AX10 Lower Suspension Holes - which to use?

[drewpyfz6]

Hi,
My AX10 seems to be improving by the day now -

Following threads here on this forum and with plenty of help from the knowledgeable members, we are liking the AX10 Scorpion.

Was playing around with setup today and have moved the lower suspension links inward, to the nearest hole to each other.
(the picture taken before the change)


I have left the upper links where they are for now - and am wondering, is it my imagination or has this made it a better climber.

This morning with standard setup, i.e. lower suspension in the outer most hole - as per picture above, I was struggling with a couple of bigger step climbs.

Now its moved in, it seems to be able to handle them better.

Your opinions would be very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Drew

[Harvo]

You probably did notice a difference. The flatter your pinion/driveshaft angle the better you will see it climb due to less twist. Some people achive this by lengthening the upper links.

[drewpyfz6]

Originally Posted by Harvo

You probably did notice a difference. The flatter your pinion/driveshaft angle the better you will see it climb due to less twist. Some people achive this by lengthening the upper links.

Thanks Harvo,
Good to know we are moving in the right direction.

Cheers,
Drew

[DeweyCJ5]

when i went to a 4 inch maxx shock i had to move the top link mounts to the middle hole to get my pinion angle back to normal... my truck has very little torque twist

[drewpyfz6]

Originally Posted by DeweyCJ5

when i went to a 4 inch maxx shock i had to move the top link mounts to the middle hole to get my pinion angle back to normal... my truck has very little torque twist

Sorry Dewey,
Not sure what you mean by pinion angle?

I have now ordered the cnc tri-link for the upper link (I have the plastic RTR).
This should allow more adjustments?

Cheers,
Drew

[treday619]

I would highly recommend going with a four link for the upper links. Before I switched chassis I was using the inner most holes with a four link on the uppers and it crawled anything without any torque twist.

[lil' lucifer]

Originally Posted by Harvo

The flatter your pinion/driveshaft angle the better you will see it climb due to less twist. Some people achive this by lengthening the upper links.

how does this lower you pinion angle??? wouldn't making longer upper links make the pinion angle point more to the sky???

[bighitbomber1]

Originally Posted by lil' lucifer

how does this lower you pinion angle??? wouldn't making longer upper links make the pinion angle point more to the sky???

This lowers the angle between the pinion and the drive shaft, not the pinion and the ground.

[lil' lucifer]

so your telling me Basically you want the pinion and driveshaft to be in a straight line? and this also helps with twist? and climbing?

[-WHEELMAN-]

Originally Posted by lil' lucifer

so your telling me Basically you want the pinion and driveshaft to be in a straight line? and this also helps with twist? and climbing?

Yes, but you want a little caster on the front tires for turning and the flatter your pinion the less caster you have unless you get clock able C's to correct the caster. You can find some info about caster in your Axial manual I think.
About the lower links also if you are planning on doing any comps your crawler must be at a wheel base of 12.5 inches front to rear wheel stubs. Hope this helps more than confuses you.

[booger weldz]

interesting idea on the tilted caster for steering...didnt even think about that...onmy 1:1 im always having to fine tune caster for vague high speed wandering(too much) or DEATH wobble(too little)...i guess we dont have to worry about how it drives down the rode so se can crank up the caster for the sharper steering and driveshaft/pinion output clearance in the rocks??

i always learn something when i sign in here...

[drewpyfz6]

Sorry for being a newb, but what is meant by "caster"?

Going to be posting a video soon of this afternoon tests.
And you can see that the moving the links in has improved things.
And the body does not scrape on the tyres anymore.

Hope to do more tomorrow.

Thanks.

[SDheavymetal]

I do alignments for a living. three things for front end alignment
#1 TOE-like your feet-if your toes are close togther thats toed in./\ /\ toed out. A little toe in is good

#2 CAMBER if the top of your wheel is in its negitive / \ positive \ / top
out. A little negivive is good.

#3 CASTER is the relationship of the upper and lower balljoints/piviots.The two srews that hold the knuckle on are the piviots. I like the RCP or the Axial "C"'s because you can change caster. When you move the links you move the pinion which changes your caster the wrong way. Thats way I installed the Axial "c" so I could get the positive caster back. Then the upper piviot is behind the lower piviot its positive caster. If you make the upper links longer the caster goes to negitive (bad). Hope this helps Matt

[Flud unlimited]

Originally Posted by SDheavymetal

I do alignments for a living. three things for front end alignment
#1 TOE-like your feet-if your toes are close togther thats toed in./\ /\ toed out. A little toe in is good

#2 CAMBER if the top of your wheel is in its negitive / \ positive \ / top
out. A little negivive is good.

#3 CASTER is the relationship of the upper and lower balljoints/piviots.The two srews that hold the knuckle on are the piviots. I like the RCP or the Axial "C"'s because you can change caster. When you move the links you move the pinion which changes your caster the wrong way. Thats way I installed the Axial "c" so I could get the positive caster back. Then the upper piviot is behind the lower piviot its positive caster. If you make the upper links longer the caster goes to negitive (bad). Hope this helps Matt

I always just moved stuff till it was all green lol.

[drewpyfz6]

Originally Posted by SDheavymetal

I do alignments for a living. three things for front end alignment
#1 TOE-like your feet-if your toes are close togther thats toed in./\ /\ toed out. A little toe in is good

#2 CAMBER if the top of your wheel is in its negitive / \ positive \ / top
out. A little negivive is good.

#3 CASTER is the relationship of the upper and lower balljoints/piviots.The two srews that hold the knuckle on are the piviots. I like the RCP or the Axial "C"'s because you can change caster. When you move the links you move the pinion which changes your caster the wrong way. Thats way I installed the Axial "c" so I could get the positive caster back. Then the upper piviot is behind the lower piviot its positive caster. If you make the upper links longer the caster goes to negitive (bad). Hope this helps Matt

Thanks for explanation Matt,
Not sure changing fine details would make a difference to me at the moment.

But I will check I have toe-in and camber for negative.

I have uploaded a video, before and after the suspension change.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa6LuFAC0n0

The main differences, the body no longer seems to scrape the wheels, and it can get up a bigger step with less help from a kicker.

I like the way its driving now.

[Smewhtguy]

Camber is generally not adjustable on a straight axle.

[drewpyfz6]

Just finished adding the wheel weights, and cutting out the foam...

After a short test, it feels heavy - the motor is having to work a little harder to climb, but it is climbing well.

You can see the tyres squashing out more now.

It was not as easy and straight forward as I expected and has taken pretty much 2-3 hours to do all 4 wheels.

Have ended up with 160g (5.6oz) in each of the front and 85g (3oz) in each of the rear - with chuncks of foam removed..

Does this sound about right?

As I say it does feel a little heavy and has to be pushed a bit more to climb, but is gripping better - or seems to be.

Thanks for all the help, its very much appreciated,
Drew

[Unknown303]

I've found most people only run weights in the front wheels. I however do have a little added weight in the rears testing them out and have a fair pile of weight in the fronts.

[drewpyfz6]

Originally Posted by Unknown303

I've found most people only run weights in the front wheels. I however do have a little added weight in the rears testing them out and have a fair pile of weight in the fronts.

Think I am going remove half the added weight from the front - it has lost its very slow abililty - or I have.

It was doing ok before I added them - so may have gone a step too far and am finding it hard to get the balance right.

Thanks

[-WHEELMAN-]

I have found 4 oz. in the front and 2 in the rear with aluminum wheels works for my 2.2 tuber which isn't light in the first place.