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Stiff suspension

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andydrew39219

andydrew39219

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North Haven, Maine
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  1. Bashing
The suspension on my tmaxx is pretty darn stiff. The problem is, I bought it used. I cannot tell what shocks are on my maxx or what has been done to them. They are aluminum bodied, I can tell you that.

Is it normally so stiff? I can toss it 6-7 feet in the air and it will compress the suspension some and then bounce off the ground a couple inches. Maybe it is set up for jumps? What kind of advantage and disadvantage do I get compared to having less stiff suspension.

All I have to compare the suspension to is my pede, which is a lot less stiff.
 
with a really stiff suspension its gonna slide around a lot prob not handle as well I've never seen a suspension that stiff b4 myself but i just bash i never race or anything. Myself i like to have a fairly stiff suspension in the back to keep the front tire down when turning. and a soft in front to take bumps
 
Yeah, I'll play with it. I have only driven the maxx around a couple times because of weather and I ran out of fuel. If I feel I want it looser remove a couple of shocks to see if it handles better.

For all I know the shocks are junk I bought the maxx used. They seem fine, they compress all the way in and spring back out just like normal. Just stiff.
 
The shocks where prob rebuilt to be stiff

---------- Post added at 11:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 AM ----------

If you play with it and you still dont like it you can always rebuild the shocks with a diff weight oil to make them softer not sure on a good weight tho some others on here could help you out on that one
 
Either have really stiff springs and or heavy weight oil in them. You can get different spring rates and less weight oils to play with. Usually you want the rear a tad stiffer than front but all around you want it to compress accordingly to keep all tires on ground for best handling in corners and stiff enough they dont bottom out totally when landing jumps. But never so stiff it bounces on rebound.
 
If you say the shocks compress and recoil fine off the turck but they are hard on the truck maybe you should look at the A arm pins or the steering knuckles, mayde its binding causing the truck to appear to have a tight suspension. If thats not the problem, who ever filled the shocks could have over filled them.
 
nikko508 said:
If you say the shocks compress and recoil fine off the turck but they are hard on the truck maybe you should look at the A arm pins or the steering knuckles, mayde its binding causing the truck to appear to have a tight suspension. If thats not the problem, who ever filled the shocks could have over filled them.
Click to expand...

+1 regarding what nikko has said,....
There's 4 things you need to know....
#1.the most obvious is the spring tension adjustment,either done with the clip in spacers or a threaded adjuster!this is common sense and you should know this already!
#2.the spring itself could be a stiffer spring,after time one can tell that a spring is "heavy duty " just by looking at it!
#3.is the shock oil,like said above thicker oil will slow rebound,so thinner oil would?............
#4 shock pistons,...control the flow of oil through the shock,sort of does the same thing that different oil viscosities does but in the opposite way!....so with that being said you should check one thing at a time,
#1 unmount the shocks,then" like said above" check for binding, swingarms should swing freely up and down,
#2 if all is good then check all shocks for rebound they should all work the same,note how much force it takes to compress with just two fingers,tell us how quikly you can cycle the shock in your fingers please,after this process we can determine how to help you,but first thing is to rule out any binding,...............as an example
.............your control arms could all swing freely,and two of the shocks that you took off could work perfect,but one or two other shocks might have some issues causing problems for the whole truck that would otherwise go overlooked!also just a couple upper mounting screws could be pinching the shock,so like I said just take your time and really check one thing at a time!
 
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Nothing is binding, it is definitely the suspension. I took the 2 front ones off and played with them for a minute. They are just difficult to compress. I'm willing to bet the guy put some heavy weight oil in them or got heavy duty springs.

There are no clip spacers or a threaded adjustment. I can't really tell if it's a heavy duty spring, I don't know much about suspension. It must be a heavier oil, it rebounds but kinda sluggishly.

Thanks everyone for the help. I think at some point, when I feel like spending a little more $$ on this rig I'll just get a new set. That way I know what kind of shock, spring and oil it has.
 
You can drain and refill the shocks for about 6 bucks. You can buy new springs for about 15bucks, maybe less, and fix the problem your self, and learn in the process.
 
nikko508 said:
You can drain and refill the shocks for about 6 bucks. You can buy new springs for about 15bucks, maybe less, and fix the problem your self, and learn in the process.
Click to expand...

I thought about it but it would be a lot of trial and error. Since I don't know what weight oil is in the shocks now I'm not real sure where to start as far as weight. I also don't know what length springs to get. But I think changing the oil would be first. Not to mention I have never taken apart a shock before. I'm sure I could learn from videos and such.

What weight oil do you guys think I should try out?
 
I don't mean to double post, but I have an update on this situation. And I need more opinions.

Yesterday I finally got a good chance to bash the maxx (after getting the tune really good a couple days ago.) The parking lot that I go to was nice and dry and there wasn't many vehicles either. It is very sandy however, which makes it fun. I was doing lots of high speed passes, big high speed turns, ect. Basically pretending that I'm driving around on a course. And you know what, the maxx handles awesome. So far I have not been able to roll it. and it appears that on high speed turns, the front wheel isn't lifting, which I would assume is because of the stiff suspension.

So I'm conflicted now. I almost think that the stiff suspension is working out really well right now with the .15 pro. but I also think once I put the 2.5R in there, hopefully it till toss it around like a ragdoll more. And at that point I should loosen the suspension up.

Also, take in mind this is all pavement driving, but normally in the summer I have a golf course to bash at. So maybe, no matter what I should go lighter just cause of bumps and stuff in fields.

What do you guys think?
 
The stiffer the suspension the less of it you have. It's easier to lift the front wheels if it's tight, the softer you have the more it will absorb the load, it will squat before it lifts. Also, the softer it is, the more body roll you have, in that case it would flip easier, the stiffer the suspension the more it will slide on turns. You have to find that perfect medium that works best for you and what you are doing with the truck.
 
That's pretty much all I needed to hear. The rear end certainly does not squat when I take off, but I also cannot do a wheelie for the life of me. I blame the .15 pro.

I'll just have to experiment with it come spring time. Because out where I live we can't use salt on the roads for ice/snow, so they lay down lots of sand. and once winter is done they take a street cleaner out to get it off the road. Even with the sand I have good traction. But if I'm really pushing it hard I can get it to loose traction here and there.

I gotta say, since we are talking about sliding and traction and whatnot. I think it's funny hearing the maxx with those stock tires going down the road. The noise those tires reminds me a lot of my buddies 1:1 truck with big mud tires on them.

Thanks everyone!
 
Yah those pro.15 are good engines but not a hole lot of power. I doubt you will get it to pull the front wheels that easy.
 
hulkmaxx said:
Yah those pro.15 are good engines but not a hole lot of power. I doubt you will get it to pull the front wheels that easy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, honestly I think it has good power, just not for a heavy 4wd truck. That thing in my pede rips pretty good. Yeah, if I wanted to wheelie I would have to get going quick, flip a 180 real fast and gun it. That's not that easy to do without spinning out and it's not like I need to wheelie anyways. It's just fun every now and then.
 

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