Originally Posted by
CoyoteSlash
Why not shorten the wheelbase and cause some more rotation in the rear, and weight transfer into the front. Few have talked about this with this ride, so I am very interested on how it would work with all these high dollar 3rd party mods we have on our trucks.
Shortening the wheelbase will put more weight on the rear tires. If anything, I'd think you would want to try going longer.
I have been doing some research at the local track, weighing every truck I could get my hands on. Every truck I measured has
at least 51% of it's weight on the front axle except for the AE, which has about 46% - and that's with a 540 motor. Once you put a 550 motor in, that increases rear bias another 2% or so. Or another way, the Losi had the same rear wheel weight as the AE truck with a 550 motor in it (720), and another 190 grams
per wheel on the front. No kidding those guys can drop the hammer and put the power down, and no kidding the AE trucks out turn them.
I added 3 ounces of tungsten to the chassis between the servo and the front bulkhead, and another 1 1/2 ounces in the front most part of the bumper. This has been the best the truck ever handled, but it has another new problem - the weight is spread out to the ends of the chassis now, kind of like a barbell. It's hard to get it to start rotating, and it's hard to get it to stop. I think I got another 1% of bias to the front for my trouble.
All the guys who are commenting on how good the Losi's mannars (and the Jammin/Ofna/Hyper/Hong Nor ones) are in the air, well, there it is. The battery and the motor are close to the middle, and if you hold it by the front and back bumper and twist it fore and aft, then pick up an AE truck and try the same thing, you'll see what I mean.
And compounding the whole issue is my AE truck is down on power. To get it to weigh right, it needs a 540 motor. My choice in motor suppliers doesn't make a four pole, so I'm stuck with running a motor with 420w of output where any 550 will make 800w. That's no bueno if you want to quad the stuff that other guys can and you can't make it without a bermshot and adding a 1/2 second to your lap time.
I'm not selling my SC10, and I'm not giving up on it, but I have come to the conclusion I'm spending far too much time working and thinking about this truck and not nearly enough time actually enjoying it.