Thanks for the post...this was driving me crazy. I'd installed them backwards and couldn't figure this out for a while. I did eventually get it 'right', and need to get to some carpet for more rigorous setup/testing.
Originally Posted by
EDWARD2003
Just a little heads up for Plasma Ra owners.
Kyosho has released some updated front suspension arms which have small dots on them. These dots indicate what side to insert the suspension balls into the arm. I guess the older arms didn't have this feature and racers were inserting them the wrong way.
So whats the problem?
Well, for some reason, Kyosho decided to mold the suspension arms under one mold. That being said, when you buy a package you'll get two right suspension arms. Ideally, it should be a left and a right. But, Kyosho thought it would be a smart idea for the user to simply flip the suspension arms to make a left and right.
FYI - I live in Japan and I have the most recent Kyosho Plasma Ra kit. This kit comes will a supplementary manual indicating the changes made to the front suspension arms.
Now, the right arm must be flipped (dot facing up). The left has the (dot facing down). Many of you will say, make sure the both dots are facing the same direction. Well, you cant. I've tried this and it results in the suspension geometry (arm sweep) to be messed up. As a result the kingpin will not fit, the kingpin angle is too severe.
So, in order for it to work, you'll have to run the (arm dots) in opposite direction from each other. Well, there's a bigger problem now. This flipping of arms has resulted in a 0.5 mm height difference between the left and right side. Also, the suspension balls are riding at different heights 0.10 mm difference. This is due to the arms being flipped and the position of the suspension ball are resting at different heights. The left suspension ball on the top of the arm is sitting 0.10 mm higher than the right. The right suspension ball on the bottom of the arm is sitting 0.10 mm lower than the left. I hope this make sense to you guys.
Trust me, I tired re-inserting the suspension balls to make them even. It doesn't work.
So, I fixed this problem by shimming the suspension balls using 0.10 mm shims on both sides. Then I put 0.5 mm shims on the right side to raise the arm to match the left arm. Everything is equal and square on.
Just to let you know, I checked everything to see if it was bent. Everything checked out perfectly fine. The chassis is not tweak, all the measurements were done on a pane of glass.
Just to let you know, I've tried 3 different suspension packages and the results are the same.