Hornet Oil Shocks on a Grasshopper

[jasonnewyork 0]

Would it be possible to install Hornet oil shocks in the rear of a Grasshopper? Beside cutting off the cotter pin posts, was curious if the upper shock mounting blocks would interfere with the Grasshopper body. Looks like the rollbars on the ghopper body might hit these mounting blocks. Has anyone done this or know it will work or not? Would I have to trim some of the ghopper body to make it fit?

This what I'm talking about (circled in red)

Will it hit the body (circled in red)

[kaiser 8]

i'm not 100% positive but i think they do hit the body a bit. you'll need to cut off the body posts too.

you'll also need the lower mounts. the shocks will fit without them but they won't work well.

[TA-Mark 195]

Cut the lexan body mounts off them and they fit in there. I have the full Hornet rolling rear diff on my Grasshopper. You may need to notch into the body of the Grasshopper a small amount to clear the top damper screws otherwise the body is a tight fit.

Also notice in stu22's photos below that the motor hole no long lines up with the motor when you fit the Hornet hopup parts and you need to resize the motor cutout. Failing to do this will cause the body to crack when the motor hits it. The weak spot in the body is at the top of the motor cutout. I found this out the hard way. The Hornet 'rolling' pivot blocks move the gearbox back about 5mm more than the fixed Grasshopper pivots.

[stu22 12]

The lexan body mounts are fine. The problem you'll face is having the screw heads for actually mounting the shocks sticking out too far. For the stock Grasshopper the body is notched for this. For the Hornet shock mounts you'll have to do some trimming. The original instructions for the Grasshopper hop-up kit told you to cut the body which I did the first time around. As a part of my rebuilt I took a closer look and realized all I had to do was Dremel some material off.

It's not the clearest picture of this but if you zoom in you can see where the body is thinner where the screws are.

[jasonnewyork 0]

I see what I have to do... and not so bad. Thanks guys.

[OrangeSport 0]

I have taken the other route and added a Grass Hopper shell to a Hornet. Small notches needed to be cut for the screw heads as mentioned, but the 540 size motor cleared the shell with no problems..

[OrangeSport 0]

I also left the small body posts in place. The clips hug the rear roll bars and hold the body fine...

[stu22 12]

...

Also notice in stu22's photos below that the motor hole no long lines up with the motor when you fit the Hornet hopup parts and you need to resize the motor cutout. Failing to do this will cause the body to crack when the motor hits it. The weak spot in the body is at the top of the motor cutout. I found this out the hard way. The Hornet 'rolling' pivot blocks move the gearbox back about 5mm more than the fixed Grasshopper pivots.

Thinking back I have a very vague memory of the hop-up kit saying to cut away part of the body to enlarge the hole that was already there for the motor. I was only able to get the motor to hit the body by really twisting the rear so I have not bothered to enlarge the hole. This might be because of the 540 Endurance motor or the Sport Shocks that are now on the rear though.

[TA-Mark 195]

Thinking back I have a very vague memory of the hop-up kit saying to cut away part of the body to enlarge the hole that was already there for the motor. I was only able to get the motor to hit the body by really twisting the rear so I have not bothered to enlarge the hole. This might be because of the 540 Endurance motor or the Sport Shocks that are now on the rear though.

Yes, it only hits the body when the diff rolls. But this is hard enough to crack the body I found. I opened the cutout on mine so that the motor would not touch the body in any position of the rear suspension roll or travel.

[jasonnewyork 0]

stu22 - I noticed the 540 motor is not aligned with the hole in the ghopper body. But I see it's aligned in Orangesport's ghopper. Got me thinking... wonder if the floating axle mounts from the Hornet caused this? OrangeSport, are you running the rigid axle mounts or the floating from the Hornet?

Also stu22, the orginal "hop-up" oil shocks for the ghooper were from the Frog. I have an original ghopper manual, and list a part # and picture. These shocks mounted in the stock location and didn't require the upper Hornet mounting blocks.

[stu22 12]

stu22 - I noticed the 540 motor is not aligned with the hole in the ghopper body. But I see it's aligned in Orangesport's ghopper. Got me thinking... wonder if the floating axle mounts from the Hornet caused this? OrangeSport, are you running the rigid axle mounts or the floating from the Hornet?

Also stu22, the orginal "hop-up" oil shocks for the ghooper were from the Frog. I have an original ghopper manual, and list a part # and picture. These shocks mounted in the stock location and didn't require the upper Hornet mounting blocks.

You are correct in that the Sport Shocks from the Frog are what the original Grasshopper manual lists as the hop-up shocks, however, the rear end hop-up kit, which basically converts the suspension to a Hornet's, included the shocks from the Hornet, not the Frog ones.

You are correct in that the axle mounts are what causes the thing to be set back farther. If you look at the center of the mounting axle you can see there's a tab on it and a matching notch in the chassis. On the Grasshopper the tab goes in to the notch, where on the Hornet the axle is pushed back to where the notch can clear the tub.

[jasonnewyork 0]

My car was originally a Grasshopper. I don't remember what I bought back in the day, but ended up with Hornet shocks and Grasshopper solid axle mounting blocks, so sort of a hybrid. I currently have it up for sale on this forum, but contemplating restoring it. When I started to adding up all the parts, might be better off buying a new ghopper re-re. I can reuse my BB set, 540 motor, and radio. The radio and BB kist alone run $60US .

[OrangeSport 0]

stu22 - I noticed the 540 motor is not aligned with the hole in the ghopper body. But I see it's aligned in Orangesport's ghopper. Got me thinking... wonder if the floating axle mounts from the Hornet caused this? OrangeSport, are you running the rigid axle mounts or the floating from the Hornet?

Also stu22, the orginal "hop-up" oil shocks for the ghooper were from the Frog. I have an original ghopper manual, and list a part # and picture. These shocks mounted in the stock location and didn't require the upper Hornet mounting blocks.

Sorry, just seen this - mine are the Hornet mounts. It is actually a Hornet with a GH body. The motor does not touch the body at any point of the suspension travel (and I have not trimmed the hole).