TT-02B ride height

[skom25 463]

Hi,

I run my TT-02B on hard surface, like asphalt and pavement.

Does it make sense, to lower ride height by 3-5 mm? Will it affect handling in any positive way? Currently it is about 22 mm ( ready to run).

I will do this using internal spacers. Will it affect handling in any positive way or maybe it will be more like placebo?

I have aluminium shocks and to compensate loss of travel, I have plan to use soft springs. It will also give me bit more of adjustment, because stock gold springs feels quite hard.

Any advice about oil for that conditions? 

 

[Pylon80 990]

The internal spacers are used to limit the maximum shock length and therefore adjust droop. To lower the ride height you will need to remove some of the (misnamed) "preload" spacers above the springs. If you are still too high then you need shorter springs.

Ride height is no placebo and has a tremendous effect on handling since it lowers all the sprung weight of the car, at once.

22mm is an order of magnitude too high for on-road. A typical setup for outdoor asphalt rides at 6mm. So, to avoid diving too deep in the rabbit hole and spending too much on new springs and so on, I would just remove all the preload spacers. I am assuming you are using Tamiya CVA shocks?

Finally I would leave the oil alone for now. Someone racing on a track and turning hundreds of laps again and again would see the effect of experimenting with different oils. If you simply are having fun tuning your buggy for on-road, at this point it's doubtful you would benefit from messing with the oil. Sourcing different viscosities is expensive and rebuilding shocks all the time is messy and time consuming. So I would stick with the yellow #400 for now.

Edit:

This: https://site.petitrc.com/reglages/RC_HandbookV2.pdf

... is an excellent guide that I used when I got started with on-road. I find it hard since really good explanations about setup basics.

[skom25 463]

I have aluminium shocks with collar.

If I go up with collar, ride height will be lower but shocks become softer. Am I right? I am not sure if it is what I am looking for.

[Pylon80 990]

41 minutes ago, skom25 said:

I have aluminium shocks with collar.

If I go up with collar, ride height will be lower but shocks become softer. Am I right? I am not sure if it is what I am looking for.

The shocks never become softer when you unscrew the collars, unless you have something really wrong with droop (not enough of it). The spring constant is what makes the shocks soft or hard. By unscrewing the collars you simply change where the springs are resting which in turns lowers the car.

So unscrewing the collars is exactly what you are looking for 🙂

Regarding ride height, I went and check my rally car. It rides at 13mm and droops to 19mm. It won't win a touring car race 😅 but it drives wonderfully and a lot of different surfaces that way. Maybe you could try these values on your buggy?

[skom25 463]

Ah, understand!

I that case, maybe I will try soft springs, to have bit more adjustment. Using current ( medium?) springs to lower chassis, I probably need to go to upper limit of adjustment range.

Probably I will also add one oring inside rear shocks, because currently drive cups touches arms. Of course it happens only when model does not stand on the ground. It is little annoying, because e.g. I cannot test drivetrain on service stand.

[skom25 463]

Hmm, maybe I am wrong with soft springs? I need to think about this...

[Pylon80 990]

Both softer or shorter springs will help lower the car, you are correct.

I would definitely limit the shock length so that the diff outdrives are not interfering with the dog bones (or swing shafts if you are using universals).

The plastic spacers that come on the shock sprues are good but only 3mm and 6mm. The aluminum spacers in the 53539 set allow you to adjust in 0.5mm increment. Depending on the chassis, 0.5mm at the shock could be 1mm at the wheel, or more.

Keep us posted!

[skom25 463]

I will use black orings, as it was in manual. Just try to use one or two. Aluminium shocks are much longer than standard CVA. I believe that with CVA there is no issue with cups touching arms.

[skom25 463]

Black, soft springs installed. I think they are not much softer than standard gold. Maybe a bit but I expected bigger difference. Current ride height is about 15 mm. 

I had plan to add orings inside but today I decided that for now it does not make sense. Shocks are still "fresh" so it will be waste of money and time to disassembly, change oil etc. I will just run now and observe how car handles.

[Pylon80 990]

2 hours ago, skom25 said:

Black, soft springs installed. I think they are not much softer than standard gold. Maybe a bit but I expected bigger difference. Current ride height is about 15 mm. 

I had plan to add orings inside but today I decided that for now it does not make sense. Shocks are still "fresh" so it will be waste of money and time to disassembly, change oil etc. I will just run now and observe how car handles.

That's a nice looking car. I see the shock collar could still be unscrewed to lower the car even more, is that on purpose?