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Sorry to steal your thread pearce_jj, have a little question towards the 3rd shock mount too.

Am planning to do this mod for a while now, just did not really have the time. But i was thinking, would it have any advantage (or disadvantage) to have two shocks mounted instead of just the one in the middle. I can imagine it making the VLB even a bit more stable when it comes to wheelies, but possibly less stable in corners?

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Sorry to steal your thread pearce_jj, have a little question towards the 3rd shock mount too.

Am planning to do this mod for a while now, just did not really have the time. But i was thinking, would it have any advantage (or disadvantage) to have two shocks mounted instead of just the one in the middle. I can imagine it making the VLB even a bit more stable when it comes to wheelies, but possibly less stable in corners?

My mechanical sense tells me a single central shock with twice the spring and oil rate would be strictly equivalent to two shocks at each end.

Paul

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Sorry to steal your thread pearce_jj, have a little question towards the 3rd shock mount too.

Am planning to do this mod for a while now, just did not really have the time. But i was thinking, would it have any advantage (or disadvantage) to have two shocks mounted instead of just the one in the middle. I can imagine it making the VLB even a bit more stable when it comes to wheelies, but possibly less stable in corners?

It wont really change anything apart from add more weight to the truck :)

All the third shock does is replace the 2 small springs that are supposed to keep the floating axle in place. As long as the spring is hard enough, it stops the axle banging in the mounts under acceleration making wheelies better, as no power is wasted wobbling the axle around. Mounting a single shock in the middle means it doesn't affect the articulation of the rear suspension. You can control the body roll of the truck by adding oil shocks all round. :)

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Hello,

I looked very closely at adding a pair of shocks, but basically they couldn't be very far apart because of the need to cut the plastic rear axle mounting to get at the steel centre rod without (in my view) seriously weakening the ends of the plastic. I also thought that a single proper shock would be such a huge improvement in rigidity over those entirely pointless axle springs that the double shock simply wasn't worth the bother.

In the end I settled for a very short shock with one-hole damper and adjusted the travel to be a little less than the length of the slots. Then my shock is mounted so that the axle at rest is supported by the shock, not the slots, and won't quite reach to the top of the slot. Probably only a couple of mm mind. I did this because much of the suspention travel depends on a rotational movement of the whole gearbox assembly, relative to the chasis, so the theory was that it would be free to rotate a bit without banging on the ends of those slots even at the extremes. Making the damper exactly central is important I guess.

Since I didn't want to go with oil shocks elsewhere I also cut ~2mm 'washers' from the left over pipe that limits the stock shock travel and put these on the top of the shock rods, cushioning the top of the damper rods against the chasis at the expense of a tiny bit of travel. That cut down the knocking a bit.

Well anyway (if you're still reading!) it actually works superbly. On a slight incline from standing the wheelies are totally controllable and seriously long, but conversly can go full throttle out of a corner without the wheels lifting. Because of the proper spring, when not accelerating the whole gearbox is sitting reasonably solidly which gets rid of much of that awful knocking sound.

The mod also seems to have improved the loose surface drifting, although that might just be my driving improving after a 15 year break! Only thing to have broken post-mod is yet another aerial tube - hopefully will go for a bit with no more repairs now!

Cheers

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Hi all,

I'm thinking about two little shocks instead the axle springs and a mono shock instead of two rear shocks.

What do you think about?

Cheers

Max

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Hi all,

I'm thinking about two little shocks instead the axle springs and a mono shock instead of two rear shocks.

What do you think about?

Cheers

Max

That would work for going slow and having good suspension articulation. The axle would pivot side to side very easily as the mono shock wouldn't be doing much apart from keeping the ride height up at the back.

But for going fast and doing wheelies i think it would make the truck very unstable :blink:

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I like your LB's color. What is it, may I ask?

Hello, my LB is Peugoet Mistral Blue, or something like that - laquered metalic on a plastic primer.

The shock is very short, actually it is one from the front of a DF02 set. A longer shock would also fit, bolted to the chasis under the MSC instead of behind the received.

Cheers!

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Hello James,

Nice LB there.

Where did you get your alloy body mounts? I remember wiping out a few sets when it was new!

Thanks. :blink:

Hi,

Thanks for the comments!

The mounts were machined up by my uncle, I can't take the credit for them myself. He also made some alloy front damper parts (the bits that cup the spring at the lower mounting point). And, they are superb!

If you're getting them machined up I would suggest stainless though, as the front ones in particular are quite worn down where it's been on it's side one time too many.

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Hi,

Thanks for the comments!

