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Document You Screwups....

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LarryA

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I'll start off. Went to run the Savage today. Starter wouldn't turn over, OK it's flooded. Loosen plug and crank, lots of fuel. Figured this happened while I was working on the truck the other day. Try to start again and same thing. Where is all this fuel comming from (the tank obviously). Leason learned: "It is now a proven fact that the engine will flood almost instantly when you have a cap over the pipe (to keep oil from dripping out in the house) and you forget to take it off the pipe. Dahhhh. Remove cap and all runs fine after I figure out that my fuel filter is preventing the throttle from opening past half way. Some days nothing goes right.:banana:
 
Ok, here's mine. DO NOT put 80wt oil in your shocks. Don't ask me why I did it, I will only claim temporary stupidity. BTW, anyone know of a good way to streighten shock shafts?
 
Well, I may have duplicated yours because I just put 80 in my rear Savage shocks. Is this that bad for no "I'm crazy" air time?
 
Well. The one below that is really bent was a result of about a 5 foot vertical dropoff. Both shocks were on the rear. I'm gonna put 20wt in all the shocks, but my Hyper came in today and the truck is just about completely disassembled, and it's gonna pour rain all weekend.

bentshocks.jpg
 
I know people that use 80 and higher wt of oil...They blow shockcaps left and right..Even from 1-2 foot jumps...I just use 30-40 wt silicone(sp) i like it way better then when i used oil..
 
This was 80wt silicone. I hadn't been into the forums enough when I got the truck and the HB shocks, and the manual has a typo stating that the shocks take 100wt silicone. It should have read #100 wt which is US 10wt silicone. That's probably why alot of folks are screwing up their shocks.
 
I think those shocks are defective. I've seen pics of the same thing elsewhere and its only been the HB shocks that has hapenned to. I havent yet taken mine to the limits but fear when I do the same will happen. If so, you can bet your ass that HB will be hearing from me.
 
From what I'm reading and seeing, I would have to pass on buying Hotbodies shocks. People are having all kinds of problems with them. This could be a poor sampling of how they work because generally you only hear the bad about things. I'm going to keep the 80W in the rear shocks and see what happens. If it eats the shocks then I have a good excuse for the wife to buy new ones. :constipat
 
Ok Larry, but like I said, I had 80wt in them and both of the ones I bent were in the rear. BTW, after about an hour of screwing with both of mine I finally got the shafts just about strait and I'm putting them on the front. I also put 20wt silicone in them and set the preload pretty high. We'll see how the new oil does. SkyMaxx has a set of the HB shocks and he swears by them, not at them.
 
I did have 40W in the rear and it was terrrible mushy. There was no air in the shocks just very little cushioning effect at all. I'll make due with what I have until I can afford new stuff. If I see I might have problems then I can always go back to the 40W. I'm running 35W in the front and they seem fine but all the weight is in the rear anyway. Also took the truck out last night and the thing is getting an attitude! Everytime I run it it seems to need carb adjustment. I've checked and can find nothing loose or any possible air leak points. I'm working on this problem also, patience and/or oppertunity? Overall I'm happy with the truck, just need to still get some bugs out of it. I'm not planning on going the all out hopup route with this truck. Figure on keeping it functional and well adapted to the use I have for it. Anyway, factory parts are cheaper than machined aluminum and plastic does have the ability to give a bit where aluminum will not. The LHS guy saw it running the other week and said it was handling better than the others he had seen on the track. I think it is close to were I want it, now ifd it would stop raining for more than a day a week maybe I could have some fun.
 
Ill document your screwup before it happens.

Don't use the shocks with the bent shafts you have tried to straiten out. Just get new shafts.

First, they are going to stick and cause performance issues. They will most-likely bend again the first time you use them.

Second, After 1-2 runs they will leek dry. The seal will either be damaged or get damaged quickly.

Third and most important, the warped shaft will damage the shock body turning a 3.00 shaft replacement into a 20.00 new shock.

Don't skimp here it will cost to much money and time in the long-run.
 
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I like that. "Document your screwup before it happens". I suppose we all will eventually do something that others see the results of beforehand. And I thought this would turn out to be a lame thread.... We all do stupid things, it wouldn't be any fun for everyone else if we didn't.
 
