Suspension tips for the HPI Baja 5B

The HPI Baja 5B has a fully adjustable suspension system. By learning what each adjustment does and how to make those adjustments you will not only become more familiar with your vehicle and how it works, but you will be able to get the most out of your hobby and vehicle. The following article from your freinds at Hostile Hobby should help explain the adjustments, how to make them and what to expect, as well as some areas specific to the Baja 5b.

	Camber is the angle of the wheel in relation to the ground. Notice the photo on the left. You will see the 3 basic settings. Neutral, positive and negative. When turning, the vehicle will lean outwards and the wheel angle will be reduced. If you started with 0 degrees when the vehicle leans in a turn it could actually ride on the sidewall of the tire. You will find a balance for tread wear and traction. 2 degrees is a great place to start. One problem specific to the Baja 5B is the stress on the beadlocks have been known to tear the tires, beads and sidewalls. Some have even lost chunks from the outer carcass. By using more camber(leaning the wheels in more) you remove some of the stress on the outer sidewalls during turns or donuts and can make your HPI 5B tires last longer.
Toe adjustment can be made 'in' our 'out' on the frong and rear tires. The photo on the right will show examples. Slight toe-in is normally preferred. Slight toe-in on the front wheels will keep the vehicle tracking straight, too much will scrub off speed and make turning more difficult. Toe-out will increase turning at the expense of straight line instability. Once again you should make adjustments one at a time and get a feel for what is happening and how your handling is affected. A simple way to measure toe is by using a ruler to measure the distance between the wheels on the front and in the back. The image shows how this measurement is taken. Front toe adjustment is done by turning the turnbuckles on the steering links to the desired point. Toe on the rear wheels affects how the vehicle will accellerate and handle under power. Slight toe-in offers great balance of traction and turning, but this is another area that adjusment can make tires last longer. With less rear toe-in there will be less side stress on the bead area and sidewall of the tires. They do last a bit longer with less toe, but at the expense of on-power turning. The rear toe is adjusted by changing the spacers in the rear hub carriers. refer to your owners manual for photos and more detailed instructions. A rear-wheel drive vehicle "pushes" the front axle's tires as they roll along the road. Tire rolling resistance causes a little drag resulting in rearward movement of the suspension arms against their bushings. Because of this, many rear wheel drive vehicles use some toe-in on the front to compensate for the movement, enabling the tires to run parallel to each other at speed. Neutral setting are the fastest with least rolling resistance.
	The HPI Baja 5B comes with shocks that offer adjustable dampening and spring pressure. The collar for the spring pressure is to adjust ride height. Ride height should be set so that the rear dogbones are level with the ground when sitting idle. Sometimes it is desirable to have a higher ride height for ground clearance issues. The collars on the shocks can be turned to give the desired ride height. The front arms should also be level at rest, but changing the ride height from front to rear will offer extra tuning options for your handling. A lower front will offer more turning while a lower rear will offer greater traction. Finding the balance that works for you should not take much time at all. The spring has a set firmness rate. Ramtech offers 20% stiffer springs that offer a firmer ride. The dampening of the shock can be externally adjusted by changing between the 5 hole sizes in the shock piston. Due to the weakness of the stock shocks it is not recommended to use thicker oil than the stock 20 weight oil and not to use the 4 smaller holes in the piston as this extra dampening force in often enough to bend the shock shafts. This can be minimized by leaving the shocks adjusted soft, or upgrading to new shocks like RC4WD offers, or the soon to be released upgrade shafts from Phatdaddy or Turtle Racing.
Caster is another adjusment available on the HPI Baja 5b. You will find clips on the inside pivot point of the front upper suspension arms. By placing these before or after the upper arm you are able to change the angle of the front wheel spindle. Placing the spacers to the rear will move the upper arm forward and create less caster angle. Moving the spacers to the front will move the upper arm rearward and create more caster angle. A very visual example of positive caster is a motorcycle's front steering forks. The forks point forward at the bottom and slope backward at the top. This rearward slope causes the front tire to remain stable when riding straight ahead and tilt towards the inside of the corner when turned. Caster angle settings allow you to balance steering effort, high speed stability and front end cornering effectiveness. Increasing the amount of positive caster will increase steering effort and straight line tracking, as well as improve high speed stability and cornering effectiveness. Positive caster also increases tire lean when cornering (almost like having more negative camber) as the steering angle is increased.

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