I just picked up a used Baja 5b and want some advice on setup. It has stock springs and shocks front and rear, with 40 weight HPI oil in the front and 5 weight in the rear. The shocks are all in good shape with fresh oil and no leaks or bent shafts. No swaybars are installed. I am running the stock Baja 5SC tires since I plan to convert it to a truck. It handles like CRAP. on the dirt it under steers badly, and has WAY too much body roll. On pavement, you almost can't turn around without it rolling over onto the outside rear tire and then hooking into a flip. The rear also bottoms out constantly. I have set of stiffer rear springs to try, and have thought about using those springs with a little heavier oil (15-20 weight maybe?). I also have the full set of swaybars, but am unsure which combination to start with. I have driven a stock, right out of the box 5SC and it's handling is very close to what I am looking for. Any ideas?
Suspension setup question
- Thread starter MX304
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Don't have a clue on the truck but I run 20wt all the way around on my buggy and the springs are about 12mm spaced from top. Never come close to flipping it but I have buggy tires on it.
Sorry, not much help on your set up.
Sorry, not much help on your set up.
- Thread starter
- #3
Don't have a clue on the truck but I run 20wt all the way around on my buggy and the springs are about 12mm spaced from top. Never come close to flipping it but I have buggy tires on it.
Sorry, not much help on your set up.
Are you running the swaybars?
lordraptor1
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i have a 5bss, i had similar issues as you are. however i didnt tought the shocks till recently and only did it because i had no choice due to added waeight from replacing and hopping up rear end parts. ok i am still running stock out of the box setup (with medium swaybars) with 1 exception, i am using teh DDM HD springs (the yellow-orange ones that are on clearance for 4.99 . i can tell you that ds axle extenders will help with the rolling over because of the wider stance but not sure if they will work on a 5sc or 5t.
so far i have changed teh steering servo for the 5755mg, changed teh stock prings out for the hd ddm springs added ds axle extenders and this week i will be changing my suspension arems and dogbones out for flm extended units and some rezzies. i am going to try to stick with the stock shock oils to see how it works for me although i have been advised to use heavier weights.
i have not felt anything that makes me want to change out the oils but you may need to for a different viscosity but if you are bottoming out in the rear i suggest a HD rear spring.
one more thing to check is teh shock placement, if you built it or have had the shockes off it is possible you may have mixed them up, the longer shock bodies with the dual spring setup goes on the rear
. i can tell you that ds axle extenders will help with the rolling over because of the wider stance but not sure if they will work on a 5sc or 5t. so far i have changed teh steering servo for the 5755mg, changed teh stock prings out for the hd ddm springs added ds axle extenders and this week i will be changing my suspension arems and dogbones out for flm extended units and some rezzies. i am going to try to stick with the stock shock oils to see how it works for me although i have been advised to use heavier weights.
i have not felt anything that makes me want to change out the oils but you may need to for a different viscosity but if you are bottoming out in the rear i suggest a HD rear spring.
one more thing to check is teh shock placement, if you built it or have had the shockes off it is possible you may have mixed them up, the longer shock bodies with the dual spring setup goes on the rear
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Nope. Does the buggy squat in the rear when sitting still?
- Thread starter
- #6
Yes it does. With the preload adjusters set 1/2" from the top there is about 1/2" of sag measured at the rear of the chassis.
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- Thread starter
- #7
i have a 5bss, i had similar issues as you are. however i didnt tought the shocks till recently and only did it because i had no choice due to added waeight from replacing and hopping up rear end parts. ok i am still running stock out of the box setup (with medium swaybars) with 1 exception, i am using teh DDM HD springs (the yellow-orange ones that are on clearance for 4.99
so far i have changed teh steering servo for the 5755mg, changed teh stock prings out for the hd ddm springs added ds axle extenders and this week i will be changing my suspension arems and dogbones out for flm extended units and some rezzies. i am going to try to stick with the stock shock oils to see how it works for me although i have been advised to use heavier weights.
i have not felt anything that makes me want to change out the oils but you may need to for a different viscosity but if you are bottoming out in the rear i suggest a HD rear spring.
one more thing to check is teh shock placement, if you built it or have had the shockes off it is possible you may have mixed them up, the longer shock bodies with the dual spring setup goes on the rear
I have a set of the HD rear springs on the way to me. I assumed I will need a heavier oil to better control the damping. The last this I want is the rear kicking over the front off of jumps due to the rebound damping not being up to the HD springs.
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Try this...........
FRONT....Three hole pistons with 5WT mineral oil.Front arms level.
REAR.......Two hole pistons with 15WT oil.Dog bones level.
No roll bars.
See how you go with that.
J
FRONT....Three hole pistons with 5WT mineral oil.Front arms level.
REAR.......Two hole pistons with 15WT oil.Dog bones level.
No roll bars.
See how you go with that.
