i took a spare shock i had laying around. i compared it to the rear shocks on my rc10's and it was the exact same size as them all. (used the eyeball method to measure). ok i looked up in a parts list to verify the rc10 rear shock body was a 1.32 just as i had thought.
next i tried to figure out where the 1.32 number came from. well i found that if i measured the inside of the shock body from the clip holding the seals up to the top of the shock cap threads. this number came to around 1.41" now 1.41" is a little off from the 1.32" i'm looking for. after a little thinking i came up with this theory. i believe the 1.32" measurement is the max stroke of the piston. now ad in the thickness of the e-clip in the mix that would be between the piston and the clip holding the seals your inner measurement should be right around 1.32" i didn't bother to measure the thickness of an e-clip to see how accurate this is. but seeing that the 1.32 shock body is the closest thing to the measurement i took i will run with it.
ok i have verified that the shock body in question is a 1.32" i just need to find an easy way to get that number from the outside. now for convenience i decided to measure the shock body with cap on.
the outer measurement of the 1.32" shock body from bottom to the top of the cap came out to 2.26".
now simple math goes like this. 2.26" - 1.32" = 0.94". so there we have the difference. 0.94"
ok knowing that the associated shock caps are all pretty much the same and that the associated shocks use the same basic sealing area in the bottom of the shock i figured that i would try my theory out that i know have in my head.
i measure out a front shock. its a gold bottom loader. (the 1.32 was the newer inner seal loader style) the overall measurement of this shock came out to 1.65". ok lets try out the math. 1.65" - 0.94" = 0.71".
so there you have it. an easy way to figure out the length of your shock bodies.
quick recap.
measure the outside of the shock from the bottom of the shock body to the top of the shock cap. take that number and subtract 0.94" from it. the number that you are left with should be close enough to a proper size that is sold by associated. so you should be able to figure it out pretty easy as to what size shock body you have.
next up shock shafts. but this will need to wait until i rebuild a shock or buy some new shafts. currently the only shafts that i have that are not in a built shock are bent and that wont help any. if ou feel like figuring out the shaft measurements please feel free to post up your findings.
enjoy. now i'm going to go and try to find a life
