"Simple Rule 4 Remember that changing tires can drastically change ride height."
I would be more concerned with the rollout and the gearing.
In the front tire height has an effect on caster, don't forget about that.

Nice write up, but you should really acknowledge the original authors and or sites you copy pasted this up from.

Amazing! Wish I found this sooner as it seems like most info I google is in bits and pieces on various sites when I research. All this info in one place and having it relate to each aspect is incredible. Thrilled with this. Thank you!


There was a mention of a book in a post above. Does that book exist?

All above content is from Scott Guyatt

This is the book providing all above information



An updated revision (Brushless replaced Brushed) is available here.

This guy deserves more credit!

He has added a lot to the original author. Clearly this was written some time ago. Is there any more upto date information that can be added to this?

We should keep in mind that flaming posts are the quickest way to shut down intelegent conversation. I'm certain that there are a lot of very helpful guys that have abandoned forums due to a less than encouraging response much to the detriment of the rest of us.

To those that persevere I thank you.

It is a great thread with great info. There's also an older thread "Tuning with camber links" that has a lot of great info.

I revisited this thread now after building my first stadium truck [T6.1]since the 1990's! Our new indoor off-road clay track hasn't grooved up yet. It's great North Carolina red clay that acts almost like modeling clay when moist (your sneakers will squeak on it), and hard as concrete when dry, but (for now) it's hard to keep my rear end planted, even with sauced Jconcepts Ellipes.

I only had time for 2 battery packs, but was running the stock setup, which I imagine is deigned for high grip, so I'm going to do every adjustment that supposed to aid rear corner grip next time and see what happens. Wish me luck!

PS, the "Tuning with camber links" thread will drive you crazy. There's some really good/in-depth info, but the pissing matches only confused me in the end.

There is an awesome thread which I am still looking for a link that does a great job summarizing camber link adjustments without all the bullcrap.(he basically skips the physics and says who cares about that, how do I adjust it..) I cut and pasted the info and printed it out and keep in my pit bag with other manuals, etc. since I cut and pasted into a word doc, I don't know the author. I feel bad bringing it up, and a search does no good. If you would like PM me and I will see what I can do to text it or email screenshots as I don't have the word file anymore...

Never mind I found it in my bookmarks

Understanding and Tuning Roll Center

Thanks. I was looking that one myself.

I like this post for when at the track and need a set of options to consider:

Understanding Tuning: Introduction to basic tuning for racing

Great thread with very useful info, but I want to bump it with a question i haven't found an answer for. On 2wd buggies we find backwards inclined front shocks and backwards inclined to straight rear shocks. What does moving the shocks forward or rearward do?

Thanks for sharing it! Really useful information, i've enjoyed it.

The shock must be close to the same angle as the hinge pins for the shocks to work without binding up as they compress. In the front you have around 25° of kick up, so the front shocks have to be leaned back the same amount. In the rear, the arms are much closer to flat, but still tilted up a little because of anti-squat.

While changing the angle of the shock front to back would technically change the center of gravity, it would not change the handling of the car in a way that is useful as an adjustment.

It looks like it's a common change on yokomo cars, being up to 1mm rear and 3mm front. I have seen this on every type of surfaces, from lowest grip dirt to highest dirt carpet