What was the down side to the 5-link?

[cautrell05]

I remember back when losi came out with the JRX2 and T and the biggest feature was the rear suspension. All the mags talked like it was the best thing ever and then before long it was gone and losi switched to the h-arm. I thought I read an article way back where Gil JR said the main draw back was keeping the slop out of it. Was that it or was there another reason they quit using it? Thanks.

Nick

[Charlie don't surf]

Serious camber gain under suspension compression, causing loss of traction under acceleration and on flat landings and the cars really roll deeply in the corners with the 5 link, great on poor traction surfaces but bad on high speed and high traction places.

[cautrell05]

Camber gain is easy enough to fix. Was that all?

Nick

[Jirka]

One more "official" reason was that it was too complicated to average racer to setup. This, in my opinion, is not true since there were nothing more that You could adjust than in traditional H-arm setup.

What I guess the reasons were:
- Weight. 5-Link was more heavier. That time speed and run time were hard and expensive to get.
- Tracks, electronics and tires changed during that time. With better tires You could get enough grip that 5-link (and trailing suspension arms like A&L) did provide during acceleration.

Team Losi used 5-link year(s?) longer in trucks than in buggies.

Jirka

[sgirouard]

Having run 5 links recently and as my main racer back in the day (well I'd go back and forth between 5 link and H-arm depending on the track I was running at the time), this is what I found.

There is slop in the links which did effect landing off jumps but while the car was on the ground, the effect was minimal. The bigger issue had to do with the cornering. The 5 link handled the rough surfaces of the tracks back in the day (all the little divots and bumps that were found on the non-groomed surfaces) but the 5 links didn't corner nearly as well as the H-arms, both because of compression issues (like the camber as well as the whole rear would roll more) as well as the slop.

If the slop could be eliminated and you could install sway bars on the 5 link, I think you'd end up with one MEAN rear suspension.

[tiger1]

plain ugly IMHO

[bearrickster]

My only problem with the 5 link setup was always the same thing if their new or old they are sloppy.

[kaiser]

i don't know guys, my jrx2 was hooked up on the high traction track @ the vonats. it rotated very well.

now if my driving was better i'm sure i could have been a contender. i'm going to race in for the next month or so in mod buggy, with a 17.5. boosted.

granted my jrx is very tight and newish but it was a frigg'n joy to drive.

[bearrickster]

i don't know guys, my jrx2 was hooked up on the high traction track @ the vonats. it rotated very well.

now if my driving was better i'm sure i could have been a contender. i'm going to race in for the next month or so in mod buggy, with a 17.5. boosted.

granted my jrx is very tight and newish but it was a frigg'n joy to drive.

Yes it was, and looked very cool doing it. I wish my se drove a nice as your x2 did. but mine will be much better next year.

[V12]

I also had a JRX2 with the 5 link right in the beginning.
Actually my RC10 what I had before was really good but when I saw the 5 link I had to have this car.
We never had any big jumps with our tracks here that time so can´t say anythings on this but we had a lot of grass tracks where the track was worn out after practice so large holes and uneven surface where the 5 link was much better than anything else.

I don´t think the 5 link was difficult to setup, the main problem just was this car had understeer bigtime even with the short wheelbase what was a real problem on tight tracks.
As soon as the Proformance kit with the rear H-arms, longer chassis and shocks was out I tried this and found the JRX2 even faster than before. But at our tracks here I was able winning races with both versions.

[Charlie don't surf]

i don't know guys, my jrx2 was hooked up on the high traction track @ the vonats. it rotated very well.

now if my driving was better i'm sure i could have been a contender. i'm going to race in for the next month or so in mod buggy, with a 17.5. boosted.

granted my jrx is very tight and newish but it was a frigg'n joy to drive.

setup and tires of course play a big part, and the SWB of the x2 wouldn't have hurt on that super tiny track either- make sure to try it with the H arms, you might be really surprised-

[bearrickster]

the short wheelbase was the ticket on that tight track. all of the Jrx2's moved around well

[cautrell05]

So the way it sounds the only real issues were slop and tuning right?

Nick

[kaiser]

i don't know guys, my jrx2 was hooked up on the high traction track @ the vonats. it rotated very well.

now if my driving was better i'm sure i could have been a contender. i'm going to race in for the next month or so in mod buggy, with a 17.5. boosted.

granted my jrx is very tight and newish but it was a frigg'n joy to drive.

setup and tires of course play a big part, and the SWB of the x2 wouldn't have hurt on that super tiny track either- make sure to try it with the H arms, you might be really surprised-

i'm still running the jrx2 on wednesday's at rchr against the modern buggies. i haven't tried the h arms yet.
i kind of want to keep running it until i can qualify for the a with it. i'm a consistant top 3 finisher in the b, but if i could make it to the a i would then retire the car until next years vonats. my b4 is very jealous. lol

not to mention if i run two classes the other car (modern, last nite a brand new sc10) breaks, but the trusty 23 year old jrx2 always makes it through the night.

[Charlie don't surf]

Where is the car loosing ground on the track now? Same layout as the vonats?