I'm about ready to go back to the stock shocks anyway. At least there were 2 seals on the lower side and one at the top, not including the rubber bulb. I'm also getting tired of putting new oil in the ones that aren't bent. I bashed the old shocks just as much as the HB's with the same oil and the only time I screwed up a shock was when I didn't fill one correctly and it split along the body vertically. Sure one or two would squirt a little now and then, but they wouldn't piss oil all over the suspension like the HB's are now. Anyway, a single HB shock is only $10 each, not $20 (oops, forgot the shipping).
 
I've been using Trinty 100 weight oil in my stock shocks and haven't seem to have any problems(well one shock is leaking but haven't cleaned it to check). With all the skids it added so much weight the stock stuff didn't seem to have enough behind it. We're jumping maybe eight foot high jumps to a flat landing zone
 
Sounds to me like a lot of you guys are using heavier shock oil in place of your weak shock springs. Shock oil has one purpose, to control the spring bounce - thats it! The only reason to use heavy shock oil would be for on-road racing where you don't want much "bounce".

For any off-road vehicle, even more so for a monster truck doing jumps you want to use a lighter weight oil, this will allow a smooth motion in the shocks, then use a lighter or heavier spring for what ever condition you are running on.

I've found using a light oil 20-40 weight with heavier springs make for an excellent setup. I'm running the Hot Bodies shocks with a similar setup and love it.


-Michael
 
Thanks Woodie, that's what I was trying to get at. I'm dumping the 80wt and replacing it with 20. 80 was so thick I could see the suspension rebounding in slo mo in the air. It also would not bottom out from a 5 to 6 foot vertical drop. I preload the springs pretty heavy anyway, but the oil could'nt get through the piston fast enough so it leaked out the top, blew the bottom out once and bent two shafts. Thanks again Woodie for schooling us on shock workings, answers are always better than asumptions.

And Randy, if you're running 100wt and not having problems, then I must have a severly defective set of shocks cause I've had nothing but problems with mine from day 1. I'd just like to know the reason why these shocks seem to be problematic with so many people.
 
Error401 - To answer your question, I'm going to have to give my honest opinion and say THEY SUCK! I have mine loaded with 30wt which should be PERFECTLY FINE! But, when i do the drop test, the shocks do not absorb ANYTHING! This is at 3 feet. My speculation is that either the inner diameter of the shock does not match the shock plates correctly, or, the shafts are prone to an ever so slight flex that induces side force internally on the shock just before they compress. That side force, sooner or later, will cause your shock shafts to bend the way they have. There is another forum I patrol and there are MANY people who have had the same thing happen. Honestly, they went back to stock shocks with less problems until something better comes along. The thing that frosts my ass is that I already dropped the 60 bucks!!!!

I havent had it happen to me yet. But I havent put them through the ringer either. As soon as time permits I hope to test them to the hilt. With 30wt and 4lb springs. Ill keep you posted on how they do. Woodie has seen me drive and can tell you I'm not afraid of taking HUGE air at WOT with this pig. So If I blow 4 of them in one jump it will be safe to say they suck!
 
I agree, they suck. I just referenced the book and the stock shocks have two O rings, a spacer, the end cap, and the hole in the bottom of the shock body. That's 3 support points that keep the shaft strait. The HB's only have 1 O ring, the hole in the body and a soft black spacer at the bottom. Looks to me like HB didn't think side loading was anything to really worry about.

I dumped the 80wt oil and was suprised at the ammount of contamination that was present. It ranged from a light grey (probably the aluminum from the body) to a dark red (same color as the dirt I run in. Since that ammount of dirt couldn't come in by way of the top cap, I can only figure that it got sucked in the bottom. The stock shocks didn't have hardly any contamination.

I still put 20wt AE in, cause the last time I was running, it would not bottom out, at all, even from some punishing drops. That tells me that the oil is too heavy. We'll see how this works out, but it'll be a while till I get back to some serious bashing.

As for the shafts themselves, they don't like to bend. It took me about an hour with a 20oz hammer and a vice to tweak them back into some semblence of strightness. It's probably the side load putting the shaft in a bind that really bends the piss out of the shafts.
 
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