Shock oil weight

[Brady Matthews]

What weight shock oil is best for a rock bouncer?

 

[WickedFog]

What weight shock oil is best for a rock bouncer?

Lots and lots of variables. Varies from rig to rig, and what mods you have. Start with stock weight and adjust according to your preferences.

 

[Brady Matthews]

Ok, will do. Thanks

 

[Addict Rc]

Thicker weight shock oil will make it not move as much.
Thinner weight shock oil will make it move more.

 

[WickedFog]

A rock bouncer needs quick movement to get the tires planted when flying over bumps and obstacles. So a thin shock fluid that allows the springs to rebound the shocks quickly would be what I went after. I would maybe start with 30w shock oil and I would want springs just firm enough to get about 50% squat on the suspension.

 

[bill_delong]

I would start with 500cSt and then go up/down based on temp and how the car handles. You want enough pack so the chassis bottoms out once after a jump, if it bounces back up in the air then it's too thin, if the chassis doesn't hit the ground before the car bounces up then it's too thick. Thinner fluids will generate more grip and tend to cause traction rolls when cornering, thicker fluids will take away grip and make the car handle more aggressive in the corners.

temperature will also effect the viscosity:

 

[WickedFog]

I would start with 500cSt and then go up/down based on temp and how the car handles. You want enough pack so the chassis bottoms out once after a jump, if it bounces back up in the air then it's too thin, if the chassis doesn't hit the ground before the car bounces up then it's too thick. Thinner fluids will generate more grip and tend to cause traction rolls when cornering, thicker fluids will take away grip and make the car handle more aggressive in the corners.

temperature will also effect the viscosity:
View attachment 178091

This is a rock bouncer. Not a race car. They don't really jump or corner bro

 

[bill_delong]

This is a rock bouncer. Not a race car. They don't really jump or corner bro

I have seen many people use a TEKNO chassis for rock bouncers specifically for racing, it's a fairly popular event out here in Texas where they race for cash payouts. If the 1/8 off-road track in my area were to close, then I would likely get into the rock racing circuit at that point.

Anyway, one of the rock racers also races at the club I race and brought his TEKNO conversion to show us what it looks like, his shock setup is the same but increased ride height due to the oversized wheels.

 

[WickedFog]

I have seen many people use a TEKNO chassis for rock bouncers specifically for racing, it's a fairly popular event out here in Texas where they race for cash payouts. If the 1/8 off-road track in my area were to close, then I would likely get into the rock racing circuit at that point.

Anyway, one of the rock racers also races at the club I race and brough his TEKNO conversion to show us what it looks like, his shock setup is the same but increased ride height due to the oversized wheels.

This isn't a Tekno It's a rock crawler converted to a bouncer.

 

[bill_delong]

This isn't a Tekno It's a rock crawler converted to a bouncer.

There are several classes and I don't know the specifics about each class, but the one where they're running TEKNO's is called the U4 class:

 

[WickedFog]

There are several classes and I don't know the specifics about each class, but the one where they're running TEKNO's is called the U4 class:

View attachment 178102

Looks like a whole lotta fun! But I think that is more of a rock racer type vehicle? The truck the OP is playing with here is a Redcat if I remember correctly, but not sure what you'd call it now. Maybe in between a bouncer or a racer I guess. Here's a pic from his other thread.

 

[sylentk]

Interesting. I'm a suspension kind of guy. Probably most of you too. My question here is, do you think the RTR vehicles have too heavy of weight oil installed?

why may I ask? Well, i've been out of the R/C game for a while, but doing plenty of other things that require suspension. Which includes springs and oil wieght. And out of the 2-3 verhicles I've recently purchased, the oil wieght seems to be a bit on the heavy side. I'm not hucking ramps/jumps, So it just want my vehicle to not bounce around. Which I attribute to too heavy of oil. So it can't react quickly enough to the terrain. In my opinion anyway. Is it just me?

 

[WickedFog]

Interesting. I'm a suspension kind of guy. Probably most of you too. My question here is, do you think the RTR vehicles have too heavy of weight oil installed?

why may I ask? Well, i've been out of the R/C game for a while, but doing plenty of other things that require suspension. Which includes springs and oil wieght. And out of the 2-3 verhicles I've recently purchased, the oil wieght seems to be a bit on the heavy side. I'm not hucking ramps/jumps, So it just want my vehicle to not bounce around. Which I attribute to too heavy of oil. So it can't react quickly enough to the terrain. In my opinion anyway. Is it just me?

