mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

Saw that. Caster check easy on that?

mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

I knew that part, trying to do it for less.

xceed doesn't seem readily available in the US.

GrandeGixxer

iTrader: (21)

Most setup sheets don't list caster by degrees. I never check it on the station. Just the amount of shims in front or behind the arms.

GrandeGixxer

iTrader: (21)

I have Hudy stations for 8th and 10th off-road and arrowmax for 8th and sedan on road. The only difference is the arrowmax has an extra bearing and screw at the bottoms for support. I would consider the quality to be very close. The Hudy bag is a little nicer but is twice the price.

mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

True. I use it to help confirm things are uniform and that nothing is tweaked

GrandeGixxer

iTrader: (21)

I use everything else to confirm no tweak. From what I just learned recently, after many years of running on road(mostly sedan), tweak often times, not always comes from the sway bars. If the chassis is straight, droop is set evenly and your car is tweaked with the shocks removed, it's probably the sway bar attaching links. Easy enough to check. Use the droop gauge, make sure the droop didn't change after reconnecting the roll bar. If it did, find out why. if it's still good, lift one of the rear hubs and as soon as the other starts to come up, measure the "droop" on the hub. Do the same to the other side. If it is not equal, the sway bar is introducing tweak. Adjust the linkage until both sides lift at the same measurement. I like to run my sway bar level with the ground(looking from the side) at the set droop. Once you are good, install the shocks and check the droop again. If the droop changed, you need to lengthen the shocks. I always measure from the bottom of the shock body(seal) to the top of the ball end screwed onto the shock shaft. Make sure that your shocks are equal on both sides. Once this is done, you can put the car on a tweak station and if it is tweaked it will be coming from the shock pre-load. Doing it this way, every time, in this order makes it easier to find the problem if there is one.

As with everything else, there are more than one way to do things. I think I learned this method from a video from Groskamp or Picco. I don't remember which. But it was someone reputable and not just some hack like me figuring it out. :P I am a much better mechanic than driver, lol!

mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

That wasn't the tweak I had in mind. You make valid points and I always look for chassis longitudinal tweak when setting my cars up. Everyrhing from as you said sways to even bent hinge pins can cause chassis and suspension setting issues.

This is time consuming and can take a while to get right.

mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

Almost done with my body..Not sure I like the colors yet. I wanted a departure from the norm.

GrandeGixxer

iTrader: (21)

With what I said, I'm assuming that the car has been gone over and is mechanically perfect. Which it should be anyways, otherwise, why bother even putting it on a setup station?

snuvet75

iTrader: (16)

From my experience, it's almost always the chassis that tweaks, not the sway bars or the shocks provided that you haven't reset the shocks or sway bars since you tweaked your chassis when you built it. During crashes, chassis bends not the shocks or sway bars. Hence you notice tweak on tweak station, try to eliminate it by adjusting shock collars and location of sway bar links, then you notice ride height between left and right is completely off, got to wonder why and either give up or leave it with different RH left and right. It's because your chassis is not flat anymore. Then you question yourself "Do I need to buy a new chassis?". Well I don't cuz the car runs just fine with a little bent chassis. Mostly the chassis bends convex meaning front and back ends lift upward when you lay it on flat surface. I flatten it out using corner of desk. It will be still tweaked, not perfect at all but it makes me feel good Then I delude myself that the chassis is flat (well sort of cuz it doesn't wobble anymore on set up board) and go ahead and finish tweaking. Next day after the race, I check if the chassis is flat and apparently it's not anymore. Even w/o crash. Once it's bent, it stays bent from my experience. Again do I buy a new chassis? No. I don't really care cuz I'm not at the top at all and I still have fun w/o suffering too much from unstable handling because of tweak. Nitro cars don't seem to be affected by the slight tweak as much as lighter electric counterparts.
Well sorry for the rambling

ralphierace13

iTrader: (5)

your wrong on one thing the sway bars tweak a lot !!! esp. when using smaller then 3.0 so always check them. also I like to leave play in my sway bars so incase u have alittle hit during a race it wont tweak, u know where u tighten the collars on the sway bar against the bulk head well don't tighten them right up against the bulkhead leave alittle play so like u can like slide the sway bar side to side alittle I also find it works better also...

snuvet75

iTrader: (16)

Sir!

mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

So I can set the toe, camber and verify the caster specs. Do this to all my cars.

mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

Good observation. Getting the sway bars just right and centered took a few minutes. I don't like to see any side to side on my cars. I only confirm even spacing, equal loading on each side and eliminate all binding.

mustangkillaz

iTrader: (5)

My body is finally painted. final trim and stiffener install needed.