The RC Genius | How To Stiffen or Soften RC Shocks

Today I show you how to stiffen or soften your shocks. Its very easy, however if you are new in the hobby, you could need help. Thanks for watching, and please subscribe so we hit that 100 mark! See ya next time ;)

[@kidholiday1354]

I think your tires on the front are on backwards.

[@woodlakerc7047]

true, left and right should be changed

[@shahirabain8113]

Yarrrrrrrr

[@mikey7202]

They are lol

[@kevinearles]

I'm pretty sure that's on purpose bud

[@The_RC_Dude]

Actually, like many people said, you want sag. Sag is, well, how much a vehicle "sags" down under it's own weight. You want sag because it'll help your off-road performance and handling, because you suspension can still compress to absorb bumps and stuff, BUT upon meeting a small divot or hole, your suspension will be able to go DOWN into that hole, thus, the chassis will more or less just go in a straight horizontal line, because the wheels can go down to fill the dip. Sure, sag will mean you loose a small bit of suspension travel, but that's ok for better performance off-road. You don't want your car sagging too much though, if it sags like more than half the travel of the piston or more, you'll want stiffer springs and/or slightly thicker shock oil perhaps. Half of the suspension travel sag is the max you'd want to go, idealy, maybe like 1/3rd of the travel in sag. Sag will also make the vehicle jump, corner, and handle slightly better, as you will have a little lower center-of-gravity (CG or CoG). Real cars use sag, and so do things like Mountain bikes (in fact, us mountain bikers often specificaly tune our forks and shocks so there's about 30% sag with the rider and gear on the bike). Hope this makes sense! Edit: 4:51 I think you mean a "parts tree"?

[@raymondbetancourt6498]

Nice,but what car oil can compared to r.c. Oil. If there’s No RC oil for the shocks? Thanks.

[@mrmedium7984]

Adjusting the preload does not change the spring rate. All it does is require more force before the shock begins compression to overcome the preload.

[@andreasbrandstetter9221]

and no "negativ suspension travel" is bad offroad too....

[@chancesrc4832]

Thanks I'm having so many problems adjusting my shocks thank you...I'm a beginner new to hobby and new to having a channel. Hope I'm as successful as you some day.

[@TheRCGenius]

Chances RC you’re welcome! I’ll check out your channel. Thank you for watching!

[@lolzjack2]

Well made video thanks for the explanation.

[@purplelegorc2170]

Thanks bro this helped me alot! Purple Lego RC

[@chrismayo1457]

Not trying to be rude but your front tires are on backwards and what you're speaking of does not change the spring rate it changes the amount of preload

[@Chalkzie1]

Keep up the great work bro 👌🏻

[@skytalon74]

All that does when twisting preload is adjusting the ride height. Need different springs.

[@zackpower1600]

while i use different method with my shock absorber. take out the spring and pull until it stretch depend how stiff u want.the spring will became longer and stiffer..if u want it to be normal back just push it back to the max until the spring back to its default measurement

[@MATIKKMUZIK101]

Good info man👍👍 I'm kind of new to rc hobby and I just got my xinlehong 9125. My shocks have 2 of those adjusters on it. Is one a spacer and the other for adjustment? They're the same size too. Oh yeah I'm subbed

[@TheRCGenius]

MATIKKMUZIK101 thank you! I would guess so, but if you find the shocks too stiff, you could try removing them. The best way to get a good shock setup is to try different things and experiment, and determine what kind is the best. 😁👌

[@wooty8721]

Thought i was going to hear something aside from pre loading. :) im sure it will help out a lot of other folks though, nice video.

[@TheRCGenius]

Michael Williams thank you!

[@wooty8721]

The RC Genius all good man, keep the videos coming, liked and subbed.

[@TheRCGenius]

Michael Williams thank you! I appreciate it! I will sub back ;)

[@RCArsenal]

Well done to share some basic info! I know it helps a bunch of folks. Thumbs up #3! My next vid I post I'll add a link to your channel and add a shoutout in the vid. Hope it helps sends you some more viewers!