J
- Thread starter
- #9
I don't have those particular pistons to try. If the stuff I am going to try this weekend doesn't work, then I'll try getting my hands on a set to test.
lordraptor1
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my baja has so much aluminum on the back end it was sagging in the rear and i had to put on th ehd springs however nothing else has been changed (shock wise) from its by the book instruction manual assembly. to help with the roll over issues try some darksoul axle extenders at the least, i myslef have the axle extenders but also have a set of extended flm arms and flm extended cvd's on teh way
- Thread starter
- #11
my baja has so much aluminum on the back end it was sagging in the rear and i had to put on th ehd springs however nothing else has been changed (shock wise) from its by the book instruction manual assembly. to help with the roll over issues try some darksoul axle extenders at the least, i myslef have the axle extenders but also have a set of extended flm arms and flm extended cvd's on teh way
Mine is all stock in the rear other than cups and shafts, so I'm not sure why it sags as much as it does. The previous owner might have put softer springs in it for all I know. If I can get it to not roll the chassis over so far, the roll over issue will probably fix itself without running extensions. I'm converting it slowly into a 5sc anyway, and the extended stuff wouldn't work too well under that body.
lordraptor1
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yeah, i hear you, i am personally sticking with buggy arrangement. i cant stand teh look of teh sc adn the t has been discontinued. question about your rear springs, are they 2 springs seperated by a little plastic spacer? if not that might be your problem. the rear springs are actually suppose to be a long spring and a short spring with a plastic spacer between them.
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- #13
Yes they have the two springs and the spacer. I'm actually not going to use the SC body. I'm going with the Tripp widebody TT and a team chase cage.
lordraptor1
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and your preload is set correctly on the rear? that is strange indeed, shouldnt be sagging unless there is alot of weight in the rear and for me to get the the point that the rear end was sagging and bottoming out i had to put alot of aluminum on the rear end. all i can suggest is stiffer rear springs, the oil doesn't really do anything for stiffening up the suspension per sey.
teh rear springs may in fact be lighter than stock as was commented on earlier, if the springs are hpi brand yellow is soft, black is stock and blue is firm, if the springs are aftermarket then stiffness is anyones guess.
- Thread starter
- #15
The springs are black. The preload nuts are set about 1/2" below the shock cap. I tried cranking it down to about twice that and it helped a little, but not much. I know the oil doesn't help hold the rear up any better, but I worried about going up on spring rate on lite oil. I don't want the rear shocks to turn into pogo stick with too much spring and not enough damping. I broke a femur riding a motocross bike with that problem several years ago. Not fun....
lordraptor1
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teh preload on teh rear springs stock is only 12mm for a 5b, do you have teh stock rear shock mount? if so which hole do you have teh shocks in? you could make sure the top of the shocks are mounted in teh lower shock mount hole (lower hole on teh aluminum plate)
i don't think it would hurt adding some preload but there is something wrong to have that gagging if you don't have alot of aluminum. for example i had to have a tr quicj diff, tr diffsaver, tr rear upper plate, ada enclosed clutch bell carrier, rear dom V2, modified rc V1 rear bumper, tr 1 piece gear plate, tr V2 rear shock mount, and a gbe rear engine mount to get it to sag where i needed to do something about it (the DDM stiff springs fixed the problem though).
i don't think it would hurt adding some preload but there is something wrong to have that gagging if you don't have alot of aluminum. for example i had to have a tr quicj diff, tr diffsaver, tr rear upper plate, ada enclosed clutch bell carrier, rear dom V2, modified rc V1 rear bumper, tr 1 piece gear plate, tr V2 rear shock mount, and a gbe rear engine mount to get it to sag where i needed to do something about it (the DDM stiff springs fixed the problem though).
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BiggaJ
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The thing to remember is that you make one change at a time, if you have stiffer springs fit them first then see how it goes. Generally you would not fit stiffer springs and increase the weight of the oil also as one magnifies the other and before you know it the car is too stiffly sprung.
Adding a swaybar will neaten things up in the handling department, the Baja is a very tail happy car so not having a swaybar fitted will cause the suspension to dig in and flip the car.
Adding a swaybar will neaten things up in the handling department, the Baja is a very tail happy car so not having a swaybar fitted will cause the suspension to dig in and flip the car.
lordraptor1
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bigga i didnt change my oil at all when i changed out springs but i changed teh springs because i added a ton of weight to teh rear end LOL. i do not have any problems with mine as far as the rear shocks go now but i am wondering why his is sagging if he doesn't had alot of aluminum on the rear end of it
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- #19
The shocks are in the lower hole of the stock mount already.
lordraptor1
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so basically you have the stock shocks, stock springs, correct mounting holes, no aluminum hop ups on the rear adding weight then? there is only 1 other thing i can think of then and that is there was a mix up in assembly/re-assembly and teh rear shocks have teh front shock shafts and vice versa. the oil in the rear shocks wouldnt cause a sagging.
with that said, just to clarify by sagging are your dogbones level? that is when the vehicle is setting on the ground and you look at it from the back are the dogbones running in a stright line or do they look slanted? if the bones are running level then there really isnt a problem at all