Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Set the links on your F109

In putting this car together, I noticed that the rear link setup is pretty close to the SpeedMerchant Rev style 1/12 cars. It also requires you to go through the same setup for the links to create a smooth suspension action.

The instructions tell you to set the links at the same length. This probably won't be correct however. Most of the time, if you do this, you will feel a "clicking" or a "catch" in the side to side action. To really feel what the car is doing, you need to have the links attached to the lower pod plate with no other parts on the pod plate, and the rear bulkhead with the center pivot attached to the chassis and lower pod plate.

It's fairly easy to take 4 screws out of the lower pod plate, and remove the motor mount and axle, upper plate, etc, all in one piece. With the lower pod clean, you can cycle the plate side to side and feel if the suspension is hanging up. If it is, and it probably is, you need to start adjusting one of the links. The idea is to go shorter or longer on this one link until the suspension feels very smooth and free and does not click or hang up at all. You will know which way to go by the fact that one way will make the car start to smooth out, and the other way will make everything much worse. It may take a bit of adjustment, but it will get there.

Once the car is feeling good, you just need to reattach everything and run. If you get into a good wreck, you may have to do this again, as the car may have shifted around. I know after I built my car per the instructions, it was pretty bound up feeling. It took a little cranking, but now it feels great.

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