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Widen or add weight?

mr_alister

Quarry Creeper
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
219
Location
Canada
I've been doing a lot of crawling and im starting to think I need the truck to roll over sideways less.

So should I:
A, widen the "track width"
Or B, add weight low down.

If I should go with widening, whats the best way? I dont really want to buy deeper offset wheels so are longer hexes a good idea? Or longer axels coming out of the portals or something like that?

Let me know what you guys think.
 
I've been doing a lot of crawling and im starting to think I need the truck to roll over sideways less.

So should I:
A, widen the "track width"
Or B, add weight low down.

If I should go with widening, whats the best way? I dont really want to buy deeper offset wheels so are longer hexes a good idea? Or longer axels coming out of the portals or something like that?

Let me know what you guys think.


Need way more info. Weight? Brass options installed? Battery size? Body? Overdrive/underdrive?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I went back and re-watched your backyard course videos to see how your truck handled.

First thing I noticed is stock ride height is pretty high and the body rolls quite a bit.

Looking at my day 1 out of the box videos, I had the same thing. I’ve always flopped a lot.

I lowered the chassis down to the point my links are level. Stock clearance is 3.14”. Mine sits at 2.75”. Lower center of gravity

I’ve stiffened the rear compared to the front to try and help with rolling. This was an improvement compared to stock. I have more springs and oil weights coming to dial in the suspension better.

Rc reviews scx10 iii kit really amplifies the flop and they address this.

I recently added ssd portal brass to the front and front overdrive.

Weighting the front down like that with brass helped a lot. The front stays planted better and fights more to keep the front down.

You can see that in my set of test and tune videos from this Saturday. I thought things were going to get out of hand at one point but it came around.

Another item I changed from stock was seriously gear down. Stock 17/39 sport gearing was way to fast to crawl. You think your going slow and in control until you video it and watch it.

I went to 9/45 and that’s much better for me.
But I just crawl.


So condensed ramblings to help with flopping.

1. Lower ride height
2. Work on suspension.
3. Weight front end. (If I did it over again I’d get locked up rc’s steel front end parts vs brass)
4. Slow down.

One final thought is if you’re running stock esc maybe think about a HW 1080. The better control from that will also help.

I fully understand flop frustration.

Sorry long winded.
 
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I have no brass as of yet. Im Running the hw1080 already. To lower ride height i need longer springs right? The stock springs aren't long enough to wind them out any further. I raised the body posts a couple holes so i didnt need to cut the body as much when i flipped the bumper mounts. I realize that's affecting the roll overs but i don't like how it looks when you cut the body so much. I modded the battery tray so my shorty 4300mah 3s sits in the low position. Gearing is at 15/39.

Sounds like brass diff covers and maybe portals in the front is the best place to start?
 
With what you’re describing, I’d say yes brass is a good place to start.

My body is trimmed and posts are all the way down. I have different shock mounts as well.

Another option is shorter tires. Instead of 4.6”-4.7” tall tires run 4.19” tires.

That will lower the chassis to the ground.
 
Another thought is heavier wheels.

Rc reviews recent video discusses new ssd wheels and the benefits of heavier wheels.

Totally forgot about that.

Or wrap your rims with stick on wheel weights.

Just a thought.

I run gmade steels. I like them. Look plane Jane as all get out but I like them.

I remember you got new wheels but not if they are alloy or steel.
 
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Yeah they are cheap aluminum ones from amazon. What do you think about wider offset brass hex's? That'd add a bit of weight and width aswell. Not to mention they're cheap too which makes me happy [emoji12]
 
Then I’d put a wrap of the stick on wheel weights on your wheels. Cheap enough option.
And the portal brass also.

I have the 8mm off set brass hexes also. I honestly don’t know how much they contribute. I think the widest offset I’ve seen is 12mm.....emphasis on think. [emoji1787]

I’m not familiar with the longer axle stubs so not really sure how well they’d work. I imagine they would.

I’ve seen them on mip’s website.
 
After some slight adjustments to the suspension and body I have the links level now and the body a tiny bit lower. Personally I can't stand hearing the body rub the tires so I think this is as low as its gonna get for me. Unless I trim it way more but then it starts looking less "real" which takes some of the appeal away I think.
0b543ce486bba43d8ed0b9ecb3bd25d1.jpg
e13f8cf85e1a7e8b08ec2a189c793432.jpg
 
Looks good!

Did you get a chance to try it out? Improvement?

Rc reviews did some testing with smaller tires and that helped with rolling compared to 4.75” tires.

You could get a set of take offs from an enduro trailwalker as they are smaller.

Unfortunately the rubbing is real when everything is twisted up.
 
Shorter springs would reduce ride height. Just reducing preload on shocks will reduce ride height.

A TRX-4 is a portal axle rig which gives it a higher center of gravity. In stock form it's always going to roll over more than an SCX10 II. It's just one of the drawbacks that comes from portal axles.
 
Shorter springs would reduce ride height. Just reducing preload on shocks will reduce ride height.

A TRX-4 is a portal axle rig which gives it a higher center of gravity. In stock form it's always going to roll over more than an SCX10 II. It's just one of the drawbacks that comes from portal axles.


Thanks Jato!

Good info on the shock springs.

Also it never dawned on me that by design portals are inherently higher center of gravity.
I’m sure i heard it mentioned before in the multitude of videos I’ve watched but didn’t register.
 
I guess that didn't make sense but I asked coz reducing preload any more results in the spring becoming loose between the preload collar thing and the cup at the bottom.

In most situation you will have some weight on shocks, so it should be ok. What about softer springs? that can make it to sit a bit lower.
 
I think I'm ok with how the suspension is now, I'll try it out tonight and see if it made much difference. From this point on I'll be adding unsprung weight i think.

First up I need a new servo though so I'll have to buy that next.
 
If you have your spring preload backed off to the point the spring is just loose and you want still more droop you can install some of the softer optional TRX4 springs that Traxxas sells. The stock Sport springs are .39 and I switched to the .30 rate springs on my Sport and that gives me just the right amount of droop I'm looking for.

Here is a list of the optional TRX4 GTS springs:
8042Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.22 rate, yellow stripe) (2)
8043Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.30 rate, white stripe) (2)
8044Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.39 rate, orange stripe) (2)
8041Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.45 rate) (2)
8040Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.54 rate, green stripe) (2)
8045Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.61 rate, blue stripe) (2)
 
If you have your spring preload backed off to the point the spring is just loose and you want still more droop you can install some of the softer optional TRX4 springs that Traxxas sells. The stock Sport springs are .39 and I switched to the .30 rate springs on my Sport and that gives me just the right amount of droop I'm looking for.

Here is a list of the optional TRX4 GTS springs:
8042Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.22 rate, yellow stripe) (2)
8043Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.30 rate, white stripe) (2)
8044Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.39 rate, orange stripe) (2)
8041Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.45 rate) (2)
8040Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.54 rate, green stripe) (2)
8045Springs, shock (natural finish) (GTS) (0.61 rate, blue stripe) (2)


I wonder if something changed with the stock Sport springs.

Mine are white.

f8716820c07243feb01d944658f181d3.jpg
 
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