SEETHING: Building garbage Associated shocks

[flipwils11]

I was having a pretty darned good day. I really was. My son's 6th birthday is on Tuesday so today we picked up his present, a new bike, at the bike shop. It was sunny and in the 30's with no white fungus on the ground here in MN thanks to the mild winter. AND today Mr. Mailman rang the doorbell AND I was here to sign for my Fibre Lyte parts, yay!

Tonight I decided to build the shocks for my old is new RC10 modern build. No problemo, I've built these before. I have a pair of new in package 1.32 rears from Tower and 1.02 fronts I think from the same source. Usually you build these, I have the o-ring and spacer placement on the plastic build tool memorized by now, and it's a *snap* literally. You push down and snap that plastic clip home and move onto the next one. Not so tonight. 1.02 set caused all sorts of problems, red o-rings were not seating, getting pinched, coming out in pieces, etc. Lube, lube, lube with more shock oil. No joy.

I move onto the 1.32's wondering if I got a bad batch. I take painstaking care to remove any excess plastic flashing from parts tree on the spacers. I get one done, doesn't snap home when I push down, but it goes in and looks seated. #2, looks good, but took multiple tries to get there. I put the shock shaft in and it's binding like F***. Take it all apart again, red o-ring falls out in pieces. WTF. I start on it again and get it seated, no wait, I look inside and top red o-ring is pinched around sides of clip. I can see it poking out around the clip, like the suggestion of a thong when a chick is wearing low rise shorts.



This is the aftermath, the hammer might have slipped a few times (yes, it was totally f'ing worth it, I'm going to bed now).

Not sure what I'll do for shocks now because I'm so livid. Someone PLEASE tell me either a) how I've over-reacted, b) missed a crucial step in assembly or c) a+b because Associated builds incredible products with zero defects or quality issues so I must be an idiot.

Good night all.

[nvxwax]

That sucks, I feel your pain, i have a set of threaded shocks that did that, i still have not got them together lol

As consolation prize, i have to Shock tubes like the two hammered, well they are just over 1.5 inches from the bottom to the top the the threads... If they are the ones you need ill send them with your other stuff

[shane]

Might try sanding the spacers a bit. I think someone here posted a shock build thread and recommended to do that.

[transamman908]

Someone PLEASE tell me either a) how I've over-reacted, b) missed a crucial step in assembly or c) a+b because Associated builds incredible products with zero defects or quality issues so I must be an idiot.

a) Probably need a anger management outreach program
b) drink heavily to overcome a)
c) yes they do and well..um..no comment
d) go back to b) and repeat

[RichieRich]

Sorry to point out the obvious, but you missed a spot on that shock in the foreground.

[klavy69]

Sorry to point out the obvious, but you missed a spot on that shock in the foreground.

X2...I'd be happier if the foreground shock were more flatter like the rear shock but otherwise:

E). did a great job on pressure release



been there and done that...not the hammer thing but fighting with the shocks. I figured mine out in the end. Bought new built shocks off ebay and sold the shock set I was fighting to re-coupe the cost of the new builts

true story
Todd

[Lonestar]

there s a fe batches where the recess for the snap ring is not properly machined. i ve had some of them in the past.... sounds like you just did, too

i think you just created a new pic for your avatar

Paul

[adam lancia]

Yeah, what lonestar said. I've had a few like that, also with bits of aluminum that didn't get machined away completely still in where the seals and spacers are supposed to snap in. Once I got that crud out, things worked but if the retainer lip isn't machined right, no amount of sanding, lubing or drinking will help. What you could have done is called Don at AE and get him to send you a set of new bodies. They're usually really good about that kind of thing.

[Lowgear]

Now that is my kind of therapy!

This is how I felt after the frustration with the gearbox in my Kangaroo build. It upset me so much that I haven't touched the thing since which (goes to look) was around a year and a half ago. Wow, I didn't think that much time had passed.

[flipwils11]

Thank you all for the comraderie. I lol'd about the avatar suggestion. So they really are this bad I guess. My other shock builds have been blue ft bodies purchased separately, with unobtainium shock shafts and a separate rebuild kit. They went together on the first try.

I do think I will research how to fit the velvets on my rig and determine what to do.

[askbob]

That sounds like something I'd do.

[D Nozzle]

Hope your 6 year old learned the way to do this to his new bike when the chain falls off.

[flipwils11]

Hah, funny you say that because he just experienced the dreaded chain suck on his new bike and no, we did not use a big hammer to fix it.

[Brandon G]

I had the same problems with a few of the top load shocks also. Like was previously suggested, I had to sand the OD of the white spacers to get them to go down in the hole. Had problems with the slot the clip rests in also. I blew out one particular shock 3 times in 3 runs before I tossed it in the circular file.

I bought a B4FT a few years back, they must have had a bad anodizing run on the shock bodies. The rears looked like thet were in the bath for about 10 seconds. Sent them back to AE, at their request before they would ship out new replacements. What they sent in return didn't look much better. Makes you wonder sometimes.

Never had any problems with the Losi shocks with the double oring cartridge. They are so much easier to build consistently.

[scr8p]

Hope your 6 year old learned way to do too his new bike when the chain falls off.

i immediately thought of this commercial after reading that.

[youtube]c-zG5U0v3gU[/youtube]