Brushless E-Revo Suspension FAQ

[carraig042]

This is where I will make my part of the BL E-Revo FAQ. It may be added on to and/or up-dated.



Brushless E-Revo Suspension

Index for suspension section (When making adjustments, always make sure the truck is sitting at ride height, in a sagged stance ready-to-run.)

1. Overview
2. Rockers
3. Ride Height
4. Roll Center
5. Sway Bars
6. Springs
7. Shock Oil
8. Pivot Ball Caps
9. Toe Adjustment
10. Camber
11. Caster
12. Popular Accessories

1: Overview

The Revo has a very complex suspension design that far surpasses that of any other monster truck. The combined performance and extreme suspension travel makes it truly unique The inboard design keeps the shocks out of harms way and away from the worst of the dirt and grime for long lasting performance and minimal maintenance. The Traxxas GTR hard-anodized teflon coated shocks are by far some of the smoothest operating shocks available for the Revo. They even have Titanium Nitride coated shock shafts (TiN) to help deliver smooth dampening action as well as a long life span. Connected to the shocks are the rockers which provide different amounts of progressive rates. The rockers are then connected to the lower a-arm by a push rod.


2: Rockers

There are four rockers to choose from, stock being the P2's(90mm) which give a good overall balance of performance. The P1 rockers are best suited for rough terrain that requires a lot of suspension articulation. The P3 rockers on the other hand, are good for more street use or high speed cornering where body roll and rear squat is wanted to be a minimum. There is also another rocker that comes with the E-Revo, the LT rocker. It is the long travel rocker(120mm) and it is best suited for rock crawling or big jumps where you need all the ground clearance you can get.


3: Ride Height

There are a couple things that will affect your ride height without changing the suspension parameters. You have the push rod location in the lower a-arm and the shock preload adjustment. In stock form the E-Revo has the pushrods set in the middle hole. Putting the rod in the inner hole will raise the ride height and lowers it when installed in the outer hole. If you need to finely tune your ride height, use the preload adjustment on the shocks. This is meant for small changes only.


4: Roll Center

This is another feature that the E-Revo has packed into it. There are two holes in the front and rear that the upper a-arm can go into. This is where you adjust the roll center. Adjusting the arms into the lower holes will raise the roll center and the roll stiffness, acting like you have sway bars in a way.
If you add roll resistance to one end, lets say the back by mounting the rear arm in the lower holes, this will tend to add traction to the opposite end and possibly add more steering. The arms are mounted in the upper hole in the front and rear stock. These settings are more advanced and normally used for racing. When you change your roll center, you need to re-adjust your bump steer. See the chart in the caster section.




5: Sway Bars

Sway bars give the E-Revo less roll in the turns. This will help keep the truck from rolling over and planted on its wheels.
For the E-Revo, there are two main options available. There is either the Traxxas sway bars or the Tekno RC sway bars. Both are liked very well. Many people use these, and not just racers. Bashers also like to use them sometimes. This is another preference option that you can install if yous o choose to.


6: Springs

The E-Revo is known to come with soft springs. This may be one of the first things that you want to do to help the performance of your monster. The stock in the front is white up front and green in the rear. Some people use the long travel springs to give a firmer ride. Since the E-Revo comes with these you can experiment some before you buy anything. If you decide that is too firm, you can buy different ones to suit your needs. Here is a chart showing the spring rates and colors.




7: Shock Oil

The E-Revo comes with 40wt silicon oil. When you change to a stiffer spring you may want to add different/thicker oil as well. If you do not change the oil with a stiffer spring combo, the truck may feels "springy." The thicker oil will help with this feel and will absorb bumps better. Different oils from different companies seem to vary on how thick they feel. So when you change oils, stick to that brand. The oils from one brand should be more consistent with each other.

