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Clodbusterfan

What shock springs for Monster Beetle?

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My rear shocks are fine on my Monster Beetle. But my front shocks stay down and wont come back up... Do I need some stronger shock springs to help this. Not sure what shock springs would work could someone post a link please. Thank you guys for the help!

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I found that if you correct for bump-steer, the shocks work better. Do you have the original steering knuckles???

Terry

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Is it a re-release Monster Beetle? If so, it shouldn't need stiffer springs. The MB is already light in the front and the dampers do very little compressing as is. In stock form they seem to glide over bumps rather than absorbing them. 

Some things to check:

Remove the shocks. Do they extend properly if they are compressed by hand off the car? If not, they are binding or sticking and the issue is in the shock. 

If the shocks respond, how does the suspension move without them installed? Do the front arms move freely? If the BA25 radius arm is drawn up too tight it will cause a bind. Try loosening them if this is the case.

I find the stock MB shocks to be over-damped out of the box in the front. Unfortunately the pistons are fixed so they can't be swapped out. You can try lighter oil or modify the steel piston heads. BTW, if you compress the suspension by hand, it shouldn't necessarily spring back up to full extension (under the weight of the car) but rather somewhere in the middle of the shock travel. If the ride height is too low (not really a concern on the MB) adding spring clips will raise things up (but not alter the spring rate).

Hope some of this helps.

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The springS should be adequate. But what is happening is that the shocks are having to fight against the traction of the tires as the tires “toe-in” while the shocks are being compressed, ie “bump steer”. By correcting for this, the shocks won’t fight the tires and should go back up normally.

Terry

 

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On 7/13/2020 at 8:21 PM, Saito2 said:

Is it a re-release Monster Beetle? If so, it shouldn't need stiffer springs. The MB is already light in the front and the dampers do very little compressing as is. In stock form they seem to glide over bumps rather than absorbing them. 

Some things to check:

Remove the shocks. Do they extend properly if they are compressed by hand off the car? If not, they are binding or sticking and the issue is in the shock. 

If the shocks respond, how does the suspension move without them installed? Do the front arms move freely? If the BA25 radius arm is drawn up too tight it will cause a bind. Try loosening them if this is the case.

I find the stock MB shocks to be over-damped out of the box in the front. Unfortunately the pistons are fixed so they can't be swapped out. You can try lighter oil or modify the steel piston heads. BTW, if you compress the suspension by hand, it shouldn't necessarily spring back up to full extension (under the weight of the car) but rather somewhere in the middle of the shock travel. If the ride height is too low (not really a concern on the MB) adding spring clips will raise things up (but not alter the spring rate).

Hope some of this helps.

How does this not affect spring rate?  It certainly makes my dampers stiffer the more spacers I add.  Although I often miss something 😂

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Aside from altering ride height, adding spacers or moving spring collars only preloads  the spring. While it does feel "stiffer",  the only way to actually change spring rate on linear rate springs, is to swap out the springs (or cut them).

In full size cars it commonly goes like this: a 250 lb spring will compress 1 inch when 250 lbs is placed on it. Add another 250 lb (for a total of 500 lbs) and the spring will compress another inch. The actual spring rate never changes as long as its a linear rate spring.

There is a phenomenon called rate creep wherein the spring rate does change but this usually only occurs when the coil spring nears coil bind (spring completely collapsed) which doesn't really occur in off road RC cars. 

BTW, cutting coils off of springs will shorten extended length and consequently lower the vehicle but also makes the spring stiffer. A spring, after all is nothing more than a torsion bar that has been wound into a coil. Shorten its length and the spring rate goes up. If two coil springs are wound from the same gauge wire, but one is taller (longer, i.e. more wire), the longer one will have a softer spring rate.

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20 hours ago, slimleeroy said:

How does this not affect spring rate?  It certainly makes my dampers stiffer the more spacers I add.  Although I often miss something 😂

It is stiffer but not because the spring rate has changed. It's stiffer because the pre-load is having the same effect as more weight would.

The more the spring is compressed, the more force the next increment requires. It's also a factor that with RC shocks, you can usually still achieve full compression even with pre-load added whereas with some vehicles, adding too much means the springs will be completely collapsed before full suspension movement.

Adding preload increases the amount of load needed to make the spring move so it would raise the ride height and get rid of the sagging but it would also make the suspension less responsive to small variations in the terrain.

A spring with a higher rate would also fix your sag but still give some responsiveness and allow a little body roll.

In all honesty though, I'm not sure if either would be necessary. I know with my Blackfoot, the front suspension barely works when on the move even though you can push it down by hand easily. I think the weight is biased to the rear a lot, especially under throttle.

Have you actually looked at how it behaves when the car is in action?

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