Suspension Tweaks need your help.

[RustenPaines]

Good luck

[buggynutt]

I think you need to move your links as other have said. I also noticed no one does this but it helped my ax10 abit. Try putting some fram plate extenders on there so you can put your shocks a little more vertical, yes you get less travel but it help stablize your rig with TT. Not sure if it will work for you but thats my 2cents..

[CruisinMT]

How things look now.

[solomon7]

Unrestricted droop setups absolutely suck, b/c of the unloading of the chassis weight.

However, Droop setup works great with internal springs under the piston. Just stiff enough to hold the chassis down on sidehills, and a little stiffer to hold the front axle on climbs, and bumpstops up top.
I've run like that for a while with great results.

Secondly, regarding your uppers and lowers. Your approach with spreading th euppers like you've done is nice and will help with TT and articulation.
The problem now, is you have almost no triangulation between your uppers and lowers.
With your lowers basically being straight from the chassis , and the uppers being the only triangulated links, and very slightly triangulated at that,
they will take the entire load of keeping the axle centered. Double reverse triangulation places an even load on uppers and lowers.

If I were you, on the chassis: I would inboard the lowers on the skid as far in as clearance allows. I would then drill a hole in between where your uppers and lowers holes are on the the chassis, where meatmonkey put his but on your chassis in the middle of the bottom curve. This will give you better antisquat values. You're aiming for as close to parallel with the ground as allowable.

On the Axle: Move the lowers to the outside of the bracket they're attached to at the axle spread as far as you can. Fill the gap where the lowers were in the bracket with a spacer.
This will increase triangulation. This will also cut down on the UNBELIEVABLE TON of "axle steer" you're getting when flexed. Trust me you have a ton. It's the straight lowers.
Keep shocks where they are on the axle but lean them back as far as you can on the chassis.
10mm limiters (silicon fuel line) inside on top of the piston, or outside on the shaft, then droop with internal springs under piston or even double sprung with internal droop and external springs (a very balanced setup and stable too once you find the right balance between closed and open).

Good luck!

[CruisinMT]

Here it is now. I'm unable to inboard the front links. There just isn't enough clearance with the motor there.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Does the rod end hit the motor? By how much? You could easily shim the transmission up just a hair. Or just move the links to the inside of the chassis instead of closer to the middle of the skid.

[CruisinMT]

Added some spare decals.

[solomon7]

Your rear geometry looks as good as it'll get with a stock chassis. You raised the uppers on the axle instead of lowering them on the chassis, and the same effect is achieved.
You may still consider the chassis side instead of the axle side just to put less stress on the spaced uppers. Same idea with a hole in the chassis instead but less extension between connections. Whatever works though.

The fronts will be able to come in. It'll be tight at first, but the motor side rod end will sorta self clearance itself. A touch of dremel on the passenger front skidplate rod end is handy too.
Just do the fronts without the trans attached then bolt it down. Ya may need 1mm washers at most but it WILL fit and the possible slight increase in height of the trans is negligible to the Center of Gravity vs the change in TT and jacked up axle steer.
You should mirror your tranny too.
You've got it flipped around but you need to change the side the motor is on. Basically when you assemble the tranny just put th etop shaft and little cover on the wrong side of the trans vs the manual. Takes 5 minutes if that.
Flip the spur input shaft.
Linky (read the linked thread inside too) Mirror Tranny


TSL link Pro-line 2.2 Super Swamper TSL SX G8 Compound (2)

If you're gonna do more comp style vert stuff and not trail go with the rovers white dot (Although the TSLs seem to work well for many as a "hybrid tire". Wet and mud in the areas of your photos, maybe proline chisels.
Others feel free ot chime in on my tire suggestions.

