Rebuilding and refilling red Kyosho shocks - How?

[Coelacanth]

I don't know why I can't find those red machined collars...I've seen 'em a dozen times when looking for OTHER stuff...the guy must be using some pretty odd auction title & description....

[treehugger]

I don't know why I can't find those red machined collars...I've seen 'em a dozen times when looking for OTHER stuff...the guy must be using some pretty odd auction title & description....

i think the guy only make a batch ata time i know the ones sometimes there on the bay sometime not .
if you stop looking you will see them
oh you got PP Marc

[ROH73]

I haven't seen those collars in a while. They look wonderful, but I'm not fond of using set screws on the shock body because of the damage they cause. I made my own nylon collars a while back and used short nylon screws instead of set screws. The collars worked really well and the nylon screw doesn't mar the annodized aluminum.

If I ever have the time, I should make some more...

optima6.jpg (76.14 KiB) Viewed 1793 times

optima6.jpg (76.14 KiB) Viewed 1793 times

[Coelacanth]

I haven't seen those collars in a while. They look wonderful, but I'm not fond of using set screws on the shock body because of the damage they cause.

I totally agree with you. I had a set of plain aluminum collars that fit RC10/Kyosho Gold shock bodies, BITD....but I never wanted to install them as the set screws would cause ugly circle-marks in the nice anodized surface.

[tim.sanderson]

If I ever have the time, I should make some more...

Those look really good! If you do find yourself making more, I'd buy a set of 4 from you. The red shocks on my Ultima have at least one busted collar.

[ROH73]

Those look really good! If you do find yourself making more, I'd buy a set of 4 from you. The red shocks on my Ultima have at least one busted collar.

Thanks! I just have a small Sherline manual lathe, so the collars take a long time to make, but I could probably whip up a couple of batches some time before Spring.

I also have a set of like-new front red shocks on eBay right now with perfect collars, if anyone is interested in bidding. Search for Kyosho red shocks.

[rangerg]

bdrmbully - I already ordered them, ah well. I did think that they would be sold out at that price if they really fit the Optima red shocks, but I went ahead. I'll keep looking.

[highwayracer]

You can also use the shock collars from the Kyosho raider. They're nearly identical but made of a different plastic that doesn't crack. There's also a special tool for tightening the shock bottoms.

[rangerg]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=150563620924&si=vkDRH4P%252BU%252B1TF7Vogh2m%252BDtJkXk%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME:B:WNA:US:1123

They ended for $85 with shipping, wow. We need some reproductions available again.

[myk]

2) How far are you supposed to fill these things with oil? The first two times I tried I couldn't get the cap fully on (could not be screwed down), and the third time I had a shock that had zero rebound while the shock shaft could not slide further than halfway up the shock body...

Could someone please help and tell me how you are supposed to rebuild these things?

Ok I've got a question about shocks also. People who see my O-Mid tell me that the shocks have a problem because when the car's suspension/shocks are depressed, they don't go back up all the way. When I first built this car in '89 the shocks behaved the same way, and the car never saw more than 10 hours of total driving time before it got shelved. Are the shocks supposed to go back all the way after being pushed down? If so, is it an oil level problem, or did I build the shock incorrectly? What do I need to do to fix the problem if there even is one? Let me say that the spring collars are about 1/4" down on the shock body to help the shock rebound, but is that correct?

[bdrmbully]

go on you tube and search rebuilding shocks. theres a way to set some rebound on the shock. maybe that will help them. before you tighten the cap you set the piston up as much as you want the rebound. then tighten the cap.

[EvolutionRevolution]

So I finally rebuild the shocks with fresh o-rings, and they still didn't work as intended. Either no rebound at all, despite trying what people described, or a shock that wouldn't fully compress . On the other hand, they stopped leaking . Then it appeared the springs were too soft to support the front of the Striker anyway, so I chucked the shocks back into my box of shocks and instead used some Tamiya yellow CVA shocks (which I had initially skipped because they tend to leak at the top...) .

...at least Kyosho's later shocks not only look nice, but also work nice, unlike these 'shocks'.

[Live_Steam_Mad]

I noticed that my used Optima shocks leaked quite a bit also, and after reading here I thought that it was the O ring so I remembered that I had a few years ago bought some white CRP 1529 O rings (3mm). I just tried one and it was a nice damping action but it leaked quite quickly when I only hand tightened the shock as hard as I could (didn't want to risk stripping the Aluminium). There was a small pool of shock oil under it when it was lying on my work table. The problem appeared to be the plastic Shock Seal now not the O ring. The Shock Seal is a plastic material not rubber like on the Gallop Mk2 shocks. Perhaps it needed to be tighter in order to not leak, on the Optima shocks, or maybe the Shock Seal is damaged or too old or something.

So this time I have used the small Stanley brand Philips screwdriver with the blue handle (for 2mm screws) and gripped the Shock Stopper in large pliers with a cloth so I don't mark the stopper and tightened it just about as much as I thought the Aluminium could stand. I left the Optima shock for 24 hours and it still shows no sign of leaking or weaping so I'm happy. Originally when I rebuilt the other used shock it weaped since I didn't tighten the Shock Seal up enough, and the O ring was too worn. Now this one has a new CRP O ring and I've tightened the shock properly it doesn't leak at all after testing the damping action.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Asso_man!]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=150563620924&si=vkDRH4P%252BU%252B1TF7Vogh2m%252BDtJkXk%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME:B:WNA:US:1123

They ended for $85 with shipping, wow. We need some reproductions available again.

Those are for the RC10 shocks and might fit the Kyosho gold shocks.

Here are some red alloy collars for the Kyosho red shocks from Pargu: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kyosho-Scorpion-optima-ultima-red-shock-alloy-clamp-/140561975045?pt=Radio_Control_Vehicles&hash=item20ba258705

or a plastic version with set screws: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Replacement-10mm-Kyosho-Red-Shock-Collars-Set-4-/180727156904?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a142d90a8

[Coelacanth]

As Asso_Man said, I like the ones made by pargu2000 because they don't use set-screws that will gouge circles in your shock bodies. I just don't like his prices. Pargu makes them for both 10mm and 12mm shock body diameters.