I tell ya what it can make for an easy change out if you brake in warm ups. I thought I would pass that on to ya seems how you passed on a tip about where to find the good ones. The 5/16 end of the shock tool works on JC ball cups great. Not sure if RPM works but maybe some one will try it out.? If AE would make them just a tad bit beefier the shock tool would rock and roll. If I can make the JC I will hook up with ya. My pit board has another side you may like to see.............

Hmmmmm I'm a donkey trying to find his AZZZ....... Some scratch there head I scratch my butt. I get quicker results and I can understand what my butt is thinking....

1st kit I built right out of the box. It may say do this do that but no little pointer to tell ya where, or the best way how to. ?? Tilt tilt ding ding. So I moved on. Its in the gear case I can tell ya that for sure, cause if you put it in the top one it moves free. NOTE this. I took the 3 shims off the opposite gear side, it did feel smoother. I have always ran 6 on the gear side in the past. But mainly cause I was running 10.5/8.5 and it was still good with 6.5/5.5. NEVER had an issue with 6. But I rolled with the 3 shims cause I wanted to run box built. After a couple of batteries I pulled the motor pinion the gears where free and the rubbing was gone. So its optional to worry about. So I can say this I have built and driven the end result of the box stock kit. Choice of tires vary so end results will to.

On the second kit I had 2 weeks to work on it. I wont post how I did it cause there is a red flag spot where the bearing seats. I would hate to screw some one up. When I build this next kit I will do a vid. I really don't know the exact spot to fix, but I had 4 cases to play with. I tried a black sharpie to find where its rubbing and it was not showing its devil self. These little gremlins are hard to catch. I guess you could say I caught a ghost though cause I did get it to stop....

I plan to buy some cases off the shelf to build the 3rd kit. I just want to be sure about what I am doing. I just need a couple of more weeks and I will start on that.

I have one more tip/trick to work on as I try to get my moneys worth on the 2nd kit.
I want to see if????? Oh wait a hot second!! I don't want anyone to beat me to this one......

I am new to 4w buggy this is my first b44 platform car. Not first 4x4 tho. But yes I have improved a lot recently, tapered off a little due to the baby
Racing stock buggy helped me get fast.
But there are a lot if fast guys at my track and some of them really know their stuff, so if they offer to help... I will try it.
But I really do get enjoyment out of testing, tuning and wrenching. I only get to the track 2x a week sometimes just 1, so I tinker at home and read this stuff after the baby goes to sleep. You have really helped this thread a lot un4.

I'm still a little iffy on setting the slipper. What handling characteristics would indicate the slipper is to loose or conversely, to tight?

I wish there were more fast guys locally.

All the fast guys are 100+ miles away, which is fine on the weekends, but all the good turnouts happen during the week.

I want to get faster, but there are only 2 guys locally who are consistiently faster (MUCH faster). One of them TQ'd over Hartson and Reick at the last JC race.

How do you get faster without someone to push you, or bounce ideas off of?

Too tight and the rear end will dance when you're yanking on the throttle.

Too loose and you'll notice a lack of acceleration, or even hear it.

Thanks. Appreciate it. I think we all help. Posting results from testing is crucial and with this kit very important. Unlike the new B4.2 we have more to work with. I mean we really didn't even have a solid base. So reading comments really helped me.

The simpler the better..... helps a lot.

I thought I new my 44. I took the kit and went ding dong on it. Sorta closed my eye's and set it up, Short links on one side long on one side upper shimmed stud lower stud you name it. Mixed the tires LOL. Oh man what you can learn if you put it on a clock. The down side you then have to open your eyes and put it just the opposite and mean it when you do it. It reveals a lot of things if you can retain or note the results. Never could really get a handle on the straight. In the turns you can get an idea what works for grip and freeing the kit up. But you have to concentrate on the what I call the crap shoot turn. If you focus on the turn that sux the most you can really get good idea of what the kit is doing.
On the straight I never could determine the best grip. The front bite that is. When you gun it, it will pull or is it pushing? I gave up. Its just to much messing with it.

