suspension geometry/setup

[nothinbutpower]

Hey guys! I just got my TXT1 and i'm trying to set up the suspension for some near crawler articulation. I don't have the cantilever setup on my truck because it didn't come with it when I bought it. It already has Eepee's and Slow It Downs chassis mod done. I stared at as many pics of everyones' chassis as I could take without going permanently cross eyed and it looks like I have it set up right but it just doesn't seem to have the articulation that it looks like you guys have in your pics. I'm pretty sure that I need longer shocks but they are aluminum aftermarket shocks and I have them set to the 3rd hole back and mounted to the farthest back shock mount on the axle. Any ideas or pics of setups that I may not have seen? Also suggestions for longer shocks and springs? I heard the Monster GT shocks were too long and caused the cg to be too high.
TIA

 

[dont slow down]

Unfortunatly when the shocks are mounted directly to the axle like yours are the articulation is not as great as the cantilever setup. However this does not mean that your truck won't be a good crawler. There is such a thing as too much articulation too. Too much articulation can cause binding and unpredictable handling out on the rocks. If you posted up some pics it would really help others see your setup and give better suggestions. "thumbsup"

 

[vn1500]

like don't slow down said got any pics?
if you look in the pic i mounted the shocks on the pieces that used to go down to the rest of the frame , lot more articulation but with the good comes the bad with the shocks mounted on the angles that they are it sometimes can get hard to drive with the amount of torque twist it can generate when it drops into a bind situation...hope this helps

 

[nothinbutpower]

I follow what you are both saying. It just seems like after doing that chassis mod I thought I would have gotten a little more articulation. I will get some pics up either tomorrow or by Monday. I need to get the rear axle shafts in and put the axle assembly back on the truck before I take any pics. My setup is close to yours vn1500 but mine is still on the horizontal beam in the third hole from the back.

 

[Mazlem]

Center the shocks on the axles for stability, and make sure the shocks can twist freely at their mounting points. If they can't they'll bind and can severely limit articulation.

 

[bustedcrawler]

Tha chassis mods are there to improve on the stock TXT chassis. Moving your lower links on top of the axle, and drilling new holes in the chassis is a good place to start. By removing the canitlevered shocks and mounting the shocks to the axle you are actually reducing the articulation, which IMHO is a very good thing.

MGT shocks are actually very nice shocks to run on a TXT, as are TMaxx shocks. I had TMaxx and then went to MGT sized shocks, as they are only a fraction of an inch longer than the Tmaxx shocks.

 

[nothinbutpower]

The truck is finally together with the exception of a few more mods I would like to do. I flipped the rear axle so the steering would be in front of it but I made my own links and locked out the rear steering as I will not be doing much major crawling. The shocks are now mounted on the links for more articulation but i'm still debating as to whether I want to go to the MGT shocks or not. Plus I notice that the body leans to the passenger side most of the time. Here's some links to my truck. Let me know what you think.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp204/Txtpower/IMG_1690.jpg
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp204/Txtpower/IMG_1689.jpg