Wedico Rear Suspension

[cushman]

I built a Wedico Peterbilt about 8 years ago and have been away from the hobby since. I built my truck with the Professional chassis using metal axles.
Since joining the forum I noticed you can buy a walking beam suspension from PMD, has anyone fitted one of these kits to their trucks ? also if you have do you have to drill any holes in the chassis ?
The other question is does anyone make airbags which could be used with the walking beam suspension ?
Regards Cushman.

[ryman]

I talked to Ric at PMD today he doesn't have a walking beam just a walking spring more for trailers than trucks.

[Espeefan]

Cushman, Ric at PMD does sell an aftermarket walking beam suspension kit for the Wedico trucks. It's made by a company called Osswald, and is listed here -

http://www.gardentrucking.com/produc...esort=1&max=10

It is designed to bolt right up to a stock chassis. You won't need to drill any holes, but there have been some changes to the design of the suspension through the years. I purchased my first Osswald suspension kit about 6 years ago. Then I bought another 2 or 3 years after, and to my disappointment, the design was changed. In my opinion, the changes made the kit worse then the orignals, as the bolsters that the spring packs pivot on got longer, which really kind of makes the Wedico trucks sit higher in the rear, after installing them. If you want something better, consider Scale Art's swing spring suspension. It's pretty much the same thing, but better.

http://www.scaleart-shop.de/Axle-Sus...rame::723.html

My Wedico has the older style Osswald rear suspension on it, which is the best design from Osswald, but for the next Wedico I build, I will go with Scale Art's suspension. If you are interested to know the differences in the Osswald kits, I can get you some photos. I have both the old and new style.

[Claus]

Nathan, actually the newer bolsters top hole is in the same place as the old bolsters, so the new bolsters do not make the truck sit any higher in the rear. The problem with the new bolsters are the legs on them are so long the lower links will be running downhill from your diffs to the legs, they should be level or up hill.



The newer kits also deleted the U-bolts and went with a cheap looking setup, four Phillips screws holding the spring packs together.

Cushman, like Nathan said Scale Art is the way to go. Not cheap but worth it.

In this photo my truck has a milled down front axle and Oswald suspension on the front and rear, but the rear bolster are bolted to the inside of the frame rails lifting them up. This was just an experiment, the ride is perfect doing it this way but the articulation is not what it should be. I will be putting Scale Art parts on my truck next move.

[cushman]

Hi Espeefan,
Thanks for replying to my problem. I looked at both the manufactures you gave me and I will go with the Scaleart suspension. The one I thought would be correct is Rear Axle Air Springs Dummy for 2 axles 71000015 is that correct ?. The other thing I looked at was new leaf springs for the front axle as I think the Wedico ones make the truck sit too high. I looked at the
Scaleart site but they didn't list any.
Regards Cushman.

[cushman]

Hi Claus,
Thanks for the info, your Peterbilt looks fantastic
Regards Cushman.

[Claus]

Thanks Cushman, the truck has gone through a lot of changes since that photo and has more changes to come.


One thing I forgot to mention though, if your using the Osswald front suspension you will need to drill two holes in each frame rail.


More recent photo;

[cushman]

Hi Claus,
Thanks for the info re the front spings. The front wheels you have are they Wedico wide wheels ?
Regards Cushman.

[Claus]

Originally Posted by cushman

Hi Claus,
Thanks for the info re the front spings. The front wheels you have are they Wedico wide wheels ?
Regards Cushman.

Yes they are, Wedico wheels front and rear. I'm going to be buying three Scale Art rear 3:1 locking diffs, I may also be adding a Scale Art 3:1 front locking diff, building my truck into either 6X8 or an 8X8, I'm not sure if the Wedico wheels and the Scale Art axles are compatible, I may have to go with Scale Art wheels and I really don't want to. I currently have Ruest axles and they will not accept the Wedico wheels without modifying the Ruest axle nuts. There is simply not enough room inside the Wedico hubs to get a tool in there to tighten the axle nuts.

[Claus]

Also Cushman the last photo of my truck, the one with the black fenders, the truck is back on Wedico front springs. One leaf removed and the axle milled down. When I bought my last set of frame rails I decided not to drill any holes in them.

[cushman]

Hi Claus
I will remove a leaf from the front axle to see if it lowers the front end at all, if not I will see abbout getting the axle milled.
Does your rear suspension have dummy air bags aswell ?.
Regards Cushman.

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by cushman

Hi Espeefan,
Thanks for replying to my problem. I looked at both the manufactures you gave me and I will go with the Scaleart suspension. The one I thought would be correct is Rear Axle Air Springs Dummy for 2 axles 71000015 is that correct ?. The other thing I looked at was new leaf springs for the front axle as I think the Wedico ones make the truck sit too high. I looked at the
Scaleart site but they didn't list any.
Regards Cushman.

Cushman, I don't know much about Scale Art's simulated airbag suspension. I have looked at it in the past, but the one thing I think you will find with this kit is that the bags really don't have much give, thus your suspension will not have any travel. If these bags are made from the material I am thinking they are, they are foam elements of some sort, kind of like an ear plug. They have some give, but are stiff enough that the axle really doesn't have much travel at all. If scale looks are important to you, over function, then you could definitely purchase the air ride from Scale Art. If you really want a suspension that works, however, then I'd suggest you go with the walking beam spring suspension instead. It's going to give you the most articulation and travel possible.