[@TheRCGenius]

R/C Arsenal thanks! Wow bro, thank you so much! I really would appreciate that! You are awesome. I really appreciate your support throughout my KZbin experience!

[@RCArsenal]

No problem! I appreciate the support as well brother!!!

[@3dprintinglibrary335]

Would really like to know where you get your info from? This video has a whole lot of bad in it. Turning the spring collars adjusts ride height only, shock oil thickness adjusts the downward speed when the truck lands, spring weights adjust how fast the truck returns to normal. If you don’t want your truck to bottom out then just add travel limiters to the shock shaft itself between the body and lower spring cup. FYI. The ride height should have the truck settle with the out drives level to just slightly under level for best mechanical performance. Oh and the reason your rear shocks feel softer is because when you give the truck throttle you want the rear to squat so that the rear tires grip hard and launch the truck faster.

[@nickwilliams6869]

Having probloms with bodoming out on take off and theres no shock positions

[@flamencojondotoday]

appriciate your videos man

[@TheRCGenius]

Thanks a lot!

[@jessicabailey7213]

my shocks lock down what can i do to fix that im a first time owner of a moster truck RC

[@mcbambino8938]

When u pull it up it should go up more so that when ur driving u get more soft suspension travel so that ur wheels don’t come of the ground to keep traction, ur springs are too hard

[@TheRCGenius]

Ok, thanks for the advice ;)

[@jbogalho]

@@TheRCGenius which is called "sag". the amount of sag desired will depend on the use intended, for some rig to run smooth skate park/concrete u dont need much, but to run fast on dirt/rocks, and keep the wheels on the ground, 20% of the travel isn't too much, i think.

[@youngpocket7846]

That plastic tube frame thing is called a runner. They have always been called runners in all models as far as I know

[@TheRCGenius]

Young Pocket I didn’t know that, but thanks for telling me! I will make sure to remember that!

[@Lonnie91a]

That’s adjusting preload not spring stiffness. Different things.

[@Stefan1978GER]

thanx.. was confused.

[@traxxas_cars160]

This is a super dumb question but do I turn left or right to adjust my preload for my threaded shocks

[@TheRCGenius]

There are no dumb questions 😜. Usually it’s right turns to make the collar go higher up the shock. Sometimes it’s the other way around. Just turn it and see which way it goes.

[@johnwinsley5224]

Thanks for the video. I needed to adjust the shots on my racer because the back shocks were almost dragging because of extra weight I had on the car.

[@gonzodetroitify]

Thanks

[@RC_guy667]

Where the hell did you get The Max D body dude!! That's badass!!!!

[@TheRCGenius]

I collected 4 of the monster jam trucks before they discontinued! I was lucky haha

[@TheRCGenius]

You can see the collection here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJPKq2Rnj8qNkMU

[@RC_guy667]

@@TheRCGenius is this all stock? Or could you send me your build? I need ideas I'm new to thr rc world. I just got the stampede 2wd

[@TheRCGenius]

Far from stock. A lot of the aluminum parts are from Integy. Those include Integy A-arms, skid plates, and the roll cage (which is not installed at the time of this video). The shocks are aluminum and are from Helion. The truck also has aluminum castor blocks from Traxxas. I kept the electronics stock because I’m happy with them. I would recommend some of these aluminum upgrades because because they add a lot of durability. This video was made several years ago, and those same parts are still in use today. You can look at my more recent videos, you can see how they held up.

[@whatgoesup9857]

How come your treads are backwards?

[@liquidsudagaming4974]

Here because idk wtf im doing lol

[@eriksturesson8841]

Good guide, keep it up :) One thing though regarding the natural/default position of the suspension. You should actually tune it so that you can lift the car up a little bit. That way, if you hit a pothole, the wheel can just drop down and climb smoothly. If it's already at maximum tension, it'll suddenly fall down and then bounce as you exit the hole. Here's a more detailed explanation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4LcnJSlZ5WcnNk

[@chevyboi8392]

So what’s good for stiff suspension?

