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Old 01-06-2007, 05:42 AM
TheSteve TheSteve is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 27
As we all know the Micro-T handles amazingly well for its size but just a little damping in the shocks would improve performance by a large margin.

I've been experimenting with several options to add oil or grease to the stock shocks that would give a good feel and not make a mess.

After much trial and error I have found something I am very happy with and its very simple.

In a shock so small I don't think its practical to use oil unless the shocks are made of metal, that leaves us with the option of using grease in the stock plastic shocks. The challenge is to keep the grease in the shocks and not have it all over the shock shaft which will be covered in dirt and fuzz in no time.

That means we need a seal of some sort. I experimented with a few options and came up with using the silicone insulation off some 16 or 18 gauge wire. I then tried putting the seal on the outside end of the shock using heatshrink, this actually worked but meant the heatshrink had to be glued to the shock body which I didn't like. It does appear to be a possible option though and looked quite good and didn't interfere with the spring as I used very thin heatshrink.
I then looked at putting the seal inside the shock body, this is obviously the most ideal situation. I was stumped on how to get the seal to stay in place though. After some experimentation it seems with the right seal material it will stay at the bottom of the shock all by itself quite nicely.
Armed with this information I tried different lengths of silicone wire insulation. I found a very very short piece was all that was needed, infact the shorter the piece the less damping action you seem to get. With no oil or grease in the shock the damping action was too heavy - the insulation was pushing too tightly on the shock shaft. With a truck so small and light very little damping is needed to serve its purpose.
If I added a little oil seemed to work but ended having different amounts of damping as the shaft was pushed in and got a a heavier feel the more I used the shock. I then tried grease and was very pleased with the result. I ended up using MIP red grease - the kind thats included with MIP CVDs. Its quite thick and is designed not to run. I didn't fill the shocks, just added a little to keep the silicone seal lubed and to ensure there was always some around the piston.

I've built all 4 shocks now and am very impressed with the results. I am hoping some others can try this and also achieve excellent results. The toughest part will be to find some silicone wire insulation the same as what I used. Mine came from the battery leads off a Polyquest 2S 1500ma LiPo pack that I had left over.

Here is a picture of the front shock shaft with a seal on it, a front shock body and a side profile of a second seal. I cut the seals as thin as I could using an Xacto knife. I also used thinner ones for the front shocks to have softer damping on the front end. It is a little tough to get the seal in. I put the seal on the shock shaft and then gently worked it into the shock body using finger nails and a pair of very fine tweezers. Once its started going in I pull the shaft out just enough to add some grease then pull on the shock shaft to seat the seal at the bottom of the shock. I then added another very small amount of grease to ensure there is some below and above the piston. Then just seal it up with the top cap and wipe off grease that may have been around the top of the shock. If I had to guess I would say the shock body is only 10 to 15% full of grease, so not much is used.

This is a worth while modification if you can find the correct insulation to make a seal with. If anyone has any questions of comments please let me know.

I should note the thickness of the seal will effect the shock travel every so slightly. They are so thin though the difference isn't going to be noticed. If you're using the stock rear springs I recommend making a spacer out of heatshrink ,fuel tubing, an O-ring or a zaptie thats 1 to 2 mm long just so the rear end of the truck doesn't squat at all when sitting.

Here is a picture of a rear shock with the spacer I made out of larger heatshrink. To make the spacer I shrunk the heatshrink on the shank of a drill bit slightly larger then a Micro-T shock body. You can then slide it off and trim it to the length of spacer you like.

From the outside the shocks really look the same other then the space.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg microt071Medium.jpg (62.6 KB, 217 views)
File Type: jpg microtMedium.jpg (61.4 KB, 186 views)
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Last edited by alfred; 01-06-2007 at 11:55 PM.
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