King Song S18 Discussion

[Elliott Reitz]

3 minutes ago, c5flybyu said:

Duf put together a good video: {vid}

It was a good summary of the easy tweeks.  Though without the dissconnected shock lift/drop b4 and after the mods it doesn't really prove itself.  There is obviously something adding huge friction to the S18 suspension, but so far other than the "after" vids from the most extreme mods there's really been no proof of root causes. Lubrication?  Washers? Lock-washers? Shock pressure or thumbwheel?  Nope, nobody has yet proven b4/after in any vids that I've yet seen.  Otherwise I may have gone further with my own mods and parts orders.  As for now?  Well the stock S18 suspension is working great for the big impacts (curb shots, pot-holes, off-road roots & grass).  ... FWIW.

[c5flybyu]

1 hour ago, Elliott Reitz said:

It was a good summary of the easy tweeks.  Though without the dissconnected shock lift/drop b4 and after the mods it doesn't really prove itself.  There is obviously something adding huge friction to the S18 suspension, but so far other than the "after" vids from the most extreme mods there's really been no proof of root causes. Lubrication?  Washers? Lock-washers? Shock pressure or thumbwheel?  Nope, nobody has yet proven b4/after in any vids that I've yet seen.  Otherwise I may have gone further with my own mods and parts orders.  As for now?  Well the stock S18 suspension is working great for the big impacts (curb shots, pot-holes, off-road roots & grass).  ... FWIW.

You are correct.  I got lost in this megathread and thought he was asking for a first steps video.  I'm hoping this makes most of the wheels "decent" and keeping my fingers crossed on mine, which should be here in a few days. 🤞🤞

[Purplecycle]

Yay! Got another sound in my collection of noises of the S18   -- the chirping!!

I am thinking about starting a band with fellow S18-ers using S18 noises -- I am sure we will produce the next Summer hit for 2021! 

 

[Ocelotflow]

I have an issue with the telescopic handle on my S18.

It is really hard to get in carry mode and totally impossible to extend all the way.

When its in carry mode then its a lot of hassle to get it pushed back in the wheel, anyone has the same issue and maybe a fix?

[Beachboy]

What do you think?

[Rehab1]

1 hour ago, Ocelotflow said:

I have an issue with the telescopic handle on my S18.

It is really hard to get in carry mode and totally impossible to extend all the way.

When its in carry mode then its a lot of hassle to get it pushed back in the wheel, anyone has the same issue and maybe a fix?

It sounds like dirt or dust may have entered the telescopic tubes..

I would suggest removing the 2 screws that holds the trolley handle onto the telescopic tube. While pressing down on the handle’s release button slide the  handle and it’s fiberglass rods out of the tube.

Once the assembly is removed you can easily  clean and lubricant the entire mechanism. If you have compressed air available try blowing out any foreign material that may have entered the tubes before reassembly.

[Rehab1]

2 minutes ago, Beachboy said:

What do you think?

Perfecto! Great job! 

[Beachboy]

38 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

Perfecto! Great job! 

Thanks..👍

Anyway, I still have that infamous steel blocks attached on both sides..😏🍺

[Daniel Hollinghurst]

On 9/30/2020 at 11:30 AM, Beachboy said:

What do you think?

Looks great! My shock without pressure and being out of the unit all together puts up more than a fight than that when trying to compress it. I'm hoping after reassembly and new parts I can get my suspension movement smooth like that. 

 

[Bridgeboy]

On 9/30/2020 at 3:30 AM, Beachboy said:

What do you think?

Complete opposite of mine. Did yours come that way or did you fix it somehow? (You may have already stated it earlier in the thread but its getting really long)

[Beachboy]

On 10/1/2020 at 10:32 PM, Daniel Hollinghurst said:

Looks great! My shock without pressure and being out of the unit all together puts up more than a fight than that when trying to compress it. I'm hoping after reassembly and new parts I can get my suspension movement smooth like that. 

 

Thanks, I didnt replace any parts except washers

21 hours ago, Bridgeboy said:

Complete opposite of mine. Did yours come that way or did you fix it somehow? (You may have already stated it earlier in the thread but its getting really long)

Ofcourse not, I replaced those old spring washers and the oversized one on the linkage suspension arms...then greased the sliders and thats it, no need to removed those steel blocks too..

 

 

anyways, does anyone knows how to remove KS brand sticker on the rear?

