Recommend Me Some Aftermarket Shocks

[Berman]

Can anyone recommend me some shocks for my Mad Force VE?
I have blown the bladders out of 5 factory shocks now each time covering the truck in oil and bent a fair few shafts, and with my clod terminator just around the corner I bought 8 emaxx shocks thinking 4 might fit on the mad force, unfortunately they are weaker than the MF factory shocks and only took 2 minutes to bend.

I would like some shocks that dont cost the earth but can take some decent jumps and abuse, can anyone help?

Cheers

 

[deathrawt]

I think the biggest issue with the shocks on the mad force kruiser is that they are on a pretty nasty angle as they are mounted on the edges of the axle tubes. On my truck I mounted mine on the ladder bars so the shocks are more straight up and down but after doing this I noticed that I have a bit of side to side play on the axles ( the way the shocks are mounted from the factory prevents the side to side movement due to the angles) You could try that and see if it helps. As for using different shocks I would not use smaller shocks like the traxxas ones but use 8th scale buggy shocks. I read on another forum that Losi 2.0 buggy front shocks work really well on the mad force.

 

[Berman]

Thank you deathrawt. When I put the maxx shocks on I knew they weren't going to be beefy enough. I did put them in the original Mad Force locations on the ladders
as I didn't have any ball cups for the tops to angle them out like the Kruiser, they wouldn't have been long enough anyway. I just got a set of 8 (four for CPE Terminator) so I figured I would try the spares haha.

I just had a look at those losi shocks you mentioned, they certainly look like a good option without breaking the bank. I would imagine if I got them and mounted them on the ladders I would have to make some spacers for the top as the bore size looks on par with the MF ones? unless they pop onto the MF ball cups...

Cheers for your help, very much appreciated!

 

[deathrawt]

im not sure if they will work with the force ball cups or not? If they don't it shouldn't be hard to make some spacers that will work.
I always save the extra bits when building new kits as there is always pieces that can be used elsewhere. my txt 2 kit had spacers on the shock sprues that I ended up using on my king klod project
If you get the losi shocks let us know if they are a direct fit and how they work!

 

[HawnMT]

This will seem like an offbeat question but are you running the stock front dogbone for the front driveshaft(not the axles but the driveshaft)? If you are is it popping out?

 

[deathrawt]

I haven't run my nitro force as of yet due to having way too much snow here but I did order the universal joint front driveshaft for when the inevitable happens. One thing I noticed while I was rearranging my shock layout was that when all the shocks were disconnected from the chassis, the rear shaft would not fall out at all despite how the suspension was moved, yet the front would fall out every time.
I thought that was weird, you would think that if the rear stays put then so would the front. I wonder if a slightly longer driveshaft would cure the problem?

 

[Berman]

im not sure if they will work with the force ball cups or not? If they don't it shouldn't be hard to make some spacers that will work.
I always save the extra bits when building new kits as there is always pieces that can be used elsewhere. my txt 2 kit had spacers on the shock sprues that I ended up using on my king klod project
If you get the losi shocks let us know if they are a direct fit and how they work!

Yeah I am not sure if the cups are even the same size, probably not. All the ebay sellers only seem to sell the shocks with just the bottom ones. The thing with the original MF shock mounts is the front shocks are on such a backwards lean, I am surprised the original MF suspension setup even worked throughout the travel of the links, I was hesistant to put the maxx shocks on because of this but went with the "Oh well, it worked on the original.." and as soon as I did a 1.5-2.0 ft jump the maxx shocks bent haha. Maybe I should mount them a little more upright.

Yeah I will let you know when I get them and what I think.

This will seem like an offbeat question but are you running the stock front dogbone for the front driveshaft(not the axles but the driveshaft)? If you are is it popping out?

Mine used to, But now I have a small piece of fuel tube in the front axle cup. Don't lose them anymore. I used to paint the driveshafts fluro yellow so I could find them lol.
So who's making scale driveshaft loops?

 

[HawnMT]

Mine used to, But now I have a small piece of fuel tube in the front axle cup. Don't lose them anymore. I used to paint the driveshafts fluro yellow so I could find them lol.
So who's making scale driveshaft loops?

The reason I asked was because I suspect that you're bending a lot of shocks because the control arms are flexing. When the arms flex the first thing to go is the front driveshaft dogbone. And when they flex the shocks are twisted and bent into awkward positions so when they try to compress the shock shaft gets bent. The best remedy for this is a set of TTR traction bars. They're cheap and much more effective then those link type rods that mount on the outside of the control arms.

 

[Berman]

The reason I asked was because I suspect that you're bending a lot of shocks because the control arms are flexing. When the arms flex the first thing to go is the front driveshaft dogbone. And when they flex the shocks are twisted and bent into awkward positions so when they try to compress the shock shaft gets bent. The best remedy for this is a set of TTR traction bars. They're cheap and much more effective then those link type rods that mount on the outside of the control arms.

So far I have only bent the maxx shocks, and that was after 2 minutes using the original MF lower mounting axle mounts (they are at a bad angle). I have blown 6 MF factory shocks though. What usually happens is after landing a decent jump the oil makes it's way past the bladder and spits itself out the top between the alloy cap and the plastic top mount (maybe the bladder air vent, I haven't checked), and covers the whole truck in shock oil. Also this is the rear shock's that do this, and when landing on all fours.

You are right though. My front arms are bent, and have thought about making some arm braces out of 1/4" square rod and bolting them underneath with about 4 countersunk bolts, kind of like rails on an 80's skateboard haha Or I could buy some like you suggested. Cheers for your help HawnMT

 

[nosyajg]

Sounds like too much oil in your shocks...

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[Berman]

Quite possibly, although I haven't really been checking them sorry. I just buy them off ebay sellers who dismantle RTR's and chuck them on and go again.
I have rebuilt a couple of the ones that leaked, even with the bladders intact one small jump and they just keep leaking, so I throw them away after they do that.
It's the same with most RTR Kyosho stuff I've owned, so I usually don't treat the shocks with any real value.

 

[joshdzimmerman]

Its the crazy angles on the shocks that's causing problems. The MF seems to have a lot of bugs that Kyosho didn't bother working out. I machined a new chassis for mine, switched to HPI Savage shocks , and fixed the shock angle. I'm jumping 5ft high repeatedly and it lands great, and not a single shock related issue since. (I'm a sucker for the long travel HPI shocks) I know this might not be alot of help to you now, but with the right geometry most shocks should hold up. I'm working on producing more of these frames, just trying to finalize geometry and find time!

 

[Hippie]

thats a nice set up with the savage shocks sweet!

 

[Berman]

Thanks, that is a nice custom chassis there! My chassis is custom made, but it is basically a copy of the 2mm factory one in 3mm. How long are those HPI shocks?
I wonder if there is enough room to angle the next set of shocks more vertical?

 

[joshdzimmerman]

Center to center; 6.33" extended, 4.15" compressed.