Shocks How and why
 

I keep hearing about running a 1 hole piston, 2 hole piston, and 3 piston. If you run the 1 hole piston with the light oil. What is the advantage over running the 2 and 3 hole piston with heavier oil? I also like to know what the adavantages are of running the 2 and 3 hole over the others as well.

it is about the displacement of the volume to one and the other side of the piston. if you use thin oil, and small holes, you can get the exact same result with thicker oil and larger holes.

resistance can be the same, with thicker/thinner oil and larger/smaller holes.

So why would you make the 1 hole piston verse a 3 hole piston. I was think that the 3 hole would be easier to tune for the simple fact is the 5 weight difference in oil would be less noticible than in a 1 hole piston. Also even though you are pushing a thinner oil through a single hole. Wouldn't the thicker oil be better for smoother ride in a three hole shock. Just something that is on the mind.

I guess its so you dont have to buy different wt's of shock oil till you get the setup you want? If you got say 70wt and you used to the 2 hole pistons and it turned out to be to soft you could use the one hole piston and it could be fine.

Now this is pretty coincidental coolhand, I was getting ready to post this same thread. I am going to be experimenting with my shocks and was wondering the same things.

I'm looking for a stiff ride, meaning that if I go off of a jump, it doesn't bottom out easily. I've got super stiff springs on there now, what hole pistons and weight oil do you guys think I should start with?
Thanks.

Technically, small holes/thin oil can have the same effect as thick oil/bigger holes.

If I can choose, I go for thick oil with bigger holes. Why? Thicker oil is less prone to leaking (leaks slower)

Just a thought.

What kind of shocks you got john? I have a set of ue shocks on my one truck. It is like stiff with 70 wt oil. I had to move shocks now I am happy. I do like the non leaky shocks.

I've got these on my dual BL. Not impressed with them.
I have 100wt. oil in them now with the 1 hole piston. I'll see what the 3 hole does.

If they are to soft john the 3 hole piston is only going to make it worse. I love the ue shocks. The seem to work awesom. I don't know about some of the other shocks that i haven't run. but if you got something good that works why change it. I can run 4 UEs and do better than the 8 other aluminum shocks i had.

On my E-maxx i used RPM 2-stage shock pistons (med-heavy pack, purple ones) with 40 wt oil. it was soft but the dampening was enough to prevent bottom out on the biggest jump on the track, but the suspension was soft enough to handle the rough track.