2010 Rocket Black Front End Set Up

I am new to the forum and new to dirt late model racing (we come from Asphalt racing). Picking up a like new 2010 Rocket Black. I know it is not the most current chassis, but it is a like new chassis and we are just looking to learn for now and update in the future (it’s a bit of a learning curve going for late model stock cars to dirt late models).Any current set up information out there? Baseline smash numbers? I know the original black front ends did not have a raised rf and crossmember. However, someone also said that later black front ends may have this option already? Any truth to that? Thanks for the help and guidance.

I think the latter cars did have a different crossmember design that yielded a little more clearance. Call rocket get a book. And set the car to the standard settings and start their. Theirs no smash numbers from rocket for those cars. I recommend scaling then measure your center to centers and record results in smasher then just adjusting from their. Most of the advances in the new stuff is in how we adjust not necessarily the baseline

Thanks for the response. I have reached out to Rocket and have not heard anything back. Maybe one day…

The black front end has the lower control arm mounting holes quite a bit lower then newer cars so basically it's impossible to get the ground clearance of a new car least at the cross member area, sure you can probably get more then the cars had originally but you can't get close to a newer car.

That being said, it's still a good car to learn with and get some experience with, you're just not going to be able to travel the front end as far.

I don't know what "reached out" means call this number 304-592-3200 between 9-5 someone will answer when they do ask for parts. Someone will answer, ask them for a book they will happily sell one to you unless they have finally stopped producing them. If they have Steve baker will happily give you all the numbers you need to baseline that car

Steve sent me some information. I was expecting more current information related to shock, spring rate, and bump stop set up though. I am certain that shock technology has made a bit of the set up information provided from rocket obsolete. Any users have any current numbers or advice? Thanks.

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Originally Posted by gburg006

Steve sent me some information. I was expecting more current information related to shock, spring rate, and bump stop set up though. I am certain that shock technology has made a bit of the set up information provided from rocket obsolete. Any users have any current numbers or advice? Thanks.

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You be surprised what is and isn't on a typical xr1 sheet. They leave a lot of room for you to hit certain things, but find your own way.

What you have is still current. What is different now, is thinking about loads at certain wheel travels, and changing those to adjust handling.

I just find it to be surprising. We had a Lazer for a bit. Their books are very thorough. The setup notes given to me from rocket…eh, not so much. I was not a ent a whole “book” so maybe that’s where things are different? Not sure.

Edit: I was not given a whole book so that’s where things seem a little “incomplete”.

Did they email it to you? Its only 15 pages.

I got a xerox copy of one page… The page has some spring information, radius rod locations, ride heights, torque arm, front end settings, setup percentages, ballast, and basic additional adjustments. All of that is on one page. Not a lot of depth. I’m sure I will be asking a few questions on the forum to fill in the blanks. Does anyone know the shock stroke? 9 inch rears and 7 fronts? Or…

Call Rocket and ask for Bailee. She'll email you the book, free of charge.

If you want the smash numbers, youll have to ask for them (if theyre available)

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Originally Posted by ZERO25

Call Rocket and ask for Bailee. She'll email you the book, free of charge.

If you want the smash numbers, youll have to ask for them (if theyre available)

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I'd suspect a guy would be best served to create his own smash numbers

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Originally Posted by MasterSbilt_Racer

I'd suspect a guy would be best served to create his own smash numbers

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Would it still be considered "smash" if it only had 3" of shock travel? lol

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Originally Posted by ZERO25

Would it still be considered "smash" if it only had 3" of shock travel? lol

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I don't know. Lol. It's a dumb term anyway.

Yes, we all know the car does not travel as much as modern cars. My thoughts on these “smash numbers” it seems nobody can guide me on, is setting up a system to keep the car from planting the crossmember in the ground until I get it raised. I figured someone would have some insight to guiding me to do this. I figured a progressive bump set up that leads to a the shock not being able to travel further than X amount would be best. Asphalt late models run springs light enough to just hold the car up, then car rides on bump stops or bump springs. If I only have “3 inches of shock travel” should I not have a system set up so that that it does not travel more than 3” and bottom out the car?

Yes, you should. You should remove the spring from your rf shock, jack up the lr until your chain is tight, and find the rf pin to pin measurement where your car is not on the ground.

Then, set your coilover up to hit 2600# at that measurement.

In a situation like this where you don't know your travel distance before the car hits the ground there for can't know a load number to shoot for, this is what I would do (old school it)

Do as Masterbilt racer said, jack LR and take spring off the RF and just put the shock on there with a bumpstop. Measure the pin to pin measurement with the car (what ever hits first least a 1/2" off the ground) and use that measurement for you max load number. Obviously that number can vary from 1800 to 2600# depending on speed of the track and the cars set up.

Say this measurement is 14" which is say 3.5" of travel, so install a spring (250 is a good start to figure stuff out for now) and a bumpstop. Set your ride load (assume you have already old school scaled car and set ride heights) off what the RF smashed to at that measurement (say 17.5" pins at ride height) then smash spring to 3.5" and set the dynamic load to say 2400# by using shim on top of bumpstop.

Now when you go to the track, monitor RF travel. If you aren't traveling enough start removing shims until you start to feel it bottom out and back up a couple shims. Then pull coilover off and smash to that 14" and see what the number is. Say it's 2200# so use that for your 14" number (hard stop) and now you can change springs or bumps and play with the rest of the numbers and as long as you on a similar track you shouldn't bottom out if you keep the load at 14" around 2200#

Good luck

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Originally Posted by billetbirdcage

In a situation like this where you don't know your travel distance before the car hits the ground there for can't know a load number to shoot for, this is what I would do (old school it)Do as Masterbilt racer said, jack LR and take spring off the RF and just put the shock on there with a bumpstop. Measure the pin to pin measurement with the car (what ever hits first least a 1/2" off the ground) and use that measurement for you max load number. Obviously that number can vary from 1800 to 2600# depending on speed of the track and the cars set up.Say this measurement is 14" which is say 3.5" of travel, so install a spring (250 is a good start to figure stuff out for now) and a bumpstop. Set your ride load (assume you have already old school scaled car and set ride heights) off what the RF smashed to at that measurement (say 17.5" pins at ride height) then smash spring to 3.5" and set the dynamic load to say 2400# by using shim on top of bumpstop.Now when you go to the track, monitor RF travel. If you aren't traveling enough start removing shims until you start to feel it bottom out and back up a couple shims. Then pull coilover off and smash to that 14" and see what the number is. Say it's 2200# so use that for your 14" number (hard stop) and now you can change springs or bumps and play with the rest of the numbers and as long as you on a similar track you shouldn't bottom out if you keep the load at 14" around 2200#Good luck

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To add to what masters and billet have said those max load numbers are heavily dependent on the style bump stop you run. Christmas tree or "penske" style as some call it are a little more forgiving but a roller skate wheel or hockey puck is a little easier to dial in when travel limitations are a big factor.