ipenalosa - take a look at this link here, they discuss in detail about the different swing shafts, how long and all. The gold swing shafts I have also fit the Javelin, optima mid etc, just about same size. If you want a good buggy, get a 2014 scorpion or get hold of an optima or javelin, but if you want to do a total makeover of the raider as I so persionatly did, than do it, its so fun and satisfying. It is a decent buggy. I got hold of a mid, vintage scorpion etc so I the turbo raider is just sitting there, I have done all I could do on it, the spark has gone. If I pan on running a buggy, it will be the optima mid.
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=19856&p=412551&hilit=kyosho+w5061#p412551
Coelacanth - well now I have some gold kyosho shocks to compare the duratrax, the duratrax top cap, I believe is machined much better than the kyoshos, inside top seal is different in design too, the kyosho has a flatter seal while the duratrax has a convex shaped one, the bottom spring retainer for duratax is flat while kyoshos has a taper and fillet to it. Also duratrax has a more orange color to it.
Jeffs right, I just saw it now!, when you take a look where the shock has a taper at the bottom end, you will find that at the end of the taper, duratrax have a deeper CHAMFER than the kyoshos. The kyosho has just a slight chamfer to finish off the taper.
Recently the golds have gone so far up in price, its unbelievable. They are very good performance wise, the duratrax are just as good, as long as they have oil in them, but I found that even without oil, they function smoothly. I would say, just cause it does not have duel o-rings has some negative drawback, but as far as looks, they look the same.
On the topic of shocks, I have gotten fond of the CB89s, CB88s, phantom shocks and 1886s, ALL these are red anodized and look the best on your vintage rides, hard to find and almost impossible to find new. Another one is the YOU-G blue anodized shocks for the grasshopper, rear placement ones, these are beefy short shocks, very well made but leak, I did some machining on the bottom retainer, made an adjustable cap for the o-ring and whala, it leaks NO MORE, Such smooth action, the rod slides in a plastic sleeve as opposed to brass, the 13mm diameter permitted me to put an internal spring it it to make its appears clean and nice looking. I guess I said too much but vintage parts are SO COOL, guys you all know that, need to express their quality, scale like appearance, and durability.
I have opened mine up and it has does not have 2 O-rings like the kyosho pressure gold shocks. mine had leaked, but I packed in a thin washer (0.4mm thickness) before the retainer clip to squeeze in the O-ring to better provide sealing.