Hot Racing suspension link set for HPI Venture

[new2rocks]

As we all know, the stock plastic links on the Venture are particularly floppy. I decided to try out the Hot Racing Aluminum 4 Link Conversion Set with Mount for the FJ (part no HFJ313PLM01) and give them a little write-up.





The links all come pre-assembled with the lengths etched into the anodizing, along with machined upper link mount trusses to replace the stock ones:


I generally prefer the cleaner look of an all-black or all metallic colored link, but the etching does make it a little easier to figure out which links go where.

The link set also includes complete hardware. You can reuse most of the stock hardware, but there are a couple of places where you'll want to use the included hardware because the lengths are different, such as the rear upper link mounts on the chassis side sized for the wider-then-stock flanged ball on the upper links:




The flanged ball in the Hot Racing links means ditching the stock plastic retainer caps for the upper links. But in my case, I wanted to keep part of the retainers in the rear as a spacer for our BowHouse RC battery tray, so a little bit of trimming was in order:








Once the rear axle was installed, I noticed a problem:


The upper links were too short, causing the rear pinion angle to be off by quite a bit. The fix was simple - a 2mm spacer on each end of the upper link mounts to clock the axle:






Much better!

The HR set includes a front upper link and link mount, but I decided to leave the stock link in place for now since the stock link is already aluminum and seems to be holding up fine. Here's how it looks with HR lower links and stuck upper link in front:



Aerial view of the whole setup from underneath:



Not that one should need any visual reminders about why it's a good idea to ditch the stock plastic links, but in case you're still holding onto them, here's why you shouldn't:





One last picture back together with the lid on:



I hope you found this helpful. Thanks for reading!

[Traulus]

That's why I am avoiding buyng china stuff.You never know the Qc of the products

[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by Traulus

That's why I am avoiding buyng china stuff.You never know the Qc of the products

I’m the same way, but I don’t put Hot Racing in the same category as other Chinese non-brands or knock-offs. I’ve purchased a pretty wide range of HR stuff over the years (hardened gearsets, lockers, aluminum tranny housings and cross members, wheels, etc), and I’ve had very good success with all of it. The only glitch here (rear upper link lengths too short) was a small one that was easily fixed. “thumbs up”


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[Traulus]

Links I preffer to do them myself out of brass

[crazee horse]

Hmmm I've had some great toughened gears but the links on my wraith ended up with loose ball joints. My venture is very well used and tbh won't be nodded until I get a breakage. So far just the servo and flat irons from my scx10 which will never be used again !