To fill the shocks with oil: Take the shock off of the truck and clean it. You need to clean it so you do not get dirt inside of the shock body. Take the spring and retainer off. Take off the cap and dump out the old oil. You can clean the inside if you like. Fill the shock with oil to the top and move the shock shaft up and down slowly a few times to help relieve it from air bubbles. (very bad) set that one aside and move on to the next shock so the rest of the bubbles will surface. Once you get them all filled with oil and the bubbles are gone you can then put the shock shaft half way compressed. Put the cap on and screw it while holding the shock at an angle with the air hole in the cap facing down. At fisrt there should be some bubbles come out then it should be just oil. Once you have it screwed on snug, finish the others. HERE is a video that shows it in more detail.


8: Pivot Ball Caps

These are in the axle carrier and are screwed to the a-arms. These allow the suspension to move up and down freely. If incorrectly adjusted, you could hinder your suspension performance. It should be adjusted with no free play, but still allow free movement of pivot ball. Here is a picture to show how you adjust it.




9: Toe Adjustment

The toe adjustment is used to adjust the steering response. The stock setting in the front is 0 degrees toe, or strait forward and 1 degree toe-in on the rear. You adjust this by turning the turnbuckles with supplied wrench. You can see the angles by looking at an angle above the E-Revo.




10: Camber

Camber is used to adjust the amount of bite that you have in corners. Using negative camber (stock=1* front and back), or tilting the top of the wheels towards to chassis will create more bite in the corners. Straightening the wheels, up and down will create less traction in the turns giving it a looser feel. To adjust this you have to take of the blue covering on the knuckles on the wheel side and use a 2.5mm driver to turn the pivot ball.




11: Caster

The caster affects the steering throughout the turn. Moving the clips to the front portion, which moves the a-arms back will create more steering. This setting is also by preference on how you like it to feel.




When you adjust the caster, you need to adjust the bump steer for the new angle. The E-Revo has only .1 degree of bump steer through the whole range of suspension travel. Here is a chart that show you where to put spacers according to the amount of caster you have.




12: Popular Accessories

There are many accessories that you can use for your E-Revo's suspension to make it lighter, stronger, more agile, and/or look better.

• Max Travel Steering Stop. This is included with your E-Revo. If you want your truck to be able to turn sharper, you can install this. You can refer to Page 26 in the E-Revo manual to see how to do it. I will provide a picture How-to shortly to make the process easier. When you change to the max steering stop you will have to move your steering linkage to the outer holes on the servo arm.
  
• Variable Dampening Pistons seem to be used by a lot of people, racers in specific. These will create a slower compression while increasing the rebound response. If you are on a rough surface the E-Revo will absorb the bumps better and keep the tires on the ground more.
  
• You can use the Jato Dust Boots to help the shocks life a long life with minimal rebuilds.
  
• Traxxas has different Aluminum pushrods available. You can use These with the progressive 3 rockers, and These with the LT rockers, Progressive 1 rockers, and the Progressive 2 rockers when you insert a Spacer on either end of the push rod.
  
• There are T6-7075 aluminum toe link/turnbuckles. They are available in Black or Red.

Pictures and paraphrasing used from www.Traxxas.com

-Brett

[asheck]

Thanks carraig.This is great info.

[george16]

Good job but why can't you just post a link to Slayden's pit pass where he talks about the revo's suspansion. All revos(electric and nitro version) share the same suspension anyway.

http://www.traxxas.com/support/kb_se...cat=143&id=482

[DiFabio42]

Helped tons! Thanks bud!

[carraig042]

I guess because you already did, lol. I thought about it though.

How to Install the Max Steering Stop:

First you will need to take off the front skid plate. You will have to remove two screws.



After that, remove the three screws holding on the next skid plate.






Now you will have to remove the two hinge pins with a pair of pliers.



Once the hinge pins are removed you will then need to take two screws off that hold the steering stop on.



Remove this piece and put to the side. Find the max steering stop from the E-Revo package. Put it on and re-installation is reversed.

Once you get it all put back together, make sure you move the steering linkages to the outer holes on the servo horns. Make sure that the servos do not fight each other. The linkage needs to be 31.7mm from center to center hole. If adjustments are needed, do it now.



Here is a better picture of what the stock steering stop looks like. The difference between the two is where the stops are located.




