Radio control

[.:4:.]

Put the new pinion gear in my short course truck today. So still stock gear ratio. Gave it hell, nothing broke, clutch is good. I like that thing alot. Its completely different to my monster truck, only thing they both have in common is theyre both 4wd.

[.:4:.]

So last saturday my son wanted to rip rc cars. His minor issue was (fixed now) his monster truck was down as he lunched the gearbox.
So i let him rip my 2 cars. He isnt as big into my short course truck as its more for gravel and hard packed dirt. It doesnt do so well on grass and you cannot really jump it to the moon.
With my monster truck. I had to pull him to the side and have a talk to him. He was being way to respectful. He treats his own stuff extremely well, and even more so other peoples stuff. He knows theres a lot of dollars in that truck. Not a bad personality trait, but still. I had to say all the spares i have for the stuff that typically breaks, and if he snaps any of those bits i wont be upset. Followed by me saying if he breaks something i haven already, i wont be angry, I'll be impressed.
So i sent him out on the field to get used to the brakes as 4x4 is different to the 2wd he is used to he ran it out to 138kmh, not a bad effort.
As luck would have it the council are doing works at that park so there was a mound of sand, a mound of dirt and a big mound of woodchips. My son had a mad time hitting that up shooting for the moon.
The only thing that really was getting at me watching him go all out on that truck was what i already knew. The motor is just too doughy down low. Up top its all there, but i kind of want it all there everywhere. So i ordered a new motor today.

[.:4:.]

I recieved the new motor for the monster truck yesterday. The decision making process, well i emailed the place i get most my rc stuff from, told them what i have and my issue, what result i was looking for and asked their recomendation. So just to sorta explain in short, brushless rc car motors are rated in kv. So thats no load rpm per volt. So no load on a 2200kv motor with for arguments sake a 10v battery it will rev to 22000 rpms. That rating has nothing to do with torque or power.
So i had a 2200kv motor in my truck, my gripe was it had nothing down low. Mid range and top end it was fine, but with a monster truck doing monster truck things off road, you arent exactly hitting jumps at 100kmh. Its all down low.
So the guys i emailed, they got what i was after. They have had the same gripes from people with the truck the motor i have was supposed to be in, but not my specific frankenstein. I took their recommendation.
Before i swapped the motor out, just to confirm it wasnt a placebo effect, i ran the old motor around my yard.
New motor in, ran that. Yep its heaps better where i wanted it, down low.
Same kv rating.
So i had if firm in my head, no top speed queen, power where its usable. To be fair, 80kmh is well faster then you need off road bashing. With on road tyres on it on the road the old motor clocked 141 on the gps.
Out of curiosity i swapped over my off roaders to my road wheels and ripped it on my street. 145 it did. So thats insignificant as top end wasnt the purpose for me going aftermarket motor, the purpose was filled by way of heaps better low end.

[.:4:.]

I wanted an unbiassed opinion towards the new motor i slapped in my monster truck. I value my sons opinion as he has a couple modified rc cars so knows a thing or 2. So all he knew was i changed the motor, i didnt tell him why or what i thought of the new motor. So after 2 or 3 minutes without me asking he said the new motor is heaps better off the mark but otherwise the same. So exactly my thoughts and what i wanted to hear.
So other then putting on a new body thats not riddled with holes and cracks, so purely asthetic, the only other thing ive done was swap out the plastic steering links for ally ones. Reson being with the plastic ones they bend so reasonably frequently you had to adjust the steering trim on the radio to compensate for which way they bent to get the thing to track straight. 1st world problem i know, but now thats sorted.

[.:4:.]

Had a mad run in the park with my kid today, both my cars were in good order. For reasons unbeknown to me the flood lights were on. But it was extremely disappointing in the end. So nothing broke on either rc car. But thats the thing. My kid knows, my stuff you have to try. Im the same, i also try. Clearly neither he or I tried hard enough. And we were going hard. Back to backed 2 batteries in both trucks, the 6s converted monster truck stayed cold, the 3s short course truck got super hot but didnt crap itself.
No failed tyres, no busted axles, nothing.
Its rc, if you don't break something, you arent doing it properly.

[.:4:.]

Well, couldnt hit up the usual spot for rc with the kid today. The oval was being used for intended purposes, sports. So we hit up the easment/flood area. Its underneath powerlines and whenever it sprinkles it floods. Not the point. It was dry. Big open space, happy days.
My son chose his weapon of choice. I ran the short course truck. Im really not upset at all. So my kid chose the monster truck, back to backed 2 batteries in that. Nothing more then getting a bit dirty. It didnt get hot.
The short course truck. Well, im surprised. Only the best part through a battery, ive been saying this to my son since i got the thing. Its stock, but ive always questioned the axles and they've held up. Finally it snapped an axle. But not in the good way, the weak way. It was the uni.
Anyhoo, ordered new upgraded axles for it. Not expensive.
Good rc bash, atleast something broke.

