How do I make this thing prerun better?

[TeenyCar]

It's a rockcrawler, weighs about 1800 pounds with a 49% front and 51% rear weight bias. I'm looking to go faster in the desert. Things against me are the very high roll center and the narrow track (76") as well as wheelbase (101). Anyway whatever advice on what I can do to improve this beast would be helpful. Thanks

http://photobucket.com/albums/c99/TeenyCAR/My%20car/

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[movindirt]

Very interesting toy you got there. I like it. How did you measure track width? Looks way under 76" in the photos. But I am real tired so maybe I am just seeing things.

[Hollowpoint]

Wow, you CAN do something with that for the desert. I always loved the idea of those purpose built tube chassis minimal material vehicles. The first recommendation is to replace the air shocks with a coil over, and possibly a hydraulic bump. Or at least the addition of a more fade resistent shock that holds oil.

If people can turn front heavy, steel bodied(or even unibodied), street vehicles with a high center gravity into desert capable vehicles, I'm sure something can be done for a tube chassis rock crawler, despite the solid axles.

How much travel is that rock buggy pulling? I'm sure that just shock tuning, and perhaps even sway bar modification or specific bracing for higher speeds will go a long way.

[Josh_K]

Put a 2.5" res. shock in each corner, tune it and that is about it. A true pupose built rock crawler and a true desert car are total polar opposites.

And yes it is true you can drive a rock crawler in the desert to prerun, but I dont think you can build one that excels at both.

[Chase 2]

Isn't that a bit like asking how to make your John Deer tractor handle better on the freeway?

[Hollowpoint]

He's not going to make a class 1 out of this thing, but there sure is a hell of a lot of potential in it. More so than a .. what are they called.. solid axle unibody SUVs... oh yeah, Jeepspeed.

[TeenyCar]

Isn't that a bit like asking how to make your John Deer tractor handle better on the freeway?

That's just about the dumbest thing I think I have ever heard. I don't know what your impression of a rockcrawler is, but I can currently cruise roads out in Johnson Valley at 70-80 mph and still rock race through some of the toughest trails in the nation. As stated I'm not trying to build a class 1 car, just would like to take the bumps with a little more ease.


Thanks for the worthwhile remarks, I'll check out the coilover idea. I'm thinking I need the remote reservoir as with the air shocks I am getting some fatigue after prolonged use. Also what about bypass versus airbumps for a setup like this. I do jump it in the dunes so I'd like to plush it out some. thanks again.

[Hollowpoint]

Pros:
Bypass- external adjustment.
Airbumps - A true positive "spring" for a bumpstop.
A bypass uses hydraulics to significantly slow the rate at the last portion of tubeless travel in which all oil is forced only through the piston, and not through any tubes. Many discourage using the bypass to do the job of a bumpstop... but that's for an ideal desert racing vehicle. There are people who seem to do just fine using the stages of compression in a bypass with a solid rubber bumpstop.

Ideal setup? Both.

A realistic setup for this vehicle? I'm not sure.. Others with more knowledge and experience might have some suggestions.

Adding a bypass to aid the air shock with heat disipation and dampening is an idea. This will allow some limited external adjustments for the type of driving you'll be doing.

An air bump would be nice for rock crawling to allow for lighter valving, yet still have a more progressive, adjustable bump protection than a solid bump. On the other hand, this lightly valved setup without external adjustments might not be enough to control the buggy on faster desert terrain.

Another idea is to ditch the air spring setup all together, and switch to 2.5 coilovers with reservoirs. If the valving is dialed in, the coilover and solid bump might be all you need.

No matter what, the addition of any oil based dampening system that holds significant fluid(reservoir shock) will make a big difference compared to your current setup.

[Josh_K]

Get on Pirate4x4.com and ask toydude his opinion. Toydude, (John) is the manager of a fab shop I got started in the high desert. He has talked about this alot and would be a good help to you. He has build his own Hendrix X rig and supervised Rob Park in the building of 3 ground up comp rigs. John also races a 10 car with my brother in mdr and more.

Thanks for the worthwhile remarks, I'll check out the coilover idea. I'm thinking I need the remote reservoir as with the air shocks I am getting some fatigue after prolonged use. Also what about bypass versus airbumps for a setup like this. I do jump it in the dunes so I'd like to plush it out some. thanks again.

[Bryan_D]

Well why are you changing it at all?? Are you going Rockracing? I would think like above stated that some bypasses and coilovers instead of the airshock would make the shocks obviously last longer, but they will take up more space. Is that a FAT motor in that thing also?