It's not just the oil weight. It's the pistons and how many holes they have in them, how big the holes are, the spring rate, the pre-load, etc that affects that stuff.

You want it setup to keep your chassis from slapping the ground, based on the terrain you're driving in, and any jumping you might be doing. It's all personal preference and how you drive your RC's.

Like a car driving on smooth terrain and good traction will do better with a stiffer suspension. Loose terrain, just the opposite.

If you work on suspension, well it's the same with our RC cars. Just scaled down and typically a lot lighter than a scale vehicle would be.

 

[sylentk]

Yeah, good points all around.

So if I feel like my vehicle bounces too much on the track (I'm trying to race) what would you say to try, in order to get more traction, gain stability, not crash?

Not trying to huck the crap out of a huge triple jump, that's easy. I'm talking about smallish, repetitive hits that throw me off line, especially when I'm on full throttle in a corner. And slowing down is not an option

 

[nino]

Just try out a couple of oils, it's like 5$ a bottle and 15 minutes of work to do it. We really can't tell you for a truck we don't know and surface we don't know... Maybe you need to change springs or something else entirely? Do you have someone with the same platform to copy their setup?

You could be tempted to go too soft thinking that's what's needed to soak up small sharp bumps, but a) tires do much of that and b) at speed the suspension acts much different than when you look at it on the bench. So yeah, maybe you're too soft, maybe you're too hard. That's what she said!

 

[sylentk]

Yeah, experimenting is the key (that's what she said too )

I feel like 40wt in a stock vehicle is a bit much. But what do I know? Just wondering what other peeps have done and run.

Back in the day, it was a proper dirt track, loose over hard pack, indoor, not blue groove or carpet. 40wt was for heavy hits and if you had a shitton of traction (like on carpet). Normally, it was around 20wt. So maybe I'm just out of touch...hence the question. And back then there was no internet forum to ask silly questions. Just RC Car Action mag delivered via snail mail.

 

[DavidB1126]

My oil setups for different surfaces.

B74.1D:
Carpet: 50wt front, 35wt rear
Indoor dirt: 40wt front, 35wt rear (kit setup)
(Both setups use red springs front and blue springs rear)

Slash 2WD:
Big Bore Traxxas shocks
Included red progressive springs

Carpet: 50wt F/R.
Indoor dirt: I ran 50wt but it feels a bit too thick. 40wt would probably be good. Stock is 30wt.

Rustler 2WD:
Running stock ultra shocks with 30wt. Outdoor Bashing. Ran carpet once and ran indoor dirt once.

Since this summer I want to do more outdoor dirt racing and expand my horizons, I'll see what shock oil / spring setups are like.

1 indoor dirt track I been to was hard packed. The other (my local one) is blue groove which was glued.

 

[RustyUs]

Interesting. I'm a suspension kind of guy. Probably most of you too. My question here is, do you think the RTR vehicles have too heavy of weight oil installed?

why may I ask? Well, i've been out of the R/C game for a while, but doing plenty of other things that require suspension. Which includes springs and oil wieght. And out of the 2-3 verhicles I've recently purchased, the oil wieght seems to be a bit on the heavy side. I'm not hucking ramps/jumps, So it just want my vehicle to not bounce around. Which I attribute to too heavy of oil. So it can't react quickly enough to the terrain. In my opinion anyway. Is it just me?

Which RC vehicles/platforms are we talking about?

 

[sylentk]

Thanks for the info guys!

My racer is a Team Associated Pro4SC10. It's nice. I like it, just want to tune it more. It is RTR, I'd prefer to buy a kit, but who has time for that?

I think I'm going to go down to 30wt. See what happens.

I did indulge myself in the Losi "truck sale" and got a mini T or two. One for my 9yo, one for me. But same feeling, pretty harsh suspension straight out of the box. But not really on the top of my list of to-dos and still in the info gathering stage.

 

[RustyUs]

Thanks for the info guys!

My racer is a Team Associated Pro4SC10. It's nice. I like it, just want to tune it more. It is RTR, I'd prefer to buy a kit, but who has time for that?

I think I'm going to go down to 30wt. See what happens.

I did indulge myself in the Losi "truck sale" and got a mini T or two. One for my 9yo, one for me. But same feeling, pretty harsh suspension straight out of the box. But not really on the top of my list of to-dos and still in the info gathering stage.

For starters...
New to me AE pro4 sc10
How to Support Bell Crank Shafts on Team Associated Pro4 SC10 / Rival MT10
How to add Anti-Squat to Team Associated Pro4 SC10 / Rival MT10