This isn’t a review as I have not yet had the chance to run them yet but more of a first impressions rant. I am one of many who have been waiting for what seems like an eternity for someone to manufacture a solution to the shaft bending issue. It seems like 8/10 times I take the Baja to our local race track I come home with a bent shock shaft (typically the rear). It has really given the Baja a bad rep. at the club as even though they are impressed with it they are they still think the shocks are a major flaw in the design. Hell even some of the 3kg 1/8 nitro’s have thicker shafts in their shocks!

So anyway I was very surprised to see RC4WD come out of what seems like nowhere and offer (hopefully) a solution to my bending woes.

My first words was WOW there freaking huge! The overall quality of these shocks is outstanding and appear to be engineered to take any abuse you could throw at them. Fit and finish is also very good but have to say I didn’t like the purple at all and would have much preferred them if they were all gun metal grey like the lower pieces.



My only disappointment so far is that the spring rate adjusters didn’t come with an o-ring even though the groove is there. Luckily I had some spare o-rings which I fitted so was good to go.

As you know these shocks do away with the “hyper adjust” system which is just fine by me as I never really liked it much and saw it as just another thing to go wrong so am happy with the minimalist approach here. Besides you can still tune the dampening using different shock oil but for the time being I am just using the stock 20w HPI oil as im guessing that was what they were designed for.

The bottom part of the shock is quite different to the stockers in that the inner part is a solid piece of some sort of plastic material which is pressed into the alloy so no more foam washers or upper vent holes. The end is still sealed with dual o-rings just like the original.

Original on the left (split in 2) RC4WD on the right





The 2 end pieces are a real work of art but make sure you apply thread lock to the threadded ball end piece





I thought the shock cylinder was a standard HPI part but it is not and even the springs appear to be different. Check out the difference in shaft diameter!



Filling was surprisingly simple. I filled from the top to almost full, pumped a few times and slowly pushed down on the shaft while screwing on the top bleeding them slightly.

All ready to go...notice the absence of purple!

Old on the left, RC4WD on the right



Oh and yes these do weigh more than the stock shocks 160g for the rear (compared to 134g for the stock shock) and 124g for the front (compared to 102g for the stock shock) so all up your just shy of 100g of additional weight.

I will be testing these on the w/e so will let you know how they perform on the track.