About wheelbase

Summary

Diagram of wheelbase on an RC car — Diagram of an RC car's wheelbase. The red shims on the suspension pins can be moved from front to rear of each pivot to move the arms or hubs forward or back to alter the wheelbase.

Wheelbase is the distance between the front and the rear axles of your RC car.

Wheelbase is usually adjusted by adjusting the spacers around the suspension arm - in the front of the car you would put more spacers behind the arm to lengthen the wheelbase and put fewer behind it to shorten the wheelbase. Any spacers you remove should be put on the other side of the arm, so there is not too much play (the arm doesn't slide forward and back.)

Some cars provide spacers on the pivot that holds the hubs, so the hubs can be moved forward or backwards to adjust the wheelbase. A few cars have options to move the entire suspension mount forward or rearward thereby adjusting the wheelbase.

Wheelbase changes will have different effects depending on whether they are done at the front or the rear.

Front wheelbase changes

Wheelbase of course gets shorter whether you shorten it at the front or the rear, but moving the front wheels back has a different effect on handling than moving the rear wheels forward, so we list their effects separately:

Shorter at the front