Vanquish CMS and Panhard limiting shock travel

[UTflyfisher]

I recently bought and installed the Vanquish kit another great product of course and it looks great not having the servo on the axle. My question is, is there anyway to get more downward travel? I love the product but it seems to take away a lot of downward travel.

[BuffetPants]

Is the top of the truss hitting the panhard link?

[SkaldidDog]

That's the nature of going with more scale components. Performance may be compromised in some cases. I'm with you to the point that I'm making my own far more extreme non-scale panhard. I'm going back with performance with pseudo-scale appearance.

All crawling rigs are about compromise.

J

[ZippoMan]

Originally Posted by UTflyfisher

I recently bought and installed the Vanquish kit another great product of course and it looks great not having the servo on the axle. My question is, is there anyway to get more downward travel? I love the product but it seems to take away a lot of downward travel.

I think the only way for better travel is longer shocks and use of droop kits. I have two Wraiths with the Panhard/CMS. The one I have with longer shocks works beautifully!! I modified a cheap level3 droop kit!! I don't love level3rc stuff but it kind of works for me.

[gutsploder]

How much lost travel are we talking? I only seem to have lost about an 1/8" of travel overall but my shocks are about 1/8" longer than stock so it seems negligable to me. May be much more noticeable running stock shocks?

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by BuffetPants

Is the top of the truss hitting the panhard link?

More than likely.

Originally Posted by ZippoMan

I think the only way for better travel is longer shocks and use of droop kits.

If suspension compression is limited by the truss/panhard combination, you could use longer shocks and let the axle droop more. The compromise is that this setup provides no more room for up-travel unless you increase your ride height (compromise). This will change the stability of your rig. The other compromise is that the greater the axle rise and fall during compression, the greater the axle swing from left to right will be due to the radius/pivot point created by the axle panhard mount. The only way to resolve this compromise is use a longer panhard link with a more offset/lower chassis panhard mount pivot point. This will increase the radius of the circle of "panhard swing" I call it. The lower mounting point of the chassis mount will also allow the panhard link to be closer to parallel with the axle mount for a larger range of pivot at the axle mount. This will further lessen swing. Stay tuned to my build thread if you want to see this theoretical design change in action. This setup requires a custom front truss too.

J

J

[UTflyfisher]

When the truck is fully pushed down I still have about 3/8 of an inch left in shock travel before the panhard bar hits the link or top of the axle truss.

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by UTflyfisher

When the truck is fully pushed down I still have about 3/8 of an inch left in shock travel before the panhard bar hits the link or top of the axle truss.

Do you mind if I ask what prevents further compression of the shocks/suspension at fully pushed down? Something is limiting compression prior to the panhard/truss interaction.

J

[WHITE-TRASH]

Did you remove one of the upper links so the axle can cycle in an ellipse rather than vertically?

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

Did you remove one of the upper links so the axle can cycle in an ellipse rather than vertically?

Yes (if this was directed to me).

J

[UTflyfisher]

No it is the panhard truss interaction that limits downward travel

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by UTflyfisher

No it is the panhard truss interaction that limits downward travel

Thanks. I was confused for a second there.

J

[allanon1965]

I am a bit confused by this, I have been using my wraith for quite awhile now and I have never come close to full compression of the suspension while crawling. I must not be doing it right lol...now articulation is a different story, but still wont be hitting the truss with the panhard setup as the body/frame moves up with the terrain, during crawling, even when the obstacle is tall...now if I push the front end all the way down, then there is contact, but crawling never puts that much pressure on the suspension, even when I try to climb a near vertical surface and my rig is at the beginning of the climb where the approach angle is greatest... hope I am explaining this right...

[UTflyfisher]

The travel isn't a big deal while crawling, but racing is a different story..

[allanon1965]

well mine is strictly a trail/crawling rig, no high speed...

[Mnocton]

Utflyfisher you need to remove one of the upper links if you have not done so already. It is like having a 5th link... Only need 4 on the Wraith. You shouldn't bind once you remove an upper link. Looks like the guys above got on a side track.