ASK Cub Reporter, 10.24.2013, Version- Your Emails, My Babbling

“I have been thinking about going with piggyback shocks on my Associated T4 but do not know how much better they will perform. What are the upsides and downsides?

Bryan G.”

Cubby- Hey now Bryan, thanks for the email and be sure to shoot Brian your snail mail for a free sticker pack.

Hey bro, I’m so glad you decided to go with piggyback shocks, they are so rad. You can instantly plow through railroad ties and jump off the roof of the tallest building you can find and they just soak it up! Break out your credit card fast, I can’t believe you lived without them for so long!!!

And back to the real world…

Hate to break the bad news to ya, but in the rc world a “piggyback” reservoir on a shock is mostly (who am I kidding, they are 100%) cosmetic. There are piggyback shocks out there that don’t even hold any oil, and even if they did, the shocks never get hot enough to warrant the extra volume. Piggybacks work well in the full scale world, but that doesn’t transfer down to us.

However… they do look freak’n cool and if you are building a scale machine I would consider them a must have simply for looks.

“Cubby the new car I got says I should adjust camber and toe “when necessary”, what does that mean? I know you can help and thank you.

Wilson M.”

Cubby- Yo hey Wilson, thanks for the email, and freak’n of course I can help you out.

With that said… maybe you don’t know what camber or toe is. If that’s the case Google it, I don’t have time for you. But seriously, camber is the vertical angle of the wheels when viewed from the front or back. Negative camber, tires angled in at the top, lends to more grip in corners. Toe is the angle of the wheels pointing in or out from the centerline of the vehicle. Positive toe gives more steering at corner entry. If that was your question, we are done here.

If you have half a brain and already knew what camber and toe were, I will guess your question pertains to why you might need to adjust them as you own a vehicle.

Adjusting toe and camber is a very valuable tuning aid. For example, lets say the rear of your truck is loose in corners. You can dial in a couple degrees of negative camber on the rear wheels and find some much needed grip, simply making your truck easier to drive.

Also of note, camber and toe will need to be adjusted over time, especially after you hit hard objects (like everyone does). Smacking a curb at 30 can very easily tweak a camber rod, knuckle, etc, resulting in your camber/toe getting knocked a bit out of whack. I consider a RPM camber gauge a “must have” item for your pit box, ours get used daily.

Go fast, have fun, and smash stuff hard Wilson.

That’s it for this week ya freaks, shoot me your questions/hate mail/manifestos to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com, you’ll be soooo glad ya did. Every letter that makes the bigtime earns the author a free sticker pack and if I proclaim yours as “letter of the month” you’ll get a free BSRC t-shirt.

YOUR Cub Reporter