lesson learned

[MonsterDDT]

Just want to share a few tuning tips I learned from my recent mod.
I found my rig climbs much better than before after I tuned several settings:

- Short barrel springs: Lower ride height is actually better together with the negative travel of the suspension. (When the rig is lifted up, the wheel will drop to accommodate and provide traction to the ground.) I also picked the last hole of the cantilever to get a maximum suspension travel. Use soft spring in the front, hard in the rear.
- Losi crawler tires: I cut ¼ of foam to make them “deflated”. It provides much more traction then the stock tires. I also put 6oz on each front wheel. (I opt out putting weight on the rear wheel because I have a rear steering servo there already.)
- Use no torsion bar in the front and soft torsion bar in the rear: I tried using the hard torsion bar in the rear and it actually made the rig flip over more often. That’s because if one of the front wheel got lift up, the stiffer torsion bar will actually lift up the inside rear wheel and help flipping the rig over.
- Use LiPo 7.4V battery: For 2100mAh, it can give you enough run time before you get bored. It only weight ~4.4oz. No need to go thru the hassle to relocate the battery tray (unless you are really really desperate to do so.) But I will say with such a light battery, relocating it has only minimal effect.
- 55T Integy motor: More torque, more run time, more low speed control.

Here we go. Each rig is different, each crawling spot is different. Things work for me may not work for you. So, it's just for your reference.

DDT

[skid]

My experience with the battery and electronics tray: Pull it out! Noticed a dramatic difference with it gone. Mounted a 3c lipo(1250 MAh) to the rear axle and electronice to the chassis side pieces.

Night and day difference.

[860Crawler]

Thanks

[MonsterDDT]

Thanks for the tips.

Put aside removing those trays and hardware, if just relocate a 4.4oz battery (mine is 2S, 7.4V) down 1 inch from the original position doesn't sound a lot of effect to me. Especially the battery is now at the rear in stead of in the front. But of course it will still have an effect according to the law of physics.

In my opinion, the body (shell) is now the biggest top weight to affect the performance. Althought the weight of the body is not very heavy, it's mounted quite high and this geometry will create a pretty big VR enough to do something bad.

Did anyone try crawling "topless" to compare the effect?

DDT

Originally Posted by skid

My experience with the battery and electronics tray: Pull it out! Noticed a dramatic difference with it gone. Mounted a 3c lipo(1250 MAh) to the rear axle and electronice to the chassis side pieces.

Night and day difference.

[JeepinItReal]

yea, i tried topless and everyone just ran in horror or fright! then i figured out that if i took the top off of my CR it was less offensive! no seriously though i noticed more than a little bit of difference w/o the yota body, it was better on sidehilling and steep hills. needless to say i use the 83 chev body and eventhough it sits kinda high, it is better for all around crawling, i recently put my sons rockstar body on (just a mock up fitting) it seems to be the ticket. a bit ugly but the ticket!

Originally Posted by MonsterDDT

Thanks for the tips.

Did anyone try crawling "topless" to compare the effect?

DDT