brice_arnold

My Feedback: (6)

Counting to ten.....Truce

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

1345, 1346, 1347.......
OK, all I have to say is I totally encourage anyone who has a design idea to go for it.
LunarWolf,
How long until you post a photo of your brace design installed?
It will be nice to see what your version of aesthetics and functionality brings to the table. The more designs the better.
Im looking froward to seeing it.

Lunar Wolf

Truce? We're not at war atleast i don't think we are anyway, just have a difference in opinion. Lets just get back on topic, i'm quite enjoying the discussion.

I think most of us are in agreement that the 'BAJA' stamped on the top of the brace looks a bit wackery, I did think that 'Turtle Racing' on the rear one was written quite nicely but i guess you can have too much of a good thing. That said it would have been nice to have seen a front brace that didn't just look like the rear one but maybe looked a little more dynamic.

On the issue of extra bracing, and i touched on this earlier, how much do your Baja's actually weigh? mines at 24.8lbs (GBE pipe, dirt busters, no fuel). Now if you take that as a baseline that a fairly stock Baja's weighs in at (although it'd be lighter with a Alloy or stock can exhaust) and components like shock towers are designed to suport then its not difficult to understand why a stock shock tower will flex and fold more with a heavier Baja loaded with alot of after marked billet. You can't argue with the laws of physics and something with a larger mass will exert more force at any given speed.

Its kinda funny that weight reduction on RC's guys consider bashers is often furthest from their minds when it will have a direct impact on their vehicles ability to jump and land without issue, a good basher is strong, but if its own suspension system us under excessive stress due to its own weight then what do you do? beef parts up or look to loose some of its unnecessary fat? Beefing parts up is all well and good but it triggers more problems, your drive line also has to be beefed up to compensate for its short commings as it was only designed to handle a 25lb vehicle, then you notice your Baja is getting slower, break out a bigger (heavier) pipe & a bigger engine, new clutch to handle the transmission, then beef up the driveline some more and then look for more mods to make the chassis & suspension stronger -round and round you go, in the end you have something that dosn't perform much better then stock - but atleast its shiney!

Then there's the issue of how you tune your suspension to handle said jumps, are you guys using thicker shock oil to try and soak up bigger jumps?

brice_arnold

My Feedback: (6)

Let the discussion continue.


When I first bought my baja, almost two years ago, within a short period of use, stock, I noticed that many of the suspension components were becoming permanently deformed due to the preload on the suspension. This is why i developed my front shock tower and suspension arm brackets.

As you add billet parts to your baja the increase in strength is not necessarily in proportion to the increase in weight. For example. If you add billet arms or shock towers these parts will be two to three times heavier than the stock plastic part. But they would be 5-10 times stronger than the plastic counterpart. So you could argue that even though you are adding weight, the increase in strength or durability significantly out weighs the added weight. We are only talking about durability and strength right now and not performance. Obviously the heavier your car is the more power you need to make it go.

There is also the argument that if you replace one weak link you find another. I would counter argue that at some point you will have corrected all the weak links such that no mater what you throw at your car it will be bomb proof and you will never have to worry about it breaking again (within reason of course). This is the dream. As an example of this, one of my baja's has full alloy suspension. As a result of this, the plates hold the hinge pins have become worn out such that there is significant slop between the pins and the plates. I am now in the process of redesigning the hinge pin system.

The dream of a bomb-proof baja is why I am developing new suspension, driveshafts, drivetrain components. Most of the other things on this car have been figured out such that we no longer have to worry about it.