-Brett

[george16]

Wow!! You must be that bored in your dorm to be able to do all these .

[skeppley]

Excellent write up Brett!

[Brushless Moose]

sticky please...

[mbeatle]

I just saw this post linked from another. Is it true that the stock rear toe is really 1 degree OUT? Is there a reason you would actually WANT rear toe out? From my experience racing, toe out in the rear is a terrible thing and can lead to spins and instability.

[carraig042]

I just saw this post linked from another. Is it true that the stock rear toe is really 1 degree OUT? Is there a reason you would actually WANT rear toe out? From my experience racing, toe out in the rear is a terrible thing and can lead to spins and instability.

It is 1 degree toe in on the rear. I guess I did not use the best wording there. 0 degrees in front, 1 degree toe-in on rear.

-Brett

[howie3]

I was just wondering how many of you use the max steer stop?

[mbeatle]

It is 1 degree toe in on the rear. I guess I did not use the best wording there. 0 degrees in front, 1 degree toe-in on rear.

-Brett

Whew!

I use the max travel steering stop. It makes a huge difference.

[discosurf]

great write up, just changed to the max steering stop now
do the servo linages need to be lubricated? grease/wd40
regards discosurf

[ONTHEMOVE]

Bravo Brett! This will be posted up in the Traxxas Garage.

[Novarider]

Nice thread this should be a stickey

[KingdomRacer]

I have done the mod to the steering stop but have been wondering is it nessecary to do the full Slayden REVO steering mod to attain the full benefit from modding the stop. I've noticed that with the mod to the stop steering has increased but definitely not to its full potential. My pivot balls stop the max steering that I'm trying to achieve. Has anyone done the full mod? Is it worth it? Also, my hesitation in doing the full mod has been due to using retainer rings on my RPM carriers. Can these retainer rings be used in the mod? OP please forgive my questions on your thread and feel free to start a new one if you want

[carraig042]

great write up, just changed to the max steering stop now
do the servo linages need to be lubricated? grease/wd40
regards discosurf

No, there is no lubrication needed. Most lubes would just attract dust and grime anyway.

-Brett

[discosurf]

cheers thanks brett
discosurf

[discosurf]

just tested the max steering stop and it feels really good, though the erbe stopped after 5minutes front wheels were turning but the truck was going nowhere, could hear the motor revving no strange noises but wouldn't move first i'll check the gearing.
regards discosurf

[carraig042]

I see all the time people have issues with Installing Traxxas CVD's. If installed correctly, there will be no issues and the parts should live a long life.

1. The first step is to remove all four wheels from the vehicle. In this case, a 17mm wrench is used.
   
2. Now it is time to take off the 17mm hub using a 2mm hex wrench.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Next, take out the 2mm screw pin that holds the half shaft to the differential output shaft.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Unscrew the pillow balls with a 2.5mm hex wrench.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Pull the half shaft out of the carrier and set aside.
   
6. Get the new CVD and insert the axle into the carrier. Screw the pillow balls back into each of the a-arms. (Note: It makes it easier to start each of the about halfway before screwing all the way in)
   
7. While screwing in the pillow balls, align the cup on to the differential output shaft and secure with the supplied screw pin.
   
   
   
   
8. Tighten the pillow balls until there is not more threads showing. (This step is crucial)
   
   
   
   
   
9. Put the hex hub back on the new axle and secure with the screw pin. (Be sure to use blue threadlock on all metal to metal connections)

Once installed, remove the blue silicone boot off of the cup and check for binding in all ranges of suspension movement. (This is where screwing in the pillow balls makes a big difference) If you do not screw in the pillow ball enough, then the shaft will be more likely to pop out of the cup. possibly resulting in a bent shaft. So while chekhing for binding, make sure that the pins do not extrude past the end of the cup.

• This is also a good time to check the pivot ball caps as outlined in section 8 of the original post. Once adjusted, make adjustments in the camber (section 10) and recheck for binding in the CVD's at the cups.
  

-Brett

[discosurf]

great write up brett, we are all endeavoured with your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
discosurf