Sakura D4: New Dampers, Aluminum Parts, New Gyro, and New Screws

I've really been enjoying the D4 so far, and the more I work with it, the more I like it. 3 Racing made a nice step forward over the D3 and now that factory upgrades are starting to filter through the pipeline, essential upgrades can be completed.

The first order of business is taking care of my main gripe with the stock chassis... steering wipers.

Eagle Racing Dampers: A Cheap Fix for Sticking

The Eagle Racing dampers, that come in their poplar offerings, are similar to other dampers on the market, specifically Tamiya.  They are machined well, and have a nice finish overall, but have one main shortcoming.  They tend to be sticky out of the box, and don't provide smooth, free suspension movement.  Many folks may upgrade to a nice set of TRF dampers, or dampers from another manufacturer.  If your budget is tight, there is an easy and cheap fix to the sticky dampers, that will improve them a great deal over stock.  This mod was mentioned in Patrick's  YouTube video of his R31 setup, and I am documenting that mod step by step.

The only thing required for the mod is four Dubro 4-40 nylon washers, or alternatively you can use the spacers that come in the Tamiya TRF Damper Rod Guide & O-Ring set (53574).  The spacer is approximately 2mm thick, and can be seen in the pic below.