[creative]

well I finally got back into cars.

I was eyeing up an xray xb2'22 as I want to get into road and carpet stuff, when an arrma vendetta popped up on FB local. Got it for a steal and looking forward to giving it a run!

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by creative

well I finally got back into cars.

I was eyeing up an xray xb2'22 as I want to get into road and carpet stuff, when an arrma vendetta popped up on FB local. Got it for a steal and looking forward to giving it a run!

I googled the xray as i didnt know what it was. I knew what the arrma is.
They're a bit different. The vendetta looks like its a quick unit.
Whats your hold up on running it? Waiting for delivery, waiting on batteries and or charger? Or just waiting on spare time?

[creative]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

I googled the xray as i didnt know what it was. I knew what the arrma is.
They're a bit different. The vendetta looks like its a quick unit.
Whats your hold up on running it? Waiting for delivery, waiting on batteries and or charger? Or just waiting on spare time?

Batteries. I only have quad batteries. Ordered a couple of cnhl 5200mah 3s units that suit.

[.:4:.]

So here is my 1st world problem.
Got the new axles in my traxxas slash. Its stock power, only performance upgrade that isnt really is it came with a bigger pinion in the box. Its stock, but i like it alot.
The traxxas maxx i have, that has the book thrown at it for upgrades. So, before i threw everything at it, stock 4s, with gps and gears it did a best of 89kmh.
Now its got extended arms, springs, axles, more gearing and 6s esc and motor. Theres more in it, but whatever.
My 6s batteries are sad. They no longer hold a charge, run time is well down, they take an age to charge and are sketchy ballancing. So they're done. Ordered new 6s batteries and aramex, they suck. Aus post would do a better job.
Ran it on 4s today. My 4s batteries are healthy and considering the extra weight in the thing. Its not slow per say, 90 ish isnt slow for a monster truck, but compared to sad 6s batteries, they'll atleast do over 100.
Eventually when the 100c 6s 6000mah batteries arrive, hopefully it gets back to the 145kmh its done a few times back to back.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by creative

well I finally got back into cars.

I was eyeing up an xray xb2'22 as I want to get into road and carpet stuff, when an arrma vendetta popped up on FB local. Got it for a steal and looking forward to giving it a run!

Question time? Is the vendetta stock?

[genebaby]

I went back to the off-road RC track today with my son who's 10 and was a new born when I was doing this before. Stopped in 2015 after a bit of a catastrophic accident there and lost interest.

Daughter was originally going so there are two controllers in the pic but we left one at home. I had two Tekno buggies and down to 4 of my 6 batteries.

Everything still worked well and we finished everything race. Good to use them old stuff again and I have plenty of tyres and spares.

[creative]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

Question time? Is the vendetta stock?

yup.. for now.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by creative

yup.. for now.

Not really a modification per say. But regardless i usually do aftermarket tyres off the bat on rc stuff. Mainly because the stock tyres on most rc cars are kind off all rounders for whatever surfaces the car is designed to run on. So ok, but if you know your only going to run on certain surfaces, the correct tyre transforms the cars handling.
Now granted this is different horses for different courses, but i have 2 sets of wheels and tyres i run on my monster truck. 1st is the knobbly off roaders for off road. On road they get chunked up pretty fast and dont do so well. So for on road i have road tyres.
In my case with that truck its actually more economical doing it that way because if i just stuck with the off roaders that do ok on road, id be going through alot with mixed on/off road running of the thing. However, that thing is well overpowered and has heaps of suspension and other crap thrown at it, so tyres make a massive difference at speed. I run rather expensive belted tyres on beadlock rims.
My short course truck is stock. A good set of glued non belted tyres on that made it handle really well. Plus theyre $72 for 4 rims and tyres vs $172 for the monster truck.

[creative]

it finally stopped raining so gave the vendetta a run today.

Its seriously fast. lol

looks like it needs some geometry setting up as tyre wear is excessive and I think I will takeoff the speed pinion as it overheated the esc giving it a bash rather than just speed runs.

[.:4:.]

Is the esc fan working? I upgraded the one on the esc in my 6s truck and it made a difference to cooling.

[.:4:.]

