How do you guys bleed your shocks?
such as in the process of doing it?

Different methods for the shocks of different companies, but the process is the same in principal. When you build your shocks and tighten the cap on, without the spring on the shock, compress the shock fully. Now release it. Does the shaft pop back out again on its own?? If so, then they need to be bled, refer to manufactureers guide. Which shocks are we talking about?

the shocks that come with the jammin buggy kit?

I have had the Jammin shocks both RTR and currently Big Bore.
Extend the shaft all the way down and fill the shock body about half way push up and down 3 or 4 times leave to settle and do the other.
Come back the first and fill up to the top except for about 1 or 2mm.
Now push the shock shaft and and donw to ensure no bubbles.
Leave to settle in extend position and fill the other up.
Now on the first again and push the shock shaft half way up and hold the shock body between thumb and index+middle finger with the shaft resting in palm.
no put the cap with pressure bladder installed over the top and tighten, some shock oil may come out this is the bleeding part.
Once tightened and you enxtend and push the shock shaft back up and release it should only come back out about 10-12mm or so.
If it comes out too far then take top of and using a bit of tissue soak up some shock oil.

If using the big bore there a hole in the cap this bleeds the oil a bit better so remember have the shock at an angle and then screw on this big bore cap with the hol facing upward...oh meant to say there to screw it on rotate the body instead of the cap so the hole stay at top as any air will be at the top.

Good luck
Nick

foxy42, thanks for that piece of knowledge! I thot it was a good thing for the shock shafts to come back out, I will fix this tomorrow, gracias.

Look at the bottom of the page on this link is a video about building and bleeding shocks..
http://www.nitrohouse.com/video_help.htm
All the pro drives I have talked to say they should rebound about ½ inch like stated in the video.

very helpful thanks!

thats awsome thanks a lot

Yes and the duck tape trick works! Do not have to worry about nicking up your shock shafts.

I do not think you are right in this point...
Basicly we are using single-tube shock dampers with compensation room for piston volume.

The air bladder over the diaphragm is for volume compensation of the piston!
If the shock is fully extended the piston does not need any room in the shock. now if you compress the shock, the space of the piston has to be compensated. since you will not be able to compress the shock fluid itselfe, the air bladder over the diaphragm is compressed. the air now beeing compessed will push the piston back out! how far depends on length and diameter of piston, the shock fluids viscosity and piston hole size, the smoothness of the shock and size of the bladder.

Now if you push the piston all the way in before you tighten the shock cap (resulting in a air tight shock) your diaphragm is uncompressed and the bladder is not under pressure. now if you pull out the piston your diaphragm will be pulled in the shockbody. but the diaphragm is not designed to be pulled! it is designed to be compressed!

Only push the piston in 15mm to half the length before tighten the shock cap, to keep the diaphragm and air bladder working the way they should!

Just a little advice:
do not care about it to much...
since the shocks are not really air tight, after 10 minutes of bumping and jumping around the track, oil heating up and cooling down, there will be no difference in how you build the shock...

I am right on the most basic level. I have to say I don't understand the relevance or exactly what you are trying to convey with the above post (I'm not an automotive engineer, I'm an IT consultant! lol!). I tighten my shock caps with the piston in whatever position the manual says I should, usually about 50% down the body. I prefer to have no 'auto' rebound at all with off road shocks (this is also what's recommended for Xray cars). With my on road car, the NT1, it's considered a tuning option how much rebound the shock has on it's own, 75% rebound, 50%, 25%, etc. etc. I run my on road with about 50%, but they have different bleeding methods anyway.

Well Foxy, I'm with Donk. The shaft should extend partially on it's onwn as this shows that the shock IS bled and that the oil and bladder are working correctly.

The thing about this forum is that the Mods do not always no better and unfortunately for the noobs that visit, they delete any post that conflicts and shows them to be wrong.

You really think we delete posts that don't agree with us, or think we know best?? I don't understand graham, you've known me for years. There are people on here, yourself included, that make me feel like a noob when it comes to buggies.

Any mod caught deleting posts for no reason, would not be a mod for long, its something I would certainly never do. I'm shocked and very disappointed you think that of me. Check the XT8 manual, you'll see that there should be no unsprung rebound on the XT8 shocks, but that's just one model. I don't disageree on principal, I'm going on what I've seen. Certainly nobody should be running shocks that rebound all the way out. Can we agree on that (my original post)?

I know you yourself have never deleted a post of mine but there are some on this site, take tweety, that if you prove him wrong will delete your posts (or worse, edit them to match his) and stick you on restrictions, just because you use a different method. The end.

But for bleeding shocks there are a few ways to do it, some people fill them to the brim and then screw on the cap gently (so that forces out the air), some folk use the pressure filling tool (this fills them under pressure so that no air can get in in the first place) and others fill and pump, let settle and then top up. The latter being my preferred method. But when my shocks are filled and the cap is on, I expect to be able to push the piston right in and have it slide back out 1/3rd of the way under the pressure created by the bladder and the differential area of the piston shaft itself.