Well I finally got a KV-1 that was in good order out of the box, but unlike the others that had pretty good suspensions this one has a completely mushy springs that are basically dead(and that's with plastic tracks onlol). Fortunately this is not a hard fix, but wanted to ask every body a couple questions:
1. If I choose to reclock the springs do I have to drill new holes or are there already alternate holes from the factory?
2. I've heard you can run upgraded springs same as the Panther/jagdpanther....Has anybody tried this, and isare theyworth it?

 Hey there fellow KV1 owner . To answer your questions , No there are not alternate holes ,so yes you will have to drill . Phil at RcTankwars should have the springs . I have the upgraded springs and reclocked them . Mine runs great . You might want to think about the steel gears too . You can find them on evil bay .

I guess that might depend on personal experience & your specific HL KV-1, because I would beg to differ, as photos of my KV-1 clocking experience show the extra holes can already be there, no drilling was necessary => KV-1 spring clocking ... so DirtyBird69 will just ahve to take off a few wheels & check.

~ Craig ~

yeah , I have a whole box of hop-ups waiting to go on....I was planning on upgrading the springs anyways....just placed an order with Phil for the upgraded ones lol..Iwonder if the stiffer springs will still need to be clocked or not? I don't want the suspension too stiff...hmmm...

I really don't understand why you would want to buy the upgraded springs when clocking acheives the same effect for free. On my KV-1, I did have to drill new holes, but then that was about 3 years ago, so maybe the newer ones come with the alternate holes already drilled?
JIm

i actually took one of those tiny flathead screwdrivers heated it up and melted a new hole i didn't have a small enough drill bit at the time ...lol
it was the only thing i had to do to my KV-1 from Matomart

DB,

I hate spending your money but asiatam has a lower hull. Looks pretty decent http://www.asiatam.com

Cheers,
Wade

The factory springs are SO flat the tank is bottomed out as it is out of the box so I highly doubt clocking will help as much unless I get some fresh springs on it....plus with the kv-2 turret and add-ons it's gonna be pretty heavy when completed..

To be a broken record...clocking springs is only appropriate if the springs are already stiff enough to support the load. And if that were the case, clocking would not be necessary.

If the springs cannot support the load at the "stock" ride height, then they do not have enough resistance to accomplish the task. Clocking said springs SHOULD therefore result in spring failure more quickly than if proper rate springs were used. Springs are rated by how far they compress with a given weight applied to them. Of course you can get further into the topic with progressive and constant rate springs, but that's not what we are dealing with.

This is probably the reason some people believe keeping weight off the springs for storage helps...it would, if the springs are overloaded already. But proper rate springs fail from being loaded/unloaded (use), not from sitting in a static position.

I agree...and since thicker uprgaded springs are only $20...WTH...

Here is my 2c, If it cost 20 for the springs and you stated the tank will be heavier, that will put more stress on the plastic arms also which in turn most likely will break. The metal arms are around $30 I think, now include shipping you are looking at $60 to $70 for springs and arms. I would spend $30 more then that and get the asiatam hull. Metal arms,bearings etc are included I believe.

Cheers,
Wade

well its not going to be that much heavier, but if the OEM springs cant even handle the weight of the factory set-up then they gotta go is all I'm sayIng..I'm really trying to keep thisas affordable as possible...plusit's kind of fun to see how much bang I can get out of this for as little cash as possibleand still have a battle ready, reasonably stout tank lol...or at least that's the theory...Personally if I decided to spend all the money going Asiatam I'd jsutas soon go ahead and buy a Tamiya...just my personal opinion. But I'm a "budget" tanker and like to show that I can have a cool tank to and not have to dump 2G's to do it....

Well I do agree on keeping to a budget, I can't even make a decision to fork over money for a decent electronics package.....But I figured its your money not mine lol.


Cheers,
Wade

yeah I went with the mako set-up, but will be keeping my eye on the clark set-up..