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Seriously, I hate them.

I am in the finally steps of cleaning a whole bunch of old used parts I have and I saved the shocks for last. I am just about done and lining up all the shock bodies when I notice an oddity. 4 different silver shock body sizes. I am pretty sure there is only suppose to be 3. So I raid the store for new stuff and start comparing part numbers and sizes.

.6" .9" 1.2" are the sizes. (What does that even mean? They are not .6" or .9" or 1.2" at all in any dimension you measure.)

This makes me a little frustrated when I see the differences in the supposed same length and size parts. How was a person ever supposed to get these things set correctly compared to a team driver if they may not even have the same shocks?

As you can see in my photo, the .9" is a bad. While the overall length looks the same, the shock volume on all 3 is different. Then the shorter .6" has the same issue. (yes the odd colored one is a5030 that is not a typo of a5003)

Rant over, but I still hate shocks.

I have noticed that on losi shocks, very inconsistent!

Maybe there is a slight design change related to the shock cartiridge evolution? or newer cars just needed more mounting room, like for a molded tower versus a plate for a mount on the car? When you look at them from the dimension that matters most, the center of the mounting hole to the bottom though, I see only 3. Is the dimension between the bottom and the upper inside (i e roof?) all different?

It's ok. They are just shocks.

Dan,

I always thought that the quoted sizes of .6", .9" & 1.2", refered to the amount of travel/ compression that the shock provides. I've never actually measured this on any of mine so it may be worth taking a few measurements to confirm this.

I actually like building shocks but you're right, the variation in internal volume will obviously cause some inconsistency. Bleeding the shocks with no air pockets is the frustrating part that causes me a headache! Grrrr......!

Looking at my cars and noting the shock sizes on them, I assume the longer top mounting tabs are actually the earlier shocks as that's what my x2's stock shocks are like. My later cars with the hard anodized shocks all have the short mounting lug. Why the change?

Another thing I have noticed is there is 2 shock cartridge types, the earlier one being longer and the later one being shorter. I can only assume it was to maximize suspension travel in the same size shock and get rid of the earlier leaky design. The earlier long lug shock with an earlier long shock cartridge has significantly less travel then a later short lug body with short shock cartridge. Using an uncalibrated measuring devise (a screwdriver and my thumb) The short lug shocks are slightly deeper then the long lug ones. For the same travel this MIGHT be to prevent the piston from hitting the top?

If I remember right this earlier style was supposed to be a volume compensating design which eventually got thrown out due to being unreliable and leaky.

Chris

clm wrote:Looking at my cars and noting the shock sizes on them, I assume the longer top mounting tabs are actually the earlier shocks as that's what my x2's stock shocks are like. My later cars with the hard anodized shocks all have the short mounting lug. Why the change?

I think it is other way around actually, but who knows. In my picture, the a5002 on left came from a brand new package with the old JRX2 header card. The one on right came of my old Junior 2. The a5030, also straight from package, is a much newer shock part # and has the longer tab.

Once again who knows, maybe a future question for Gil Jr next time I get a chance to trap him and make him spill more Losi history.

Hmm the cars I have with their original shocks;

Jrx2 all 4 long tab/long cart shocks
late gray trans all original junior t all 4 short tab short car shocks
all black anno hard body shocks from pro SE/LXT/XXT and later are short tab short cart shocks including my XXXS with it's really short short tab short car shocks

My repaired cars that I am unsure of are my
jrxt with 4 long tab long carts
jrx pro front .9 are long tab long cart but the rear are short tab long cart, this is the only car I have that should have 1.2 silver anodized shocks, even longer then what the jrxt has


I would assume that the juniors were what used up the bulk of the long tab spares once all the later cars went to the hard anno shocks eventually transitioning to just short tab on everything.

Chris