “spot”…

That’s what this thing is for anyhow lol..

Well I appreciate it man-I’m fairly certain you, and ONE other member have a faaackin clue what’s coming…

 

[WickedFog]

It’s silicone. I always get after it with Simple Green. Hasn’t eaten it up yet-just leave a shiny “spot”…

That’s what this thing is for anyhow lol..

Well I appreciate it man-I’m fairly certain you, and ONE other member have a faaackin clue what’s coming…

 

[CertifiedMike]

View attachment 218819

German hookers?!?!?!
I'm staying for this one!!!

 

[Littlemotor]

Time to play…

I “eyeballed” the first one… Less than ideal considering I’m at the mercy of my Dremel, and not my Milwaukee due to the OD of the bit.. This requires that I start the Dremel, then “live plunge” into the piston… I typically have a good eye for this stuff, but with the tool in rotation BEFORE contacting my work-I made some marks.. Not a big deal, and the silicone doesn’t care one bit, either way.. My OCD does though..

The OG setup is (2) 1.5mm. I’m adding (2) 1.1mm to allow for a slightly heavier oil, better low speed dampening, as well as higher HIGH speed dampening by manipulating the “pack” via piston thickness, surface area, chamber volume, and viscosity. We are fairly limited by the design of off-road RC shocks, but that’s not to say we cannot optimize what we have to work with. I decided NOT to run the uber-swanky Fioroni aluminum “dual action” pistons. I’m not super convinced they’ll be much advantage over what I’m doing here, but will absolutely do some testing with them in the future, after I dial in THIS setup. Just a very MINIMAL chamfer here. Really defeats the purpose if you go too far. Realistically-I just want to clean up the trash, and NOT remove more material.

Set my “spares” off to the side, as I’ve chosen what I feel to be the best parts for the builds. Everything is cleaned up, inspected, and modified to my liking. The 72hr Naphtha bath did a stellar job, as usual..

I’ve got a few more speshulll trinkets coming for these, but aside from that-they’re ready for me to begin the build(s).. I’ve been doing a LOT of homework on spring selection-and believe I’m extremely close to where I’m aiming to be.

Again-I could not have done this without my boy @SoCalTazer coming through CLUTCH, as he’s known for.. SOLID daammiit brother of another mother..

As soon as the rest of my stuff arrives, it’s ON. -and I can’t WAIT.

 

[Doom!]

This build has been great but this last addition has been particularly SHOCKING!

 

[CertifiedMike]

Time to play…

View attachment 219365View attachment 219366

I “eyeballed” the first one… Less than ideal considering I’m at the mercy of my Dremel, and not my Milwaukee due to the OD of the bit.. This requires that I start the Dremel, then “live plunge” into the piston… I typically have a good eye for this stuff, but with the tool in rotation BEFORE contacting my work-I made some marks.. Not a big deal, and the silicone doesn’t care one bit, either way.. My OCD does though..

View attachment 219367View attachment 219368

The OG setup is (2) 1.5mm. I’m adding (2) 1.1mm to allow for a slightly heavier oil, better low speed dampening, as well as higher HIGH speed dampening by manipulating the “pack” via piston thickness, surface area, chamber volume, and viscosity. We are fairly limited by the design of off-road RC shocks, but that’s not to say we cannot optimize what we have to work with. I decided NOT to run the uber-swanky Fioroni aluminum “dual action” pistons. I’m not super convinced they’ll be much advantage over what I’m doing here, but will absolutely do some testing with them in the future, after I dial in THIS setup. Just a very MINIMAL chamfer here. Really defeats the purpose if you go too far. Realistically-I just want to clean up the trash, and NOT remove more material.

View attachment 219369View attachment 219370

Set my “spares” off to the side, as I’ve chosen what I feel to be the best parts for the builds. Everything is cleaned up, inspected, and modified to my liking. The 72hr Naphtha bath did a stellar job, as usual..

View attachment 219371View attachment 219372View attachment 219373View attachment 219374

I’ve got a few more speshulll trinkets coming for these, but aside from that-they’re ready for me to begin the build(s).. I’ve been doing a LOT of homework on spring selection-and believe I’m extremely close to where I’m aiming to be.

Again-I could not have done this without my boy @SoCalTazer coming through CLUTCH, as he’s known for.. SOLID daammiit brother of another mother..

As soon as the rest of my stuff arrives, it’s ON. -and I can’t WAIT.

I read "CLUTCH" and Neil fired in with 'IMPETUS!!!!'
Not bad for free-hand.
Shocks are looking amazing!!!

 

[Littlemotor]

This build has been great but this last addition has been particularly SHOCKING!

What’s funny is- 1) just how ridiculously pumped () I am over this particular build, and- 2) that said build(s) () haven’t even been really discussed yet lol… The time is coming for that however, and it’s been absolutely KILLIIIIIIIIIING me over here to keep quiet(ish)… Thanks for the kind words chief!!