ccs77

I have a Savage 25 RTR and after almost 2 gallons of fuel I have noticed my shocks have quite a bit of stiction (Stiction = Push your truck down let it back up slowly and measure ride hiegth, then pull it up and let it settle back down and measure ride hiegth. The difference between these two measurements is stiction. General rule, stiction is bad, it means there is friction or oil has gotten dirty or broken down and is not flowing through the valves well anymore) and the damping rates kinda suck. It almost feels like there is no oil at all in them.


I was wondering if there was a how to, on servicing shocks. I would like to take mine apart and clean them or at the very least empty them and change the oil.

Lastly what oil does the factory put in them? I would like a little more compression and rebound damping so I want a heavier oil than stock. Also how do you measure the oil level or is there a set point to fill them too?

Thanks for any help you could give...

bagged97

I refill mine about every tenth run. Just open the top, pour out the old oil (if any), and refill the shock oil up to the top untill you have a little .5-1mm bubble over the top. Stock is 10wt, I use 20-30. If it's to thick, and you don't enlarge the piston hole, you'll blow out the shock body. But that's a different story. 10 is good for big jumps. 20 is good for bigger jumps. 30 is good for decent jumps and street. 40 and up is street only in my opinion.

crop

It's not all that air bubble thing. dust accumulated in all articulates such as suspension arm pins(sometimes they bend) will lead to friction.
And the stock shock itself also produces friction. I noticed this stiction too and had been searching for a solution, because I'm running with softer springs which cause a more noticeble stiction. Later on I run hpi aluminium shocks I found a huge difference. the aluminium shocks are so much more smoother that they reduce the stiction to an unnoticeble degree which I tried every mean but could not make. Aluminium shocks are more likely to bend though, I love them because the enhancement in performance is appreciable and I do more racing than bashing.

ccs77

Thanks for the heads up. Do I need to modify the stock shock (enlarge piston hole) to work with 20 or 30 weight oil?

bagged97

If you want, but it's tricky. See the thinner the oil the easier it is for the piston to move in the shock. The thicker it is, it's just the opposite. Now if you enlarge the hole you can run a thicker oil to bennefit from the dampining properties of a thick oil without damaging your shock. It will also allow you to fine tune the shock. But all in all you won't need to modify the piston to run a 10-30wt oil.

ccs77

I noticed my buddies Warhead had much smoother suspension and it has Aluminum shocks. I may have to get a set of aluminum ones for this spring. For now I think I can get by with the stock ones with some quality 20 weight oil. I might use 30wt in the rear for some anti squat.

ccs77

Oh one last question and this might become obviouse once I open them up, but just so I have no suprises...

Do I want to fill them with the shock collapsed or fully extended? Do I want to bleed them, if so how?

bagged97

Pull the piston down (fully extended) to fill them. 20 in the front and 30 in the back is a great set up. If you plan on doing lots of jumps that will work like butter! I tend to do most of my bashing on a track so for me I try to get a good set up for bumps and speed rather than huge jumps. But like I said if you go too stiff you'll bust a shock body or an o-ring. Also an aluminum shock feels so nice cause the body doesn't expand under the pressure the way plastic ones do, and the piston doesn't encounter the friction in an aluminum shock the way it does in plastic. No need to bleed.