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Restoration Project - Super Hornet - Wheels are angled inwards?

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I have been progressing through my super hornet restoration project and have posted this in my showroom, however I noticed something that does not really look right. The front wheels are angled inwards. Is this normal? or are the swing arms bend?. I checked the shocks to see if they were raising the arms but it wasn't that. The arms are new, therefore I would like to hear if members have come across this before.

Ps: I am also going to sell off the remaining parts in one batch i.e 3 chassis's, two damaged bodies, 2 gear box sets and alot of spares. Anyone doing a similiar project may be interested. I originally purchased the lot off the bay and will place what is left back on their for a cheap price. Anyone interested let me know and I will send an email description of everything. It is vintage and has been well used. Cheers Jeffro.

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The front suspension is as simple as it gets with only a single lower wishbone. The only parts that can affect the camber of the front wheels (top of wheel inboard of the bottom) are the wheel axle/upright (part SA4), the length of the lower wishbones and the length of the shocks. Given the SA4 part is mounted at 90' to the lower wishbone, and you say you have new correct wishbones, then it can only be the overall length of the shock from upper to lower mount points thats at fault. Either you have incorrect ( too short) brackets holding the shock or the shocks are too short themselves.

having now looked at the pics of your project against the images of my old Grasshopper 2 and new built Rising Fighter i'd say the top line of the front arm is roughly parallel to the ground, whereas you have yours set currently with the arms angled upward at the wheel end (again suggesting the shocks are ca 10mm too short.)    If i am correct then i'd imagine you have had to shorten the steering rods compared to the manual guidance to keep the wheels pointing roughly forward.

superhorn.jpg

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Front wheels should have a little "toe in" to help with straight line running. If you can post up a pic we'll be able to tell if it's about right. If there is a problem it's unlikely to be the swing arms and more likely to be that the steering rods are a little too long. Have you screwed the rod ends into the correct length? if you're using the manual in the rebuild it'll have the correct lengths in there. If not you should be able to find the manual in the reference section on the main Tamiya club site.

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Doesn't look so much "toe-in" as opposed to negative camber, which I think is normal. The -ve camber on yours seems to be quite pronounced and from what I can see in the image (I'm a newbie, so I can only say what I see) is that the part holding the front knuckles seem to be pointing "up" and are not entirely as straight as the main part of the arm... Just a couple of lines from a 'Paint' edit shows what I mean...

negativecamber.jpg

If these are the correct parts then I would agree with Percymon that lengthening the shocks might reduce the camber to a more suitable level.

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Yup, shocks are too short. Rebuild and lengthen them and you're good to go.

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Super Hornet rebuidls appearing everywhere!

If you cant lengthen your shocks, try a little cheat I am using, insert a tamiya plastic bush between the 'U' shape shock mount bracket and the chassis mounting arm. Worked ok for me, and I will simply paint it black when cleaning everything up!

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G'day all,

Thanks for the comments/advice. After undertaking the process of elimination you are correct in that the shocks are to short. I have ordered a new set off the bay. Apologises for not inserting a photo initially. I couldn't get a photo to insert (Not sure how to make this work). I'll post photo's of the project as it progresses. Cheers Jeffro.

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on my semi trail hornet , the front suspension sagged like crazy because of the weight . even really heavy springs didnt help so i heated and bent the middle of the bottom arm up to make it bow slightly . this countered the whacky chamber ..

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