So in the past week i did a couple minor things to each of my rc cars. Nothing note worthy. However. Long story short, a few years back for chrismas i bought my kid his bigfoot. So its a traxxas stampede with a good looking body on it. Pretty pricey at the time yet still brushed and 2wd. So the boy was 7.
He had to proove himself. Yes a traxxas stampede is an entry level 'hobby grade' rc car. But, without throwing POWER at it after a while he did prove he could handle it. So 1st mods were a wheelie bar and wheels and tyres. Same same really, all that really does is make it betterer, all the tyres do is make it corner better, all the wheelie bar is is give him confidence doing wheelies as opposed to being over protective about scraping stuff.
So, he proved his ability. I gave him the esc and brushless motor out of the stadium truck i broke before he was born.
So again long story short, he was larry as happy with the sc-10 and 4000kv motor.
And deng i got back i to it. So in this period, i let him run my truck, had to get on his back to get into it. Modified that whatever.
Then he wanted an rc drift car. I dont know head to tail about those so i asked what they cost?
Standard answer 1000. Same as when you ask anyone who has an is300 and wants to turbo it. 2j.. They say 1000hp
So i gave my kid 600, thats for the lot. He did good, it was his choice. So no one talking over his shoulder, his choice. He didnt make a bad one at all i dont think. A team magic e4d mf, so carbon fibre chassis thing, enough for 2 batteries and a charger and a couple $ pocket change.
Well actually, i said let me handle the batteries and charger, still under budget, having the freedom he made the best decision, bought aftermarket tyres.
So i genuinely do not understand rc drift cars.
So my kids car has a 34/66 bias front to rear and is a belt drive awd. What i know is you cannot run grippy tyres with that or you snap drive belts.
He has an LED kit installed. He also has a spare shell. That was my input. Have one to beat the crappers out of and have one that is like me, incredibly good looking.

[genebaby]

I took my son back to the track for his second race day today. Weather was still on our side and he is improving each time.

[.:4:.]

So finally my backyard has dried out enough to no longer be considered a swamp. So yesterday i ran both my rc cars. The minor thing i did in the mean time to the short course truck was install an rpm sensor. So it already had the bluetooth, but tell it the gearing, tyre size etc it can give calculated wheel speed.
So before i go too far, i like that car alot, its pretty well stock performance wise aside from a larger pinion gear that came in the box.
So i didnt think the thing was fast. Quick off the line, but not fast. Im now kinda thinking thats more of a visual illusion. So in my yard i cannot run it out all the way, but it did see 60-65kmh a few times. So pretty good. The gearing i have in it the factory claim is 100+. I doubt that, maybe 90 tops. But still, not bad for a stock 3s thing with the larger pinion in it it came with.
The only real comparison ive had is at the park with my kid and going side by side with my monster truck thats got all the parts and runs 6s batteries. So that thing will do 145kmh back to back on the gps. Line both up, say go, regardless of who drives what, the short course truck will always get 2 or more car lengths off the line, but get absolutely freight trained by the monster truck. If it wasnt like that, id be upset with myself, the only parts ive changed on the short course truck are parts ive broken, so abuse. The monster truck, well, thats different. The short course truck i bought a while after the monster truck. Aim being something stock that i can still have fun with and not break every time i use it then have to wait for parts. So far its done that to a degree.
The monster truck is pretty well sorted. Well, it was proper sorted untill yesterday. Steering servo crapped out (again). So untill recently i didnt know there was a conversion kit to fit a regular size servo. Aftermarket oversized servos, you almost have re mortgage your house, the stock 8kg plastic one is cheaper but still drug money, so thats why i went stock. I probably should have been smarter, but thats not a character trait i have.
The servo conversion kit was $8. A standard size 25kg servo with metal bits in it was ¼ the price of the stock one.

[.:4:.]

Got the new servo and adapter kit for my monster truck today. Went in straight forward. If you have an rc car with a dead steering servo i highly recomend replacing it with one that works...
So testing the thing, yep, better steering response at speed. However, i do not normally run the thing without the body on, but testing. Anyhow. Low speed angling to get up a set of stairs, servo would go full scale deflection, no bendys in the steering links, but wouldnt play steering angle wise.
So the thing has a servo saver in it. Its job is as its name suggests. Cop a hit to the steering it absorbs that as to save the servo. The way it works is different but not too dissimilar to how the clutch on an impact driver works.
So to be fair, my monster truck has seen more hits then Michael Jackson. But on inspection, the cams id suppose you'd call them are quite worn down. So its fine for the time being, but i ordered an ally servo saver (stock is plastic) which comes with other ally steering bits that i wont install. Reason being, for the other steering bits plastic bends before it breaks and i like that cushion and also im effectively moving the failure point up the line which like anything always happens.