Then the .1 came along and I thought okay lets try this again. Quickly realized why I gave up...LOL

Comes to show though. There's sometimes more than meets the eye if you see some one with there shocks in different positions one side to the other..... If I wont let ya drive it. I'm testing something that I think I'm really on to something. If I do then I am probably not...LOL Funny as hell if you know your kit is jacked up and you say hey RAZ try my kit out.....LOL Oh man talk about a belly laugh....

Nice info right there. I like the analogy....LOL
I hate setting slippers. Its like where the heck is the best set up. I set mine pretty snug. But if I hear the diff barking like a pack of dogs I loosen it. If I hear it howling like a pack of wolves I tighten it. If the spur and pinion are whistling like I'm on a Sunday walk I'm on cruise control.....LOL

Harlan - You can do the following to get a basic feel.
Set the car down rest your forearms on both the front and the rear and then with your radio in hand yank the throttle for a split second. If you here a bark then your diff is slipping and you'll want to back off some. If you here more of a wine then your slipper is doing it's job and you can go from there. I think I did a demo a few weeks back. The other day when I looked at your slipper you have about 5 threads showing. I've found the width of a red shock oring for starters which is around 1.5m from the cup to the back of the adujster nut is a good starting point. This is making some assumuptions that your diffs are in good shape and broken in.

Hope this helps,
Mark

I got to discuss the camber spacer debate with my
teammate last night .

Told him I checked and discovered his advise is in conflict with known suspension theory ..

To help those who are just reading ...
Just review the camber tuning instructions in the B44.2 manual for reference ..



Seems two concepts or theory's are floating around .
One says the car will be more planted if you add a extra .030 under the stud .
Manuel says removing a .030 will help make more grip.....


Will be searching for a better explanation
as to why we have this conflict in info ...

Not taking sides , just that we have some really experience pilots at different tracks disagreeing with the manuals advise ...

Maybe we can learn something from the discussion ..

Lets start with more fitting terminology than "planted."

Ergo, roll. More roll = more weight transfer.

If you're looking for more roll, you want to lower roll center = less washers (on the 44).

Less roll = more washers

edit: lol, and Manuel says Hola.

I read a post a while back stating that Durango collars fit the shocks.
Who can confirm this? The dex410 collars?

It really depends on the situation and track and what you mean by "grip". Focusing on the rear, lowering the roll center (raising the stud) almost always produces more low speed grip, but can reduce grip when going on power or leaning hard in a corner. Likewise, lowering the stud (raising the roll center) will almost always add the ability to exit a corner harder, but it can add excessive rotation or "slide" to low speed operation.

What constitutes more grip for you depends on your track layout and what you need. On a open fast layout, adding a washer, as you have stated, will definitely add more net grip, but on my track, which is small and tight, the b44 platform can suffer at the apex of very slow corners when the rear unloads a bit and over rotates, and removing a washer tends to help out way more than hurt high speed corner exit.

To summarize. On the B44 platform, if you have a lot of "almost stop and turn" corners, removing a washer might be best, but if you're on a larger "high speed" track where you keep the throttle on more, adding a washer might be best.

Shock oils, ballast weight size, and washers are my primary tuning attributes when track layouts change. Ballast weight first, washers second, then shock oils (especially if the washer change really jacked up the balance of the car).

Wayne

There are other ways to get side bite. I mean that's what we are trying to get at here right?

I rarely get into this roll center debate cause I like to go to my anti squat first. My suspension "stock set up", or shall we say most common set up can be modified by a couple of simple washers in a lot cases. If I don't like the result I go to the shocks. (Anti squat another reason to have 2 limiters in your shocks). If that doesn't work and believe me you had better know shocks if you want that to a be quick diagnosis/remedy. But the standard roll center set up is as universal as you can get from track to track. Messing with those shims and studs you have to have the best and most consistent track conditions ever. It can be a real big mess heat to heat. You will find yourself praying for dry all day or wet all day.

We don't all wear the same size belt buckle for choice of a better word. But in my personal testing shorter links work great on our outdoor track while the longer ones worked better indoors.
If I'm in a pinch I can raise/lower the ride height to get similar results either way.
I better butt out. I'm getting dizzy...

I was going for contact patch and forward bite myself. Context is low speed corner when starting to try and apply throttle. That's when it comes around for me, and that's what zero washers makes better.