Long Travel Buildup

[mass-hole]

Fantastic write up and one that got the gears turning in my head. Have a 110 TRX4 with BFG krawlers, dual stage, brass weights, etc. I am considering going to a 110 mm shock. After much searching, I can’t find much on it.

What are your general impressions on this after running it for a while?

Do you know if you can run a Desert Lizard 110mm shock package and basically bolt it on? Ideally, I’d like this to achieve same or similar ride height but with better up AND and down travel. Thoughts?

Depends on the shock. For some reason those hot racing shocks have a strange amount of travel. A 110mm HR shock, mounted in the +10mm holes, actually has more up travel than the stock shock while also having 10mm more down travel. So you gain in both directions.

Conversely, the TRX4 lift shocks would have the same up travel as stock, but 10mm more down.

Not sure on the desert lizard shock specifically, but if it is <75mm compressed you would gain some up travel.

As far as impressions, it definitely crawls in really gnarly rocks, where things like high centering are an issue, much better. It also just looks badass. But i can tell that it does hurt side hilling. It would be cool to try a swaybar just to keep the truck level, but it may limit travel.

I am actually playing around with running the stock rear shock at the +10mm setting right now. The front cant really be raised because the panhard hits the diff with any extra up travel. It seems a little more stable than stock

 

[Rockstate45]

Depends on the shock. For some reason those hot racing shocks have a strange amount of travel. A 110mm HR shock, mounted in the +10mm holes, actually has more up travel than the stock shock while also having 10mm more down travel. So you gain in both directions.

Conversely, the TRX4 lift shocks would have the same up travel as stock, but 10mm more down.

Not sure on the desert lizard shock specifically, but if it is <75mm compressed you would gain some up travel.

As far as impressions, it definitely crawls in really gnarly rocks, where things like high centering are an issue, much better. It also just looks badass. But i can tell that it does hurt side hilling. It would be cool to try a swaybar just to keep the truck level, but it may limit travel.

I am actually playing around with running the stock rear shock at the +10mm setting right now. The front cant really be raised because the panhard hits the diff with any extra up travel. It seems a little more stable than stock

Fantastic info, thank you for sharing your experience. The DL shocks seem interesting and with a bunch of (time consuming) solutions. I’ll post back once I get them!

As to that front, how much worse would you say it side hills? Like, every time you get in one it rolls? Or, you just have to be a little more careful?

 

[mass-hole]

Fantastic info, thank you for sharing your experience. The DL shocks seem interesting and with a bunch of (time consuming) solutions. I’ll post back once I get them!

As to that front, how much worse would you say it side hills? Like, every time you get in one it rolls? Or, you just have to be a little more careful?

I would say its substantial as the truck can unload so much. Thats why i was wondering if the swaybar idea would help without hurting travel. It would have to be pretty soft. So far i have not seen any swaybar solutions i like.

It would be cool if someone came up with a sway bar system like Lexus/Toyota has on their GX470, GX460, and 4Runner. Its a hydraulic system the senses when opposite tires are trying to articulate and automatically releases both the front and rear bars.

 

[Rockstate45]

I would say its substantial as the truck can unload so much. Thats why i was wondering if the swaybar idea would help without hurting travel. It would have to be pretty soft. So far i have not seen any swaybar solutions i like.

It would be cool if someone came up with a sway bar system like Lexus/Toyota has on their GX470, GX460, and 4Runner. Its a hydraulic system the senses when opposite tires are trying to articulate and automatically releases both the front and rear bars.

Interesting! I will try to get a "before and after" couple of shots from the stock setup to the Desert Lizard racing shocks and see if there's any benefit to the way they do their internal springs from a side hilling perspective. Fingers crossed.

I put the 9 toof pinion on with the 45t spur gear and the thing is unbearably slow with almost no noticable difference in crawling performance. A little better down hill but it eliminates almost all sort of "trailing" unless you move at a snails pace. That's half the thrill.

As a full size crawler myself, with an 80 Series Land Cruiser, I'm partial to most/all things Toyota. It would be pretty nice to see something like the KDSS but I imagine it would be too costly to retrofit.

I wouldn't mind seeing something that gets rid of the panhard bar but I don't even know where to begin looking for something like that on a scale crawler...

 

[mass-hole]

Interesting! I will try to get a "before and after" couple of shots from the stock setup to the Desert Lizard racing shocks and see if there's any benefit to the way they do their internal springs from a side hilling perspective. Fingers crossed.

I put the 9 toof pinion on with the 45t spur gear and the thing is unbearably slow with almost no noticable difference in crawling performance. A little better down hill but it eliminates almost all sort of "trailing" unless you move at a snails pace. That's half the thrill.

