DBXL race setups…braaap

[Respiro]

I recently dusted off my dbxl and started racing her. This thread is for tires, springs, oils, and fluid set ups. There are plenty of other threads to talk about engines.

my setup
Diffs (alum cups all around)
F 10k
C 500k
R 5k
Shocks:
5ive-t front shocks all around
30wt oil
Stock blue springs (11.6 lb spring rate)

preload maxed out all around.

Drove well, squirrelly on the rear and over bumps. Zero bump control, would bounce off of everything… car felt unsettled.

 

[Seandonato73]

Prolly gonna need heavier springs for what your doing with it. I had thought about it, but sold it off before I got the chance.
Any chance you have a video of it running, better to see what's going then a picture.
How did the rebound feel?
Did It stay squatted on its ass or come up on the straights?
What do you mean by drove well but squirrely?
Imo your front and rear diff weights are low, but bob may have a better suggestion. these are pretty light weight and with power upgrades it's gonna want to keep sending more power upfront and not a nice even front/rear split.
Does it corner well? Any tire ballooning? I can see in your picture the rear left has started to balloon. I would assume it was the light tire at that point. Front tire looked OK, but the other side could have been just as bad.

 

[misterleon]

hey homie, do a test by lifting up the rear and front then dropping it. The suspension should keep your dog bones level horizontally. If it slapping off the ground then bouncing back up then you need a stiffer spring and thicker shock oil. If it’s slapping off the ground and staying then you need stiffer springs only. If you need to pack the preload all the way out then you need to go up to losi red springs. If the preload is set that high then your ride height is more likely higher then you want.

Prolly gonna need heavier springs for what your doing with it. I had thought about it, but sold it off before I got the chance.
Any chance you have a video of it running, better to see what's going then a picture.
How did the rebound feel?
Did It stay squatted on its ass or come up on the straights?
What do you mean by drove well but squirrely?
Imo your front and rear diff weights are low, but bob may have a better suggestion. these are pretty light weight and with power upgrades it's gonna want to keep sending more power upfront and not a nice even front/rear split.
Does it corner well? Any tire ballooning? I can see in your picture the rear left has started to balloon. I would assume it was the light tire at that point. Front tire looked OK, but the other side could have been just as bad.

it’s tough to recommend diff oils because it’s highly dependent on driving style. Some guys love super low diff oils like 10/15/5 some guys like higher like 60/1m/10. The main issue is that the higher you go with diffs the less these cars want to turn. If you want to win you need to turn fast. Burning off power by diffing out isn’t always a bad thing also. It makes the car more predictable on a track

 

[Respiro]

Prolly gonna need heavier springs for what your doing with it. I had thought about it, but sold it off before I got the chance.
Any chance you have a video of it running, better to see what's going then a picture.
How did the rebound feel?
Did It stay squatted on its ass or come up on the straights?
What do you mean by drove well but squirrely?
Imo your front and rear diff weights are low, but bob may have a better suggestion. these are pretty light weight and with power upgrades it's gonna want to keep sending more power upfront and not a nice even front/rear split.
Does it corner well? Any tire ballooning? I can see in your picture the rear left has started to balloon. I would assume it was the light tire at that point. Front tire looked OK, but the other side could have been just as bad.

hey homie, do a test by lifting up the rear and front then dropping it. The suspension should keep your dog bones level horizontally. If it slapping off the ground then bouncing back up then you need a stiffer spring and thicker shock oil. If it’s slapping off the ground and staying then you need stiffer springs only. If you need to pack the preload all the way out then you need to go up to losi red springs. If the preload is set that high then your ride height is more likely higher then you want.

it’s tough to recommend diff oils because it’s highly dependent on driving style. Some guys love super low diff oils like 10/15/5 some guys like higher like 60/1m/10. The main issue is that the higher you go with diffs the less these cars want to turn. If you want to win you need to turn fast. Burning off power by diffing out isn’t always a bad thing also. It makes the car more predictable on a track

Springs:
I definitely need a higher rated spring. I could keep the FRONT nor the rear from dragging asx around the track.

the oils are definitely soft at 30wt. Like water for this big rig. Will try 35weight next and test it out.


Diffs:
I like my center diff to being heavy as to prevent unloading of power during jumps. I had zero problems with ballooning of tires. But the trade of was i lost some steering. With 500k in the center the car was pushing the front end out to much.

Another thing i noticed while racing the db, the brakes suck! I am guessing this is due to the plastic center diff mount… it flexes like crazy. 2-3mm this way and that way.

 

[Seandonato73]

I'd wait to do the shock oil til you get the heavier springs. Try one thing at a time.
Yes eventually you'll want to ditch that plastic center mount, I cracked mine and it caused all sorts of issues. Braking wasn't one of them, but the fid set up I ended up getting stopped much better then the factory set up. If your gonna stick with factory I think rcr makes pads and a disk for the dbxl. Have them on my vekta (considerably heavier then the dbxl) and it stops great.