How to make it handle!

[lykan]

Ok, I have the X-cellerator stadium truck, I'm sure their are settings to make it handle better. Shocks were set with no spriong tensions from the factory, I was bottoming out, I stiffened them up. Thats all I have done

it doesn't turn on the pavement at anything over 15 mph, it pushes instead of turning. long wide slow turns=curb shots

Off road, its inpossible to handle, when its not doing a wheelie and walking from tire to tire, the ass is bouncing. So much theirs no controll

I see these other stadium trucks shoot down a straight at 30-50 MPH, they take bumps like they are not there, minimal correction from the driver keeps them in line. When they break, they slow down smooth and turn well. After jumps if they land flat, they stay on the ground and dont loose control

ideas suggestion adivce?
Shock mount posistions toe in/out
spring tension etc.

If i loose the sarpings up, it bottoms out. If get them for a decent ride height, it bounce all over da damned place

Pictures help!

 

[DirtRules]

just ask the hot shots at your track for help, most of the times they are more than willing to help.

 

[lykan]

I dont have a local track ;( If I ever run into some nitro users here in Yakima, ill be sure to ask em what I need to do

 

[SkyMaxx]

For on road racing, you need to have a lighter shock set up. That means lighter weight oil/silicone in the shock and weaker springs. The other thing you can do to help in turns is adjust the camber of the front wheels (if your truck has adjustable camber). What you want to do is adjust the camber so that the tires when straight kind of form a slight V shape (in other words when the steering is set to straight, the tires lean away from the truck a little in the vertical plane). This camber trick is used by full sized racers on flat tracks with lots of turns. The tendancy of the tires is to roll off the pavement when they are in a turn. The camber forces more surface of the tread to maintain contact in the turn.

The other thing that would help is a good set of onroad tires. I do not know what you are running, but a street tire helps immensely.

Along with the camber trick, there are some toe-in tricks that can help.

On the offroad side of things...well, that is a different story all together.

 

[lykan]

Thnks for the tios,. the truckj is fully adjustable, even the rear alignment, and camber/toe.

I am really interested in a set of paddle tires for the snow )

Off road is about all i will see

 

[nl2377]

Originally posted by SkyMaxx
What you want to do is adjust the camber so that the tires when straight kind of form a slight V shape (in other words when the steering is set to straight, the tires lean away from the truck a little in the vertical plane). This camber trick is used by full sized racers on flat tracks with lots of turns. The tendancy of the tires is to roll off the pavement when they are in a turn. The camber

from my knoledge, generally better handling is aquired from negitive camber... although you're expenation seems to infer positive camber... i may be wrong on this one but I'm pretty sure that you should have negitive... as in the top of the tires point in towards the car... here is my lil artistic drawing...

/===\

where the "/" "\" are the tires and the "===" is the chassis (front or rear veiw)

 

[lykan]

Ok so top of the tire -- in towards buggy frame,

bottom of the tire -- out as in away from the frame?

BTW guys.. I went to the other LHS (will never go back to the first one). Anyhow I checked out all their nitro rigs, as they were assembled for display.

This XTM X-cellerator seems to have all the features of the more expensive ones, without the big price tag. Looking at some of the really expensive ones, they don't have some of the options this one does.

It has adjustable tie rods(alignment), adjustable camber. Aluminum shocks(threaded and re fillable) with the shock boots. lots of shock mounting spots.
A good slipper clutch, a nice ball diff, decent tires. All ball bearings for wheels.

The only thing I see on it made weak are the things that save you from breaking the expensive ones. (like body posts)

Almost all the parts are compatible with Losi, or taxxas parts (incuding 2.2 wheels and tires) I have yet to break something I couldn't find at the LHS

The engine is easy to tune (I'm a newbeee when it comes to nitro engines) XTM engines i have heard are replacments from traxxas ones.

I'm just amazed that out the door, ready to run glow plugs/bateries etc was about $300 including fuel.

It was $260 out of the box. That wasn't even internet price, it was local.

BTW their customer support is kick arse, they have user forums that are monitord and answered daily by the guys who make them. If you complain on the forum of a weak part or a lemon part, they send you a new one. I'm just all over impressd with the quality and support.

I was kind of worried at first, but after going to the LHS and having hands on with the durastuff, traxxas , losi and AE,HPI and others. I realize this rig is really built well. compared to a lot of others that you have to pay $400+, and then go buy hops ups.. ick!

So for $260, I think it was a steal..

now that I am done lol i realized i am being a bit long winded lol.. thanks for reading this Long A** post heheh.

And now back to making it handle lol.

