Noobie T-maxx suspension ?

[alien]

Just got my Tmaxx a few days ago and its sooooo much fun. I have had many electric cars and trucks in the past but nothing as awesome as this truck. I am simply amazed at the power and speed and the smell of the burning nitro! I have gotten an inline fuel filter and am installing a failsafe in a few minutes. Only problem I have had with it so far seems to be the suspension. I don't know for sure that this is my problem but I am assuming it probably is. I read another thread about sagging in the front end when applying the brake and I too seem to have that problem but I just pump the brakes lightly to avoid an end over end flip when that happens. My problem is more with the steering roll overs. It seems I have to be barely creeping to turn without a flip. I know its 4wheel drive and grabs pretty good, and I assumed it was probably because of the asphalt I was driving on. Today i took my truck out to the park and was driving on dirt and grass surfaces with the same problem. I can't turn the thing without flipping it. My question is, before i upgrade shocks or change springs or where the shocks attatch I would like to hear some opinions on what to adjust. I know a little about cars but not much about susspension and how it effects the ride. If I stiffen it up will it help or do I want it a little looser so it will absorb more on the outside of the corner so its not so flip happy. I know a lower center of gravity will probably help but I would imagine setting it to ride lower with my current shocks would also stiffen them up. It seems the susspension is pretty loose at this point as just a click of the throttle can cause the body to rock an inch or two. Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give. And for the record I will be driving on a mix of surfaces, mainly grass and dirt with an occaisional trip on the assphalt.

 

[Cupooterluvr]

The Maxx seems to have this problem. Once you learn more about driving it it'll even out a bit. When I first got mine I know I was flipping it often. Now I'm pretty good about turning without flipping. Remember: you learn by doing, so the more you drive the less you'll flip.

I know that stiffer suspension is better for onroad driving, but you said you'll be driving it on dirt more. You could try lowering the center of gravity like you said and that will help. If you like it that way but find it handles worse in dirt just get lighter shock oil (stock weight is 40 so go with 35 or 30) or lighter springs.

Mine has all the suspension travel it can get, so high CG. I've actually got thicker oil (45 weight).

 

[alien]

Thanks for the advice. I'm sure I will be upgrading the susspension sometime but will probably wait til I break something to do so. The rollovers are so common my friend and I find ourselves yelling wheels please wheels please all the time in reference to it at least landing on its wheels so we don't have to go flip it back over lol.

 

[olds97_lss]

Just learn to slow down, then turn. Don't try to slow down while turning, but get used to the fact that you have to slow down just to turn. If you don't, you will spend a lot of time running over to it to kick it back over.

It's just a nasty side affect of a jacked up MT with soft suspension. Running stiffer shock springs will help, but then you really need to level out your arms so they are parellel with the ground and possibly run heavier oil.

The easy fix is to just slow down prior to attempting to turn.

Had a "show and tell" if you will with a buddy of mine and his revo. He's new and was doing what your doing, constantly rolling it over. Well, he asked me to help tune it and I drove through an entire tank tuning it and not once did I roll it. I was zipping around just as fast and faster than he was. It took a few times for him to see what was going on, but he said to me... Oooohhhh... brakes, then turn. I kind of chuckled and gave the remote back. He got much better after that.

This was a revo 3.3 with LT suspension on it on pavement. So, just goes to show you, not only does the maxx roll over. Even the "racer" revo does the same thing.

 

[Paul11277]

Hi I am new to this and had the same problem you had. The guys telling you to slow down have a point. But i myself filled all my shocks with schumacher racing 80 shock oil. Spot on now all i had to do was back of the gas a little. I find it also help to learn how you t maxx works, you will get a feel for it and just know when its about to flip and learn to counter steer or just brake a little.

But the new shock oil made a great big difference for me. i am sure people will say that all a little OTT but hey it worked for me. I just have 1 of the 8mm spacers on each spring front and back. All my shock are the stock t maxx shocks and springs. I also find if i get it right it will power slide very well since i did this.

 

[olds97_lss]

I blew stock shocks apart on big jumps if I ran much over 40 weight oil... I ran UE supermaxx shocks and only ran 4, but I still only ran 50 weight... 80 does seem really excessive. I'd think it would make the truck bounce all over the place since the truck is a lighter one...

 

[Paul11277]

I do see your point about the tops popping of this has happend to me once or twice but i prefere speeding into and out of corners myself to jumping and while the wheels are off the ground i can't be getting any speed up. There is a nice go kart track near where i live and its always great fun racing my son in his go kart with my t maxx. But with soft shockers he had the beating of me everytime but after i did this its always a good race now and is always won or lost in corners. But rolling my t maxx around the hair pin bend is a thing of the past now. And as you can see from my other posts my t maxx does not have the best brake in the word.

As for the bouncing this really is not a problem i just use stock springs with just enough spacers on the spring to stop the t maxx sagging under its own weight. This way there is still enough give in the shocker to react in the corners. A guy down the kart track said to me fill the shockers with the 80 oil and dont put any springs on them. Then put them on the truck with no springs and if it sags then the oil can't be to heavy because it still needs the spring to counter act the weight of the truck. I also used ptfe tape on the shocker tops once they had popped off a couple of times.

This is only good for a flat track or at least a track where my t maxx wont leave the ground by more than a foot. I can't say i have tested it much more than that high because the BMX track where i used to take my t maxx is still under 8 feet of water from the floods back in the summer. This is how i got in to racing round the go kart track against my son.