[@TheRCGenius]

If you want stiff suspension, use some shock spacers to stiffen your springs. Getting stiffer springs all together can help. If you want softer shocks, use the opposite (less spacers & soft springs). You can also get thicker or runnier shock oil to stiffen or soften shocks, but this isn't as effective.

[@chevyboi8392]

The RC Genius yeah but is stiff suspension good for bashing and jumping?

[@TheRCGenius]

Der P it depends. In the end it’s all about personal preference. Also consider the weight of the truck. I like a softer suspension. Softer suspension can help more on landings, absorbing the impact better. I would suggest a shock setup where they are decently soft, but stiff enough to still support the truck without sagging.

[@ZeldaNumber17]

My shocks are fucked. Used zip ties as shock spacers, didn’t want to buy some. They do the same thing.

[@alexchambers231]

ur front tires are backwards its a V tread and ur V's are pointing the wrong way

[@backfliprc2503]

great left a like what do you think about me changing my channel name to BACKFLIP RC plz let me know

[@TheRCGenius]

the traxxas lover #7 thanks bro! That name is cool! I think the only thing is, is that you will have to do backflips! Lol. And what about the vlogs?

[@backfliprc2503]

the vlogs will still happen but it will be mostly rc stuff

[@TheRCGenius]

BACKFLIP RC awesome! I would do it!

[@backfliprc2503]

thanks so much man

[@liciasubwoofer2646]

Shocks must go up and down your wheels dont have to come off The ground when you pull it up!!

[@liciasubwoofer2646]

And Also shock rebound is set when you refill your shocks so you can have zero rebound not bad oil

[@TheRCGenius]

Ah! Ok, thank you! I learn more and more with the hobby every day! ;)

[@Chargersctpk]

This is horrible advice u did pretty good on most of the video BUT u mentioned that sag is bad but that isn't true. My udr stock has lots of travel and sag is good for handling and overall suspension travel

[@NyGreggUSA]

Your front tires are on the wrong sides. Those are directional tires. If people follow this example, they will have less traction.

[@bert1913]

Shafts are not aluminum

[@turbocam2283]

Parts tree?

[@TheRCGenius]

Turbo Cam the parts tree is just the small parts that come with the car that are connected to like a frame. They all have it ;)

[@cwatson42785]

Turbo Cam Hello.

[@MightyistheRCGamer]

What you are talking about is totally WRONG shock spacers and coilovers are to lift and lower your RC and even in REAL LIFE I know because I have coilovers on my Acura Integra... IF YOU ARE USING THE COILOVERS TO STIFFEN UP YOUR SHOCKS ON AN RC CAR THEN THEY ARE SIMPLY THE WRONG ONES FOR THAT RC. Or some idiot put on the wrong springs

[@matthewbyrd398]

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Lowering or raising the collars do NOT adjust rate. That’s only to adjust ride height. You’re no genius.

[@ScutuRC]

I've learned nothing! :( Everything you explained is in the vehicle manual and there's another way to soften or stiff the suspension... But I'll let you discover that by yourself...

[@desijrichert]

RC Genius? How can you be an RC Genius when you can't even get your tires put on the right way? That's just SAD. Try RC Dunce. "Duh, I'm da RC Genus....blu.. blu ..bluphht".

[@TheRCGenius]

Don’t worry, they are on properly now.

[@stellarvulpine8077]

@@TheRCGenius bro its been 3 years why are you still replying? Lol I love the video though!

[@TheRCGenius]

Miner_G ha! I still upload man. Check out the newer vids on the channel, I’ve got a lot of cool new stuff. I read all the comments I get. 👊

[@chrsmcwtrs]

wrong...

[@diegowelt]

worst intro ever

[@TheRCGenius]

I think you would find that my current work has far improved since then.