duratrax only have one O-ring compared to the two in the Kyosho. I could tell they are duratrax just by the color. Real kyosho golds have a pale color similar to an eraly edinger chassis color. duratrax are more orangy gold.
I already have the Platinums from a Mid SE. I haven't tried it yet and was considering of getting the suspected DTX gold shocks in Post#1 because it's cheap. But if they are in fact Duraleaks:lol:, then I'll just rebuild the Platinums that I have.
The gold anodizing is the usual tip-off but I have seen and own duraleaks and kyosho golds where the color is very close. The Kyosho shock is the top one.
This thread and the last picture helped me distinguish two Duratrax golds that I had in with a a bunch of Kyosho ones. Now, I need to put two of the Kyosho golds back together. What is the best way to get that little clip back on? It's the last thing to put on over the o-rings. Thanks for the help.
Usually the bottom spring stoppers are a good way of distinguishing the two apart if you can't tear them apart or the color is close. Duratrax has a flat bottom underneath where the Kyosho has a taper. Of course these parts are interchangable so there is no guarantee of ID.
The Platinums are OK, as long as you dont twist the bottom shaft in to "lighten" the dampening. Basically it unscrews a T shaped shaft away from the piston to allow more flow of oil through the piston holes. Unfortunately this also causes a gap to form and causes that much undamped slop before the piston actually starts moving through oil. Not too noticable in the hand, but when installed on the car, it makes a big difference at the wheel. Also the size of the shaft being bigger makes it hard to set them up properly with all of the oil it displaces as it goes through the stroke. I would use them before duratrax, but would prefer the Kyo golds.
it's difficult to explain or even show in pictures but an experienced eye can spot the golds vs the duracraps from 50 feet, the color is one thing but it really is the quality of the machining, if you had one of each in hand it's obvious. As for the platinums I would pass on those altogether, they simply had far too much stiction and other issues to work as well as the golds. Funny how when the golds came out we all started mucking around with bladders / no bladders in our rc10's. Now they come with bladders and the hot setup is to take them out.