New FJ40 Project

[SupermanWV]

I got this new FJ40 Body from a buddy of mine on RCMT.net as a birthday gift. So I thought.....why not make a scale crawler. HA HA HA

Anyway, I'm about done with it and I have come up with a few questions.

1st: How do a make my shocks droop a little to lower the COG and ride height without attaching the shocks in another position? I am using TWIN FORCE shocks, and they are a little long to begin with. (Maybe shock droop is the wrong term, so maybe someone can explain what it means.) The reason I want a little droop is because on uphill inclines the body is so high in the air it causes roll overs. But I like the travel of the shocks. So I thought with droop, when going over dips and such the shocks would travel down and I would still get the same amount of articulation, while still lowering the body some for looks.

2cd: I think I need a gear reduction (GD600) to go with my Twin Force tranny. I tried lowering the pinion tooth count from 18 to 12 with the lathe motor and stock spur gear...But its still a little fast for me. (So if anyone has one to trade for a stock Twin Force Chassis let me know...)

3rd: I have alot of torque problems, but mostly when turning right. It wants to lift the front right tire off the ground an inch or so. I tried stiffining the shocks in the needed areas to help hold the front down, but that didn't work. ANYTHING else I may need to try.


Soon as these questions are answered and I can finish my build I will post some pics of my homemade chassis configuration and body on pics.

Thanks alot for your info.

Clark

[rckjeep]

well first thing first, droop offically known as sag is a great way to lower your CG without sacraficing suspension travel. You can try shorter springs but softer is usually the way to go.

Second, I'm not familiar with that tranny. Can you change out the spur gear to sometihng bigger?

Third, with softer suspension your torque twist is going to get worse. And more torque from the gear reduction won't help either. Changing your shock postion is really the only way. That I've found. Post up some pics of your setup it may help us help you.

edit: maybe a sway bar

[SupermanWV]

From what I can tell, the spur gear is not readily interchangable. I would have to modify a spur gear, or possibly add a slipper clutch from a stampede tranny. WHICH I DON'T HAVE. Because the Twin Force uses a somewhat simular slipper clutch but it uses some kind of pad rather than slipper pegs to cause the locking friction on the spur gear. The reason I am using the Twin Force tranny is because it is chain driven and I thought that would be pretty cool for a crawler.

I would rather use a GD600 gear reduction unit as apposed to modifying the tranny. Just in case I ever want to use the tranny for something else.

With the way my chassis is made, there is really no way to change the mounting position of the shocks without making the ride height higher.

I will try to put what I have together tonight and post some pics soon.

I will also post the specs.

Clark

[xjnation]

I tried softer springs on my TLT and even that was too stiff to lower ride height at all. I ended up laying the shocks over more ( from I to /, but more extreme)to "lower the spring rate" and now at static height, the truck is sitting about 1/3 down the length of the shock travel...I know, I know, I'm speaking a foreign language ( like my wife ALWAYS says) What I mean is the wheel has about 1/3 down travel, 2/3 up travel. lowered CG but killed GC (ground clearance) I don't know about twin forces or if this will even apply to you, but it might just help.

[SupermanWV]

My truck is a totally modified TLT. I just built my own chassis and rather than using a pede tranny, I used a twin force tranny. Thats all. It is still a TLT with about 11 1/2 inch wheel base. Or something like that. The chassis is steel and aluminum. And rather heavy, yet it still is not heavy enough to compress the springs. I'll have to look into it and possibly use lighter shocks. Like some 4" long travel max shocks or something rather than the large Twin Force shocks I am currently using.

Clark

[skid]

I've geared a twinforce down with a rc10b4 spur gear and slipper pads. Only had to drill out the spur gear to fit the input shaft. I believe the largest spur was a 87 tooth in 48 pitch. This allowed going down on the pinion also.

On Twin Force shocks, Losi springs fit over them, so there are many options there.

[SupermanWV]

skid,

Thanks for the information. I'll look into the spur gear mod and the springs. I have another set of shocks I may try out. I'll try to figure it out and get some pics up soon.

Clark