Mad Bull suspension upgrades?

[Losi XXT-CR 147]

I've always wanted a Mad Bull, simply love the styling of it and in many ways has the recipe for a great buggy basher. Thanks to another member on here posting about 20% discounts at Euro car parts, I have at long last ordered one!!! 

However, I'm fully aware the front suspension is somewhat crude, and you can see in YouTube vids that it does somewhat let the vehicle down. Does anyone offer any upgrades to improve it at all? I don't recall anything AMPRO but haven't looked for a while.

I need to get some bearings ordered, anything else I should be considering?

[nowinaminute 2815]

There's double link conversion on thingiverse which I tried and it worked well but had some design flaws and it broke after a few runs. 

As you can see, it integrates nicely with no alterations:

But after a few runs I suffered this breakage:

To be fair, I was hammering it ruthlessly at the time so it could have been a one-off but it definitely broke at what I already suspected would be the weakest part, an area where there just isn't much material holding the thing together. I haven't written it off altogether and I do have another set that I will try out at the beach at some point but I think the design definitely has a weakness in that one area. If I only had a brain I would try and beef the design up but I'm useless with 3d software.

If you search these forums, there's a thread somewhere and a few people tried different approaches and there was one guy who managed to do it with a few Tamiya parts that seemed to work well and is probably the toughest solution.

In all honesty though, I dont think the stock setup is all that bad really, it at least articulates well and tries to follow the terrain. It might have crazy camber changes but I don't think it really hurts it in the typical usage scenario. The rear end is the weak link really because although Tamiya made a lot of changes with the DT01 to try and make the rear end work, it still locks up under throttle just like the Grasshopper/Hornet etc.

I would suggest the DT03 CVA kit as a first step just to settle the ride a little then maybe look at the double wishbone type front end.

Edit: This was the conversion using Tamiya parts that stood out to me as simple but effective:

 

[Losi XXT-CR 147]

Thanks for the detailed reply. A bit of a shame that setup broke, I had stumbled across it via Google. I'm not generally all that hard on my cars, but would likely end up running a hottish setup in it, so maybe that isn't the answer.

Any recommendations on a good price for the CVA kit and how would you rate it vs something like this:

https://www.jk-rc.co.uk/tamiya-mad-bull/tamiya-mad-bull-aluminium-upgrade-oil-damper-shock-set-by-absima-1-p

 

[TwistedxSlayer 1290]

The madbull going all over the place is part of the fun! CVA Oil shocks and shrink wrap on the steering link rod and your away.

[Baddon 860]

3 hours ago, TwistedxSlayer said:

The madbull going all over the place is part of the fun! CVA Oil shocks and shrink wrap on the steering link rod and your away.

My sons steering link kept slipping no mater what I did, so the above is the solution, thanks. We just changed to a Traxxas Stampede......bit more expensive but WAYYYYYY more fun as well.

[Frog Jumper 3662]

5 hours ago, Baddon said:

Traxxas Stampede......bit more expensive but WAYYYYYY more fun as well.

[Losi XXT-CR 147]

Just noticed there is a Stampede 4x4 kit. Interesting....

[Baddon 860]

8 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

lol, I am the Badd one.

The ladies of the house still drive Tamiya (Madbull and WT-01), while the boys have all moved to the dark side of Traxxas with Stampede's