Duel Rate Springs Hoax ??????

[FastEddy]

Dual Rate Springs Hoax ??????

I ordered RC Raven Dual Rate springs.
Upon receipt I couldn't see as to how they were any different than the other 6 different sets I have all ready other than wider spaced coils at one end.

I carefully measured and marked the shaft of a shock at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4.

Mounted the spring and did a compression test using a postage scale. Pushing on the top of the shock I got a reading of 2 lbs @ 1/4, 4 lbs @ 1/2, 6 LBS@ 3/4, AND 8 LBS @ full.

What gives?
Am I missing something?

I can see the spring has coils with larger spacing at one end.
Has anyone tested their RC Raven dual rate springs?

 

[El Pirata]

I think someone got taken... That's definately uncool beans.

 

[FastEddy]

I stand corrected on my spelling, Thanks Rob.

I just got off of the phone with RC Raven.
My first thought was they sent me the wrong springs.
The gentleman on the phone, I believe he was the owner carefully walked me through the process of making sure I received the proper springs. He then went on to inform me of the process used in the manufacturing of the springs and the material used.

One thing we found was the chrome springs sent to me were plated and not powder coated. He is sending me another set to test that have been powder coated rather than zinc? plated.

I think we can add RC Raven to the list of companies that actually give a poop about their product and users.

For now, I give RC Raven a AAA+ for customer service and a ??? for product functionality.

I will update this post as more info becomes available.

Originally posted by El Pirata
I think someone got taken... That's definately uncool beans.

I don't believe I got taken.
I do think a bit more research and testing is needed. With the help of RC Raven, good or bad, the truth will be told.

 

[FastEddy]

OK, I'm getting these things figured out.
You will need to follow me on this to make any sense of what I am going to try to explain.

When I measured the resistance of the springs I mounted them on a shock. The shock wide open is 3". I took resistance measurements at different points until the shock was fully compressed. Compressed, the spring length was 2", a fill 1 " of travel. I was getting 2 lbs of resistance per .25" all the way down. This is a constant rate not dual.

This is when I made the post above.

Now I have measured the resistance from wide open 3" to fully compressed 2" not using a shock. A full 2" of compression with different results.

The dual rate kicks in just after the 1" of compression. It goes from 4lbs at 1" to 20lbs at 2". I found the dual rate. At this point I'm thinking OK, what good does that do my shocks only have 1" travel. Being a bit disappointed I decided to give it a rest for a while. :mex:

It hit me like a hillbilly step dad. :trout:

I went back to the workbench and mounted the spring on a shock and this is what I found.

My shocks have threaded body's to adjust the ride height. I set it at .25" from top and re-measured. Now I have starting resistance at 4lbs ending at 9lbs, A full 1 lb difference at full compression.
Next I went to .5 inches of ride hight adjustment. 5lbs to 11lbs. At .75" of adjustment 7lbs to 13lbs, and at 1" of adjustment 9lbs to 15lbs.

I then tried this on a stock Traxxas spring. I got a "small" increase of resistance after .75" of ride hight adjustment.

Is the RC Raven a dual rate spring?
Not within the real world testing parameters I used.

***HOWEVER***

They should be named RC Raven "Adjustable Rate" Springs.
It should prove interesting at the least putting them to the test on the track. I see the advantages to being able to change the spring rates without having to remove all the shocks and replace the springs. What I have concerns about is what will the ride hight be when I find the proper spring rate.

 

[HumboldtBlazer]

so thats what you have been doing all day, playing with your mail scale.

I like my dual rates to be seperate pieces like GS does. It just makes more sense to me but I use Hillbilly logic so take it with a grain..........

 

[militarymaxx]

Get your slide-rule out, you might need it for the link below. More shock/spring rate stuff. Me........I'll wait and ask you guys later what works best.

http://www.swayaway.com/Suspension Worksheet.htm#

 

[FastEddy]

Numbers is numbers....
Thats a great site.
I'm more of a hands on kind of guy.
I had enough of slide rulers in school. Once I figured out numbers work well in the design process but have little meaning in real world application, I went hands on.

By the time someone decides what springs to use on their RC using a calculator then installs them to find out they don't work as well as the should, goes back re-calculates and tries again, most hands on guys would have been dialed in, raced, and on their 3rd beer.