h2daddy

I just bought a R18T. I am going to race it on a small oval carpet track. I will be installing a late model body soon. I took it straight out of the box and tried it on the track. This thing flies. With stock tires, there is too much bit in the corners. Way too much. I have some foams I ordered and will install. Here is my question. I have no idea about setting these things up. What do I need to start experimenting with to get it to handle well. Like I said, too much bite. I had to let completely off the throttle in the turns not to flip it. What can I do shock wise to help? Do I start with the right side? I am completely clueless where to begin. I have plenty of speed. Now I need handling. Thanks for the guidance.

Bermbuster

iTrader: (11)

for too much bite... a simple trick is to put electrical tape on the outside edge of your front tires.

all4fun

h2daddy 1st off....good choice. The AE products work well and the (original) replacement parts are inexpensive, and they are also pretty resiliant. Also, you will be amaized how well these work when set up properly. I have an XRay M18T (similar to yours) and race it on our indoor carpet oval track 80ft x 36ft and it flies. It's powered by a Castle 8000kv brushless motor and a 7.4 2c lipo. Right now you probably won't need that kind of power on a smaller track. Let's just start out with the original motor and batteries that you already have. You can always put more money in it later if you want.
What I would suggest doing 1st is to slam that baby down. One of the reasons you are rolling over is your too high (right out of the box). To achieve this you need to put spacers on the shock shafts while you are assembling the shocks. I use about 4mm or 5mm of plastic washers equal in all four shocks. Your goal is to get 3.5mm to 4mm of ground clearance evenly under the chassis. This limits the shock (up) or (rebound) travel, thus, lowering the truck. Be sure your spacers aren't too wide. You want the inside of the shock body to hold as much oil as possible. Also, don't put any spring spacers on the exterior of the shock body. You want to stay away from preloading the springs. This changes what the spring is designed to do. If your truck is too low, just take one or two spacers out of the inside of the shock. Remember, your goal is 3.5mm to 4mm of ground clearance. This is the best way to lower the truck without changing anything else. My suggestion for springs is gold for front and blue for the rear. You want a stiffer spring in the front and a softer spring in the rear. Also, I suggest using 90wt shock oil in the front and 70wt in the rear in your original shocks. Use the shock pistons recommended (in the directions) for both front and rear shocks. I'm not sure, but I think they use 1 or two hole pistons in the front and two hole pistons in the rear. Your choice of already going to foam tires is better for carpet than stock rubber tires. They are also lighter (less rotating mass). My suggestion is something close to a 40 or 42 shore front and a 35 or 37 shore rear foam tire. I also suggest applying Paragon (my personal favorite choice) tire compound or what ever your track rules allow. Apply 1/3rd to the inside width of the front tire and full width to the rear 10 minutes before the race, then wipe off just before going on the track.
OK........now you have a pretty good basic setup you can start with. And you didn't spend a lot of money!! You may also want to adjust (steering throw) in your radio so the front tires don't have as much travel. You now have so much more (mechanical) steering we just put in the handeling of the truck, this may be needed. When you put a couple of laps in you'll be able to decide that for yourself. Note: If the truck "pushes" a little in the corners, you can apply a little more tire compount to the front tire or not as much if it has too much grip. Remember to trim the bottom of your body so it doesn't rub the track in the corners. This also effects the handeling.
Sorry if this seems like I just wrote a book, but I think this advise will really help you have a lot more fun with your "new Toy". Have Fun!!!!

h2daddy

Thanks for the info. I will give all that a try. I bought the truck rtr so I am not sure about the inside of the shocks. You mentioned spacers. Is this something AE makes or do I have to make something? My local shop is very small and new and doesn't have a lot of parts yet so I am going to have to place an order. Will get some new springs and oil. If the spacers are something I can buy, I will get some of them also. Anything else you can think of, let me know but this is a great start. Thanks.

all4fun

h2daddy......the spacers I used were from my spare parts assortment, and are black plastic washers. I can't remember where I got them from though. I do know that www.Exotekracing.com has some real nice metal washers that would work perfect. They come in a pack of 6-1mm thick and 6-2mm thick. Just be sure that the ID of the washers you use are not smaller than 2mm because the OD of the shock shafts are 2mm. Also, try to use a washer that doesn't have too large of an OD so it will fit inside the shock body. The goal is to have as much oil (volumn) inside the shock as possible after the washers(spacers) are installed for better dampening.
Since you have a RTR truck you probably don't have the assembly instructions that would normally come with the kit version. To see how the shocks are assembled from the kit instructions just go to AE's website and go to RC18T assembly manual and your good to go. It will show you everything you need to know for not only the shocks but the complete vehicle assembly. Also a list of all the parts for the entire kit too. Let me know if you have any other questions. I'd be happy to further help you out......good luck.
Dave

Lightin'

Instead of being on a never ending search for spacers for the shocks, go to any hobby shop and get some fuel tubing and cut to length or just use shock o-rings in place of the spacers.

all4fun

I would advise against using o-rings because they break down bc they are soft. Spacers are more consistant and there length (stackup) doesn't change during compression.......same goes w/fuel tubing. Didn't have as much luck in the past with the "soft stuff" so I went back to the spacers "good stuff". And IMO it's not that hard to find spacers.

h2daddy

Okay, I found a drawing of the shocks and see how they are put together. Still not sure where I need to put the spacers within the setup.

h2daddy

Nevermind. I am an idiot. I think I understand now. I will give this a try when I get home. Thanks.

Lightin'

Best way to learn your car and what works and how it works and what doesn't is to take it apart and reassemble it.

iPearl

iTrader: (96)

Get rid of that sloppy steering,...

U willz hate it LOL

h2daddy

Okay. I took the shocks apart and put spacers in. Rebuilt and did not drop the truck any. Not sure I did it correctly. I took it apart. Unscrewed the cap. pushed rod out and put spacer on rod and stuck it back into shock. Is this correct? I also took the spring spacer off of the outside of the shock. Ride height does not appear that it has changed any.

Lightin'

Not sure what you thought would happen, but putting spacers inside the shocks limits the travel and keeps the car from rolling as much in the corners. But they won't "lower" the car. Lowering the car consists of adjusting the rideheight via screwing the shock spring adjuster collars up to the top of the shock, and raising the rideheight by screwing the shock spring adjusting collars down on the shocks.
I suggest getting the rideheight set by placing your car on a level surface or table, with the car fully loaded with battery in ready-to-race condition, so that the dogbones are level with the table.

shanty140

iTrader: (5)

What you can do to get rid of some bite is to get a blade knife and carefully cut some of the pins on the outside edge part of the tire. Go slow though, you can always take more off if the vehicle feels like it still has to much bite. What you can also do is look for a tire with a less aggressive side bite.