As a full size crawler myself, with an 80 Series Land Cruiser, I'm partial to most/all things Toyota. It would be pretty nice to see something like the KDSS but I imagine it would be too costly to retrofit.

I wouldn't mind seeing something that gets rid of the panhard bar but I don't even know where to begin looking for something like that on a scale crawler...

I literally have a 2 speed conversion kit sitting in my cart at AMain right now. Mine is 11T/45T i think and it has enough torque to peel the tires off the wheels if in got enough of a bind.

I wanted to keep this thing light weight and simple though.

 

[Rockstate45]

I literally have a 2 speed conversion kit sitting in my cart at AMain right now. Mine is 11T/45T i think and it has enough torque to peel the tires off the wheels if in got enough of a bind.

I wanted to keep this thing light weight and simple though.

11/45 on a sport? You’re gonna love the 2 speed with that same gear mesh. The extra torque from the “low range” really makes it feel like a full size crawler.

I will say, my buddy’s sport actually out crawls mine. He’s done a slew of mods that have helped and for cheap. Mine is definitely heavier but the “scale” attributes hurt it significantly.

 

[Rockstate45]

110 mm shocks are in and played with a variety of settings without any oil. I’ll keep comments high level since I’m typing on my phone but basically, any combination of the medium springs, short or long, were too stiff for my rig and gave me too much ride height. The droop springs didn’t have much of an effect on ride height but were good in fine tuning.

Current setup - with 10w oil:
Long soft spring in front, no droop
Long soft spring with either medium or stiff droop spring in rear.

Seems to maintain good flex, stock ride height, and dampen okay. It’s justtttt on the weak side, but I’m not sure I can really add any stiffness.

Will post back once I can run it outside but for now it seems to be an improvement.

Is there a way to upload pics directly to the thread without creating an album?

 

[mass-hole]

110 mm shocks are in and played with a variety of settings without any oil. I’ll keep comments high level since I’m typing on my phone but basically, any combination of the medium springs, short or long, were too stiff for my rig and gave me too much ride height. The droop springs didn’t have much of an effect on ride height but were good in fine tuning.

Current setup - with 10w oil:
Long soft spring in front, no droop
Long soft spring with either medium or stiff droop spring in rear.

Seems to maintain good flex, stock ride height, and dampen okay. It’s justtttt on the weak side, but I’m not sure I can really add any stiffness.

Will post back once I can run it outside but for now it seems to be an improvement.

Is there a way to upload pics directly to the thread without creating an album?

Tapatalk can host pics for you. I dont like tapatalk but its def the easiest way on the phones.

The spring selection is definitely the hardest part. I struggled with that as well which is why i ultimately went to the 110mm in the rear instead the of the 120’s. There was just too much travel that had to be eaten up to get it to settle at normal ride height.

The HR shocks are nice cause they fit the trx4 springs and they have a pretty good selection.

You are basically running a mild droop setup by running at 110/120 mm shock. You are super deep in the travel at ride height.

 

[Rockstate45]

Tapatalk can host pics for you. I dont like tapatalk but its def the easiest way on the phones.

The spring selection is definitely the hardest part. I struggled with that as well which is why i ultimately went to the 110mm in the rear instead the of the 120’s. There was just too much travel that had to be eaten up to get it to settle at normal ride height.

The HR shocks are nice cause they fit the trx4 springs and they have a pretty good selection.

You are basically running a mild droop setup by running at 110/120 mm shock. You are super deep in the travel at ride height.

You aren't kiddin'! The spring selection was definitely trial by error but you can eliminate them pretty quickly.

Just to post up an experience with these Desert Lizard shocks. I'm running 110/110 fr/rr on my 110 (no pun intended). I posted my setup in a previous post but now have some trail time with it.

My rig has wheel weights, an ARB style front bumper with winch, roof rack(stock), and spare tire (as would be stock). On the stock suspension, I had a baseline and it crawled well, climbed well, and sidehilled well.

With the suspension as noted, it definitely unloaded quicker and tipped over. This was very apparent with the side hilling and climbing.

So, off to the modification table I went. I got rid of the roof rack and spare tire/carrier combo off the back. I got rid of the uprights on the ARB Bumper and ziptied a thin piece of metal between the frame horns to add a little weight down low.

It now sidehills almost as good as it did before. It climbs the steeper climbs very well.

It's maybe 95% as good as it was before on these things but the flex and climbing ability is way cooler now. It definitely "shows off" and makes the harder crawling easier. The 9t pinion seems to help.

