New to me RC10 Team Car on the way

[GoMachV]

Make sure you are following the instructions, trim the flashing off all the plastics really well (I cut off more than enough, works great) and use lots of oil on the orings when you push it together. I have only cut a couple of them over many years so something is not right. If you have access to green slime (team associated sells it) it’s the best stuff to use for assembly. Works a lot better than just oil

[Peter_B]

Make sure you are following the instructions, trim the flashing off all the plastics really well (I cut off more than enough, works great) and use lots of oil on the orings when you push it together. I have only cut a couple of them over many years so something is not right. If you have access to green slime (team associated sells it) it’s the best stuff to use for assembly. Works a lot better than just oil

Thanks, I'll check for flashing again when i get the new rebuild kit. I couldn't see or feel anything obvious but I'll check again.

It's very frustrating. I thought I'd get all 4 shocks done in half an hour and be able to mount them up.

[XLR8]

Hey Peter I just checked your ProCAT instruction manual and was able to confirm it also uses 1/8" silicone o-rings for the shock seals. So, if you have spares from that car they likely will work in your RC10 shocks as well.
Also, I just purchased 100 of these seals from an online source called The O-Ring Store LLC but they are also available from most industrial supply outlets like McMaster Carr. They are 1/16” cross-section and identified as uniform dash number -006. The ones I purchased cost $4 /100 plus $6 postage to my home in Alabama. Oh, and they arrived with a delicious piece of candy to sweeten the deal.

[Peter_B]

Hey Peter I just checked your ProCAT instruction manual and was able to confirm it also uses 1/8" silicone o-rings for the shock seals. So, if you have spares from that car they likely will work in your RC10 shocks as well.
Also, I just purchased 100 of these seals from an online source called The O-Ring Store LLC but they are also available from most industrial supply outlets like McMaster Carr. They are 1/16” cross-section and identified as uniform dash number -006. The ones I purchased cost $4 /100 plus $6 postage to my home in Alabama. Oh, and they arrived with a delicious piece of candy to sweeten the deal.

Thanks. I don't think I have any ProCAT ones either. If I do they'll be 25ish years old.

I did see the discussion about o-rings and the pack you got. I'm in the UK though and, so far, haven't been able to find a local supplier.

I could probably find or get hold of some Tamiya o-rings, but I'm not sure if they're the same size.

[bluewormx]

look for ebay seller: sealforce53 They are UK based and have the correct o-rings (size BS006)

I use those seals in my modern racers and there is no difference from AE ones.
I don’t like the X rings since they swell really badly,

[Peter_B]

look for ebay seller: sealforce53 They are UK based and have the correct o-rings (size BS006)

I use those seals in my modern racers and there is no difference from AE ones.
I don’t like the X rings since they swell really badly,

Thanks, I'll remember them in future. I actually took a punt on some from RS Components which are the same BS006 size.

Hopefully they and/or a new shock rebuild kit will be with me tomorrow or early next week so I can finish off the front shocks.

In the meantime I've got the springs to clean and polish up.

[Peter_B]

On the subject of springs.

The car came to me with silver springs all round. Whether they are actually silver or a coloured coating has faded or worn away I don't know.

What are suitable alternative springs for the Team Car shocks?

or if springs aren't readily available, what are suitable replacement shocks?

[Lonestar]

shock rebuild: no trick, really, just be STRONG when clipping the retainer in from inside with the bespoke tool. you need to see the tip of the tool coming out from the shock body. Just to be clear, and sorry if obvious, but the tip of the tool goes "inside" the orings and you push the retainer clip with the oring and the spacers altogether.

It's just a matter of strenth to get it to snap in - if you're busting o-rings, there's something weird in the way you assemble the whole stack... Never happened to me over the course of rebuilding AE old-structure shocks litterally hundreds of times...

Good tuto here (from Tony Phalen I believe, no less):
http://www.competitionx.com/rc-build-blog-team-associated-rc10-buggy-build/team-associated-rc10-classic-buggy-build-part-5-shocks/

Green slime is a little tribological miracle (private joke...) and it will helps with leaks but not that much with assembly.

Good luck!

[Lonestar]

for your other Q:

[Peter_B]

shock rebuild: no trick, really, just be STRONG when clipping the retainer in from inside with the bespoke tool. you need to see the tip of the tool coming out from the shock body. Just to be clear, and sorry if obvious, but the tip of the tool goes "inside" the orings and you push the retainer clip with the oring and the spacers altogether.

It's just a matter of strenth to get it to snap in - if you're busting o-rings, there's something weird in the way you assemble the whole stack... Never happened to me over the course of rebuilding AE old-structure shocks litterally hundreds of times...

