Welcome to the Customizer's Workbench
This section is dedicated to one of the best parts of this hobby. Here, you will find information on how to custom make some parts of your own for your MTs here. There will also be specific information to start you on some specific projects.

Project: Designing and Making your own Cantilevers
If you are new to cantilevers and have no idea how they work or even what they are, it is strongly recommended that you first read my related info about cantilevers in my FAQ section.

I. Design Concerns
Now that you understand the principle behind how cantilevers work, you know the important aspects to keep in mind for your designs:

1) (A) must always be greater than (B). Most guys begin with a simple 2:1 ratio which means that (A) will be twice as long as (B). A good starting point would be for (A) to be 2" and (B) to be 1". Note that the longer (A) is compared to (B), the more travel you will create, but too much travel can result in a suspension that is too soft. Moreover, they may result in so much travel that the cantilever rods may hit the chassis on compression… so go easy on those measurements and experiment slowly.

2) Consider how your cantilever will mount to the chassis. You will want to create a smooth pivoting point and this can be achieved in several different ways. You will probably need to consider different systems of washers, spacers and screws. I can't help you much here since there are so many different ways to do this, although you can click here to see an example of how my cantilevers are mounted.

3) You may need to alter your designs as you go along. For example, the cantilever may need to be re-shaped a little to accommodate the shock (especially the lower spring holder). You may even wish to relieve the project (cutting some aluminium off the cantilever) to make the cantilever lighter… be innovative!

4) The main parts of the cantilever all have to be there, but the cantilever need not be triangular in shape. Design the cantilever to suit your needs.

5) Some guys run cantilevers only on the rear of their trucks. I've not tried this myself but they claim that it helps their trucks to jump better - and prevent nose-diving. My truck has not shown the tendency to nosedive, but if yours does, you may wish to consider this setup

6) If you plan on using bearings, then you will have to find some way of holding them in place. You can visit Planet Clod for one setup - the author 'encases' the bearing in the cantilever. Alternatively, you can follow the setup shown here that uses flanged bearings. 2 tapped holes on the cantilevers allow screws to hold the bearing (on the flanged edge) in place.

Here's a side-view of my truck that shows how the cantilever setup looks.

II. Making the Cantilevers
It is not my aim to provide you step-by-step instructions to how to make my cantilevers. Besides, It's hard to do so because your designs might be totally different from mine. But here are some tips you can use to make cantilevers for any of your trucks:

1) If you can, clamp all the cantilevers together and you can work on all your pieces at the same time. This not only saves time but also produces identical pieces for all 4 ends (or 2 if you are just making a pair).

2) Sometimes it's hard to clamp the work together cos they are pretty small. You can carefully drill one hole (or two holes) in each cantilever at the same points and then run a screw through all the pieces and tighten everything together with a nut. Same effect as clamping, but perhaps neater and easier to work with.

3) Work carefully and you will be rewarded. Cantilever setups - in general - always have more slop than hooking the shock directly between the gearbox and the chassis because of the many moving parts involved. However, you can minimize that slop if you drill your holes clean and accurately.

III. Closing Comments
There's of course more to cantilever design and production, but I hope that the information here proves helpful. Look around at different cantilevers others have designed, they can be a lot of help. Always be willing to ask questions and you'll save yourself time and effort by learning through others' mistakes. Remember that parts don't always turn out as great as we hope they do (although sometimes they turn out better), keep trying and don't forget that FUN is the name of the game.