Shock angle
 

i've seen various build threads where the shocks are angled, front angled to the rear and rear to the front, and was wondering what this does for performance.

Re: Shock angle
 

I'm a newb, but......My thought process is it allows you put a larger shock under your rig with out as much lift?
*I'll sit and wait to get flamed to death here........

Re: Shock angle
 

i'm also a noob at crawling but my understanding is as follows..

- allows to use a longer shock and not increase ride height as much as if it were straight up and down
- allows for more flex as the shock shaft doesn't travel as far up into the shock body for the same height of the wheel from the ground, hence you can get more height/flex at full shock compression
- makes a shock more progressive than if it were straight up and down, that is the initial compression is softer but at full compression it should be a tad stiffer

i'm sure there are other reasons, but that's my understanding so far :)

Re: Shock angle
 

basically it will give you more articulation when you lay the shocks on a forward angle. it has nothing to do about adding longer shocks, that will just lift your rig for a shitty COG.

Re: Shock angle
 

Thanks for the clarification! "thumbsup"

This is from an awesome write up by user 6sharky9


IMPROVED SHOCK PERFORMANCE/WHEEL TRAVEL

Id like to talk about wheel travel and how ive achieved the travel I have on my own Honcho rtr which can apply to a stock RTR

So shock travel vs wheel travel is this...you get 1 inch of wheel travel for every 1 inch of shock compression if they are mounted straight up and down...So how tall is your tires?????? ?Unfortunately we will not see over 4 inches of wheel travel on an scx10 without some drastic changes like raising your trucks height a considerable amount or hacking up you newly painted body or going with smaller tires..you get the idea.

A way to achieve improved wheel travel using the stock shocks is by where you mount them in the shock hoops.

Moving you upper shocks to the holes leaning them towards the transmission is what I suggest for improved performance.

This method of angling the shocks is whats known as ALPHA ANGLE.

What this does is actually increases your wheel travel with less travel needed from your shock...So lets say for example have 2 inches of shock travel you can actually have 2-1/2 inches of wheel travel..Its on a much smaller scale with our shocks but you get the idea...The angle at which you lay the shock down effects that difference in ratio between the wheel and shock travel..More angle means less shock travel needed to gain wheel travel...We do have a problem though..the more you lay the shock down the lower your vehicle will sit ..so you have to use some common sense with chosing the angle at which you mount the shocks... longer shocks will require you to lay them down more to achieve your desired ride height and added wheel travel...Just don't take it too far..On the stock RTR the mounting holes mentioned will give you a very slight increase without it really lowering you vehicle as its a very small amount.

This method has other effects though you should know about...it will make your shock act as a softer set up....so if you feel its too soft for your liking then more shock tuning will be needed to correct that.

What I did on my Honcho was use custom 93mm shocks and laid my shocks down more than the supplied shock hoop mounting holes....This brought my ride height back to stock and actually improved my COG as the weight of the shocks were leaned down ..Plus I achieved the wheel travel I was after which is the maximum I can have and not have to cut the body or rear cage on the honcho model or use smaller tires or raise the truck.

I will close by saying you really can only have as much wheel travel as your body and tires will allow before rubbing and destroying your body..How much that is is up to you.

I have a custom scaler/crawler also but use stock RTR Honcho 90mm shocks and have well over 45 degrees of articulation because of the angle I mounted the top of the shock...I get just about 5 inches of wheel travel from shocks that are just 90mm eye to eye...Too much?...well my tires are 5 inches tall so I think its just about right for that rule of thumb.

Heres some pics of the travel I have with 93mm shocks mounted in this fashion

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/...psa5e979ca.jpg
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/...psc8bb4ad7.jpg

You can see the slight angles to achieve the travel as ive taken it further with mounting using my home made brackets.
Where you see the shiny bolt heads is where you would want to mount the RTR shocks unless using longer shocks to move them further as I have
I had to move them out as far as I did to regain my stock ride height and not raise my COG...The length of your shocks will determine how much more you have to lean them in to regain your stock height...Mine is just right for shocks being 93mm eye to eye.

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8c46da04.jpg

you can see the extension in this pic ive shown previously very well.
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/...ps525454fd.jpg[/QUOTE]

The post by 6sharky9 is called stock scx10 performance tech. Highly recommended.

Re: Shock angle
 

Is this sarcasm?