The stock Wedico suspension, for front axles, is not really my favorite design either, so I don't blame you for wanting to change that out as well. There are a couple things you can do with your truck, if you are wanting to lower the ride height in the front.



You can mill the front axle blocks off, which is what I did with my truck. Craig also mentioned this in his posts. You can run the stock spring with a milled axle like this, and drop the front ride height quite nicely. You also run one or two less springs on the stock Wedico leaf pack. It wil lower the truck more, and give you a little softer suspension, which is also good. Some guys have also flattened the stock springs, and take then curl out of them. This also helps. You can try a combination of these ideas to see how you like them.

Here is how my truck rode with the milled front axle and a leaf spring removed.



The other thing you can do is talk to Ric and purchase an Osswald front suspension kit for the Wedico, like Craig mentioned and showed. The Osswald springs are flat and have no curve. They will lower the truck's ride height too, even with a standard front axle. If you want to really drop the truck's front end, run a milled steering axle, with the Osswald springs, although you might find that combination to put the truck in the weeds, and the rear of the truck will definitely sit higher then the front end, giving you some pretty serious rake, like a drag car. I used the Osswald front suspension kit on my truck, but I am running a driven front axle. It works just as well with a driven or non-driven axle.



You could also purchase a Scale Art front axle suspension kit, and install it on your Wedico. If I build another Wedico truck, this is what I will probably do, along with the rear walking beam spring suspension. As I said, Osswald changed the design through the years, and they did so with the front suspension as well, though the front is basically tthe same as it was before. The hangers have changed slightly, but the springs are still the same.

I think that I would go with this kit for the front -

http://www.scaleart-shop.de/Axle-Sus...axle::173.html

Even though it says for a driven front axle, it looks a lot like the Osswald kits I have, and I don't see any reason it wouldn't work just fine a regular non-driven steering axle.

[cushman]

Hi Guys, Thanks for your help and info, I understand what you are saying about the amount of travel the airbags will give, I like the look of the airbags but you are right, the walking beam would give more movement.
Regards Cushman.

[Espeefan]

Cushman, maybe this will help sway you one way or the other. I don't think there is any other suspension out there that can do this -

[cushman]

Hi Nathan,
That movement is fantastic, I will definately place an order with Scaleart. Will let you know how I get on.
Regards Carl.

[Tp_hofmann]

Originally Posted by cushman

Hi Nathan,
That movement is fantastic, I will definately place an order with Scaleart. Will let you know how I get on.
Regards Carl.

Hi Carl

Please be aware that scaleart has different frame types than wedico: wedico is 60mm always, scaleart depends not: thats the reason, why both osswald (now premacon) and scaleart offer two types of rear suspension:

Thats the scaleart suspension for wedico frames:
http://www.ttm-shop.de/content.php?P...33&hersteller=

Br,
Tom

[cushman]

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the info
Regards Carl.

[Claus]

And this is what two set of Scale Art rear suspension kits and three rear and one front axle from Scale Art looks like on a Wedico pro chassis.

[Lmackattack]

claus that set up looks great.! I like how the axels have all that room for articulation under the frame rail. its also a center point style that gives the most amount of travel. model air ride just don't cut it in my opinion if you plan to off road the truck.. Most 1:1 spring ride trucks only have about 8" of travel air ride has less...I think our models need much more travel for some of the off road stuff we do with them.....

Question....will your set up have the driveshaft issues that the Tamiya trucks have? The issue I always see with my tamiyas tandem spring ride is with how they are limited in travel due to the short length of the inter axel driveshaft. add a load and the frame is resting on the axels. the only way I see that this can be fixed is with a longer spread, longer driveshaft or some how let the axels piviot only in the center and let the front long driveshaft u joint take up the interaxel driveshaft issue. also will need a beam or stiff springs to keep sagging at a minimum.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

[Claus]

Originally Posted by Lmackattack

claus that set up looks great.! I like how the axels have all that room for articulation under the frame rail. its also a center point style that gives the most amount of travel. model air ride just don't cut it in my opinion if you plan to off road the truck.. Most 1:1 spring ride trucks only have about 8" of travel air ride has less...I think our models need much more travel for some of the off road stuff we do with them.....

Question....will your set up have the driveshaft issues that the Tamiya trucks have? The issue I always see with my tamiyas tandem spring ride is with how they are limited in travel due to the short length of the inter axel driveshaft. add a load and the frame is resting on the axels. the only way I see that this can be fixed is with a longer spread, longer driveshaft or some how let the axels piviot only in the center and let the front long driveshaft u joint take up the interaxel driveshaft issue. also will need a beam or stiff springs to keep sagging at a minimum.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm running RC4WD Ultra driveshafts. I have drove my truck some (in the house only) and have not experienced any issues with the driveshafts binding up. I can post some photos in a day or two if you like. The next hurdle is I want rear fenders, not sure how well fenders are going to work with all the travel my suspension has.