 

[SkyMaxx]

Originally posted by nl2377



from my knoledge, generally better handling is aquired from negitive camber... although you're expenation seems to infer positive camber... i may be wrong on this one but I'm pretty sure that you should have negitive... as in the top of the tires point in towards the car... here is my lil artistic drawing...

/===\

where the "/" "\" are the tires and the "===" is the chassis (front or rear veiw)

That might be true for straight running, but in turns tires tend to roll under. So positive camber for turns is actually better. And yes I mean a set up like \===/. I don't mean grossly so, but I have seen some that really run it up.

The negative camber will allow the tire to roll under and then you run on the rim. With positive camber in the turn, the tire leans towards negative camber by design and the positive setting keeps more rubber on the road.

This set up is designed for circle tracks or windy tracks with flat turns...no banked turns.

Again, this set up is for turns.

 

[nl2377]

http://www.hotrod.com/howto/50358/

http://www.2002faq.com/suspension_steering/camber.html

jus a couple to prove my statement...

 

[lykan]

Sky maxx, are you talking about pavement, and hard foam tires?

Or pavement and soft rubber with inserts?

Or dirt with of road tires?

the tires I have are the stock step block, pin tiers, and the front are ribbed. I think they are made from a groomed track

thanks for all your help guys

 

[SkyMaxx]

First off nl2377, I never said you were wrong...so you have nothing to prove. I am familiar with the benefits of camber. My input was based on some information I have from flat track racers that work with round track and figure eight racing. It was not based on anything with banked turns.

Second, after your reply...I gave those guys a call to verify that I had it correct. They told me I was right, but for the RC scale and for most 1:1 applications that negative camber is more correct for adjusting handling. Why? Very few people actually spend time racing circles or figure eights. The other side of it was that the scale of the RC pretty much makes this OBE.

SO...where to go. I, now, have to stand with nl2377 and say that go with the negative camber. If you ever want to race flat tracks in circles or figure eight racing...full sized style, then think differently. For now...negative camber it is (/===\) See you out there.

 

[Maxxcrazy88]

how bad was it bottoming out???? they are supposed to bottom out after jumping etc. so I would try it without all the shock spacers and see how it handles after that, I know on my maxx after I stiffenened the springs too much it rolled over easily and generally handled like crap, so I took off the spacers and it's been fine ever since...

 

[lykan]

Well Ill try ome negative camber (thanks for your input guys

And I will also try to loosen up the springs. There is no spacers, they are threaded shocks.

I'll get it setup today and run it, we'll see how goes. I will report my findings

 

[DirtRules]

try adjusting the slipper some and see if that helps. and when you was at your LHS looking at other trucks like ae or losi are sure those wouldnt the RTR models? cause the factory versions such as the drake edition and FTGT are much much better than any thing out there! just look at the race results and see what everyone that makes the a-main runs

 

[lykan]

I didn't know there was much of a difference between the RTR version of say... a AE rc10, and the rtr version of the same truck.

Only difference I thought was the motor and the radio gear, because it was user installed, but I'm a :n00bie: lol

Anyhow, for $260 out the door I think it is definetaly worth a look, if you want to get into a nitro rig at a decent price, or if you want to race but don't have the money to go with the big names.

Heres a review, take a close look, if you haven't already.

R/C car action review



What I really wish is that the nitro scene here was a bit more organized, their are tons of nitro users, it's just they ALL use their back yards, no races, no tracks, and no where to learn how to tune, the carb and suspension ;( It would also be ni ce to tbe ablke to trade misc parts/tools layen around the house

 

[newnitrofan]

lykan that really depends on what part of Washington you are in honestly. I am in south west Washingotn and there are toatally races here. Not like al the time or anything but there are races here and stuff. If yo uare in my neck of the woods than check out www.amainraceway.com that is where I go to the track. Nitro indoors rules.

 

[lykan]

I'm from yakima I guess central/eastern washington. I wonder if their are any get togethers near here.. good to hear from somone in my own state!

 

[NJRC]

when you adjust camber, do you only adjust the front wheels or do you do all four wheels in a negative degree for on road racing??
I am looking at the best possible way to try and control my back end from sliding around turns.

 

[Rolex]

I guess you were wandering in the archives since this thread is from January.
From anything I've seen, it's zero toe-in, front, and 1 degree toe-in, rear. That keeps it tracking. From what someone else told me, who runs on-road cars, negative camber rear only. Apparently it keeps the steering solid and allows for a controlled drift. Just like any other setup, you'll probably get different opinions to match different driving styles.

 

[NJRC]

yeah I was wandering........it's better to search first than ask something that may have been asked before.
Thanks for the answer, I will try different things.
I assume odd tire wear will be happening more compared to having a zero degree camber all around?