Tlr 22 uneven ride height

[Gavin Collingwood]

When setting my ride height I notice looking from the front of the car, the left side of the chassis is always higher than the right.
The spring preload are all equally unwound as I've marked them on the collars. The bottoms of the shock shafts are fully wound equally to the same length.
Could the chassis be tweaked?
This is a problem I've always noticed by wanted people's opinions on it.
The problem is more pronounced on the front of the car
Gav

[RDG 40]

Check every movin part is free. If its catchin car weight might not settle it correct

[Gavin Collingwood]

Such as wishbones and hinge pins?

[Gavin Collingwood]

Nope everything is nice and free?...

[knighthawk]

And shock shafts, soft as cheese

[Frecklychimp]

It's quite simple, adjust the collars until the car sits flat using a ride height gauge on chassis.

or to do it 100% properly cornerweight the car and set spring collars so weight on each wheel side to side matches.

that is after making sure camber is equal and tracking/toe is all square.

If it's a real drastic difference then make sure shocks rebound the same, have adequate oil in them, pistons are not catching bores/holes are all ok and that the seal housings are tightened similarly... it could be a sticky seal but chances of that happening on both shocks on one side are slim... unless the seal housings have been tightened right up with molegrips or a vice?

Another thing to check would be the top shock bushings, there should be some play and the shock top should be allowed to move smoothly as suspension travels... if the nuts have been tightened too much then it squashes the bushings and there is friction there.

With all this i'm assuming that electrics are all fairly central and there is nothing obviously weighting one side down more than the other?

[Gavin Collingwood]

Right I'll go through all of this, I noticed the bottom of the shocks where the screw goes in we're tight it shouldn't bind anyway but loosened them and its helped. It's not as drastic now, before it was a mm higher on the left side but is more like half a mm now, I'll check the tightness of the bottom shock collars that may do it, the rebounds are all exactly the same as I've got the bleeder screw caps and then measure 10 mm rebound with vernier gauges but cheers for the tips guys

[Frecklychimp]

Originally Posted by Gavin Collingwood

Right I'll go through all of this, I noticed the bottom of the shocks where the screw goes in we're tight it shouldn't bind anyway but loosened them and its helped. It's not as drastic now, before it was a mm higher on the left side but is more like half a mm now, I'll check the tightness of the bottom shock collars that may do it, the rebounds are all exactly the same as I've got the bleeder screw caps and then measure 10 mm rebound with vernier gauges but cheers for the tips guys

There shouldn't be any rebound with bleeder caps if built properly... they change the shock to an emulsion shock which should be run 'dead'

you adjust the spring collars to set ride height, they don't have to be the same setting on each side, especially with linear springs, as long as the car sits flat... the aim is to have equal weight on each wheel and car sitting flat for a perfect set up

[Frecklychimp]

This video may help with building TLR shocks:

http://losiracing.blogspot.co.uk/201...ideo-with.html

[Gavin Collingwood]

Mate you have to change the rebound dependant on the type of track whether it being flat (very little to no rebound) or big jumps to flat (more rebound), cheers for the tips but you're supposed to run rebound, if you ran 0 rebound with big jumps the cars just bounces on landing, this advice is coming from a local F1 driver who makes national A finals in 2WD
And if you changed the collars on the shocks wouldn't the spring rate/tension be different?

[Frecklychimp]

Originally Posted by Gavin Collingwood

Mate you have to change the rebound dependant on the type of track whether it being flat (very little to no rebound) or big jumps to flat (more rebound), cheers for the tips but you're supposed to run rebound, if you ran 0 rebound with big jumps the cars just bounces on landing, this advice is coming from a local F1 driver who makes national A finals in 2WD
And if you changed the collars on the shocks wouldn't the spring rate/tension be different?

Who is the driver?

10mm of rebound is a lot of pressure to be running at

You don't have to run rebound at all! why would a car bounce on landing?

it is less likely to bounce with no rebound as there is less pressure inside the shock!

spring rate is changed by making it from different materials/thickness of material and number of coils... this cannot be adjusted by turning shock collars.

you adjust ride height with the collars, by altering equally in opposite turns then you can move the weight from side to side whilst keeping ride height.

[Gavin Collingwood]

It's stu wood who drove for tlr until recently,
Right so if I adjust the collars differently until the ride height is the same it definitely won't affect the handling?

[rcjunky]

check the length of the springs, they might be differant, then use the colars to compensate for any differance

[Frecklychimp]

Originally Posted by Gavin Collingwood

It's stu wood who drove for tlr until recently,
Right so if I adjust the collars differently until the ride height is the same it definitely won't affect the handling?

From what you have said above there is nothing mechanically wrong that would cause the car to sit lower on one side... this can only mean that the weight balance is out slightly causing more to one side by 'around 1mm'

To rectify this you set the ride height you wish to run at with collars equal distance from top of the shock body, then 'unwind' the side that is sat higher and wind down the side that is lower by equal amounts until it sits flat... using a gauge to measure of course

the affect on handling will be proper balance from side to side, equal turning force, squarer flight on jumps and the car will run in a proper straight line.

atm you have more weight to one side which will make the car lurch, turn more one way than the other and crab in a straight line.

running with the car sat to one side is basically the same as running a softer spring on one side than the other because you haven't got equal weight pushing down on each side.

If you were running 'progressive' springs then this makes a difference with compression, but 22 springs are linear (single rate)

alternatively you can add the weight needed to balance it... but you would need to do a lot of maths to find the exact placement... plus effectively cornerweight the car.

Cornerweighting r/c cars is seen as unnecessary and 'geeky' because it's not understood properly, but if a system could be built to do it properly it would make a real difference... i've tried to do it but still working on the accuracy with buggys, the problem is the amount of play in components on the car and getting a decent contact patch on the scales.

[Gavin Collingwood]

So basically don't worry about it too much as its not making much difference on the track? but just annoys me (bit OCD)

[Gavin Collingwood]

Also cheers for the tlr vid I tried about 1.5mm rebound the way instructed and felt good on the track, I probably misheard stu about the amount of rebound, come to think of it I think he said he ran 6 mm not 10 but each to their own

[Gavin Collingwood]

Also cheers for the tlr vid I tried about 1.5mm rebound the way instructed and felt good on the track, I probably misheard stu about the amount of rebound, come to think of it I think he said he ran 6 mm not 10 but each to their own

[Gavin Collingwood]

I've finally found the problem! Looking over the car I noticed my front shocks didn't look quite right, on closer inspection I found that the screw that holds the upper part of the shock to the shock tower was bent upwards (presumably in a crash) by a good mm therefore that shock was the mm shorter and explained why the chassis was leaning. Job done

[Robby]

Originally Posted by Gavin Collingwood

I've finally found the problem! Looking over the car I noticed my front shocks didn't look quite right, on closer inspection I found that the screw that holds the upper part of the shock to the shock tower was bent upwards (presumably in a crash) by a good mm therefore that shock was the mm shorter and explained why the chassis was leaning. Job done

That's why between race checks should involve more than just blowing the dust off.

Both Losi and Lunsford now make Titanium shock standoffs.