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martinb79

Grasshoppper upgrades?

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Hi,

Just wondering if people had any suggestions for upgrading a Grasshopper, particularly the handling.

My 5yr old boy has an original Grasshopper that he loves to bits but its a real handful to drive, it has an upgraded motor but he flatly refuses if i mention slowing it down, so i was interested in ideas to make it more easier to handle.

The steering in particular seems to get bent very easily and just keeping the car in a straight line is a challenge, with even the slightest touch of steering often causing the car to roll!

I think im on about its fifth replacement chassis now, with the usual point of failure being the chassis cracking where the gearbox attaches at the bottom.

The car seems to hop under hard acceleration, are there any recommended upgrades I can make to the shocks?

Also suggestions for wheels / tires would be appreciated as his are completely bald - we usually do a mixture of on / off road but get through tires in no time!

Suggestions appreciated.

Cheers,

Martin :lol:

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Just a couple of suggestions:

-Make a metal plate & mount it where the resistor attaches - stick about 2 oz. of lead weights on that. This helps the rear shocks actually work. The Grasshopper & Hornet are bouncy b/c there is no weight on the suspension, it is all unsprung weight on the axle/gearbox itself, and gives the shocks no chance of working properly.

-Make or buy stronger steering links. There's a guy who sells them on ebay, but you can make your own if you want. The kit is basically threaded rods with ball & cup rod-end attachments, and cap-head screws and a few spacers. These fit onto the stock servo saver and strengthens the steering links greatly.

-You could buy the Hornet gearbox and D parts tree, and convert the Grasshopper to a hybrid - the Hornet gearbox is a better design and that would help a lot. Bonus is the Hornet has better rear shocks too. (Still do the weights though, it makes a huge difference.) You'll also need the little springs, but all the parts are available. Or buy a hammered Hornet for parts.

-There is an FX-10 front suspension conversion kit out there, but they are a bit pricey and hard to find. You have to cut to make it work, but this would certainly help the handling.

-Alternatively, there are some old school (Parma?) hop up oil shocks for the front end which are pretty nice, but getting very, very rare now.

-Tires: The best for mixed running and wear are a set of Brat wheels/tires for all 4x corners. Not as grippy as spikes on loose dirt, but they will last a lot longer. As a bonus, I think they give the Ghopper some cornering stability and give the car a wider front stance. Plus I think they look cool too. Otherwise, the Paddlatracks wear better than the spikes IMO. The fronts are always a problem and wear 2x as quickly as the backs.

Having said all that, there is only so much you can do. It's an old design and the handling is always going to be a bit naff no matter what you do.

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I have the Brat wheels & tyres on mine and it does help the handling, I have to try pretty hard to roll mine on a flat surface. Another good point is the rear tyres will wear quicker as with any 2wd car but as you're using the same tyres all round you can swap them over with the fronts. It also looks a bit more aggresive with these on IMO.

DSC00797.jpg

Stronger steering rods can be found in the Lunchbox although you will also need the LB ball joints to fit them which are annoyingly in another screw bag. Been meaning to do this to mine for a while now but somehow I've avoided bending the original rods... so far :lol:

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think I put this in the wrong section! spent ages looking in Vintage discussions and wondering why i could not find it :angry:

Cheers for the your replies, definately going to give some of those a try!

Are the Brat wheels hex fitment on the rear?

Cheers

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No, the Brat rear wheels are a straight swap over with the Grasshoppers using the same 5 hole fitting plate thingy instead of a 12mm hex hub. The front Brat wheels also fit straight onto the Grasshoppers front axles without modification.

If you wanted you could fit the Brat tyres directly onto Grasshopper rear wheels as they are the same design and save a little cash. The front Brat wheels are wider obviously to fit the wider tyre compared to the narrow Grasshopper smoothy tyre, so you will need front Brat wheels to run them.

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ok cool - his grasshopper has already been converted to run hex fitment wheels but i think i have some of the other bits spare to convert it back. Its currently running the newer style buggy wheels as fitted to the Desert Gator etc.

He thinks it looks "awesome" on the brat wheels too :angry:

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If you wanted you could fit the Brat tyres directly onto Grasshopper rear wheels as they are the same design and save a little cash. The front Brat wheels are wider obviously to fit the wider tyre compared to the narrow Grasshopper smoothy tyre, so you will need front Brat wheels to run them.

Brat, Rough Rider, F-150 XLT, Buggy Champ and FAV wheels are 1.75". Sand Blaster tyres (rear) and Sand Blaster Jr (front) fit these wheels. Brat and F-150 XLT have rear tyres both front and rear.

Sand Scorcher, Frog, Hornet, Super Champ and Grasshopper wheels are 1.5". Paddla Trak and the Hornet Spike (rear) and Smoothie (front) fit these wheels.

Hence Brat tyres will not fit on Grasshopper wheels.

A set of re-re Buggy Champ wheels and tyres work well on the Grasshopper for mixed terrain running (tarmac, hard packed dirt).

Paddla Trak tyres work best in the sand. Hornet spikes work best on grass or very loose dirt.

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