Edited October 2, 2020 by Beachboy

[redfoxdude]

6 hours ago, Beachboy said:

anyways, does anyone knows how to remove KS brand sticker on the rear?

Ughn, I want to remove this too. I think it's paint or dye sublimation or something. Might try some DOT 3 brake fluid, was an old trick for removing the logos off Duncan FreeHand yo-yos and stuff 😅

[Rehab1]

On 10/2/2020 at 7:12 AM, Beachboy said:

anyways, does anyone knows how to remove KS brand sticker on the rear?

I used Goo Gone and a plastic squeegee. It came right off. 
 

Before

After with reinforced mud guard.

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by Rehab1

[Steef Klonoa]

Beware the screws by the motor wire if you are installing the 3d printed cover. Just stripped one of mine...

[Beachboy]

6 hours ago, redfoxdude said:

Ughn, I want to remove this too. I think it's paint or dye sublimation or something. Might try some DOT 3 brake fluid, was an old trick for removing the logos off Duncan FreeHand yo-yos and stuff 😅

Aaahhh...great idea...👍👍

4 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

I used Goo Gone and a plastic squeegee. It came right off. 
 

Before

After

 

Thanks man..👍👍

[Bridgeboy]

14 hours ago, Beachboy said:

Ofcourse not, I replaced those old spring washers and the oversized one on the linkage suspension arms...then greased the sliders and thats it, no need to removed those steel blocks too..

Well this is encouraging. It sounds like all that can be done without taking the whole wheel apart and just access the bolts on the shock suspension arms from the outside, right?

[Simply_Striking]

15 hours ago, Bridgeboy said:

Well this is encouraging. It sounds like all that can be done without taking the whole wheel apart and just access the bolts on the shock suspension arms from the outside, right?

Can you give an average range and average sweep that you are getting from your s18?

[Bridgeboy]

33 minutes ago, Simply_Striking said:

Can you give an average range and average sweep that you are getting from your s18?

I don't know what that means. My suspension has the oversized washers and split washers and is frozen/stuck with friction. But I can't even get the bolts loose to remove the washers and replace with proper spacers. I have plenty of tools, 5mm long ball joint Allen wrenches, etc. and I even disconnected the bottom part of the shock to get better access, but those bolts are so tight and they are made of such cheap soft metal that the inside Allen hex shape just strips out into a circle with barely any significant force applied.

[Simply_Striking]

2 minutes ago, Bridgeboy said:

I don't know what that means. My suspension has the oversized washers and split washers and is frozen/stuck with friction. But I can't even get the bolts loose to remove the washers and replace with proper spacers. I have plenty of tools, 5mm long ball joint Allen wrenches, etc. and I even disconnected the bottom part of the shock to get better access, but those bolts are so tight and they are made of such cheap soft metal that the inside Allen hex shape just strips out into a circle with barely any significant force applied.

Sorry my bad probably confused you from the quote, but I mean like how many miles are you getting from a single charge and what's your riding speed like?

[Bridgeboy]

13 minutes ago, Simply_Striking said:

Sorry my bad probably confused you from the quote, but I mean like how many miles are you getting from a single charge and what's your riding speed like?

Well I haven't ridden it a whole lot and I stopped riding it a week ago once I realized my suspension was put together by monkeys.  I don't think continuing to ride it more with the suspension linkage connected together like this would be very smart. I'm waiting to hear back from eWheels if they are going to do something about it (and backcharge Kingsong, of course). I think eWheels are probably overwhelmed with complaints. Plus the Shermans have issues too and I'm waiting for them to send me that.

However, I was riding 25 to 28 MPH most of the time and the range was decent. It will only go to 31 MPH at 100% charge. After a few percent battery is used it will start tilting back at about 28 MPH. I think I got about 25-miles of range on my first ride bringing the battery down to maybe 15 or 20%. I'm just going on memory. I posted videos of me riding it when I first got it. I was oblivious that the suspension wasn't working properly at the time. I'm about 250-LBS riding weight:

KingSong S18 Suspension EUC Debut

Edited October 3, 2020 by Bridgeboy

[Rehab1]

50 minutes ago, Bridgeboy said:

I have plenty of tools, 5mm long ball joint Allen wrenches, etc. and I even disconnected the bottom part of the shock to get better access, but those bolts are so tight and they are made of such cheap soft metal that the inside Allen hex shape just strips out

I stripped an allen bolt on mine but it was due to using too much lock tight. Bummer you having so much trouble!

