Anyone hear of Arrma putting EXB shocks on a v1 K8S?

[KnowAir]

I got my v1 K8S on Friday. Pretty good deal, $755 delivered. Cool. So, when I opened the box, I see one of the front shocks is leaking. Oil all over the arm..ugh. Well after making sure everything was tight, I put my XT90'S on, sent it. All good, except the shocks are like a dump truck. Stiff AF.. So, I took the shocks apart, drilled 4 of the 8 holes out to 1/16. Reassembled, thought it was odd the front cartridges protrude out of the shock bodies but the rear don't. Hmm. The fronts have flats I can put a wrench on to loosen the cartridges, the rears don't? Then I noticed how much thicker the front shafts are than the rears.. could Arrma have put EXB shocks on my v1 K8S? Why just the front though? And wtf are they leaking past the o rings? Really just the one..

 

[RCbuzz]

Arrma probably saw your posts waffling between an EXB and kinda half hooked you up!

I think there have been other instances of partial upgrades, my guess is they run out of something on the assembly line and just use the EXB parts.

Sweet deal though! Sorry about the leaking, that's a bit annoying. I would pull that one offenders cartridge apart. You might find a plastic contaminate or it may just need some green slime or new O-rings.



P.S. - You have had this rig for what a week now? Look how dirty it is!!

 

[KnowAir]

Next question, are v2 exb shocks different than v1 exb?

 

[RCbuzz]

Next question, are v2 exb shocks different than v1 exb?

I beleive they are the same. Not sure if anyone has compared on the exploded diagrams though. You might be the first .

 

[KnowAir]

Oh, BTW thanks @RCbuzz for the tip on drilling the pistons! Worked a treat to soften them up.

 

[PeighDay]

I got my v1 K8S on Friday. Pretty good deal, $755 delivered. Cool. So, when I opened the box, I see one of the front shocks is leaking. Oil all over the arm..ugh. Well after making sure everything was tight, I put my XT90'S on, sent it. All good, except the shocks are like a dump truck. Stiff AF.. So, I took the shocks apart, drilled 4 of the 8 holes out to 1/16. Reassembled, thought it was odd the front cartridges protrude out of the shock bodies but the rear don't. Hmm. The fronts have flats I can put a wrench on to loosen the cartridges, the rears don't? Then I noticed how much thicker the front shafts are than the rears.. could Arrma have put EXB shocks on my v1 K8S? Why just the front though? And wtf are they leaking past the o rings? Really just the one..

View attachment 334078

Very happy you got a Kraton good sir. I’m sure you’ll put it to good use.

I don’t know if this would fix your issue but my Outcast 8s had a leaky shocks when I first got it as well. I noticed the shock bladder was slightly deformed. After replacing it with a new one it hasn’t leaked again.

 

[KnowAir]

Very happy you got a Kraton good sir. I’m sure you’ll put it to good use.

I don’t know if this would fix your issue but my Outcast 8s had a leaky shocks when I first got it as well. I noticed the shock bladder was slightly deformed. After replacing it with a new one it hasn’t leaked again.

View attachment 334133

I believe my problem is in the shaft o rings, I'm not seeing oil on the shock body but rather on the shaft itself, as well as around the shock spring perch and rod end at the bottom of the shock. I just dumped the 40 weight and refilled with 50. That's all I had enough of on hand right now. After drilling out the pistons, the fronts are a bit too fast, so thicker fluid will help slow both the shock action and the leaking. The rears are really good now. Before drilling the pistons, the truck just bounced off of every bump. Way too stiff for what I use it for.
One downside I have from blx rear shocks and exb fronts is they use different sized o rings. Guess the proper thing to do going forward will be to upgrade the rears to exb? I'll run it as is till something forces me to revisit, such as a bent or broken rear shaft, blown seals.. I'm really excited to rip this thing!! Too bad it's winter.. going to TRY and keep this truck out of the snowbanks!! See how long I can hold out..

 

[KnowAir]

P.S. - You have had this rig for what a week now? Look how dirty it is!!

Uh, no, that pick was from day 2.

 

[KnowAir]

It'll never look that good again, I promise!!

 

[RCbuzz]

I believe my problem is in the shaft o rings, I'm not seeing oil on the shock body but rather on the shaft itself, as well as around the shock spring perch and rod end at the bottom of the shock. I just dumped the 40 weight and refilled with 50. That's all I had enough of on hand right now. After drilling out the pistons, the fronts are a bit too fast, so thicker fluid will help slow both the shock action and the leaking. The rears are really good now. Before drilling the pistons, the truck just bounced off of every bump. Way too stiff for what I use it for.
One downside I have from blx rear shocks and exb fronts is they use different sized o rings. Guess the proper thing to do going forward will be to upgrade the rears to exb? I'll run it as is till something forces me to revisit, such as a bent or broken rear shaft, blown seals.. I'm really excited to rip this thing!! Too bad it's winter.. going to TRY and keep this truck out of the snowbanks!! See how long I can hold out..

This is good information that the EXB shocks are kind of dialed in stock (except the leaking ).

I left the EXB ones stock so far. Might add some bump stops though.

 

[KnowAir]

This is good information that the EXB shocks are kind of dialed in stock (except the leaking ).

Yeah, I think so. My brother's O8S roller wasn't nearly as stiff out of the box.
Also, maybe why my front shocks were "too fast" after drilling the pistons out? Hmm, didn't think about that. I really didn't even notice the different sized shock shafts front to rear for like 2 days. Well after I had already opened, drained, drilled and refilled them. What an idiot!!

 

[RCbuzz]

Yeah, I think so. My brother's O8S roller wasn't nearly as stiff out of the box.
Also, maybe why my front shocks were "too fast" after drilling the pistons out? Hmm, didn't think about that. I really didn't even notice the different sized shock shafts front to rear for like 2 days. Well after I had already opened, drained, drilled and refilled them. What an idiot!!

It happens to all of us!

I did specifically notice the stock 8S BLX shocks were hard as a rock and assumed that's why all the "to the moon" youtuber's bent them .

 

[KnowAir]

BTW, so far the siliconed pivot ball caps are holding well. I won't take them apart again till something is broken. I guess there's some recommended maintenance on them, but uh, I literally have never done anything besides "snug" the caps as they wear. In 15 years , I have yet to have a problem.

It happens to all of us!

I did specifically notice the stock 8S BLX shocks were hard as a rock and assumed that's why all the "to the moon" youtuber's bent them .

Yeah, I can see them causing issues out of the box. I ran one pack before tearing into them. It really handled terrible. The rear tires were off the ground more than on it. I have the spare piston set from an 8s EXB here, but these are the alternates I think? I tried using some of the 6s exb alternate pistons once, didn't like them, had to go really thick on shock oil to get them to behave the way I wanted.
Heck, I've even used Tekno pistons in Arrma 6s shocks, perfect!!