[.:4:.]

Got the new ally servo saver and bell crank kit in today. So my plan of trying to retain majority plastic bits but use just the ally servo saver was a flop. They dont fit each other. So i used the full ally bell crank kit. Went in easy, the kit came with new bearings and stainless hardware. With this setup the spring in the servo saver is also adjustable for stiffness. So i left that where its at bar ½ half a turn.
So testing at low speeds its heaps better, the servo saver doesnt say no. I did at low speed intentionally come up to walls at an angle, the servo saver then starts to say no, but thats it doing its job properly.

[.:4:.]

So its been a few runs with all the new steering gear in my monster truck and im really pleased.
The only 1 minor issue i had was one i knew would happen. So going from the stock oversized servo to an adapter kit with a better standard sized servo, due to spacing i didnt know what sized servo horn to run to clear the chassis. So i ran the plastic one that came with the servo and it cleared by a whisker. So ordered an ally servo horn same sized, theyre cheap, and in the 3 days for delivery the plastic one did start to skip teeth. So yeah ive taken most the give out of the steering, yes its much more direct, a 20kg servo is much nicer then an 8kg servo. But less give = more break.

[.:4:.]

So my kid wants to do rc this arvo. Thats fine. My monster truck has all the steering upgraded. Ive tested it and am happy with the light runs on it, but im more then happy for my son to go hard on the thing and properly torture test it.
Normally id also bring along my stock short course truck, but i wont today. It had its first proper failure last thursday. Steering servo stripped. So nothing major, just needs a new servo which is in transit.
We normally have a bag of fun running both trucks together because theyre different but each excels in its own way.
So very much a case of regardless of who is running which, we are kids in that the term 'i bet you cant do this' comes out. For example, the short course truck is was better and more stable turning hard at speed. The monster truck is heaps better at doing big jumps. From a stop, the short course truck accelerates quicker then the monster truck, but the monster truck is alot faster in the top end. And quite a bit alot faster.
So theyre very different.
The monster truck, its hardly got a standard part left on it. Just so save myself from crippling depressison i dont keep track of how much money i have in it.
The short course truck i stuck to my guns with in keeping it stock. Aftermarket wheels and tyres were $72, other minor broken bits have been $38, the clutch, $16 and the servo i ordered was $48.
So i have gotten more enjoyment from the short course truck even though i beat the crap out of it, mainly because for the most part its more reliable being stock.
Im sure the monster truck would have been for the most part reliable if it was predominantly stock. But that thing is the because i can thing. So silly over powered, modified suspensions an driveline stuff, all the sensors and cooling fans (thats more a safety thing). But give it space and apart from going rather fast, it does handle a lot better. Its still a monster truck, so theyre not supposed to handle well, but extended track width and stuff, its not completely terrible.

[.:4:.]

Recieved and fitted the final part that was annoying me on my monster truck, so for now i say its done.
So 6s batteries are taller then the 4s the chassis was designed for. So my semi permanent fix was a rubber band to hold the taller batteries in. Yes that worked fine, but everything else on the rig is done proper, so that was my minor irritation. There is a factory adapter kit for taller batteries, but nowhere i could find in australia stocked them. So i was happy enough to wait untill somewhere did, but i found out its a discontinued part. So i had to order from america. Cheap part, not cheap postage. But its done now.

[.:4:.]

I also replaced the busted steering servo in my short course truck yesterday. I zero'd it, but let my kid test it and dial in the endpoints and stuff.
Gotta love the council, they re did the play area at the local park, and no we do not run rc in that area and tear it up, but they left behind a few mounds of dirt and woodchips off to the side.
So big jumps were had.
So the short course truck did pop a shock cap. Not too detrimental. My kid got up me for suggesting its a good enough reason for ally shocks on that thing. So instead i spent the $6 for replacement bladders to rebuild the stock rear shocks.

[.:4:.]

So fixed the shock last thursday. Nothing too exciting about that. Went against my kids objections and ordered some stock shocks with ally bodies because its not the first time that truck has popped off a shock cap.
So heres the thing. My kids deffinition of stock is 100% as it was. My deffinition of stock is stock power, gear ratios and suspension geometry.
So my stock short course truck. First thing to wear was the nylon spur gear. So i replaced it with the same 54 tooth but the factory upgrade steel one. So still stock. Next was the factory cast clutch assembly shattered. So i replaced it with the factory optional larger billet alloy assembly. Then when it snapped an axle, i replaced all 4 with the factory optional hd plastic ones (didnt see the need to spend big on steel as its stock power). So when the ally shocks arrive they'll go in.
So nothing makes it go any faster, handle any different. Its stock, just less likely to break.

