TRF Damper Leakage

[_oliK 108]

Good day lads.

I have used DMC shock oil in my clear blue Tamiya plastic dampers, combined with TRF O-rings #42214 and TRF rods #53575, and Team Associated Green Slime, but the oil just keeps leaking out under compression. What could be the cause? The rods are the same size as the standart ones, the O-rings aren't tight around them, but the stock red ones require an awful lot of force to get any compression. Are the o-rings not fit for the oil? There are TRF rings made speficalyy for natural oils, I don't know whether this oil is natural or synthetic, though. Should I go for complete TRF dampers?

Thanks for your help.

[qatmix 794]

Dmc shock oil is not silicon based. It will not work well with the o-rings. It’s a mineral based one so you are best to try the Tamiya x-rings for mineral oil.

Although I would personally ditch the oil and just go for proper silicone oil.

[_oliK 108]

Thank you.

I have read good things about the DMC oil. Is there a similiar silicone oil, and why would that be better than natural oil? Is there a way to tell whether oil is silicone based, for future projects?

[Juls1 1660]

I don't think the tamiya X Rings work with the CVA Shock bodys. 

you need to use the TRF Big bore damper bodys for the X Rings to work properly if I'm not mistaken.

The tamiya Reds should be slick and smooth with the coated shafts or there is something your doing wrong, 

this being said, alot of the friction you might be experiencing will be because of those horrible clear plastic shock bodys.. Buy the proper Alloy TRF shocks if your looking for super smooth performance.

Juls

[qatmix 794]

Most RC cars use silicon oil, I would stick with it. Many brands are good, I like the muchmore oil but they are all much of a muchness. 

 

[GooneyBird 938]

7 hours ago, qatmix said:

but they are all much of a muchness. 

 

Hahahaha! Nice one!

At any rate, I do recommend the X-rings. I've had a TRF damper seep a bit of oil here and there, but since I've switched to the X-rings that completely stopped.

 

[_oliK 108]

I'll test X-rings.Sounds good.

[_oliK 108]

X-rings improved the situation, but not much. I still get leaking and air bubbles showing up inside of the damper (after building them properly, without air enclosed.) I think I might try the standard reds again, has anyone got further suggestions?

I read a favourable review of the YR dampers, are they any good with DMC oil?

[WillyChang 1814]

the clear blue superMini CVAs are horrid, the plastic is brittle and sometimes they come deformed... every set i've built seeps oil even the ones that sit mainly on the shelf; they leak faster than opaque coloured CVAs too

(i'm tired of changing shock oil/pistons so build multiple sets in slightly different configrations. When tuning a new chassis i just bring a few full sets of shocks along and snap them on/off to tune.)

YR not too bad compared to other noname generics, but nothing compared to proper TRFs. 3Racing makes some pretty ok clones but for not much more, i'd just buy proper TRFs.

With TRFs they're well made enough to be all equal. I can take 2-3 sets and strip to parts, mix them up & rebuild, all 12 will perform just like one another (i'm still pre-aeration though). For their price they're a bargain.

[_oliK 108]

I wan't the TRFs, but my wallet doesn't. 

[_oliK 108]

Before I rush out to buy anything, I just wanted to ask for opinions on these 3Racing dampers. How do they compare to TRFs? Because...dapper pink aluminum. 

[Juls1 1660]

I’ve got some 3 racing df03 shocks and the tamiya df03 shocks.

the 3racing are half the price, initially they seem ok, but it didn’t take much use to work out they are less than half as good.

i think in the case of off road the poor shock quality shows up quicker than say on a street basher touring car.

unless you do something seriously wrong when assembling, tamiyas alloy dampers have always been some of the best in the business.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

First thought:  the 3Racing dampers you asked about are 57 mm in length and likely have eyelets specifically for 3Racing ball connectors; the normal Tamiya length is 55 mm and has different ball connectors.  You might want to look at these instead, still from 3Racing:  http://www.rcmart.com/3racing-ta0525lbv2-55mm-aluminum-front-rear-damper-tamiya-ta05-p-16217.html?cPath=389_390

I've used these on TA05 and TB03 cars, and they work just fine.  Very little friction, and I haven't had any leakage issues.

[El Dougo 326]

You need to change the thread title to TRF dampers don't leak 

[_oliK 108]

Yeah, thanks for the advice.

 

[WillyChang 1814]

On 9 March 2018 at 9:17 AM, _oliK said:

Before I rush out to buy anything, I just wanted to ask for opinions on these 3Racing dampers. How do they compare to TRFs? Because...dapper pink aluminum. 

3Racing makes pretty decent stuff these days... but if I were to spend Eur50 on dampers, I'm buying TRFs  

Anybody know if the 3Racing parts are exactly interchangeable with TRF bits? Like the caps and all, not just the shafts and seals?

that said I'm pretty sure I ordered some pink 3Racing alu bodies to hopup my D3 Sakuras... don't think I've installed any of them yet though. Although all these yrs, the Sakura stock shocks haven't leaked so far. (Think I built them with stock parts too, didn't upgrade to TRF seals)

btw TechRacing used to sell shocks that were afaik identical to TRFs of that time except they came in every other colour except T blue  would not be surprised if these came out from same factory as TRFs

 

[_oliK 108]

Well, I ordered the TA-05 TRF's with hard black coating shenanigans. So all problems should be solved. Thanks for all the advice

[WillyChang 1814]

Yup if you've got the 42102 pack IMHO that's still the best value today. Dunno why the others like big bore or fluorine are still selling for dearer.

Use only silicone oil.

Mineral oil in contact with silicone seals make them swell & spongey. You'll hurt them trying to stuff them back into their hole, or if they're already inside they'll tear easy... then you get leaks.

[edeneen 23]

you are probably over-filling them