I have another baja that doesn't have any alloy suspension. However I wanted to improve the strength of the arms because they are susceptible to wear and breakage. In the begging I developed aluminum brackets that bolt onto the suspension arms. Since the implementation of these brakckets I have never had another issue with broken, bent, or prematurely worn out arms. By using brackets instead of a full alloy arm I had both the advantage of the strength of aluminum where it was needed and the advantage of the lightness of plastic suspension.

hndaman1

My Feedback: (6)

As I remember awhile I posted a GBE brace on a different forum and you guys said it was pretty much useless on the front??? and now TR make one and it is the BEST thing made? it looks almost like the GBE one if you ask me

Yamadude

Does the GBE use 4 bolts to mount up or does it just bolt to the shocks???

pilotjohn

It just bolts to the shocks, 2 bolt mounting instead of 4. BIG difference IMO

hndaman1

My Feedback: (6)

It mounts up too the shocks and also has a machined area too fit into the the stock plastic shock tower that sticks out

Dave ESPI

I have yet to run my SS, but one of the first things I noticed about it was the lack of a brace in front of the inferior screws that hold the front shocks onto the uprights. I have a design I drew up, and just have to get a machine shop to make it. It will be hella nice, and not look like kaa kaa up front.
IMHO, the text of BAJA on top the brace is too much, and would look better not being there.

As to the Lunar and Brice "war"... there is not a war.... this is a DISCUSSION GROUP. Lunar Wolf is quite a good member and active on 5thscale race forum, and t doesnot matter if he has a day of experience or 100 years as this discussion and concepts about overall weakness in parts is universal amongst any RC car.

hathi

So how much for the brace? I would like to pick one up and put it through a stress test, find the weight and so on and so on.

hathi

GBE is not part of the Assholitaion (spelling?)

fourwheeler

I really like the engraving on the brace. I think it adds character to the piece. But to each his own.....right?

So far as being like the GBE brace, it has a similar look but as mentiond it captures the shock bolt on both sides of the shock as well as having the extra bolts to secure it to the tower. I ran 2 tanks of fuel through my Baja last weekend and the brace held up great. No issues with it at all.

I think it is cool. Rock on Turtle!!

hathi

From these photos it does not capture the bolts on either side.
In this token it is much diffrent then the GBE strut.

fergus91

i agree that a brace or an alloy tower is needed on the front of the car, thing is in your photos it shows an alloy tower aswell as the new brace, can you honestly say that the added strength is needed when you already have the alloy tower?

hndaman1

My Feedback: (6)

How does this product mount up too a stock tower? does it mount up the same way?

fourwheeler

Yes it does....it mounts up fine to the stock tower.


I can honestly say that I feel you can never have too much strength. Actually the added support on both ends of the shock mounting bolt is the main benefit when used with an alloy tower.

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

I've had to delete too many posts in this thread. Please remember to keep things civil and not insult or call out specific forum members. If you do not like something, express yourself using facts or specific opinions, not through questioning someone else' motivation for their stated opinions.

That being said, I'm glad the thread got back on track on it's own.


i8tweety
Car Forums Moderator

splcrazy

i think the design of it is really good as its alloy and the shock hole is secured in the middle of the brace then the bolt goes straight through it , thers no chance of that breaking . my shock brace is just a flat piece of alloy and the shock hole is mounted on the flat piece with a bolt going through it , its still strong but this brace displayed here is a proper way of bolting it up i think .

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

Like this If you want to use the stock screws.



Or like this if you want to add additional security and strength.

Lunar Wolf

...ouch.

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

Can you explain your comment?

Lunar Wolf

I can't see the nyloc nut adding anything to that. Using a machine thread screw in a piece of nylon like the stock shock tower brace will act like a nyloc as it is and will hold very well. By forcing it out the back like that you could well start a tear or split in the nylon that will travel and eventually destroy the nylon tower support, and at the very least it just looks brutal.

Edit: also looks like your using 302 Stainless steel bolts, they only have 60% the tensile strength of 12.9 Alloy steel, maybe consider switching.

splcrazy

its a better design but this brace is only bolted into where the stock position of where the shocks used to be , it needs to have the same bolt up setup as the phatdaddy brace has included with the encapsulated bolting setup of this new design then it woulkd be bullet proof , plus turtle racing has this brace already on DDM

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

If something happens to bend or brake the screws it will be the least of my worries.
The size and strength of this size screw overkill for any load that they may take in this application.
Sure other material may be stronger but again its overkill so its a moot point.

Have you started on your design yet?
From what you described in your post it sounds interesting to say the least.
Post some photos so we can see it.

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

Just found this