Cut Bladders

[Chalkie]

Anyone else tried the standard small bore shocks with cut bladders? Whilst rebuilding mine the other day i noticed one was split so thought I may as well try it cut out to see how they bleed and the result is really nice. I'm going to try them for a few weeks to see how I get on but can see myself staying with the cut ones at the moment.

[Cameo]

I'm suprised they didn't take air in or leak through the top as the cap is 2 pieces.

[PaulUpton]

I took my 3 sets of shocks apart to clean them and 8/9 out of the 12 bladders where spilt.

May give it a go on a set of mine

[Chalkie]

No leakage, the O ring left from cutting the bladder sits against the plastic cap and shock body.
Paul if you try it the best way to bleed them is to fill with oil, screw the cap down until it starts to go tight then unscrew it half a turn or so and push the shock shaft all the way in, and then tighten the cap whilst holding the shaft in. It should make the car better over small bumps and ripples.

[PaulUpton]

Originally Posted by Chalkie

No leakage, the O ring left from cutting the bladder sits against the plastic cap and shock body.
Paul if you try it the best way to bleed them is to fill with oil, screw the cap down until it starts to go tight then unscrew it half a turn or so and push the shock shaft all the way in, and then tighten the cap whilst holding the shaft in. It should make the car better over small bumps and ripples.

That's how I always do my shocks

[Smurfster]

All the cut bladders are going to do is reduce the rebound to next to zero, and the same result can be achieved with as said earlier, screwing the cap on till it starts to bleed, then pushing the shock shaft all the way in, and tightening. Meaning the rebound is zero. Hope this clarifies. Had 2 cut on the back of my X2C and it make the back end really saggy and slow to react. The handling was much improved by the uncut/split diaphragms. Would defo recommend drilling the shock piston holes out to 1.4 or 1.5 mm as it made adjusting the dampening rate a lot easier and made the car handle awesome.

[Chalkie]

Originally Posted by PaulUpton

That's how I always do my shocks

I find it quite tricky to build the rear without air in the oil with the bladders in, the fronts are fine just the rears.

[Chalkie]

Originally Posted by Smurfster

All the cut bladders are going to do is reduce the rebound to next to zero, and the same result can be achieved with as said earlier, screwing the cap on till it starts to bleed, then pushing the shock shaft all the way in, and tightening. Meaning the rebound is zero. Hope this clarifies. Had 2 cut on the back of my X2C and it make the back end really saggy and slow to react. The handling was much improved by the uncut/split diaphragms. Would defo recommend drilling the shock piston holes out to 1.4 or 1.5 mm as it made adjusting the dampening rate a lot easier and made the car handle awesome.

It's not the same effect as having zero rebound with the bladders in as you are running an emulsion shock with the air and oil mixed, and you can still build them with rebound if you so wish. My favourite cars over the years have always ran emulsion shocks so its something i've wanted to try for a little while, I can always get another set of bladders if I don't like it.

[Moose]

I do run them with cut bladders too. The bladders are way too hard and it is just easier to build with cut bladders. I cant compare with stock bladders as I never tried them. (The Team runs with bladders. Maybe they have an advantage in some situations. Didnt ask if they even tried cut bladders)

[patez]

I like to run my x2 with cut bladders too. It just seems to calm down the shock action a bit. The reason to try it was, because my trf 501 seemed to always go better over the bumps. No matter how i built my ansmann shocks with bladders it wasnt as good. It looked always more "springy" even with zero rebound. Or too dead but still bouncy with rebound.. Also the bladder makes the shock more progressive, which isnt always a good thing.. The bladder acts as a second spring, stiffening in the far ends.. I'm not sure about all the theories, but it just looks and feels better overall without the bladder action..

Losi has bladder shocks but many others are still emulsion type, i mean the biggers brands such as asso, kyosho tamiya.. And of course many of the top drivers seem to drive small bore emulsion type shocks. Maybe there's something to it...