Always Learnin

Hello. Is there a book or other resource that teaches proper tuning approach for offroad electric R/C vehicles?

I am returning to the hobby after a 5 year hiatus. A big portion of the enjoyment I get from this hobby is working on and maintaining my vehicles. I really want to dive deeper into proper setup approaches with my vehicles.

For example: when looking to stiffen the front suspension, at what point do you change springs versus oil in the shocks or pistons? Why? When would you change the shock mounting positions? Why?

These are just a couple of examples of questions I have. Thank you all in advance for any guidance.

MaX-D

iTrader: (2)

Start here.

Tune With Camber Links

Always Learnin

this is what I'm looking for! Thanks!
If there is any more like this, please link them!

staiguy

iTrader: (7)

https://site.petitrc.com/reglages/Ba...pensionTuning/

here’s something to ponder over

MonkeyCmonkeyDo

iTrader: (4)

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...6FORM%3DHDRSC4

I watched this 1 recently and I thought it was helpful so ill share it here.
-d

Always Learnin

Thank you all!

jph98

I've found both of these useful;-
Hudy Setup book
So Dialed Off-road set-ups

RC10Nick

iTrader: (9)

That's a long thread, you really only need to read the posts by fredswain. Specifically focus on his methods for bench testing springs, oils, and piston rates. When you get your head wrapped around those tests/procedures then you can start trying to understand roll centers/camber links.

I've been tuning all of my RC cars using his methodology for about a decade now. It takes out a lot of guess work and always gets me to a car that drives really nicely. However it's still important that you show up to a track and test setup changes as well. One of these days someone should write up a concise summary of that thread...

RogerM

If you want a book the only one to consider is Invisible Speed by JQ, it is the only one that is factually correct in all aspects, no other text I have seen is.

b.j.a

iTrader: (2)

This book is fantastic. There are some really helpful sections at the back of the book on what steps you should take if your car is oversteering, understeering, how to make it easier to drive, etc etc
https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Off.../dp/0648581144

gotheframe

This is the onroad version but it has a nice trouble shooting chart in the back to supplement with the offroad version.

Edit:
The Hudy book(s) does a good job of taking a systematic approach to setup. You start on page 1 and as you get things dialed in work through the book, step by step. Its also FREE to download.

This seems to be the reiteration that fredswain refers to... set the spring frequency first, then move on, etc.

Like for example the Hudy book talks about setting front roll center and rechecking front toe. Checking camber, then again checking toe. Really like how fredswain approaches the springs tho :thumbsup The hudy book doesn't explain this very well.

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

One of the best investments if you want to move up from Sportsman into Expert:
https://shopjtp.com/products/invisible-speed-book

Another solid resource here as well:
https://www.teknorc.com/wp-content/u...t_Up_Guide.pdf

Always Learnin

Thank you everyone for the guidance. I have been reading the thread where Fred Swain goes through his set up process. It is very long and detailed, which I like. I will check out the other resources as well.
I enjoyed 10th scale offroad racing before, but was also very frustrated with questions that were not answered. I appreciated the advice given by the few that would offer it, but was frustrated when no one could say WHY the changes made actually helped. To me, answering the why leads to a deeper understanding, which leads to a setup that can be changed confidently on an as needed basis.
Thank you again for providing these resources. I now have quite a bit of homework to do.

RC10Nick

iTrader: (9)

If you really want to understand the physics behind RC car chassis design and tuning I'd always advocate for searching for books/articles written by actual chassis engineers who design actual full sized race cars. A lot of "rc knowledge" I've seen in tuning guides is "bro science" written by people without an actual engineering background.

Nosnarb

Theres also an XRAY tuning guide that is pretty handy...even if you arent running an XRAY