Need your help?

Need some help in understanding the best way to call out shock valving? There are many ways and in my opinion they are not useful or the information is so small I do see the point. But this maybe just what your looking for, this is the part I don't really understand. I spend a lot of time explaining shock valving to people and it seems to me that there must be a better way.

Our current way is like this: We use a serial number on each shock (24568) this number identifies that shock to it's build and dyno run, this way if we need to build it again we can. It also allows use to track how the shock performs over time. The next call out is our valving: RF1-75/130 is the valving, although this may look confusing it is very simple in telling you what it is. (RF) is right front and is the location, the other three corners are marked as such. The (1) will indicate which bleed system is in the shock. 1, is a modified or small bleeds and 2, is standard bleeds, here is some info on there sizes.

In a bleed system of marked 1 we will use a 1,2,3 or 4 bleed tiny to make the bleed system in a bleed system marked 2 we will use a full bleed shim. The bleed size dictates the amount of low speed the shock makes and this is indicated in the next call out. The (75) is the amount of 1" number when we dyno the shock., the bigger the number the more control the shock has on that corner of the car.

Okay we have covered so far the location and bleed system or the amount of bleed the shock will see the next thing is what separates the rebound from compression. The (/) back slash is what tells you we are now dealing with the compression side of the shock unlike when you see (-) a dash which indicates low speed from high speed.

Example: RF1-75/130 vs RF1-75-400/130, the dash in the second sample is 75 low speed number and 400 high speed number both on the rebound side of the shock. Now the last digit or marker is the compression the 130. That is the high speed call for the compression and in this case it is 130 pounds at 10" of speed on the dyno.

This is one way that we call out a shock, here are the others ways we use to do this on different series of shocks.

• LF 140/160: This is a high speed call out and those numbers are what we are trying to get to at 10" on the dyno.

• LF 3030: This is from the chart and is also a high speed call out and will also be built with a full bleed system on both side of the shock. The low speed on these shocks is not as great and lacks car control that you need when track slicks off.

• LF 3-3: The same as above but a shorter version of it . 3 rebound - 3 compression.

We fill like the low speed call out or the low speed control in the shock is so important that it should have a place on the shock so the end user knows what we are doing. We have tried different things over the years to express the call out or relate what we are doing and it seems to make more confusion or take to much time.

If you could help with ideas on how you see it would be easier to understand we would love to hear it so commit below and maybe we can put your ideas to work.

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Rev: 4-22-21

Understand that all shocks are not the same in valving numbers, what I mean is if you want a 4-4 it is not the same compression / rebound for each shock company. He is what I mean.

Name Valving comp/reb Pressure @ 10"

Afco 4-4 comp/reb 150/200

Integra 4-4 comp/reb 175/215

QA1 4-4 comp/reb 125/200

Bilstein 4040 reb/comp 210/210

BSB 4040 reb/comp 200/200

We see a 60lbs difference in pressure at just a 4 valve and a 75lbs split in compression rebound . A straight valve shock in some brands in stronger on the rebound stroke to control the spring return but is not identified as such, this is sometime hard to understand and never publish as to such.

Note: Each shock company has their own valving chart and it can change pretty quick and is not always public information, if you need their info you must call them for the most updated chart.

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