I'm confused

[Tswafford]

I was asking about mods to make my wraith a better crawler. It was said I should flip lower shock mounts to give it a lower center of gravity. Ok makes sence. But when I make it lower wouldn't that hurt the ability to crawl over stuff because it has less ground clearance? Thanks

[o0wiz0o]

Yes....and no. haha.

It's about finding the middle ground. To high and it will topple easy. To low and it will get high centered. Stock the Wraith is too light and way to high.

Mine sits with just a little angle on the lower links. Even with my other wheels that are 5.5" like stock it is very capable. But you do also need to shift the weight around. Battery upfront is a must.

[Jrgunn5150]

Originally Posted by Tswafford

I was asking about mods to make my wraith a better crawler. It was said I should flip lower shock mounts to give it a lower center of gravity. Ok makes sence. But when I make it lower wouldn't that hurt the ability to crawl over stuff because it has less ground clearance? Thanks

You are correct, on the surface of it. Lowering it does hurt the breakover angle (clearance to the center of the rig, so you don't get stuck like a teetor totter), but the Wraith is so tippy out of the box, lowering it usually provides more in stability than you give up in breakover angle

[Jrgunn5150]

Jinx lol

[B-radNC]

It depends on what you want to do with it. If you are building it more as a crawler or for trails I would leave it at the stock height and add a knuckle weight system. If you flip the shock mounts then you will lose some ground clearance. If you are building it with a faster motor and anything taller than a 5:1 gear ratio then I might consider lowering it.

[Jus]

Lower center of gravity is always a good thing. It is easy to overcome the lack of ground clearance with driver ability.

[Tswafford]

Thanks guys. This is strictly going to be a crawler/ trail. No fast speed.

[Sevastra]

Wiz & Jus got it covered.

Just because a vehicle sits lower than others doesn't mean it isn't more capable of traversing rough terrain. You have to take the entire setup into consideration. Just like too much flex in a rig can be a bad thing.. a tire drops into a hole from overflexing and suddenly you're stuck, and risking breaking parts instead of it just floating over the hole to the otherside.

[Jus]

I'd rather drag the belly through the woods than tip over on every ant hill.

Here is the stance on mine... Drives like a dream.

[Tswafford]

Nice. Can you tell me what to do or order to get mine set up like yours? Thanks

[johnnyh66]

Belly dragging baby!

[maslin]

Agreed. Lower links flat works for me.

[Revoasian]

Mine sits like maslin, lower links level with the skid, rock crawler only. Climbs over rocks like a goat, the only issue is obviously the break over. I have learned to pick cleaner lines as to not have it high center while rock crawling. Stability is awesome especially side hilling and attempted verticle climbs. I do run weighted wheels, full droop suspension and my wraith is damn near 12# now. Avoid the stock height even for crawling, unless you like to turtle a lot and don't mind walking over to flip it back over. That is no fun!

[Revoasian]

Originally Posted by Tswafford

Nice. Can you tell me what to do or order to get mine set up like yours? Thanks

If you don't mind spending a little bit of money you can purchase a soft spring from axial, and go with any of the droop kit, either by level3, ckrc, or gear head, and set your shocks to the middle or top mount. The soft axial springs will give you a semi droop shock set up. You will have 50/50 of up travel and down travel. I have Gtransition shocks set up for full droop. I have 0 up travel and a ton of down travel, the weight of the axles/ tires will allow the suspension to conform over the terrain Im on. Typical wraith owners run full sprung, works better for their application with speed and variety of trailing/ crawling, again mine is set up for just rock crawling and very low speed. Just fits my driving style. Hope this helps, good luck man.

[maslin]

My shocks sit right in the middle. Crawls great, goes fast pretty well too. I need to cut out the "floor" in the trunk area to get the last 6 or 7mm of uptravel though.

[Tswafford]

What do you mean by sits in the middle?

[Eric0424]

Originally Posted by Tswafford

What do you mean by sits in the middle?

Basically half the overall shock/suspension travel, same as Revoasian's "50/50 of up travel and down travel".

[Tswafford]

How do I get that? In new guy terms please. Thanks for the help

[maslin]

You buy parts. $2000 should do it.

[Tswafford]

Not the answer I was looking for.