[.:4:.]

So on monday i got and fitted the ally shocks to the short course truck. Cannot say if they make a difference, my son ran the car. From his trusted opinion, its same same.
But towards the end of the run i heard a noise. Asked my kid. He agreed, clutch slipping too much.
In my mind it just needed to be tightened up as its not self adjusting and clutch shoes are a wear item.
I was almost right. It was clutch, but this is the second one to shatter itself. This time the metal bits also took teeth off the pinion gear and munted the spur gear. Gears are cheap.
So regardless, i need to do something about the clutch situation. Its a slipper clutch, so really only there as a form of traction control on a race track. So not needed for bashing about.
Cheap option would be slap another clutch in the thing and be nice to it, but wheres the fun in that. So i went the more expensive route and ordered a centre differential to eliminate the clutch.
My monster truck has no clutch and a centre diff, its never had an issue even though its overpowered, so cannot see a downside to converting the stock powered short course truck to a centre diff.

[.:4:.]

So i recieved the centre diff today to get rid of the slipper clutch, and also new gears.

Pretty sure that gear wont buff.
I gave the thing a quick test rip. Its different having a centre diff.
Im going to get my test pilot to give me the full run down on and his proffesional opinion. I still havent tested the new shocks bar a 2 minute test of making sure the gears were meshed with the new centre diff.
Dunno why my son like thrashing that truck. I know why he never brings his out.
I did gear it up. Centre diff has to come out again when i get the tone wheel that fits. Make the speedo work. It did 90 before, should do around 100 now, but overheat quicker.

[.:4:.]

Ill give my sons reasoning as to why he never brings his monster truck out to bash about with my rc cars. Its purely because he doesnt want to beat up his body shell. He has had his monster truck for 6 or so years. Its the original release traxxas bigfoot #1. So its a traxxas stampede chassis with a nice licenced f100 body on it. So basic chassis, parts are cheap and available for the chassis. Just even when available, the bodies were expensive. In stock form with the brushed motor they werent fast. Considering he was 7 when he got it for christmas, it remained stock for a few years just so he could proove he can handle it and not be reckless. Accidental breakage is acceptable, reckless breakage is different. But he well and truelly proved himself. So he has varios sets of wheels and tyres for different conditions, a wheelie bar on it and it runs an aftermarket programable 3s esc and an aftermarket 4000kv brushless motor. So the things not slow. Its not that his monster truck cant hold its own, its probably quicker then my short course truck that runs a stock 3s esc and brushless 3500kv motor.
Ive been on his back for ages about getting a new body for it. So he can not worry about the stock one getting a bit scuffed up and have a new one so the car looks pretty on the shelf. He ummed and refused for a long time. So you can still reasonably easily get the same body but with the later livery. He didnt want that. He wanted the original blue. Looking online the original blue appears to be discontinued, none are on the shebays either. So i did find one on the interweb from a place in parramatta, 1 left in stock. Asked my kid, he said he'd think about it. But i ordered it anyway.
So my kids terms, which i agreed on, he will bring his bigfoot out and jump it but only after he has the new body for it.
So its very good that he takes very good care of his stuff. But its rc, if your overly concerned you take the fun out of it. It took him quite a while to stop appologising whenever he would roll one of my rc cars. He was also very nervouse to start with with the fact id just hand either over to him, especially my monster truck as he knows the amount put into that thing. But he is my test driver. He knows enough to either confirm if something isnt 100% right, and also often points out changes to improve stuff that i dont notice.

[.:4:.]

Curiosity got the better of me. So i gave the short course truck a proper couple runs with the centre diff. So the clutch i took out sends even power to the front and rear diffs. The centre diff is pretty loose and does the open centre diff thing of sending power to the path of least resistance. Both the front and rear diffs are pretty loose open centres. So path of least resistance went from just left to right, to front rear left to right.
So yes this thing is 4wd. But by design its supposed to be more towards dirt or gravel not 4x4 stuff. That being said. On flattish grass and dirt it handles quite a lot better.
On obsicles that are more 4x4 like, its a turd on a stick. It used to just just be a turd and spin the 1 front and 1 rear tyre that had least traction. With a centre diff it just spins the 1 tyre with least traction.
Not upset about that at all, it handles going fast a heap better now even though it wasnt too bad before.