Good tuto here (from Tony Phalen I believe, no less):
http://www.competitionx.com/rc-build-blog-team-associated-rc10-buggy-build/team-associated-rc10-classic-buggy-build-part-5-shocks/

Green slime is a little tribological miracle (private joke...) and it will helps with leaks but not that much with assembly.

Good luck!

That tutorial is exactly what I was doing, also the same as described in the Team Car manual and instruction sheet for the 6440 rebuild kit.

Parts on the tool - snap ring, nylon washer, o-ring, nylon spacer, o-ring, nylon washer - bit of oil on the parts, tool inside the shock body and push. Except it didn't go as easily as all that.

Maybe I needed more oil/lubrication on the seal parts and/or inside the shock body to aid the seal slipping in to place.

Oh and in regard to springs.

I was really meaning what springs will fit the old shocks?
Are they the same length and diameter as for the more modern buggies?

A link, part numbers and/or brand would be good.

[Lonestar]

sorry, I knew I might have been stating the obvious but better safe than sorry didn't want to sound insulting at all!

can I ask "when" are the orings damaged? during the snap-in phase? or when you slide the shaft in for the first time? and what does this "damage" look like?

springs:

https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXBVF9&P=7

https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXBVG0&P=7

that's for the pre-big-bore springs, ie the shocks AE's used from 1984 to something like 2013 or so

[Peter_B]

sorry, I knew I might have been stating the obvious but better safe than sorry didn't want to sound insulting at all!

can I ask "when" are the orings damaged? during the snap-in phase? or when you slide the shaft in for the first time? and what does this "damage" look like?

springs:

https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXBVF9&P=7

https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXBVG0&P=7

that's for the pre-big-bore springs, ie the shocks AE's used from 1984 to something like 2013 or so

None have been damaged when sliding the shaft in.

Mostly I've got to a point where I'm trying to insert everything but something gets jammed up and I can't push it in any further no matter how much force I use. So then I have to remove everything to try again. Undoubtedly some of the damage has been caused when I've tried to push things back out. But some of the times, when things jammed up I was able to shake out the spring clip and first washer. On some of those occasions I saw an o-ring had split and was wrapped around and through the central nylon spacer. No idea how that could happen. Or I've seen the o-ring wedged to the side of the spacer, between the spacer and the shock body.

So I've had split O-rings and ones with a chunk nibbled out of them.

On the 2 I've managed to get done, when they did go in they went in really easily.

It's obviously something I'm doing wrong - just no idea what!

Thanks for the spring links

[Lonestar]

Mostly I've got to a point where I'm trying to insert everything but something gets jammed up and I can't push it in any further no matter how much force I use. So then I have to remove everything to try again. Undoubtedly some of the damage has been caused when I've tried to push things back out. But some of the times, when things jammed up I was able to shake out the spring clip and first washer. On some of those occasions I saw an o-ring had split and was wrapped around and through the central nylon spacer. No idea how that could happen. Or I've seen the o-ring wedged to the side of the spacer, between the spacer and the shock body.

So I've had split O-rings and ones with a chunk nibbled out of them.

On the 2 I've managed to get done, when they did go in they went in really easily.

Ok, so damaged when disassembled. At least that's reassuring.

Then there's (1) the unlikely obvious thing, and the (2) and (3) the likely less obvious ones

(1) is the tip of the tool protruding out from the shock body before you push for the snap? otherwise you might be hitting it from inside... I know, silly and unlikely, but again better safe than sorry

(2) plastic flashings, do as Jeff (GomachV) said above

(3.a) badly machined shock bodies that don't have a groove deep enough and then the snap ring isn't "open" inside
(3.b) badly molded snap rings, too wide, don't fit in the aforementioned grooves
(3.c) just thought about that one - it's not going to prevent you from assembling, BUT it will make it suboptimal anyway. Take like 1/100th of an inch off the thickness of the plastic washers that go inside the spring with sandpaper. Over the years, they've somehow grown too thick and the orings are overly compressed in there, that's good for preventing leaks around the shock shaft, but not good for the oring wear or the shock smoothness

Other than this, I've run out of ideas, sorry

[bluewormx]

Springs:
for carpet and astro I run Associated blue front silver rear.

On loose dirt (low grip) I run green front black rear.

You should be able to get them at http://www.apexmodels.com/gbu0-prodshow/B4P-6497.html

Both the early B44 and B4 had small bore shocks.

[Peter_B]

New o-rings from RS Components have turned up.

Not had a chance to compare them against the AE ones but hopefully I'll be good to go for a few more attempts at the front shocks