Bomber sway bar thread

[powder4breakfast]

I am battling with sway bar/flex issues. There is a ton of information throughout the pages of bomber related threads; but, I thought it might be helpful to have a place for questions and answers focusing on just that aspect.

For those interested, please post your experience with whatever sway bar you are running and driving style.

For me, I am more interested in crawling. I'm running a 3s battery with the stock brushed 35t motor. I won't be going brushless anytime soon and am not looking for more speed or bashing. I have the Axial "soft" sway bar sold for the Bomber installed. This thing is stiff. While it keeps the front tires planted, it tips like crazy on off-cambered moves. It's quite annoying because I don't feel that it eases into a rollover... it just all of a sudden tilts and flops.

What are people using as a sway bar for crawling?

My next move is going to be to grind down the middle of the bar to allow for more flex and see what that does.

Are the Dlux or VP Antirock bars any softer or allow more flex? ...or stiffer?

I'm interested in F1GHTF1R3W1THF1Re's set-up where the bar is at the back of the rig's frame instead of the traditional stock mounting location. How does that affect flex? One of your videos shows a lot more flex than I am getting and a little side hilling without looking like it's going to flop over.

For anyone who has missed any of my other posts... I'm very new to all of this... RC cars in general let alone crawlers.

My rig not flexing with sway bar:
[IMG][/IMG]
As soon as the back passenger and front driver tires made contact with the rock and turned into climb... flip flop. The same move would be capable without the sway bar. Obviously this move could be approached different; but, other lines don't have a straight non-tilted approach option.

F1GHTF1R3...'s sway bar set-up:

[84yoda]

VP is stiff too. Your best bet is ucfab with smallest bar available.

[Mega Fattie]

What about adding weight?

Beef tubes, knuckle weights, wheel weights.

Maybe the stock bomber is way to light for a sway bar and it just flips?

[ostewart]

Dlux offer different bars for their sway bar. I bought the soft and medium when I ordered mine. As my rig is quite heavy the soft made very little difference, now I run the medium and it hardly makes any difference to the articulation.

I have mine mounted on the rear like FF's, means you can't run dual shocks but that doesn't bother me too much.

If your rig is mainly stock without beef tubes and heavy wheels then the soft bar from Dlux should work well without affecting articulation.

[SCREAMER]

I have the DLux sway on my crawler build with the smallest diameter bar. It is very soft and allows much more flex than the VP setup on my go fast build. I'm really happy with the way the DLux bar performs on my crawler. I actually moved the links to the middle hole to dial in more stiffness because it was too soft initially.

[xmikedentx]

I have the DLux universal sway bar. I really like it. I have it on the softest setting, so you don't even notice it when crawling. It does a great job of eliminating the torque twist also. On full throttle in second gear you can tell the front driver side wants to raise, so I might play around with moving the end links one hole in.




If the end links are cut to the correct length, there is no interference at all at full bump from the sway bar ends, and the only minor issue is the contact at full bump on the rear axle housing. This really isn't a big deal to me because the stock upper link bolt hits at the same time anyways.




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[Drm31078]

I wonder if there is a way to get / make a smaller diameter bar for the VP sway to make it softer.

[Stuck]

Originally Posted by Drm31078

I wonder if there is a way to get / make a smaller diameter bar for the VP sway to make it softer.

The bars are made from Piano wire. Just find a smaller diameter than what you have, cut to size, file flat spots for the set screws and your G2G

[Thechewmaster]

Originally Posted by Stuck

The bars are made from Piano wire. Just find a smaller diameter than what you have, cut to size, file flat spots for the set screws and your G2G

anyone have a thickness we can take to the music store. Like maybe what people are using for soft, med, hard. I would love to make my own and not pay and arm and a leg for a sway bar.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by Thechewmaster

anyone have a thickness we can take to the music store. Like maybe what people are using for soft, med, hard. I would love to make my own and not pay and arm and a leg for a sway bar.

Dlux swaybars come in .080, .093, and .125 so try somewhere in that range.