If your allen key is angled slightly you will not gain enough purchase on the hex and it will strip. Ball allen keys may be an issue.  Taking off the side panels makes disassembly much easier.

If you lived closer I would gladly help. Good luck! 

[Bridgeboy]

3 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

I stripped an allen bolt on mine but it was due to using too much lock tight. Bummer you having so much trouble!

If your allen key is angled slightly you will not gain enough purchase on the hex and it will strip. Ball allen keys may be an issue.  Taking off the side panels makes disassembly much easier.

If you lived closer I would gladly help. Good luck! 

I am hoping eWheels will take it back and fix it for me while at the same time shipping me my Sherman soon; hopefully next week. The Sherman will keep me occupied while eWheels fixes the S18.

If I have to fix the S18 myself I'll be forced to dremel a slot in the Allen bolts to get more purchase with a flathead screw driver, just like I had to do to one of the bolts on the pedal hanger.

You're right that it's the ball joint, at an angle, that starts the stripping, but these bolts are also extremely soft metal. I barely put any force on them and they stripped. I think Kingsong loctited them in. The bolt I was able to get apart for the bottom of the shock had blue Loctite on it. The long ball joint wrench is what was recommended by many people to reach the inside bolt next to the shock so I started with that. That's what Duf used in his video and he didn't strip his bolts so I thought I'd be able to but I think my bolts were just tightened more to begin with and/or have more loctite applied on them.

After the first inside bolt stripped I disconnected the bottom of the shock so I could get on it with a standard Allen wrench but it still stripped out, then I tried the opposite side bolt, starting with the standard wrench and it also stripped out. The head strips out, not the threads. 

It's just a complete flustercluck.

How much extra time do you estimate it would take to remove the side panels?

 

 

[Beachboy]

18 hours ago, Bridgeboy said:

Well this is encouraging. It sounds like all that can be done without taking the whole wheel apart and just access the bolts on the shock suspension arms from the outside, right?

Yup, but the downside is I cannot replace those washers in suspension arms that connected to slider cage, I was kinda lazy to strip the whole wheel.

Btw, check you sliders too...if its bend you better bring it to the seller for fixing it.

1 hour ago, Bridgeboy said:

I am hoping eWheels will take it back and fix it for me while at the same time shipping me my Sherman soon; hopefully next week. The Sherman will keep me occupied while eWheels fixes the S18.

If I have to fix the S18 myself I'll be forced to dremel a slot in the Allen bolts to get more purchase with a flathead screw driver, just like I had to do to one of the bolts on the pedal hanger.

You're right that it's the ball joint, at an angle, that starts the stripping, but these bolts are also extremely soft metal. I barely put any force on them and they stripped. I think Kingsong loctited them in. The bolt I was able to get apart for the bottom of the shock had blue Loctite on it. The long ball joint wrench is what was recommended by many people to reach the inside bolt next to the shock so I started with that. That's what Duf used in his video and he didn't strip his bolts so I thought I'd be able to but I think my bolts were just tightened more to begin with and/or have more loctite applied on them.

After the first inside bolt stripped I disconnected the bottom of the shock so I could get on it with a standard Allen wrench but it still stripped out, then I tried the opposite side bolt, starting with the standard wrench and it also stripped out. The head strips out, not the threads. 

It's just a complete flustercluck.

How much extra time do you estimate it would take to remove the side panels?

 

 

Yes, I also stripped one of the bushing/bolt, lucky I was able to remove it using short arm allen key (dont use ball head key).

Overhaul the whole suspension arms would need you to strip the whole wheel, i think if I’m doing that would take minimum of 3 hours.

[Rehab1]

1 hour ago, Bridgeboy said:

How much extra time do you estimate it would take to remove the side panels?

If you watch the S18 disassembly video it’s fairly easy. Don’t be intimidated.  If I can  remove all of the panels in approximately 20 minutes you can too.,

First locate all of the hidden screws buried beneath the padding  then use a long phillips bit for easy access. Be sure to place each batch of screws from the various panel locations into separate containers with labels for ease of reassembly.

When I watched the KS video with the tech tossing all of the screws into the same container I realized the guy knew his screws. 

[Bridgeboy]

2 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

When I watched the KS video with the tech tossing all of the screws into the same container I realized the guy knew his screws. 

That's probably why we have split washers and oversized washers holding our suspensions together. They just reached into the junk drawer and grabbed whatever was available.