Jato's Bumpy Road to Fordyce

[JatoTheRipper]

I meant the stubby puller pro to replace the Slate motor.

Ah ok. Well if I get rid of the Slate then it will be replaced with a Fusion Pro or a Stubby kit and a 540M outrunner.

Solid upgrades man

If I’m not mistaken the only real downside to the GTS shocks is a slightly longer compressed length than the incision shocks. In this application it will hardly be a limiting factor

Thank you. That's interesting. I did not check the compressed lengths, but this is good to know for the future. Like you said, probably a nonissue in this case.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I tried getting the VRD Carbon body painted, but with fall quickly approaching and the days ever getting shorter, I ran out of time. fall! I hate this season with a passion.

The motor end plate finally came in so I moved onto the Fordcye.




Out with the defective.





In with the new and here is the motor in the transmission. I decided to use the 15T pinion from my Ultra rather than the 13T stock pinion from the RTR Fordcyce. Hopefully this is enough wheelspeed on 2S and 3S. If not, I'll switch out the gearing. Not a huge deal.




I put all the wires from the motor on the right side to keep them away from the front driveshaft. Hopefully this works out well.




I also replaced the front two S8E shocks with Traxxas GTS. I then realized the preload collars do hit the stock shock towers. This will have to be fixed. It was at this point that I installed an S8E preload collar on a GTS body and it fit perfectly. Sweet! Good design choice, Vanquish. So I will have to swap out all of the preload collars. I am also torn about switching out the stock GTS shocks for the stock Fordyce springs. I think I will do that because the GTS springs seem a bit stiff.


I have a question for the resident experts on this forum. I took something apart without really paying attention to orientation. Shame on me. The photo shows the right rear shocks. The offset lower ball has the shock sitting inboard which makes it mostly vertical. Did your Fordyce come like this or did yours come with the rear lower shocks offset to the outside? The photo I took beforehand seems to show the shock offset to the outside, but then that would not match the front and it would also angle the shocks outward at the bottom. How was yours assembled - front and rear?

 

[Col_Sanders]

I put my shocks to have the spacer on the inside. Looks like thats how they do it from the factory in the pics I see.

On 3s, it should get it. 2s? 2s is for kids

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I put my shocks to have the spacer on the inside. Looks like thats how they do it from the factory in the pics I see.

On 3s, it should get it. 2s? 2s is for kids

Which pics are you referring to? In the photos on the Vanquish product page, it appears the rear shocks are angled, but I haven't seen any photos verifying this.

 

[bgredjeep]

I do the same. Spacer side in so the bottom of the shocks are further out. I don't know if it would be noticeable, but it should be more stable that way.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Search Fordyce on AMain. It is visible in one of their pics.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Search Fordyce on AMain. It is visible in one of their pics.

I guess you are talking about this photo. Definitely appears to show the spacer on the inside especially on the left rear. Thanks for the info. Flipping this ball may allow the shock to move away from the shock tower just enough for the preload collar to clear. I will have to check.

You know it would be nice if Vanquish had decent manuals for their RTRs. The exploded diagrams are fine in some areas and complete, useless garbage in others. And most of their kit manuals have been "coming soon" for a long time now. It's really not that hard to upload a file and create a link.




That rant just gave me the thought to check the Vanquish website. From the VS4-10 Builders Kit - Straight Axle photos, I found this picture that also confirms the shocks are spaced out towards the end of the axle.

 

[twade984]

I’m not sure which kit, but one of the manuals clearly shows the shocks get mounted that way