As noted in the specific articles about the Gold Shocks, there are 3 different sizes:
- Small: 52 – 68mm
- Medium: 60 – 80mm
- Large: 68 – 94mm
These dimensions may differ slightly depending on your build, as some of the manuals state the eyelets can be swapped from the short W-5015 shock ends to the longer LA-43 ball ends. These can also be trimmed to be shortened.
Alternative: Duratrax
The Duratrax brand gold shocks were period alternatives for the gold shocks (DTXC3500 for short, DTXC3500 for long). The biggest functional difference is that the Duratrax shocks have only one red rubber o-ring as opposed to the Kyosho shocks that have 2 o-rings. Externally, they can be recognised by having a small chamfered edge at the bottom of the gold shock housing, as opposed to the Kyosh shocks that don’t have the chamfer. Some people state the Duratrax shocks have a darker, orange gold colour but this seems to depend on the batch – even Kyosho shocks are coloured somewhat differently across batches. Later production shocks are almost identical in color to the Kyosho’s. When comparing side to side, the Duratrax have a slightly more extended tapered part at the bottom as well. The Duratrax shocks also came with a flatter spring cup at the bottom, but these are easily swapped with Kyosho cups.
The Duratrax had a reputation for leaking.
Meant as a schematic comparing both shocks, not photographs of the actual branded parts
Alternative: Xtra Speed
Xtra Speed produced a replica shock for a small time (their earlier 2016 name was ‘Mayonaise RC’) under serial numbers XS-OM27001 (front) and XS-OM27002 (rear). I have them on one of my cars so also have personal experience with them. They are exact replica’s of the Kyosho shocks with regards to shape and dimensions, but they are more of a ‘rose’ colour as opposed to the Kyosho originals. Also the pistons are black (originals: yellow) and the spacers / shaft guides are all black (Kyosho featured one low friction nylon ring as a shaft guide and one thin black spacer against the G-springs). They come with black rubber o-rings and black powder coated springs. Most parts are exactly the same as the Kyosho ones.
Upon building the shocks, I came across a couple of issues. First is the piston is slightly thin to sit well wedged between the 2 c-clips holding it. I added a shim to space it out. Second was problems with the diaphragm (bladder). Building them with full extension, the bladder leaked out as soon as I compressed them. Building them fully compressed, the bladder popped out as soon as I extended them. The bladders have a texture to them, so I replaced these with genuine Kyosho ones. However, they had way too much pressure (probably much smaller air pocket). Building them compressed I couldn’t compress them over halfway. Building them uncompressed, the bladder again popped out or allowed air to be sucked in the oil through the cap thread. To fix this, I drilled a 1mm hole in the cap to allow the air pocket to vent. This made them fully functional and I’m in fact quite happy with them now.
