Anyone have a Bomber and Losi Rock Rey?

[mass-hole]

I currently have a Rock Rey with my big mods being a Monster X esc, HH Puller Pro 2700kV with 9T pinion, Powerstroke shocks and a locked center diff(open front atm, but either going heavy lube or locker.)

I got it down to Moab this weekend and did some of my first real rock crawling. Here is some eye candy first:

A couple things became immediately obvious:

1. The chassis plate is really wide and loves to get hung up on the sides.

2. Ground clearance isn’t great. It high centers easily.

3. While the front IFS has decent travel, it seems to like to make the rear axle do most of the work. They don’t seem to talk to each other i guess you could say. I’ve done extensive spring tuning and just seems like the way it is.

I am wondering how the Bomber compares. It seems like it fixes most, if not all, of these issues? Small chassis plate, more clearance, and solid axles front and rear. I am looking for something that can still rip around when I am not in the rocks.

 

[altd896]

While the Bomber "fixes" all 3 the things you have complaints for, it does have a higher center of gravity than the IFS rigs (Rock Rey or Yeti)
To this extent it'll never "rip around" in the same manner as an IFS truck will.
As fast is easy, cornering as well is not.

Either truck does both speed & crawling quite well but neither is ideal at both & is a compromise to some extent of one side or the other.

 

[Jim85IROC]

I don't have a Rock Rey, but I do have a Yeti, which is more or less the same thing. The Yeti exhibits all of the same crawling characteristics that you described. The Bomber exhibits none of them, but as ALTD said, it has a higher CoG, so in some situations, it may not climb or sidehill the way the Yeti/RR does, and certainly won't do the high speed thing as well. In general though, the Bomber is a much, much more capable crawler than the Yeti or RR.

After your comment about the rear end doing all the work, I went right to your pics to see if you had a rear sway bar, and it appears that you don't. A rear sway bar will help a TON because it will keep the whole truck more stable and force the front suspension to do the articulating instead of the rear. I think that will help the vehicle both in handling, and in crawling. My Bomber crawled much better when I added a rear sway bar because it eliminated torque twist, and made the truck way, way more predictable in off-camber situations. What time I spent crawling with the Yeti, which also has a sway bar, showed that it had very similar predictability with the sway bar.

 

[Jim85IROC]

I don't have a Rock Rey, but I do have a Yeti, which is more or less the same thing. The Yeti exhibits all of the same crawling characteristics that you described. The Bomber exhibits none of them, but as ALTD said, it has a higher CoG, so in some situations, it may not climb or sidehill the way the Yeti/RR does, and certainly won't do the high speed thing as well. In general though, the Bomber is a much, much more capable crawler than the Yeti or RR.

After your comment about the rear end doing all the work, I went right to your pics to see if you had a rear sway bar, and it appears that you don't. A rear sway bar will help a TON because it will keep the whole truck more stable and force the front suspension to do the articulating instead of the rear. I think that will help the vehicle both in handling, and in crawling. My Bomber crawled much better when I added a rear sway bar because it eliminated torque twist, and made the truck way, way more predictable in off-camber situations. What time I spent crawling with the Yeti, which also has a sway bar, showed that it had very similar predictability with the sway bar.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I have both, but I haven't driven my Rock Rey yet. I'd choose the Bomber just because the Rock Rey is so much larger. It would be tough to find too much terrain to challenge it around me.

The Bomber is going to drag its belly quite often though because it is also wide and long and the skid plate is massive.

 

[mass-hole]

I don't have a Rock Rey, but I do have a Yeti, which is more or less the same thing. The Yeti exhibits all of the same crawling characteristics that you described. The Bomber exhibits none of them, but as ALTD said, it has a higher CoG, so in some situations, it may not climb or sidehill the way the Yeti/RR does, and certainly won't do the high speed thing as well. In general though, the Bomber is a much, much more capable crawler than the Yeti or RR.

After your comment about the rear end doing all the work, I went right to your pics to see if you had a rear sway bar, and it appears that you don't. A rear sway bar will help a TON because it will keep the whole truck more stable and force the front suspension to do the articulating instead of the rear. I think that will help the vehicle both in handling, and in crawling. My Bomber crawled much better when I added a rear sway bar because it eliminated torque twist, and made the truck way, way more predictable in off-camber situations. What time I spent crawling with the Yeti, which also has a sway bar, showed that it had very similar predictability with the sway bar.

I don’t know how the sway bar is in either the Yeti or Bomber, but its very stiff in the Rock Rey it seems. With it engaged, no joke, i bet i lose half of the rear articulation. It will just lock the axle at a certain point and won’t let it go any farther. Its great for bashing, but it will lift tires when crawling.

Here was a comparison i posted up in my Rock Rey thread a week ago:

With sway:

Without sway:

I get what you are saying though. If i had a little more resistance i might see the front work a little more.

 

[Venom760]

Jus I get bomber and the rock Rey I love both

 

[elRayRay]

I've got a Bomber and a Baja Rey... as you know, basically a Rock Rey with a trophy truck body and smaller tires/wheels.

Depending on what you mean by "in the rocks," I'd say that the Bomber is much better for crawling and will never be as fast or stable, at speed, than a Rock Rey. The solid axle front and fully locked drivetrain simply will never corner as well as IFS and an unlocked front diff. Though I can't remember what your specific diff setup is.

 

[GCi in ATX]

A buddy has a Rock Rey and I have a Bomber, we swap on occasion. As most have commented, your Bomber will never bash/rip like the Rock Rey, and the Rocky Rey will never crawl like the Bomber. Now with that said, if you drop a brushless into the Bomber, run 3S and open the front diff, you can rip with a Bomber. Hard. It's not as bashable without setting up a suspension that doesn't help for crawling, but if you want you can make it into a pretty awesome U4 type rig. Now if you want something that is fun to hoon around with some, and then back to the rocks: go brushless, or drop in a 20T motor and 2 stage transmission geared for running fast. Either of those options will give you plenty of speed and fun for casual ripping, just don't expect to win a U4RC race that way.

 

[cul8tr]

Bomber for trailing and crawling.
Rock Rey for speed and bashing.
I have the Bomber but I'm wanting a basher now.
So I may sell the Wraith and/or Bomber.

 

[IntrepidMercians]

You've got a lot of preload on the front springs - what happens if you reduce that, perhaps with a longer spring of the same rate?


IFS has more compliance in single wheel bump, by running higher spring rate you are increasing the front stiffness which causes the rear to be more compliant.


Once you've fixed this, can you reduce the rate of the rear anti-roll bar a bit, perhaps by filing to reduce the diameter.