My Zero "T" swap

[jfraymond]

Well I got my zero "T" in yesterday so figured I would throw it on the berg and check it out. I love the tortion on my super, and with the ease of switching and compatibility with all of Kamikaze Kustoms systems just had to check it out.

Some nice goodies.


Size comparison with Zero 3.5 (original)

length comparison with 12.5wb.



When I said the interchangability with all of Kamikazi Kustoms was easy, that was a UNDERSTATEMENT. It literally took me about 30 minutes to change out the chassis, and that included making the 4 links and 2 new chassis spacers from scratch, taking a few smoke breaks, and various other distractions/diversions. If you are someone like me who swaps chassis alot you will appreciate the concept of all his plates being interchangable....You could probably run a different setup for each course if your local comps do one course at a time.

Now on to the build/swap:

step 1 remove tires




Step 2 Pull out rats nest of electronics. I use a dual mamba w DX6 setup currently so all it takes is 30 seconds to unplug the 4mm banana plugs from my motors and lift it all out. With Kamikazi Kustoms slick electonics plate and new delrin axle esc plate it would only be removing a few screws and doing the same, only a whole lot cleaner looking. (will be going to the electro-dig setup myself after Nationals)



Step 3 disconnect your shocks from the axles and links from the previous chassis.



Step 4 Put your new plates together using your current Zero skidplate and attach the links back in their proper locations.





Step 5 put your wheels back on and make any adjustments







And finally throw your rats nest of wiring back in the vehicle.





A few chassis shots taken during a smoke break.









So I guess now the IMPORTANT part!!! (How it drives)

In short, it drives just like a tortion only without the weird axle swing and without snapping back as forcefuly when twisted up. Kamikazi made a good point when we were talking about set-up on this chassis, Its almost like leaf springs in its feel.....LOL....maybe he should call it a cantilevered leaf style chassis.

I have only ran about a pack through it so far ( a little last night and about 30 minutes this morning) and just on my controlled testing specific areas of the rock garden to see the base capabilities of this design. I'll be hitting real gates with it tommorrow down in the canyon.
(note: set up with panthers,double panther memory foams, and 4oz in each front wheel.

climbs: It climbs just like any tortion, it can go near straight verticle with no squat or antisquat at all...Only limit is the traction on your tires.

Sidehill: WOW, this might be the most impressive part of this design. If there is such a thing it sidehills too good!! I increasingly did steeper and steeper sidehills till the panthers would no longer hold the line. This truck then just slide sideways down the slope. The only way your gonna flip this setup on a side hill is to pick up enough speed sliding down sideways and hit a lip or higher traction area and have the momentum throw you over.

Articulation: This design articulates like your typical tortion. Minimal and with forced traction to the opposed tires. It will carry its tires and still unload on you a bit, but it is much less violent than a cane tortion. I think with a little experimentation with tire weights this area can be improved on tremendously. Personally I wouldnt mind a touch more flex, but as is its respectable for a tortion.

Cons: As I said earlier I would like a tad more articulation such as a well broken in cane has. If what Kamikazi says is true and this design will not break in (fatigue) and lose some of its rigidity over time then your use of vehicle weighting and or minor chassis modifications (shaving the arms down a little) are your only options to get that little extra articulation.

The Bounce!! Since this design has no dampening it does tend to bounce a bit when dropping off stuff or at a little speed. It was the first thing i noticed as i drove it down the long stairway towards where i test. Each drop of a step produced what i would call a slight hop/rebound. Of course when i slowed down the squish of the tires were able absorb it all, but in a time crunch when hauling to make a gate or finish line it is something you want to be aware of.

The one advantage of a tortion (cane) that is missing from this tortion design is the ground clearance advantage. It sits at 3 inch's with the 70mm shocklinks. This could potentially be this designs only weakness for obstacles favoring a traditional sprung setup that a cane style tortion would otherwise be able to brute force go over due to its clearance.

and finaly the body mounting options. Because of the fact that it is the chassis plates which provide the articulation you will not be able to "slam the lid" all the way down till it touches. It is also a longer chassis so to allow the plates to move perfectly you will need to raise your lid up about a 1/2 inch. No biggie but I did have to move the lid up to avoid the ends of the plates from coming into contact and interfering with their movement. Also, If you favor side posts like i do you will want to switch to top mounts with the way this chassis flexs. Once again no biggie as i run top mounts on my cane super anyway.


Overall:

I'm very impressed, this is a great outside of the box direction to take for tortion rigs. So much so that I'm even considering using for nats day after tommorrow. Or at least running it on the test courses to see how it works in that environment and then swap back to regular Zero real quick for tech.

Thanks Jeff for letting me be one of the first to test this design. And set aside some of those delrin high clearance links for me...I'll have cash in hand at Moab.

[BILLYGOAT]

Dude Thanks For The Info . I Am Getting Ready To Order One In The Next Week Or So . I Should Have A 4.0 Comming In The Mail Anyday Now. I Think Ill Like The Torsion Chassis Alot.

[HomerJ]

As usual, jfraymond posts TONS of info Great writeup man, and good luck at nats.. I might have to call yer a$$ to see how you're doing out there if I can get service this weekend.. BTW.. you really really gotta quit taking your wiring lessons from me.... haha

[RCbasher]

thanks for doing the write up- enjoyed reading it. Keep us up to date!

[Nova's Ark]

Excellent review and well written. Thank you for all the informative information.

[toytech93]

I'm really interested in this setup. Can't wait to read the follow-up after some testing. Could you explain the "Feel" or difference between torsion and sprung ??? I'm trying to understand the feel of a torsion setup. I'm not sure if it will fit my driving style. I know, I'm going to get a Zero T either way, got to try it to find out. Thanks for the review, great work. Hope your doing well at the Nats.

[jfraymond]

Originally Posted by toytech93

I'm really interested in this setup. Can't wait to read the follow-up after some testing. Could you explain the "Feel" or difference between torsion and sprung ??? I'm trying to understand the feel of a torsion setup. I'm not sure if it will fit my driving style. I know, I'm going to get a Zero T either way, got to try it to find out. Thanks for the review, great work. Hope your doing well at the Nats.

Main difference is when a tortion flexs it really loads up the force on the opposing wheels. with a tortion you can force a ton of traction in one area. So as far as feel its gonna feel alot firmer. which is good in high degree climbs,decents, and sidehills....but your gonna have to pay attention to high articulation areas and either learn to use the float to your advantage or be very careful when coming out and all that leverage releases.

In my further testing so far Im starting to really like the slower rate of recoil from the delrin. And the more i drive it the more its starting to feel like its own animal in terms of how it actually provides its articulation. I'm starting to think a person wouldn't even know its a tortion untill they drive into a few of the very extreme positions that would give it away. The Zero "T" also generates almost all of it's flex from the rear so I am gonna start experimenting with some various "additions" to further enhance its adjustability and slow its unloading even further so even more force can be safely built up through the length of the chassis.

[toytech93]

well thanks for the update, I hope more are to come. I should be starting another build in a month or so. I'm really excited to try this chassis, Kamikaze has really done a great job with his whole Zero lineup.

[jfraymond]

Well after quite a bit more testing and tuning on this design I think I have come up with a great simple twist to make this ready for serious comps.

Install 70mm droop shocks to the front.

it gives you that little extra flex and allows you to get an effective 4 inchs of belly clearance when the front drops. And you can just use limiting straps to turn the effect on and off.

I took losi 4 inch crawler shocks and put a extra long stiff spring inside to reduce the total travel and filled it with 100 wt oil.