The mounts were machined up by my uncle, I can't take the credit for them myself. He also made some alloy front damper parts (the bits that cup the spring at the lower mounting point). And, they are superb!

If you're getting them machined up I would suggest stainless though, as the front ones in particular are quite worn down where it's been on it's side one time too many.

What motor and ESC are tucked in there RM?

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this 3rd shock thing, any reason why this wouldnt work on the hornet too?

There may not be space between the chassis and the gearbox of the Hornet, unless you use a really skinny shock. In theory, it would work, but I doubt there's room.

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Right - I have been on an upgrade frenzy on my 'box and want to know what else I can do!

Thanks to you lot it went from an original (not re-re) box with CVAs and lots of mud to..

Rebuilt CVAs with medium oil and spacers in the front shocks to reduce front camber

TEU101-BK

Tamiya 23t Sport Tuned motor

3rd rear shock mod with a DF-02 front shock

Chassis bracing on front shock towers and rear shock top mounts to chassis

Small Tonka toy wheels adapted to make a better wheelie bar

Tamiya light kit (how cool are they!)

I really enjoy toying with my box - what else can I do to it? I have read a few threads on improving steering - anyone got any proven ideas?

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Small Tonka Toy wheels! ;)

getuserimageasptidimg2088_050520071.jpg

You could add foam inserts, i found they help handling quite a bit.

Cable tie up the front wishbones to remove any play in the suspension and reposition the rear shocks to angle outwards for better rear suspension see here

Hows about a faster motor? :)

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Cool - thanks for the tips - I had the Sport Tuned motor with a Hornet pinion and it was just stupid fast and wouldnt wheelie ;) Im sure I have read somewhere that you have a 19t in yours - does it still wheelie ok?

Will take some pics of my wheelie bar - my wheels are smaller than yours.

Will try cable tying the wishbones tonight!

The muppet who owned the car before me has glued the tyres on the rims and glued one rear one the wrong way round :) Will get some new ones someday - what foam inserts did you use?

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Here are my Tonka wheels ;)

wheeliebar.jpg

Edit: Just zip-tied the front suspension arms - see what you mean, it definitely makes the front more taught. Now going out to test it - with the light kit even the dark cant stop Tamiya time! :)

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A Kimbrough servo saver drops right in in place of the stock one, and takes most of the play out of the steering. Lasts longer, too.

Though I've noticed on mine that the area on the chassis where the servo mounts is starting to look like it might crack. I'm going to work on a reinforcing plate when I have time.

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Rear tyres need to be glued, the wheels skid on the rims otherwise after a bit of use and this obviously takes the kick out the motor, stopping it from wheelying.

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Just been out (its pitch dark here in the UK) and with the light kit its totally usable at night! (Well on my housing estate it is!)

I am still grinning like a cheshire cat - with the 23t motor and all the suspension mods it wheelies forever! It also corners(ish) too with the lowered front suspension!

Totally fell in love with it all over again - what a hoot! :)

Cheers for the tip on the servo saver Mark! ;)

Edit: What about a Yokomo Pro-Stock2 13t-Double with an Mtroniks RV11 speed control? Enough power do you think?

Edit2: Now angled rear shocks and fitted stiffer springs to front shocks and lifted body slightly to stop body rubbing after landing wheelies....

wheeliebarshocks.jpg

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The mods look great!!! :P

Yes I've got a 19 turn motor in mine, with the stock 10 tooth pinion gear. Its fast enough to look crazy while racing along but has enough torque to wheelie from about quarter throttle - its cool to have the truck rolling and then have the power to wheelie it :P

A 13 turn motor would be slightly insane ;) but the gearbox will handle it. It probably won't have enough torque for easy wheelies but once it's going it would be hard to stop! I'd say a 15 turn would be about the limit before you end up with a totally uncontrollable truck.

I've got Thunder Tiger 2.2 size foam inserts in mine. But most foam inserts at 2.2 size should work, apart from huge ones like proline moab inserts. The thunder tiger ones are designed for monster beetle size wheels, but are still fine for the lunchbox size ones.

Tonka wheels work perfect don't they :D

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I don't understand the repositioning of the rear shocks. Surely moving them outwards decreases the effective stroke length, since when rotating about the centre they are now further outwards?

I'm not criticising btw - just keen to understand what's going on!

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I am guessing its because it allows the shock to move more directly to the angle of the suspension lean rather than forcing against it when the shocks are in the straight position - actually if that makes any sense you are doing well! ;)

Just looking at motors - Venom Fireballs look good - such a huge range of turns though! Tempted to go with a 17 and if its too much put it in a KBF or Bush Devil...

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