HPI adjustable suspension upper arms suck

[adamskii]

So i scored a set of the adjustable upper arms for my savvy X ( the HPI ones - hey they were FREE !) installed them, and get this.. even when the turnbuckle is wound in so the arm is at its shortest length, the camber of the tyres is still POSITIVE by at least 5 degrees.

Ok so i am new to all this.. but.. wouldnt the purpose of this hop up be add adjustability (both + and - camber) especially with a bias towards negative camber? maybe the savvy X has some wider diff box or something that forces the adjustment wider?

Anyone else know of this problem ? the only solution I have is to physically cut the plastic ends shorter by around 2 - 3 mm each end of the turnbuckles bolt head so it can wind in further and hence reduce length etc etc camber finally where i want it ... any other solutions would be appreciated before i chop stuff. Hmm a chopper HPI, wonder what the boys at OCC could do with that ? lol (chopper as in the motorcycle)

Adaam

 

[Droogmole SS 4.6!]

hmm well i've got the SS4.6 and mine has adjustable upper arms to.. is can turn them to zero dergrees but then they are almost completly turned in
and i also cant get en positive camber..... but i don't race it i think the solution you have thought of is the best solution for it.... a HPI chopper????.. ow and the arms don't suck.. they are a lot stiffer and stronger than the standard ones...

 

[trashard]

yup. same problem here!
Am I a retard who has assembled them the wrong way?
Oh well.. I AM a retard but I didn`t assemble them the wrong way.
I have set them to 0 degrees as well.
I`ve been thinking about cutting them off also but how do I get them perfect?
I mean within a 0.05 mm tolerance.
maybe I can make shorter turnbuckles myself but I`m not capable of making
left/right turnbuckles myself.
only thing I can think of now is just a shorter piece of thread.
If I want to make L/R turnbuckles I have to buy some expensive cutting tools for making thread myself( don`t know the proper translation, like I told before I`m a retard )and just make turnbuckles out of a steel rod.

 

[adamskii]

so maybe this..

just to clarify.. negative camber is when the top of the wheels lean in to the chassis, positive is when they lean out. I'm not sure why anyone would want to have a positive camber ? someone will tell me now i said that of course.. lol! negative would help somewhat in turning on the track at speed.

The way i will trim the plastic parts is :

using a band saw at my job
dissasembling the arms (remove turnbuckles)
make a jig by moving bandsaw fence to within 3 mm of the blade, and then
using a guide to keep pieces at right angle to blade cut the 3mm off each end of each peice.
hopefully that will help with more negative camber as the reconstructed upper arm HAS to be at least 6 mm shorter! (give me my -5 deg camber)

the internal hole the turnbuckle goes into is deeper than the length of the thread so plenty room to spare without having to redrill the hole deeper ( and therefore loose strength)

will let you know how it goes !

Adaam

 

[trashard]

sounds like a shorter piece of thread will do the job also.
the hex in the middle of the turnbuckle is too long.
problem with a shorter piece of thread is that you can only turn it in 1/2 turn increments only because you don`t have L/R turnbuckles.

 

[adamskii]

what do u mean by lr thread?

The turnbuckle has a left hand and a right hand thread on each end so a clockwise or counter clockwise wind will lengthen or shorten the whole arm, not one half.

as it happens I trimmed 2mm off each end tonight with a dremel tool. wow, fuly closed the camber was about 15 mm negative !! plenty of adjustment now.

The only unforseen extra task is that the tie rods become too long when yje camber is reduced, anhd causes a massive toe in effect and need to be adjusted to correct. Quite a nuisance balancing the toe in with the camber each time one is changed the other needs to be changed to match it.

Anyways am quite happy now with the arms, will see how they go with some heave duty bashing this weekend...

adamskii

 

[trashard]

it`s because the upper arms have a fixed position.
with a normal piece of thread you only have right thread.
the turnbuckles of the savvy have left/right thread so you can give it a 31 or 87 or maybe 200 degree turn and you don`t have to take off the upper arms.
without L/R thread you have to take off 1 side and turn it by at least 1/2 turn
or you can`t put it back in the bulkhead.
for example if you give it a 1/4 turn the hole where it`s mounted to the bulkhead faces upwards or downwards.