If I could go back again, I'd fill it with a heavier weight shock oil as that might help keep it from unloading. Maybe that's the next "saga" of the build along with a different set of springs.

 

[solo1]

I have a sport with a creep body i built for performance scale and have found for me anyway that capra shocks with the shorter trx springs is the best combo ive tried.

 

[Tylus]

Glad I found this thread. I’m trying longer shocks with the rear portal relocation piece. I want articulation and a small lift. Not paying Traxxas $175 for the lift

Awesome work

 

[Benp]

I am very interested in this after seeing RC Reviews video of the TRX4 crawling with a modded lift kit.

I see a sway bar being mentioned in this thread. Reefs has one which is a scale version of the Rock Jock Anti Rock.

https://www.reefsrc.com/shop/p_155925/sway-bar-kit

The Anti Rock is a fantastic piece of equipment in the 1:1 world. A sway bar that you always leave connected and allows the rig to twist up very nice.

My thought process with the sway bar, you could run the shocks light springs and light oil which would have crazy articulation and the sway bar would control body sway.

Downside is the Reefs swaybar would have to be fabbed up for the TRX4 but I feel this is doable for those with talent.

I am really new to rc crawling but feel certain 1:1 full scale principles/ideas can translate to RC.

 

[Depdog]

Great thread, pics and explanations. I ordered the lift kit and will mod it into a long travel kit. My local shop cuts me a good break so the kit is not as expensive as it is online. Considering it comes with a set of 110mm shocks its not actually that bad a price. Anywho, gonna work on what I can get done. I am thinking Sammix Aluminum shock mounts up front, do you think the rear need to be raised and at the frame as well?

Thanks
Glenn

 

[Benp]

Great thread, pics and explanations. I ordered the lift kit and will mod it into a long travel kit. My local shop cuts me a good break so the kit is not as expensive as it is online. Considering it comes with a set of 110mm shocks its not actually that bad a price. Anywho, gonna work on what I can get done. I am thinking Sammix Aluminum shock mounts up front, do you think the rear need to be raised and at the frame as well?

Thanks
Glenn

My rig is currently set up as long travel with shocks only. No lift kit.

I’m running 110mm Desert Lizards.

I have sammix shock mounts up front and IERC in the rear. I love the Sammix front mounts because of the panhard mount.

My ride height is stock at 3 1/4”.

I have the shocks set up with almost no up travel and all droop.

Without the lift kit and it’s longer links/lowered servo mount , travel is limited by the stock linkage.

It has definite pluses and minuses.

I have a lot of time into it just tinkering and there is still more to be done.

My biggest issue is when going up, the front end just raises up/unloads and the driveline starts binding up front.

It is helpful when going across and you encounter a hole, the wheel just drops down and contacts. The body stays pretty level.

Rc review has a good overview of the lift kit regarding long travel set up. Pen spring mod in the shocks is a must.

ETA- the rc review video.

https://youtu.be/IYYeajpCig4

 

[JonnyUK]

My rig is currently set up as long travel with shocks only. No lift kit.

I’m running 110mm Desert Lizards.

I have sammix shock mounts up front and IERC in the rear. I love the Sammix front mounts because of the panhard mount.

My ride height is stock at 3 1/4”.

I have the shocks set up with almost no up travel and all droop.

Without the lift kit and it’s longer links/lowered servo mount , travel is limited by the stock linkage.

It has definite pluses and minuses.

I have a lot of time into it just tinkering and there is still more to be done.

My biggest issue is when going up, the front end just raises up/unloads and the driveline starts binding up front.

It is helpful when going across and you encounter a hole, the wheel just drops down and contacts. The body stays pretty level.

Rc review has a good overview of the lift kit regarding long travel set up. Pen spring mod in the shocks is a must.

ETA- the rc review video.

https://youtu.be/IYYeajpCig4

Just remember, the pen spring mod gives the strut less downwards stroke.
Compress the pen spring between your fingers, that' thickness would be acting as a spacer and stopping the strut extending as far.

 

[Benp]

That is true.

The ride height will be an issue though.

 

[mass-hole]

I stopped running this because of how much the suspension unloads. Its fantastic in rock gardens but when you start side hilling and climbing it gets tippy.

 

[MOguy]

I have the Scattergun V2 for my TRX4. I run longer shocks in the back. I use shock keys so I can mount the shock higher. With the that chassis and the longer shocks I have loot of controllable travel. I am not a droop guy I like the added up travel. I have a SOA on the front with the regular shocks. Doing the Servo on Axle allows for allot more up travel.