Rc Hot topic 1: Shock tension

[BROKENSLASH4X4]

[I EAT DIRT]

first of all if you run no sag like your setup, you don't get the down travel when going over small bump's. This will make the truck bounce and give you less control. Just think of it this way, have you ever watched say desert racing and seen the shot's of the truck's/buggy's coming at you? You will notice that the suspension is constantly going up and down into hole's and soaking up bump's. The truck's stay relatively level and is not squirrely. What does your truck do going over small bump's does it bounce around alot or does it stay level and track straight? I run D8 big bore shock's and can do 60mph through our gravel pit and it look's just like a big truck would. As it hit's a dip or hole the suspension is able to drop down into the hole and rebound up while keeping the truck level. With your setup I would expect that thetruck dance's alot at high speed's over rough terrain. Quite a bit of a ramble, but you really want to run a bit of sag or squat in your suspension, it will help with soaking up the small stuff and allow you to go much faster over rougher terrain. Buy the way are you running the powerstroke's with the top black spring's? if you have them cranked down you are actually taking away from there ability to handle the rough stuff.

[BROKENSLASH4X4]

Yes I am running powerstrokes, but if i run them with out tension they dont rebound all the way up, then its like the slash 4x4
ultimate big bore shocks, that didnt rebound and they squatted in the rear

[BROKENSLASH4X4]

Thanks for the long answer btw

[shaggyiroc]

I agree with I eat dirt it also raises the center of gravity which also gives bad handling

[Grooviemann1]

The point he's making is that they're not supposed to rebound all the way. You get it stiff enough and you might as well just run steel rods to your suspension arms for all the good super-stiff suspension will do you.

[rcDESTROYER]

I have mine set up so the front axels are level across and my rear are set up so my rear axels are just above level. I check the possession after I drop the tuck on the ground. One big part of shock rebound is in how you fill them. A lot of people don't take the time to make sure all of the air is out of the shock. You want to make sure you fill it over the top then place the cap back on. The shock itself should slightly have its own rebound without even having a spring on it. You should be able to pull it out and push it back in and let go and have the shaft come about half way. With this setup I found that my turn radius and overall handling is greatly improved over stock.

[BROKENSLASH4X4]

I have taken time to some what master shock oil changing, i just made my shocks WAYYYY less torqued down, the front
bottoms out now, even with 50wt oil.

[robgdds]

You need to get the tuning springs put the heaviest bottom spring in with 60 wt. If you notice on short course trucks and race atvs they sit with a lot of sag. The idea is you could corner better and when they take a big jump the shock fully extends and you use mostly damping and the heavy spring to absorb the shock. Look up zero preload shocks.

[alucard0822]

The suspension works best when it can keep the tires in constant contact with the ground, and the chassis remains flat and stable at a consistent ride height over the surface. There are some bumps that the suspension needs to compress over to achieve that, and dips that it needs to rebound to extend the wheel into the dip. You want to look at the surface you run on, if it is smooth, the suspension can move slower, so heavier shock oil, and heavier springs work, if it is rough, the suspension needs to move faster, and light springs and oil are needed. If there are few jumps and bumps, you need less travel, if there are large jumps and bumps then you need more travel. For the majority of surfaces you want to set the ride height so the suspension has 1/2 to 2/3 of it's travel for compression, and 1/3- 1/2 for rebound. This allows the tires to stay on the ground, and disrupt the chassis as little as possible.

Some jack their shocks way up to try to keep from bottoming out, but being a short course truck, it will bottom out with any significant jump, it won't hurt the truck, and to make the ride height so high and the suspension so stiff that it doesn't will make the truck handle like crap. If it is slamming the ground and bouncing over modest jumps, then thicker shock oil will help, more shock preload really won't. You set the travel range and compression curve with shock position, you set dampening and suspension speed with shock oil, shock preload is merely to compliment your other settings, and to get the ride height on top of 1/2 to 2/3 of the travel. If the suspension doesn't "spring back" when pushed down sitting on a table it doesn't really matter, other than to check for binding in the suspension if it is severe, when the truck i moving, it will find it's ride height with the suspension moving around.

To get a consistent measurement for setting aligment angles though, I drop mine from about 6-8 inches, then roll it back and forth a couple inches rolling it by the tire without touching the chassis, with my shocks set upper 2, lower 2 in the front, the axles are a hair lower than straight, in the rear the shocks are upper 2, lower 3, and the axlea are a hair higher than level. With this setup and 60wt shock oil, It is controllable over the 1/8 scale jumps at my track, soaks up bumps in rough dirt and gravel while bashing, and turns flat and stable on most surfaces witout flipping.

[Grooviemann1]

Alucard, kudos. I think that's the most well written, easy to understand thing I've read yet on the effects of suspension. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[BROKENSLASH4X4]

True, mr. RCPRO aka alucard!