New E-Revo VXL, ran once, front now sags

[Phaedrus]

I only ran the model once. I had one rough, head-on collision, but there was no noticeable difference afterward. When cleaning it up later, I noticed the front end suspension sags significantly more than the rear. I notice, because I was impressed with its ride height and suspension when I first unboxed it (just above parallel in front and rear). Now the chassis is not parallel to the ground, either when dropping it from 6 inches or when letting the weight of the car settle the suspension. I notice I do have one bent tie-rod in front. But this would not cause such significant sag. Thoughts?

[Acidic01]

I only ran the model once. I had one rough, head-on collision, but there was no noticeable difference afterward. When cleaning it up later, I noticed the front end suspension sags significantly more than the rear. I notice, because I was impressed with its ride height and suspension when I first unboxed it (just above parallel in front and rear). Now the chassis is not parallel to the ground, either when dropping it from 6 inches or when letting the weight of the car settle the suspension. I notice I do have one bent tie-rod in front. But this would not cause such significant sag. Thoughts?

Welcome. Tapatalk for some pictures.

The push rods if bent. Or a bent shock shaft could do it.

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[Phaedrus]

Thank you for the response. yes, one push rod is bent. But the other is not.

Front, dropped from 6 inches high:



Rear, same:

[Rocketzx1]

The bent push rod will do it. You can grab a set off eBay for cheap.


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[Calebs0615]

If that's the tire that's sagging and the only problem you see is that rod is bent, I would say you just need new rod. Im sure that'll fix your issue. Theyre cheap too so it could've been worse in my opinion.

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[Acidic01]

Replace or at least order new ones and bend old one back into place as best as possible. Preload the springs some as well.

I tend to push car down till chassis on ground then preload the springs till almost tight. Then back off as needed for terrain conditions.

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[emi202071]

it seems too low to have just the push rod bent
it looks like you don't have shock absorbers
the push rod is bent a little ..... take a soft hammer and it will be as before

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[Phaedrus]

it seems too low to have just the push rod bent
it looks like you don't have shock absorbers
the push rod is bent a little ..... take a soft hammer and it will be as before

Inviato dal mio SM-A310F utilizzando Tapatalk

Thank you everyone for the replies. It does seem (to me) too low just to be due only to one slightly bent push rod. But I have replacements and will swap them out later today. Will post results.

[Phaedrus]

No change whatsoever, with new push rods.

[Phaedrus]

The bent push rod will do it. You can grab a set off eBay for cheap.


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Didn't work...

[filzka]

I would guess shock preload needs adjusting. Can you take some pictures from different angles?

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[grizzly03]

You can adjust the preload on the shocks to raise your truck back up.

[Phaedrus]

No change whatsoever, with new push rods.

Aaaaaaand one of the new pushrods sheared after 5 minutes of running. Never even got it up to speed, never even took a tumble. It just sheared. $25 for this? Thanks, Traxxas.

[Rocketzx1]

No change whatsoever, with new push rods.

Either the pic you took is slightly off center, or one side is hanging down lower than the other. I’d the bent push rod wasn’t the fix, pop off the shocks and check them out. I had a slightly crushed spring retainer and it caused the front to droop down. That’d be my next suggestion.


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[Phaedrus]

Either the pic you took is slightly off center, or one side is hanging down lower than the other. I’d the bent push rod wasn’t the fix, pop off the shocks and check them out. I had a slightly crushed spring retainer and it caused the front to droop down. That’d be my next suggestion.


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Thank you for the suggestion. I think the picture's a little deceptive because it was taken off center and taken so close to the vehicle, creating a slight fisheye effect.

[grizzly03]

With the pushrod unhooked does the a-arms and wheel move up and down freely?

[Phaedrus]

Yes. And you requested pictures from "different angles". What would you like to see?

[Phaedrus]

I am thinking I have done something to the chassis or front bulkhead. I did have one head-on impact, but I didn't notice any performance issues from it. Mateo from Traxxas support mentioned these two ideas. Will check and get back to everyone.

[MyBall]

How tight are your pillow ball caps? Maybe you overtightened them during cleaning?

[RICK DIZZLE]

Can you take a pic from the top down like this? Curious to see your shocks and preload along with the position of your rockers. Wonder if its a bent rocker post?

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[Acidic01]

Can you take a pic from the top down like this? Curious to see your shocks and preload along with the position of your rockers. Wonder if its a bent rocker post?

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Rick Your cars are always to ****ed clean and pretty we need to see pics of em covered in mud

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[fuzion]

yeah right. welcome to this world of -never like new- insanity, i have been there for years.

the very smooth suspension play and accurate return to normal chassis height that the car has when its new, is really difficult to reproduce once played, forever. some say adjust preload, but that would just cover-up things that prevent the original smooth behavior.

i believe that:

- all suspension connections collect dust/dirt
- all bearings collect dust/dirt
- suspension parts bend slightly
- shock oil and internal parts are degrading
- springs might degrade (unsure about that)

the above imo prevent the car suspension operate smoothly, therefore we do stuff like adjust preload or stiffen up springs to bring the chassis back where it was after a push down.

a nice test is if the suspension arms move freely without shocks connected, but still a slight cog there (impossible to detect with the test) might prevent the chassis go up in normal operation.

after trying everything, i stiffened it up and stopped worrying at some point. i hated it.

[Richard@JP]

Hiya

The springs will sag a touch after first run you just need to adjust the preload collars back down on the shock body to raise the ride height