Two weeks? Heck, I spent all of last summer shooting myself in the foot by making too many "improvements" to my SC10. I cringe when I think about it, but I also learned a lot in the process and took lots of notes and recorded lots of lap time data. That's another key point, and really is the first step. Record your lap times, including standard deviations if available right away. Measuring where you are before you start tuning is the only way to tell if you are improving. Sometimes a car that feels faster really isn't.

I started reading this thread from the beginning a while ago and then got busy with work. Then I was searching tuning with camber links for the Tekno SCT on Google and it brought up this thread again, so I started reading from the link and got to this post. So u said these are the springs that balance he truck but since I need to find the right pack for my conditions these pistons and oil weights might not work for me correct? I run on a hard packed indoor medium traction track. So now I need to find in here how to find the right pack, I have read how to balance the springs.

Go back about to Feb March time, Fred talks about that here (sorry haven't been following this thread too closely as I've been doing some on road racing recently). The setup that BOSS ROSS posted for his SCT410 on the SCT410 thread, which I also use, has a pack of about 12 inches, which as I recall is close to what Fred recommends for most situations unless you have some killer jumps.

Remember, balance is only balance for your car. If you have different components or have them laid out differently in your car, someone else's spring combination might not work for you. Taking the oil out of the shocks and finding the right combo of springs is fairly easy and quick to do.

Good point. while BOSS ROSS and my SCT410s are virtually identical we use different batteries, which may explain why we have slightly different rear oil weights.

Hi All,

My son's truck ran very well last weekend and as a result of that and his good driving we got the A main! Now the state of world affairs will not change as a result, but my 11 year old is very happy. I wanted to say thanks for all the great info in this thread, it really helped me put the truck "right"....

Thanks!

Dave

Slash 4x4 with big power and a mod STRC chassis.

Nice work! Congratulations to you and your son!

Thanks BDS.....we're a team...and good thing! I can't drive anywhere near like he can....now I'm sure there aren't any pro drivers quaking in their driving shoes as a result. but he drove the hell out of it!....
the third guy bailed. so it was just two....it was my son's third race.

HE LIKES THE SET UP!....and now I know what to do, and more importantly...what it's going to do when I do it!

Dave

Hi all, been reading the thread for couple days now, great stuff and big thanks to Fred. Also nice to see same people active still since 2011. I just got to page 40 or so. Have couple questions that might have been brought up that I maybe havent got to yet, sorry if its so.

If i try and find were the cog is like Fred mentioned and then press down in the middle where the cog supposedly is and the car doesnt compress evenly front to back is that a quick giveaway that the springs arent balanced front to rear?? If so can someone confirm by trying it. On rear motor that is.
Main reason I ask is I tried 3 different rear springs I have and the two rear arm locations on my rc10B3 and cant really tell much imbalance visually because so much going on on that rear end without oil. I have settled for the stiffest rear spring on the outer most tower location with my only front green spring on the inner tower location, and used the inner arm locations because that is what I want to run for my backyard rough track. Only the last spring combo i tried to take a video and use the pc to slow it down enough, but even then its somewhat hard to tell. the front springs up and gets steady the rear springs up and actually raises the rear tires off the ground and bounces a bit. it CAN be same frequency just a higher volume. However this combo allowed me to press the cog and get fairly even suspension compression. which brings me to next question. anyone have an videos that shows unbalanced VS balanced REAR motor buggy. I wasnt able to find any.

While Im at it, one more question, if i move my rear camber links keeping them same length but outward one hole (tower and hub) I know it will cause earlier initial camber gain and less as suspension compresses, but does it slightly lower or raise the RC.

B3master, be careful with the push on COG test, since not only shock oil can greatly effect it, but the front tires and rear tires will have different scrub radius. The car would need to be on ball bearing pads at each wheel to eliminate this as a factor.

Personally, I would much rather drive the car and feel and see what it does to find my balance for the conditions.

I haven't read it thru, so these things might have been mentioned in the post you referred too?

If you push down at the Cg, not the center of the vehicle, and things are balanced, it'll stay level. Incidentally once you have pack and oil selection balanced, it'll still stay level. You can push down on anyone else's car and can instantly see if the tuning is off.

But what about the logical example of the two subs playing the same frequency but one plays at a higher decibel. The rear is heavier and will always play at higher level, going down more and going up more but they should always pass the 0 horizontal plane together.

Since the weight ratio has been roughly 30/70 the rear plays at 70db while the front at 30db. Hence for every 30 units the front moves the rear should move 70 units.

If so then pressing on the cg i should look for roughly 3mm movment front to 7 mm movement rear hence not looking for them to bottom out together. Then my initial thought i should be looking for them to bottom out same time was wrong?
This is so much easier done on 4wd than 2wd rm.

Edit: WAIT but the cog is already off 70% more towards the rear. So pressing on it should indeed default back to chassis going down level. The drop test should show them leveling out at the horizontal plane together. I knew i wasnt off in the initial assumption.

If the weight is heavier at one end and you have balance, you also have an equal amount greater of spring force at that end so the effective level is equal.

Ill go back to page 48 or so and continue reading through the thread but has anyone uploaded a video showing a rm 2wd buggy with balanced springs? will drop test cause it to bottom out front and back together? but there is more inertia on the back ...??

I understand the reason for balancing springs first is to make sure all four springs are supporting the cog equally and will have equal balance front to rear same as left to right. That why pressing on the cog will cause the entire chassis to compress equally on a balanced car.

I have a very interesting effect happen on my track. An effect which can prove porpoising. I have a backyard naturally rain packed red dirt. I cleaned it out from weeds and plants etc about 7 months ago. I run on it very frequently almost daily if the weather permits; now on my straight slowly but surely it started to show dips in a weird constant distances that I couldnt previously understand why. it seems after my 180 degree turn accelerating into the straight causes the rear to porpoise constantly for the whole straight that now finally it shows the areas in which the weight is pressing on the rear tires has been dug down much greater then when the weight is shifting porpoising up. and now i have humps instead of a flat straight. enough to cause the back to hop and eventually dig more causing the effect to increase exponentially. now my track's dirt needs to be spread evenly and packed again, its almost undrivable because the rear end is heavily bouncing.

This proves that an unbalanced car, although not visible, will porpoise on the track and not have equal pressure on all tires causing instability, proving a balanced car is much more planted and stable.

Thought its interesting to share.

Fred what is your thoughts on Dual rate springs