Dual Rate Springs - Suspension

[Bad Company]

I was messing around and got an idea from an ad for some new shocks I was gonna get for my Emaxx. They were dual rate springs (and a little more).

I thought what the heck and experimented with my Xmods springs. I cut 2 soft and 2 hard springs in half and bonded 4 soft halves to 4 hard halves to create a dual rate spring.

I installed them on one of my chassis and tested them out. I could feel the difference in my dual rate springs and either the all soft or all hard springs. I could feel the suspension give easily at first and slowly stiffen up gradually. Felt a lot better than the stock/upgrade springs.

With this setup, the suspension should be able to react to minor bumps without fully compressing, but completely give when leaned on in turns.

I will track (tennis court) test them tomorrow.

Here are the front...

[Bad Company]

Here are the rear...

[micro kid]

nice job. i was acctualy gona make something like that for my E-Maxx with the stock maxx springs and halves of tamiya mad fighter springs i may just fix the buggy and buy some real dual rates so i can have the monster and the little orange burnout machine

[Bad Company]

I wonder if these would be considered illegal at an Xmods competition event? They are still technically RS Xmods upgrade parts.

[TypeZer0]

that's a good idea BC

i actually thoguht about that long time ago but in my mind, for some reason i didn't think to bond the spring halves together, i just kept thinking of a way to put in a circular disc with a raised wall on both sides to keep the springs aligned to each other. it looks like the soft springs are almost full compressed already. i think the stock springs are closer to soft than the yellow mediums and since the stock spring has more spacing between teh coils, you coudl mix that with the hards and the soft part of the dual rate will still have sufficient space between teh coils to actually work

but then again, the xmod suspension has little suspension travel to begin with so what i just said is pretty irrelevant.

[Bad Company]

I actually tried using the spacer like you said earlier, but bonding them together was just easier. They do look compressed, but they still have plenty of travel. The soft springs look the same originally when installed.

I'm going to experiment with different spring setups tomorrow when I can test them on the courts and try different combinations. I will need to pick up a couple more suspension upgrade kits too.

[jamgunner]

Very clever idea. How did you attatch them to each other, epoxy? I tried a couple model glues and they weren't working. On a side note, the red springs seem to be next to useless when used normaly. When i used them in the back I can hear the chasssis dragging and generaly they seem to produce very little travel.

[neurokinetik]

I don't know if you know this, but by the picture, you don't have the springs fully on the "shocks". The first coil of each end should clip over the little ridge at each end. This way the spring has resistance on both compression and rebound. That will also allow the red spring a bit more travel. It looks like the blue springs are clipped in properly, but the red springs aren't. It is a great idea, though.

[Bad Company]

Yeah, that is something I have to work out. I did this late last night before bed so....

The problem is it was easier to glue the 2 "finished" sides of the different springs together (with krazy glue), that meant that the sides that were the cut sides were on the outside, thus not allowing them to sit in the little grooves you are talking about. I'll have to figure a way to finish the outer edges of the springs.

Like I said, just something I was experimenting with.

[charliebrown]

Nice idea Bad Company!

Looks like you are an "only-painting-guru" no more.

Chuckster...

[93Supra0wner]

Great idea bc....can you give us an update on how its working out cause if its good ill definatly be doing this

[TypeZer0]

can you take a few pics of your dual rate springs in various stages of compression?

[SupraRacer17]

Hey BC how did u cut the springs and wut did u cut it with cuz i cant get mine cut?

[TypeZer0]

get a pair of diagonal cutters, they are good at cutting hard wires like springs. i got mine at sears for 10 bucks, it's the smaller one with gold and black handle.

[Bad Company]

Yes, I used small wire cutters. I didn't get a chance to take it to the courts, I was busy bashing around in my Emaxx and Mini T most of the day. I'll get some pics up later of the compressions and hopefully get some tests done.