Setting up a Wraith for U4RC

[byrnieman]

I recently picked up a Wraith roller and set about piecing together a U4RC rig. It is mostly stock however I think it must have been a kit coz it has uni's up front and lower metal links. Ran it for the first time recently & it is just to tippy - spent more time on its roof awaiting a marshal to flip it back over.

So my question is - how do I set up a wraith for U4 racing? Having read a bunch of threads I know I need to lower it and probably widen it. So...

1) What's the best way(s) to lower my wraith? I have read about flipping shock mounts - do I basically want the bottom of the shocks to mount as low as possible and the top of the shocks to mount as high as possible?

2) Best way to make it wider? I have seen 13mm and 19mm wideners by Junfac - are these any good?? I have also seen 3mm & 5mm widener hexes - are these any good/do they give enough width?

3) Shocks - what are the best shocks for a Wraith for U4? I currently just have stock ones. And what weight oil should I be running in them? Looking to drive around off camber corners without tipping over so easy!

4) Can someone tell me about trailing in rear / leading arms in the front. What are they and what benefit do they give?

5) Same deal with the 'fast back mod' - I have seen people cut the back of their cage and attach two plastic suspension links - what's the point there?

Any other hints / tips / mods / links to helpful threads etc would be much appreciated!

Thanks guys.


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[snicklefritz]

I think you're on the right track. Handling should be your first priority because it doesn't matter how fast your $300 motor/esc combo is if you're sitting still on your lid waiting for a turn marshal to flip you over!

Definitely lower it. A few companies sell lowering kits that are cheap and easy. Gearhead and Level3RC come to mind. They simply raise your upper shock mounting location.

For shocks I like the Proline Powerstroke shocks in the slash rear length. They have dual rate springs, hold oil reasonably well and are durable. Another similar choice are the Traxxas big bore shocks. For those you can add RPM two stage pistons for a real trick shock. I think a light weight oil, like 10-20 is ideal to keep the wraith from being too bouncy in rough sections.

With the lowering kit you will have a real stable stance. You may not even need wideners. But Boom Racing also makes wideners for half the price of the Junfac. The thing with those to consider is the barrel nuts don't hold as good as a regular wheel nut. Another way to get width without the wideners is with wide VP hubs. A lot of the beadlock makers, including Axial, accept the VP hubs.

Another thing to think about is adding some sway bars. They reduce body roll to keep you upright through the turns. I recently installed my first set on the rear of my 1.9 wraith and they made a huge difference. I'm gonna do some testing before it's first race to see if I need a sway bar on the front too.

An old pic of my former racer

[byrnieman]

Thanks for the reply - some great info for me to consider. The sway bars that you installed - are they the axial ones? They seem expensive for what they are. Has anyone tried the Hit Racing front & rear away bar set??


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[altd896]

I have the HotRacing bars, mounted in the rear in both my 1.9 Wraith & 2.2 trophy. They're notorious for the grub screws not holding but up till my last race I'd not had a problem, till 1 arm fell off.
They're great value for what they are but the UCFab ones available through Dlux are much nicer.
The new VP ones should work also.
It's also not hard to make your own from some 0.079 music wire & a traxxas revo or slash swaybar kit for the end links.

Personally I'd avoid big wideners on the wheels, they're really hard on the axke bearings.

The traxxas big bores work really well & are fairly cheap but so too are the gmade xd, don't worry about the piggy back version, the diaphragm or aeration are fine.

If it's a kit wraith it should have the springs with the purple paint splotch, if you haven't got them they're a nice soft spring to work with the sway bar.

Got a pic of your rig so we can see how it sits now?

[byrnieman]

You've seen my rig - last weekend!
Not sure what sway bars to get yet - leaning towards the hot racing ones and A LOT of loctite! Checked my springs and they don't have purple on them but they are not the original shocks according to the guy I bought it off. Picked up some music wire today and already have revo sway bar kit. Leaning towards the gmade XD shocks cause they are cheaper and I have gmade transitions on my scx10 and haven't had any issues with them.
Picked up some threaded rod and tube today and am going to make some upper links to replace the plastic ones and also have plans to convert it to the fastback by doing a version of the fast back mod that uses some of the C pillar to make the rear supporting struts.

Question: The gmade XD's come in 93 & 103mm as far as I can tell - which ones would be best?


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[altd896]

Oh jees Matt I hadn't twigged it was you (duh, obviously) byrnieman might have been from Byrnie Tasmania lol

I'd use the 103mm, with a softer spring you can get it to sit nice & low (1/2-3/4) droop, then the sway bars get the body roll under control.
The long shock allows the axle to drop out when you need that flex if/when we ever set a course with a harder rock garden.

[byrnieman]

Sounds good - thought the 103's would be the way to go. About to get chopping on the rear of the cage for the fastback mod.
Cheers


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[altd896]

If you didn't get the chance to see it I did my cage chop by taking out the C pillar & nicking out the gusset at the top rear of the B pillar, heating the top of the cage with a heat gun & using cable ties to pull it down till it met the shock mount & banged 2 screws into it.