More Articulation

[TheMisfit]

Not sure if anybody has posted about this before or have tried it the way I did but I wasnt happy the way the shocks performed or the articulation on my R1. So I tried a few differnt ways to build and mount the shocks so they worked better and I got more articulation. The rear shocks are just setup in full sprung with 35w oil and the 3 hole piston. The fronts I built like progressive shocks and stacked the 2 springs together with the smallest towards the bottom of the shock which made the shock longer also for a little more travel. Running 35w oil and the 3 hole piston in the fronts as well. The front shocks I mounted in the crossbrace hole right at the bottom corner of the window. The rear shocks I mounted in the furthest back hole of the body mount holes. Here are the pics of what the outcome was so you can see just how much articulation I gained and where I mounted the shocks. I hope this helps some others who want to get more articulation and better working shocks.

[bikerzee24]

Looks pretty good man, you should take a few more close up pix of your shocking mounting locations. I know you described it rather well, but pictures go a long ways on how things are set up.

[offroadace]

That is nice!! More pics for shock location would be helpful. I'd like to see my girl flex like that!

[cytogen]

I've tried the same top mounts for the shocks and it works very well for increasing articulation. Not sure where you're bottom mounts are, but what I have done was moved them as inboard (towards axle center) as possible for more leverage. This will slightly increase your suspension travel. I had to space out the top shock mount about 3mm to avoid the shock spring from hitting the front chassis. same for the lower part, I spaced it 2mm inboard. I can't go much further or else the shock eyelet binds with the ball mount.

I don't have any pics yet, but I'll try and get some up later on tonight.

[TheMisfit]

Alright more pics and better descriptions to come for everything I did so far. Everything was pretty simple but I will get as detailed as I can. Also with the shocks setup this way the whole thing works so much better handling wise. The axles settle right in no matter what your tring to climb over keeping all 4 wheels in contact at all time and the chassis stays pretty level as you can see in the pics I already posted and it resists flipping over alot more now. Another thing I did was I gained a little more steering angle as well by doing a little dremel work I will get some pics up of that as well.

[cytogen]

Here is what have done to increase the flex...

Rear Setup




Front setup


Overall result


Side by side with a AX10



Only thing to make this perfect is a custom springs in the rear to give it more droop. These piggyback springs are already the softest made but the rear right height is too high.

If you do this with the transitions, you'll have even more flex as they are longer then these 103s.

Do not that I also have axial links on there for a longer wheel base.

[bikerzee24]

Thanks for the pix man, your explanation of where you have mounted is much clearer now.

[cytogen]

I wish the XD came in a longer length like 115mm or 120mm. If this was the case then I would probably have near 180* articulation like the AX10.

[bikerzee24]

I'm thinking that I should have gottent the 103mm xd's instead of the 93mm after seeing the articulation you have on your r1 here

[cytogen]

All the more reason for getting the "cantilevered" suspension setup as you don't need as much travel theoretically.

For the sake of simplicity, longer shocks.

For bling... Cantilevered!

[bikerzee24]

yeah, I will be starting that project tommorrow to see what can be done with this cantilevered possibilities on the R1

[RustenPaines]

A comp guy years ago told me " 46 degrees of articulation is the sweet spot".

[lilpanther]

Thank's for sharing your suspension set-up. I didn't even know the R1 could flex like that.

[cytogen]

Is the measurement of articulation only of one axle, or both combine?

[dextan22]

Originally Posted by cytogen

Do not that I also have axial links on there for a longer wheel base.

are these Axial UPPER links you used for the lowers? the uppers are still the stock R1s? what drive shaft size are you using with the longer wheelbase?

[cytogen]

Yup, I used the following parts;

Axial P/N: AX80083 Wraith Links Set (angled for the rears, straight for the fronts)
Traxxas P/N: TRA5347 (needed the hollow balls)

The axles are Junfac;
Hardened Universal Shaft (107-142mm) 5mm hole [J90033] : JunFac.com

The ones I have are 107-142mm, but in hindsight I should have gotten longer ones (120-155mm) as I only have about 10mm of overlap. I would measure your setup before getting axles.

Once thing I noticed the other day was that ,my front axles were slightly off centered (you can sorta see it on the third pic down). I fixed this by added a spacer on the passenger side top link and it brought it back to center.

[dextan22]

My R1's still on it's way to me and damn me for getting the 107-124s already! Just when i thought of extending the R1's wb with wraith upper links. Haha oh welps. Thanks for the info tho.

[dextan22]

cytogen, what size shocks did you finally set the R1 with? thinking of something longer or shorter than what you have?

[cytogen]

I have the xd103. I've actually gone back to the stock top shock mounts in the rear as the cog was way too high when I laid them down like I did in the pictures.

If you are looking for most articulation. Getting a set around 110-114mm will get you the 90* flex.

[brewmaster]

Hey Cytogen
Were did you get the upper control arm mount on the axle?
thanks