Includes complete software CD for your computer to graph and chart shocks. Features simple Excel Spreadsheet for graphing and plotting curves. Allows easy data entry into your computer to easily produce a standard force versus velocity graph. The dyno can also be used without a computer to test and compare shocks without making a graph... Shocks can be tested on the transporter after a rebuild or readjustment and compared to the written test data you made when the shocks were brand new out of the box. This type test can be performed easily in less than a minute. The E-5 uses a Robic liquid crystal display stop watch which has been hard wired to the switching mechanism. This unit will produce a very high degree of repeatability and consistent readings. It features a high volume air regulator and high volume manual lever operated valve which you flip up to retract the shock or down to compress. The shock will travel exactly 2" and stop, and give you an elapsed time. The accuracy and resolution is to the hundredth of a second. Let's say shock "A" takes .35 seconds to travel its 2" test stroke while shock "B" takes .70 seconds. "B" is twice as stiff as "A" in this case. If one shock tests .35 sec and another tests .36 sec., the difference between these two shocks is about the width of the pencil line on a $30,000 dyno graph. The operator can then type these times into their computer to produce a graph. Since the valve is manual, no external electrical source is required, only your shop air or nitrogen bottle. Operation: First hook up about 100psi from either your shop compressor or nitrogen bottle to the quick disconnect fitting on the shock dyno. Step 1: Using the dyno's air regulator, set the air pressure to 20 psi. Step 2: Flip the stroke lever down to compress the shock. Step 3: The shock will travel exactly 2", stop, and automatically display an elapsed time on the timer. Step 4: Write down this elapsed time on the supplied data pad... Step 5: Now flip up the stroke lever. The shock will retract exactly 2" and stop Step 6: Write down this "retraction" elapsed time on the data pad... Step 7: Now adjust the air regulator and run the same test at higher pressures. Step 8: Write down the elapsed times for these higher pressures. (Testing at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 psi are good pressures to test at to give your shocks a quick thorough test that will run your shocks from slow to high speeds) Interpreting the Data There is a lot you can learn about your shocks by just looking at these elapsed times (ET) that you have written down on the data pads that are supplied with the dyno. Quite a few of our customers use only these ET's and do not go any further to produce a graph etc. The longer the ET, the stiffer the shock is. The shorter the ET, the softer the shock. If you are comparing two identical "5" valve shocks, the ET's will tell you if they are identical or if one is softer than the other etc. The following are two data pads from testing a brand new Afco 5 valve shock and a brand new Pro 5 valve shock. Look under just the compression ET's for both shocks and you will see the Afco is slightly stiffer since the elapsed times are longer. However on retraction you see the Pro is stiffer on retraction at high velocity and becomes softer than the Afco at slower velocities. Up to this point, no computer has been required to test these shocks. These two shocks would have different handling characteristics on a car when most of your competitors with no shock dyno would assume that they are identical. These data pads can either be used on their own or can be brought over to your computer and entered via your keyboard using the provided software to produce a Force vs. Velocity graph just like those produced by shock dyno’s costing up to 10 times as much as the ND Tech Model E-5 shock dyno. You can see the two graphs produced from these data pads by clicking the blue next button below. The two graphs above are made after testing the brand new out of the box Afco 5 valve and Pro 5 valve shocks that were mentioned on the "Operations" page. The top lines represent the compression and the bottom lines (next to the negative numbers) represent the retraction. They appear at first glance to be very similar but we know from the data pads that they are not. If you however, print this page out and cut out these two graphs, overlay them and hold up to the light, you will see what we saw from the data pads on the "Operations" page. I.e. the Afco is slightly stiffer on compression than the Pro. On the data pad we realized this since the Afco elapsed times were slightly longer. On the graphs overlaid, we can see the compression line angles up slightly higher than the Pro line. Now on the bottom lines (retraction), we observed on the data pads that the Pro was stiffer at higher speeds and the Afco was stiffer at slower speeds. On the two overlaid graphs we see the same. In fact we can see where the two bottom retraction lines intersect - right at 5.5 in/sec. In other words the retractions of the two shocks are identical at this one speed only. Once again, making graphs is really not necessary to evaluate or duplicate a shock after rebuilding or readjusting it. The elapsed times on the timer with its .01 sec resolution is way more than required to pick up even the smallest changes in your shocks performance. One customer relayed what he called a significant change in the shocks performance by changing brands of fluid that had the same viscosity. Even with more teams now "sending their shocks off", it is still nice to be able to test them before and after rebuild, replacement. etc. Specifications: DIMENSIONS: 41"h x 17"w x 21"d. WEIGHT: Net 45 lbs POWER REQ'D: 100 psi shop air or nitrogen* COMPUTER: Windows PC. TIMER UNIT: Robic liquid crystal display range, .01 sec to 99.99 seconds. AIR CYLINDER: 21/2"diameter, Stainless double acting. MAXIMUM 2.5 “CYLINDER FORCE: 494lbs at 100psi, 612lbs at 150psi & 988lbs at 200psi. TEST STROKE: 2.0". AIR REGULATOR: laboratory grade double diaphragm type. SHOCK LENGTHS: Nominal eye to eye (inches), 12" to 27". WARRANTY: Five years unconditional on completed dyno.