[Thechewmaster]

sweet, you rock my socks!

[maslin]

And don't go to a music store. Hobby shops carry the stuff, it's just called piano wire.

Edit: It may really be piano wire, but you certainly don't need the length required for a piano. Hobbytown sells it at 36" for like $3.

[84yoda]

VP sway bar rod is 0.108" or 2.75mm. Only problem with running a smaller rod with VP is the brass bushings are ment for the rod it comes with.

[F1GHTF1R3W1THF1Re.]

Would be interesting to compare different materials with the same outside diameter. Looking at some generic charts, it lists steels at a #5-#8.5 as far as some hardness scale... Aluminum we all know is out of the question, It would bend in less time than it would take to swap a new bar it. Aluminum is rated at a #2-#2.9. So, what can we find somewhere in the happy median there? It's listing Brass @ a #3-#4, and also listing Bronze @ a #3.4-#5.1. Just a thought for you VP guys. Not sure how these would hold up over time but, sure would be interesting to try!


As far as mine, just the regular DLUX universal, but I made a longer bar out of stainless same thickness. to accommodate fuel tubing as bushings between the ends/chassis.

[powder4breakfast]

Great input so far. I'm going to sand down the Axial bar. If I don't get the results I want, I will be purchasing the Dlux.

Sway Bar mounting location
This thread has some applicable information regarding the Dlux; but, still left a question unclear...
1) Can the Dlux be mounted from 2 locations... the front (under the fuel cell) or from the rear (back of frame)?
2) Is the only difference in position preference... or is there an actual difference in performance?

[F1GHTF1R3W1THF1Re.]

Originally Posted by powder4breakfast

Great input so far. I'm going to sand down the Axial bar. If I don't get the results I want, I will be purchasing the Dlux.

Sway Bar mounting location
This thread has some applicable information regarding the Dlux; but, still left a question unclear...
1) Can the Dlux be mounted from 2 locations... the front (under the fuel cell) or from the rear (back of frame)?
2) Is the only difference in position preference... or is there an actual difference in performance?

I've had my dlux universal on both the front & rear mounting points. I prefer the rear, only because It's easier to remove.



Edit: The chassis is a bit narrower on the front mounting points, iirc.


Notice the fuel tubing as bushing.

[bilinvic]

I'm using the Vanquish AntiRock sway bar and it works fantastic...not too soft, not too stiff. It's performance last weekend out crawling and rock bouncing was "over the top". I have no plans on changing it at all.

[Thechewmaster]

Originally Posted by maslin

And don't go to a music store. Hobby shops carry the stuff, it's just called piano wire.

Edit: It may really be piano wire, but you certainly don't need the length required for a piano. Hobbytown sells it at 36" for like $3.

Thanks, saved my butt!

[Drm31078]

Originally Posted by F1GHTF1R3W1THF1Re.

Would be interesting to compare different materials with the same outside diameter. Looking at some generic charts, it lists steels at a #5-#8.5 as far as some hardness scale... Aluminum we all know is out of the question, It would bend in less time than it would take to swap a new bar it. Aluminum is rated at a #2-#2.9. So, what can we find somewhere in the happy median there? It's listing Brass @ a #3-#4, and also listing Bronze @ a #3.4-#5.1. Just a thought for you VP guys. Not sure how these would hold up over time but, sure would be interesting to try!


As far as mine, just the regular DLUX universal, but I made a longer bar out of stainless same thickness. to accommodate fuel tubing as bushings between the ends/chassis.

I was just thinking this as well. I am gonna do some research and see what I can find on same diameter as VP, but alternate material.

Or maybe some plastic sleeves that fit inside the VP sleeves could be made to accommodate a smaller diameter piano wire.

[maslin]

The thing about "piano wire" is that it's spring steel, when you bend it, it bends right back. When you bend brass or normal steel it just stays bent. Get a length of it in your hand and you'll see why that's a necessity.

Edit: Piano wire is the wrong term, it is "music wire" although the terms seem to be almost interchangeable.