Affordable 1/10 scale aluminium shock upgrade

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Hello, if I want to upgrade granite shocks, what should I look?. 75 mm front 95mm rear?
 
The stock ones are 78mm and 98mm from centre eyelet to centre eyelet.

Unfortunately most manufacturers give only the total outside length of a shock, or no length at all.

That makes it a hard quest for upgrade shocks.

Best would be to measure the length of shocks from some other brand buggies, since Arrma uses a buggy front design with relatively short shocks.

For example the Traxxas Slash uses 100/110mm for example. Those fronts will fit Arrma rear for example
 
try integy shocks, they are 2mm longer then stock but work great, i have a set on my fury and my buddy has a set on his granite, work awesome
 
I actually bought a pair from my LHS called Xtra Speed. Prob not the best there is, but they seem to fit well and they do the job well.

All I had to do was dremmel out a bit from the a-arm to make the eyelet fit. Good option this for someone looking for a cheap replacement alternative.

http://www.amazon.com/Xtra-Speed-Aluminum-Damper-Silver/dp/B00YS4LC2Y
 
Sorry for my late reply!
Yes, they will fit.

But you found some other ones!

Can you show us a picture?

And those from integy sound nice too!

Now the new quest should be to find some big bores that fit


It's all good! I ended up emailing modelsport and they advised diameter is 15mm, so I figured they'd fit just fine, but ended up going with the Xtra Speed ones to support the LHS.

Here are some pics:

IMG_5804.JPG

IMG_5805.JPG
 
So... like a lot of you I've been having problems with popping shock caps. It had gotten to the point I couldn't even get through a battery without popping at least one cap, usually it would happen multiple times and at one point I think I had popped caps on each of my four shocks. It was ruining the fun. After reading here and elsewhere I got some Traxxas 3767<X/A/G> aluminum shock caps. I took off my shocks rebuilt them and put on the new metal caps only to find that the threads on one of my shock bodies was so worn from all the cap popping that the aluminum cap wouldn't hold under even a little pressure. I got fed up and took my shocks into the LHS to see what options they might have.

The number one thing they recommended was a drop of super glue on the shock body/cap threads. They said they had seen a lot of Arrma shocks with cap problems and that after they recommended super glue to most folks that they didn't hear back from them so it appeared to be working. The other option that they recommended for the rear shocks was a set of Traxxas Slash Ultra shocks. They said Traxxas Big Bore's were also an option if I wanted to go to aluminum but they were considerably more expensive. I walked out of the shop with a pair of Traxxas Ultra shocks.

I built the shocks dry on the bench just to compare them to the stock Arrma shocks. As expected they were about 2mm too long. (I don't have a caliper so I didn't get precision measurements, sorry). I removed the rod end from the Ultra shock, pulled out the piston and put the extra plastic spacer included in the Ultra shocks package underneath the piston. I also used the old Arrma rod end instead of the Traxxas end since the eyelets hole on the Traxxas was a little large and I didn't want the extra movement. The Traxxas rod end was also a slightly smaller diameter around the shock shaft than the Arrma rod end so I used some sand paper on the Arrma rod end and made it ever so slightly smaller so that it would fit in the new Traxxas spring cup. The result was two new rear shocks that were absolutely identical in length to the Arrma stock shocks. The new Ultra shocks also had bladders vs being emulsion style shocks. The new shocks were much smoother, the springs a little stronger and the caps seem to be a harder plastic than the Arrma caps. I think the softer/more flexible Arrma caps are a big part of the shock popping problems. They new Ultra shocks fit perfectly on my Granite BLS.

For the front shocks I tried the super glue advice of the LHS when I rebuilt them and refilled them with oil. The front shocks typically don't give me as many problems as the rears and finding proper length for the fronts seems to be a challenge. I'm now using all the stock Arrma shock parts up front, with super glue, the Traxxas Ultra shocks in the rear and Associated 35W shock oil all around.

It used to be that when cornering at speed on pavement I could watch the body roll and the inside rear wheel come off the ground which would cause the truck to spin out. With the new Ultra shocks the body still leans a little but the inside wheel stays much more planted and spin outs, while possible, are not a foregone conclusion. I drove a battery pack and didn't pop any caps front or rear which was great. The next day my son had a friend over and I let him drive my truck through a couple batteries. He was a first time driver and had more than his share of hit curbs and bumps but the shock caps stayed on and I haven't noticed any significant leaks.

Overall I'm very happy with the Traxxas Ultra shocks. For $19 at the LHS, (a bit cheaper online), and the easy availability of Traxxas parts this might be a good option for some people.
 
Thanks for sharing, Walter!
Indeed the shocks for the Traxxas slash front are 100mm. Arrma's rear shock length is 98mm. A few millimeter more or less is no issue.

What concerns me is that since Arrma changed production facility I hear about these popping shock caps. I guess these are the red ones compared to the 2011-2013 model black caps. Those did not pop!

I do not recommend the superglue option, since oil will always leak or spill out. Even the most expensive shocks will eventually loose some of the oil.
Therefore refilling will always be necessary.

The Arrma chassis has no stabilizers from left to right, which can prevent body roll. Some high-end 1/10 scale buggy's and SCT do have metal bars, which link the left and right suspension arm with each other, both back and front. I will try to fit these to my Arrma this winter. Stay tuned! ;)

Indeed the quest continues for the front shocks ;)
 
That's why I was asking if anyone had tried them. The next step was to ask them to measure. :)

Unfortunately, I don't have first hand experience with them and I'm not able to buy them just to test and risk being wrong.

I figure they were the right length and that provides at least an option for someone that might be willing to assume the risk of purchasing for a test.

SIGH: All of this would be so much easier if Arrma would release the aluminum upgrades they announced in 2013. (http://forum.goforit-rc.com/showthr...d-aluminium-red-upgrade-shocks-for-1-10-scale)
That's a big 10-4... still baffles my mind why they dangled the carrot like that. ..
 
Hi

It would seem that the Traxxas 5862 Big Bore Shock Set for the Slash does fit. There is a guy on YouTube who has them on his Raider XL.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top