[ERV JR]

I inboarded the front and rears on my MS10, I did however mount the lowers indide of the shocks. It has less angle than yours does and I did not spread the uppers as much at the axle side. How does yours work with it like that ? is there stll TT ? I have some but not much

[CruisinMT]

Originally Posted by ERV JR

I inboarded the front and rears on my MS10, I did however mount the lowers indide of the shocks. It has less angle than yours does and I did not spread the uppers as much at the axle side. How does yours work with it like that ? is there stll TT ? I have some but not much

There is still a little TT but it crawls really well now. I got the front lowers inboarded now. I tried to mirror the transmission but it doesn't seem to have that capability on the MS10. So I used some spacers to lift it just enough to clear the links. I am curious if you think I should set up the front exactly like the rear (bottom links to the outside of the mount) or leave them in the stock position on the axle.

[masonis1]

Looks good

[ERV JR]

all I did was inboard the lowers like yours on theskid side, then moved the axle side to the inside of the shocks. I made a new mount for the upper links and rotated the pinion upward. I slightly spread the the upper at the axle,but may spread them more and move the lowers . I bought a servo but other than that its stock. IU want to get some Ax10 wheels and some new tiresl I ran the TDS course this weekend and it worked really well, surprised me

[CruisinMT]

Originally Posted by ERV JR

all I did was inboard the lowers like yours on theskid side, then moved the axle side to the inside of the shocks. I made a new mount for the upper links and rotated the pinion upward. I slightly spread the the upper at the axle,but may spread them more and move the lowers . I bought a servo but other than that its stock. IU want to get some Ax10 wheels and some new tiresl I ran the TDS course this weekend and it worked really well, surprised me

I believe the ax10 wheel hexes are a little bit deeper than the MS10 ones, so you may need hex spacers to run them. I just run the stock wheels and changed the rubber. My white dot rovers are pretty awesome.

I want to get this thing lower, how do I go about doing that with what I have already?

[masonis1]

Originally Posted by CruisinMT

I believe the ax10 wheel hexes are a little bit deeper than the MS10 ones, so you may need hex spacers to run them. I just run the stock wheels and changed the rubber. My white dot rovers are pretty awesome.

I haave rovers in the mail, cant wait. How much of an improvement did they make to your rig?

[CruisinMT]

Originally Posted by masonis1

I haave rovers in the mail, cant wait. How much of an improvement did they make to your rig?

Even After I siped the stock tires the rovers beat them hands down. It really is ridiculous how bad the stock tires were. When I set my rig on our counter top and go to pick it up again the tires stick to it just by sitting there. You'll love them.

[ERV JR]

Originally Posted by CruisinMT

I believe the ax10 wheel hexes are a little bit deeper than the MS10 ones, so you may need hex spacers to run them. I just run the stock wheels and changed the rubber. My white dot rovers are pretty awesome.

I want to get this thing lower, how do I go about doing that with what I have already?

I have been told that the ax10 wheels are narrower, so it will help with tires rubbing the links

[CruisinMT]

Originally Posted by ERV JR

I have been told that the ax10 wheels are narrower, so it will help with tires rubbing the links

ok. I dont have the tires rubbing my links since I put my hex spacers on.



How do I go about lowering the entire rig?

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by CruisinMT

How do I go about lowering the entire rig?

Add spacers inside the shock, underneath the piston. Fuel tubing is cheap and easy, or if your truck came with extra spacers that fit over the shock shaft you can use those too.

Doing so will also limit your flex, but that is a good thing. Having a rig that will twist up looks neat, but is terrible on the rocks.

[masonis1]

What duuuuuuude said is fully correct, too much flex leads to a lot of problems on the rocks. You always notice cool looking rigs articulating in pictures, but those are mostly the ones that dont crawl worth a .... I would know. My crawler had too much articulation and the tires and axles would fold up under rocks and get the rig stufff. Now, the tire that needs to articulate sometimes just gets pulled over not touching anything.

[CruisinMT]

Ok I'll use some fuel hose that I have. What is a good length to start with? I need to add weight as well to make the suspension really work and achieve full spring compression.