Fitting the Pro-Line SR5 to a Gen8 PACK

[Elmo]

I picked up a PACK for a project that I'm working on for my dad. It is a scale version of his 1:1 SR5 and the body is done and ready to be mounted. I bought a new Gen8 PACK to use for the project as it allowed the most room for the interior and the price is hard to beat. It showed up today and, while it looks good, I am very disappointed. I didn't realize from the photos how tall the shock towers were and they won't allow the body to sit anywhere close to the frame. The bottom of the tailgate is roughly 2" above the bumper mount. I don't want to cut the body to clear the tower as dad's truck didn't have the shock towers poking through the bed (his was lifted 6" and ran on 33's but it was still IFS and leaf sprung). Is there a way to reposition the shock tower to lower it in the frame rails? I tried mounting it lower with the two extra holes right below the body mount plate (the two holes that kind of match the three mounting holes below them) and that didn't work as the shock mount was too far in-board to allow the shock to fit properly. If I could mount the tower farther forward, directly behind the battery tray, that would work but there are no holes in the frame and the links won't clear so that's a no go. Anyone else running a pickup shell on your Gen8 without the tower sticking through the bed? Thanks in advance for any help!

[mgputer]

The only issue I had was in the rear. I just cut the bed for the shock towers to stick through and made a tool box out of styrene to hide it. You can lay down the shocks and use bellcrank set up. The pictures are not the same body but it's the same process.

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[Elmo]

I saw your post when I was doing my initial search and I really like your truck. I am not a big fan of cutting the bed on this one. I want to keep it looking somewhat factory. I have toyed around with the idea of going to a shorter shock and just mounting it directly to the frame rail. Using a touring car shock would keep the ride height the same but allow the removal of the (quite) oversized shock tower. Doing this would obviously hamper performance and nearly eliminate travel so I don't really want to go that extreme. My idea setup would be a shorter shock tower combined with a lower shock mount that can move the shock down without sacrificing ground clearance. As far as I can tell, this isn't an option right now though.I have also thought about using a pair of Axial SCX10 shock towers instead of the stockers as well and might mock those up when I get back to the shop.

I spoke to Redcat today to see if they had any options available currently or had something in the pipeline and was told, and I quote,

"Well, its your truck, do with it what you want."

Not really an answer there bud.

[ferp420]

Theres allways the cantabelivers set up and or shorter shocks and theres allways leaf springs

[Elmo]

Originally Posted by ferp420

Theres allways the cantabelivers set up and or shorter shocks and theres allways leaf springs

Leaves would be a good way to go. It would get rid of that tall shock tower and also add some scale realism at the same time.

I am currently mocking up some SCX10 rear shock hoops and while they don't fit directly and are only a few millimeters shorter than the Redcat's it looks like I can mount them forward of the stock location and lay the shocks down a bit. I am also replacing the lower link screw with one that is a fair bit longer to mount the bottom of the shock there. This will help to keep the ride height in check while also keeping a reasonable amount of travel in the rear (which would be eliminated if using a much shorter shock in the stock location).

[ferp420]

cantbeliver set up
Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/143219961051

this set up lays the shocks completly flat with out giving up traval
but its not cheap there are other option though alot of companys make a set up like this

[Elmo]

I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and just cut up the rear tower. I checked the price online and they are only $10 to replace so I figured it would be the easiest place to start.

First I checked to see if a Traxxas Stampede rod end would fit the spring cup as well as the shock shaft and they do. This allowed me to convert the lower shock mount to a hollow ball and screw instead of the ball stud that the Gen8 comes with.



Stock shock tower:



The cuts I made to trim the top of the tower:



After the cuts:



For the lower mount I used a longer M3 screw along with an extra M3 locknut as a spacer. This allows the shock to clear the frame rail as well as the shock tower. The whole assembly is finished off with a second M3 locknut.



And finally the upper mount. I used a longer screw along with an M3 locknut as another spacer. This gives just enough room for the suspension to cycle without the shock or spring hitting the shock tower or frame rail.



Up next is to figure out how I want to mount the body and tuck the bumpers in. Right now they sit way too far outside the body and look toy-ish.