XT8 springs?

[nativepaul]

Hi all, I am getting some chassis slap on even very small jumps with my MMM 1518 4s powered pre'09 XT8, it currently has blue springs front and yellow springs rear, I bought a used nitro and converted it so I have no idea if these are the stock springs or if I am heavier than stock or not as it came as a roller, but I need something harder to stop the chassis slap.

What springs fit pre-'09 XT8s, and what colours should I be looking for?

[RC-Monster Mike]

You may or may not need stiffer springs, but this won't do much in eliminating chassis slap - heavier shock oil is what slows the suspension action. You may still need/want a stiffer spring if the truck seems to wallow or is mushy feeling. :)

[nativepaul]

It does handle horribly compared to my buggy even when that was stock, but I'm not sure I would call it wallowey, mushy may be closer. It seems to suffer really badly from the Higher CoG, but its my first tall vehicle so I am not sure if it is normal. I was expecting increased weight transfer to some extent but not this much.

With any power applied so much weight comes off the front wheels that it understeers terribly, at full speed and full power the turning circle is about 50 meters, and when accelerating from a lower speed it goes from even worse to non-existant depending on how hard I accelerate, it seems that the only way to turn at speed is to come off the throttle and hit the brakes which shifts all the weight onto the front wheels and then I get oversteer which gets it round the corner but i cant accelerate past the apex as it will then understeer wide, I have to wait till nearly all the steering is off before I give it any throttle again.

[RC-Monster Mike]

What shock oil and diff oil is in the truck now? It sounds all around too soft, but diff oil can also play a role. I have the newer xt8 and use blue springs all around with 45/40 or 50/45 front/rear shock oil. I use 10k in the center, 3k in the rear and 7k in the front diff. I do get some chassis slap, but it handles rough tracks pretty well, is very responsive and has great steering. The newer version is a little longer with minor suspension changes(upper front arms) vs the older truck, but similar settings should still yield similar results.

[nativepaul]

I haven't rebuilt anything, so don't know what is in there, I will try the harder version of what you use.

Do you know if the yellow springs I have in the rear are softer or harder than the blues?

[RC-Monster Mike]

I think yellow is the softest and probably too soft on a truggy. Blue is somewhere in the middle. I also have purple on a set of shocks, which is a little stiffer than the blue.

[nativepaul]

Are XB808 springs the same as XT8 springs? I found front and rear pairs of XB808 springs in the XT8 spares section of one shop, and together both pairs are a fair bit cheaper than the set of 4 XT8 springs and more choice of strengths too, though neither have a yellow strangely.

[RC-Monster Mike]

808 and xt8 springs are the same.

[nativepaul]

Thanks Ill go for the 808 then and save some pennies, with the wider choice available with 808 springs I am thinking of going for violet, which are half way between the blue and purple you mentioned, or were the purples a big mistake?

[RC-Monster Mike]

I have two sets of shocks - the purple springs are on one and the blue are on the other. On bumpier tracks I use the blue and smoother tracks I use the purple - neither is unusable in either condition, though. Violet or purple is a good choice imo.

[nativepaul]

What shock pistons do you use? I see there are 2 and 4 hole, tapered and untapered mentioned in the instruction manual. I had most of the oils already but I am waiting for 1 more before I do a rebuild.

[nativepaul]

I just filled my shocks and the pistons had 2 large holes front and 6 smaller holes rear, does that sound right?

I bought the purple XB808 springs and tried to fit them too but they are too short and fat for the shocks.

My pre'09 XT8 shocks have spring seats 17mm/.67" diameter and 75mm/2.95" apart at the front and 20mm/.79" diameter and 85mm/3.35" apart in the rear.

The XB808 springs however are 20.75mm/.817 diameter all round and are 63mm/2.49" long front and 83mm/3.27" long at the rear.

Can anyone suggest some springs to fit the spring seats specified above? any manufacturer will do they don't have to be Xray, i am looking for fairly hard springs, the purple and blue Mike suggested above are the hardest and second down from hardest in the Xray range if that is of any help.

Also I have a set of purple (hard) XB808 springs I dont need so if you pay the postage on them they are yours, bearing in mind I am in England so probably a couple of quid to my fellow brits, but if your in the states postage is likely to be a lot higher than Europe, somewhere around $10 I would guess, but I Just paid about $20+ post for them and they have never been used so still a good deal.

[nativepaul]

Damn it, I'm close to tearing all my hair out now, I ordered a set of springs from the part number in my XT8 manual which I didn't really want to do as there are only 3 hardnesses in the range, I went for the stock hard blue, and they arrived today, fronts are the same as my existing fronts but I swapped them for shiny new ones anyway, rears don't fit they are too small in diameter this time, it looks like my rear shocks aren't Xray ones and are semi big bores, being half way between XT8 and XT8'09 diameter. at this point I don't know what to do, I have spent near $50 on springs and still have the same strength springs I started with, could have bought a new set of shocks for that Had I known they weren't XRay ones. I cant keep throwing good money after bad and buy new shocks too at this point.

Anyone know what truggy has grey anodized shock bodies, clip length adjustment rather than threaded collars, one piece grey alloy top caps, rubber shock shaft covers, 17mm/.672" shock body diameter, 20mm/.79" diameter spring seats and are 125mm/4.9" long hole to hole? maybe if someone can Identify them I can get some springs that actually fit before I do something stupid.

[RC-Monster Mike]

A picture of the shock may help, Paul