Shock angle and shock question.....

[TWISTER]

We are looking for what it seems everyone is looking for this time of year......an increase in forward drive and sidebite in these dry summer conditions. So with that being said......................

Assuming all things are equal......if i lean the top of my RR shock in, will that enhance forward drive and side bite? Also what if i stood the LR shock up by moving it out at the top, would this enhance froward drive and side bite? Been told different stuff and just wanted to get some more opinions on this.Right now been running the LR shock in at the top and the RR more straight up.
Which makes more traction on the LR in dry conditions........
1. A gas shock and spring behind with no shock in front
2. A gas shock and spring behind with a true dummy shock in front on BC
3. A regular fluid shock and spring behind with no shock in front
4. A regular fluid shock and spring behind with dummy in front on BC
5. A regular fluid shock and spring behind with "traction" shock on BC
6. A regular fluid shock and spring behind with "traction" shock on clamp bracket
7. Something else
Also assume that for the above scenario the LR spring is a 225 lb.

Another question........will relocating the birdcages left and right on the rearend help increase forward drive and side bite? What i mean is this.......when u look from the back of the car where the 4 bars hook to the chassis i have spacers on both sides of the heim joint (as i think we all do, LOL). They are different lengths on either side, for example one of the spacers is like 1 1/2 inches and the other is like 3/4 of an inch. What if i flipped those spacers around and realigned my birdcages to make sure that the 4 bars were in a relative straight line, what affect would that have on my forward drive and side bite? What if i just flipped the spacers and left the birdcages in their current locations? If this helps any, when/if i were to flip the spacers around, the right side bars would be moving "in" and the left side bars would be moving "out".
Any info on this would be appreciated.
Thanks

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

There is no "right" answer for most of these questions. Your setup is a total package.

There is absolutely no reason to run a true dummy shock on the front of the cage. The only thing it can do for you is create a little drag and be a limiter. The damping from the drag can be added to the working shock and you shouldn't ever limit your drop with something attached to the birdcage. This is because bar changes will change the amount of drop you have.

The rest of it is too vague. If you have too much damping on the lr, the car will be slower than it could be. If you don't have enough damping, the car will be slower than it could be. There are lots of ways to come up with the correct amount of damping.

[TWISTER]

I am well aware that it takes a "total package" but my questions were focused very specifically to one area of the car. I would think that there would be opinions as to how the changes in the shock angle would affect the forward drive and sidebite of the car, assuming all the other parts of the "total package' remained the same. To me, but of course i am the one asking for others opinions, it either will or it won't. I am not asking how to get sidebite and drive in the car, i am asking will changing the shock angle alone help any? I know there are other things you can do as well, but just wanna know what part if any does that play.

Thanks

[rubbinsracin]

we stood our LR shock up about 5 degrees and it made the car react weird through the corner. made it harder to stay in the throttle and up on the bars(the spring being stood up provides the car "sees" a higher spring rate). but when the car was up and you kept the car straighter though the corner by going into the corner softer, it did seem like it had more forward drive. but that could have been a product of keeping the car straighter through the corner though. i said in an earlier post for a similar topic that if you stand the RR shock up more (opposite of what you are thinking of doing) it caused the car to lose side bite and caused it to "skid" in the corner. so by tipping it inward i would expect the opposite, and develop more side bite, but you might sacrifice forward drive when the car starts to "straighten" back up coming out of the corner.

another thing you might try is to soften your rear springs to 200 LR and go to a little stiffer spring in the RF. a softer LR spring loads easier and the stiffer RF will give you more LR drive. you could put a 200 on the RR to give you some of that side bite back.

[F22 RAPTOR]

I am well aware that it takes a "total package" but my questions were focused very specifically to one area of the car. I would think that there would be opinions as to how the changes in the shock angle would affect the forward drive and sidebite of the car, assuming all the other parts of the "total package' remained the same. To me, but of course i am the one asking for others opinions, it either will or it won't. I am not asking how to get sidebite and drive in the car, i am asking will changing the shock angle alone help any? I know there are other things you can do as well, but just wanna know what part if any does that play.

Thanks

In general terms, yes leaning the RR shock in more will increase sidebite. We did some testing a few years back with a suspension computer program and a Mastersbilt car. The program wanted us to have a very wide spring base so we did the opposite of what your asking and stood both rear shocks up almost straight, without changing anything else. We went to a high banked Tacky track to run the car and it just skated up the track. We realized that it would require a softer spring due to the change in rate from decreased shock angle, but this didn't help. We ended up moving the spring rates and angles back to factory and the side bite returned. Deduce from that what you want, but we didn't notice any change in for ward bite at all.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I am well aware that it takes a "total package" but my questions were focused very specifically to one area of the car. I would think that there would be opinions as to how the changes in the shock angle would affect the forward drive and sidebite of the car, assuming all the other parts of the "total package' remained the same. To me, but of course i am the one asking for others opinions, it either will or it won't. I am not asking how to get sidebite and drive in the car, i am asking will changing the shock angle alone help any? I know there are other things you can do as well, but just wanna know what part if any does that play.

Thanks

I was addressing 1 thru 7.

Changing the shock angles will increase/decrease the chassis tendency to roll as others have now discussed here. A straighter lr tends to help forward bite to a point. Get too far and the car won't roll anymore. A tipped in rr tends to increase sidebite since the wheel rate gets more progressive. Get too far and it will never load the rr wheel.