Air Shock Tech

I am working on "Tuning" some air shocks. This is a learning process for me, so bear with me. I have read BillaVista and a few other articles that address different portions of the tuning process. I'm not looking to create the freaking Airshock Bible, but would like to reduce unloading and have a better understanding of how they work. What type of oil is acceptable? What will a higher viscosity oil do to rebound and compression?

I just got the tank from Zayne, so I will be setting initial oil and Nitrogen pressure today. I wil be asking questions and hope to get well informed replies. After my shakedown run this weekend, I will post up where I started and where I wanna go.

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Use atf or power steering fluid or light weight hydraulic fluid... fully compress the shock and fill it with oil.

Put the Schrader valve back in and fill with air till you get the ride height you want.

This will get you max ramp rate and lowest initial pressure.

If that don't control your unloading, pull the piston and plug some of the bleed holes.

Is there a better way to fill other than the shrader valve hole? That **** sucks ass.

Get a turkey syringe or something similar so that you can fill them up easier with less mess. The recommendations above are what I've always read as well.

50-500 PSI is the specs for RaceRunner 2.5's. Start at 250 PSI? It's on stock oil level.

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Naw man get you a nice kitchen measuring bowl. (I use a plastic 1qt one and it has CCs marked on it) Get a piece of clear vinyl hose 1/4" (got mine from Lowes). Stick a brass double barbed fitting in one end for weight to hold it down in the oil, fully compress your shock, stick the open end of the hose over the schrader on the shock. Fill your cup to the desired CCs stick the weighted end into the oil and extend the shock. BAM!! Shock will do the work for you. If you are max filling just keep cycling the shock until no more air comes out fully compress your shock and install the schrader valve and it is max filled. Set a baseline air pressure and charge it and it will be ready to install. Adjust air pressure to set ride height.

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This is my setup, if I didn't explain it well enough.


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I also get all my Fox parts from Polyperformance. For my buggy I prefer 7wt Sway Away oil, I think it just the name I really like "Baja Blood". My junk doesn't unload and rides fair but I don't show much shaft (I'm a grower not a shower).

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Drivers side is showing more shaft at 300 PSI as passenger @ 350. That's after cycling the suspension, refilling twice. I feel like the passenger side didn't fully drop out, but the entire side of the vehicle was toting both tires. I will measure tomorrow for certain. What else besides a forklift can I do to get the passenger side to fully drop out?






Kel Lawrence

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I use a cherry picker in the shop and if it tries to unload the opposite side I use a 5k ratchet strap wrapped around the shock to keep it from extending.

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Best advice for what to do with air shocks... I know. I've had them and been around them for a long time... I've also tuned and modified them.

http://www.hardlinecrawlers.com/forums/index.php?board=6.0

Lol, totally agree^

CheapJ7 said:

Best advice for what to do with air shocks... I know. I've had them and been around them for a long time... I've also tuned and modified them.

http://www.hardlinecrawlers.com/forums/index.php?board=6.0

Click to expand...

The link just takes me back to the board? Musta missed something.

Trust me, airshocks arent my first choice, but they are there. Use what I got and try to make em work.

I'm tracking now......as far as using coilovers and fitting bumps in......look at the pictures and let me know where the bumps will fit. I am not mentally inclined to even take a guess right now.

It takes you to the classifieds section

I thought airbumps were basically unnec when running air shocks.

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TBItoy said:

Use atf or power steering fluid or light weight hydraulic fluid... fully compress the shock and fill it with oil.

Put the Schrader valve back in and fill with air till you get the ride height you want.

This will get you max ramp rate and lowest initial pressure.

If that don't control your unloading, pull the piston and plug some of the bleed holes.

Click to expand...

Nick are you saying fill it with oil until it runs out the schrader valve?

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smurfy90 said:

Nick are you saying fill it with oil until it runs out the schrader valve?

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Yep. Maybe minus a few cc for a little air space so they don't hydrolock.

We slow the compression valving down so they can't compress as fast and helps the roll.. I think stock valving is like 90/90?? We change the compression to 60.. Add 40/50 cc extra oil in front and 20/30 in rear... Fill em and Rock on

lowbudgetjunk said:

The link just takes me back to the board? Musta missed something.

Click to expand...

Nope. That was pretty much the point... But seriously. Lots of heavy oil, not much shaft showing, possibly a sway bar if you can fit one, and a couple center limits will make it wheel able.

Several different opinions in this thread on pirate but mine is running 10w hydraulic oil and is super stable with little to no body roll.http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/2102057-shock-oil-alternatives.html

It's hard to tell in the pics, Are your airbumps somehow attached to the shock body?