How to fill correctly the shocks?

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SwatKat

SwatKat

Active Member
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I have just put a new set of HPI aluminium threaded shocks with 30wt oil.

I read trhe instruction sheet and there it said, viewing the pics: fill up with oil until 4-5mm, move the shaft up/down to remove oil and then fill up with oil all the way up until it's full. Then put the cap and a little oil should come off through the small hole in the cap.

Now is this correct or I overfilled the shocks? I ran them for 3 times but not hard stuff and I was wondering what's your oppinion?

W/o the spring, If the shaft moves back a little, is's ok?

Thanks.
 
If they are over full when capped and retracted and no spring and they push back out they are over full. They may move slightly which will be OK but no a lot, if its more than 1/2" its pushing the limits of overfull.

Yes I remove cap, Fill to about 5-6mm from top run the rod up and down about 4-5 times and I leave toward the middle and fill to about 1mm from top around edge and about 2mm in the middle as it sinks more in the middle. Then screw the cap on. Once this is done I check by moving the shaft all the way in and seeing if or how much it pushes back out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hello! I looked again at one shock and, without the spring, it's pushing back around 2cm. I didn't though remove the rubber boot.

What I want to know, before disassembling the shocks again is the following: is the method shown below in the scan image wrong? I mean, I understand that I have to fill up until the end and when putting the cap on it should spill some oil. I did this exactly the same.

Thanks.
 
I'm having shock problems....apparently they are a little too stiff and I'm not sure why....i filled them all almost right till the top with new fluid shock oil....and the shocks are all the way up to take the truck to its lowest position but theyre a little too stiff....

when i drop the truck on the floor i think its supposed to bounce back a little bit or at least just briefly bounce up and down....in my case its just like dropping a block on the floor and thats it ...it kinda just stays there with no bounce nothing....i think its a little stiff or maybe i filled the shocks a little too much but I'm in need of some feedback
 
I don't think you want any bounce back out of your truck, if it were to bounce landing jumps would be neer impossible.

Swat cat if you look close at hpi's dirrections you'll see your supposed to top the fluid with the plunger in, if you top it right off with the plunger out the will be overfull, have no compression, and pop caps all day.

If your after a stiffer suspension i have topped them all the way full but I rtv'd the cap threads to keep them from popping after jumps.
 
So the fluid level has to be at max when the shocks are fully compressed right?

I didn't do that... What I did was filled the shocks to the max while the shocks were fully extended.. I guess that's what making them so stiff because they are over filled.. Am I right ???
 
I try to find a happy medium between the shocks being fully extended to fully compressed. Usually if you top them right off with the plunger at its halfway position you should end up fairly close.
(p.s. really work out those air bubbles before topping it off)
 
Take the cap off, push the shock half way in, topp fluid to full now, re-cap, go play!!
 
cuz said:
I don't think you want any bounce back out of your truck, if it were to bounce landing jumps would be neer impossible.

Swat cat if you look close at hpi's dirrections you'll see your supposed to top the fluid with the plunger in, if you top it right off with the plunger out the will be overfull, have no compression, and pop caps all day.

If your after a stiffer suspension i have topped them all the way full but I rtv'd the cap threads to keep them from popping after jumps.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did fill it up with the plunger in. Though I didn't remove the ball end that screws in and the rubber boot and maybe the plunger was not all the way in.. maybe about 10mm out...

BTW, what do you mean by "...but I rtv'd the cap threads to keep them from popping after jumps". I'm not an English speaker native and I don't know much "shortcuts"..

Thanks.
 
why didn't you just say it like that cuz.... Easy and straight forward ... I got it now and thanks for the help
 
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