Fox - to sway or not to sway

[Saito2]

In the interest of better, tighter cornering, should a sway bar be used on the front of a Fox/Nova Fox? I've read two theories on the subject here at Tamiyaclub. One is that the Fox needs a front sway bar and should have come from the factory with one, instead of it being an option part. The other is that the sway actually takes AWAY from the Fox's steering ability and was NOT used by good Fox racers back in the day. So which is it?  In the US the Fox was few and far between on tracks since the RC10 was so prevalent here, but I read that it was more common on tracks in other countries where the RC10 was more pricey. 

[markbt73]

Well, I never ran it without one, but the handling seemed pretty neutral to me with it. I would worry that eliminating it would make the front end too soggy. It's sprung really softly at both ends, and letting it roll might let it lean over and scrape in hard turns.

Easy enough to experiment with: just pop the link off one side to temporarily disable the sway bar...

[Running Fox]

41 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

Well, I never ran it without one, but the handling seemed pretty neutral to me with it. I would worry that eliminating it would make the front end too soggy. It's sprung really softly at both ends, and letting it roll might let it lean over and scrape in hard turns.

Easy enough to experiment with: just pop the link off one side to temporarily disable the sway bar...

Now that might be an interesting 2018 R(esear)C(h)project: the Fox/Novafox antirollbar experiment.
But I'll have tho build that Novafox+sway bar first, as my Fox has none

[Juggular]

Cornering without it, outer suspension gets pushed up, and inner wheel pushes down.  Making it under-steer, I should think (or "too soggy," as Mark said).  

Though I think the original sway-bar was a bit too stiff, my vote goes to "should have come with it."  Unless, of course, the experiment shows otherwise....

 

[Saito2]

I agree an empirical test of no sway bar vs vintage vs Novafox bar would be useful. Thanks to Mark, I now have 3 Foxes, my original retired one I bought new in the 80's, my Nova Fox and a vintage runner (I traded with Mark to acquire). The plan is to gently run the vintage runner and go about hopping up the Novafox in a vintage fashion to make it comparable to my RC10 Classic. I'm debating on the setup to use for the Novafox for best performance. The monoshock will stay as its iconic to the Fox's sleek look. I may try to replicate the old RC Car Action "Operation Sly Fox" buggy. I don't know yet.