Cross-RC PG4 build

[FinCrawler]

Build thread of Cross-RC PG4.

[FinCrawler]

So, NOW we have something to write. Sometime ago i saw a video of this truck and it got me right away.

After desperate searching, i finally found a retailer in UK, Greens Models - Cross RC
and its operated by a very nice man named Simon, who was very helpful. And has been very helpful even after the deal, he made sure that i got the package and weve had few conversations about rc business, Cross-RC products etc etc.
What can i say, never had i relationship like this with my rc retailer before. Nice man!

Well, on to the ongoing topic then..

My eagerly awaited PG4 arrived today.







The size of the body is... just huge..



Immediately of course began the assembling and noticed that there has been some mistake with the manual as they have made corrections and glued the corrected page to the manual.



Aaand we have axels..



Thats all for today, i have to get back building the truck. Ill get back to you asap.

[FinCrawler]

So, yesterday i got to continue building my PG4.

Next in line was the shocks.



The first impression was, i was not impressed. The quality and design doesnt convince me at all with these shocks.
The car is delivered with two sets of springs and the softer red ones couldnt even push the shock completely in full length when compressed.
Theres a collar between the two o-rings at the bottom of the shock and thats just too tight, but i figured that it will give in when i get to drive this thing. Remains to be seen..

Front shocks length hole-to-hole 98mm and rears 72mm. Fully compressed, front hole-to-hole 77mm and behind 56mm.



After shocks was supposed to build linking, but as my 1.5mm hex driver is in very bad condition, i thought that ill go through the gearbox/motor combination as im waiting for new hex to arrive.

PG4 is delivered with 27T motor.



Although the gearbox/motor is already assembled, im not that stupid that i would trust that theres A) enough grease in gears B) pinion and motor screws are tight enough.
So, lets open it up.



Theres something i havent seen with scale cars before, planetary gears with reduction rate of 1:16.8.



Under the small hatch, theres motor tightening screws.



If i counted right, the spur gear is 74T and pinion is 18T and with 27T motor and 3S lipos, im guessing this car will fly..



Pinion and motor screw tightening, gears full of grease and back together.

Thats all for this time. Thanks for reading!

[FinCrawler]

Yesterday i finally got to continue.

Next was the linkage and shocks assembly to the axles..
Car is mentioned to have "4 link system", but that seems to be normal 3-link.
Didnt ruin my day though..



Seems durable? No i didnt think so either..
But, lets use them as long as they rock and then replace them with MIP or something far better.



And we have one real design flaw also..



I didnt want to ruin my Savöx cord, so that part went under the knife..



I know my written english sucks sometimes as its not my native language, but even i know that those few last words doesnt make any sense..



Then we had the chassis assembly. From bumber to bumber, 54cm / 21.25 in.



Then the axles found their place. Nothing specific to mention with the installing process, went quite smoothly.



Then the tires. Nothing too bad with assembly, ive had much worse cases but also some easier tires/rims to fit.
Wheels are metal and feels heavy. Didnt put any tire weights yet as i want to test all my rides "out-of-the-box".
Also, i dont put much trust to those tires having mentionable grip, so i bet these wheels wont be spending time with the tires very long.
But we'll see when we see how this thing goes.

Wheels look good.



I think theres something wrong in the picture..
Luckily i have much hexes in my tool box so that wasnt a problem for me.
For someone else this kind of stuff might be a problem..



She stands on her own.









Again, one actually quite bad design flaw..
Only solution here is to bend the "fog" light wire carefully, but theres always the possibility that the wire will snap.
Also, i might put smaller tires with the car as with these 108mm tires, i cant make it in the Class 1.



Thats all for now.

Next we have electrics assembly and some painting to do..

Thanks for reading!

[FinCrawler]

So, yesterday i continued with painting the body and assembling the electrics.

Suddenly it seemed that i would get the car finished, so theres no pictures from the body under works.

Painting failed miserably as i made the biggest mistake and painted in hurry.
Also, i had only two 100ml Tamiya bottles as this body should have 3 bottles.



The manual says the lights should be painted red-yellow-white but i say hell no, looks way better like that imo.
Again, dont pay too much attention to paint job as it really failed badly..
















I really like the looks of the car, even though the painting failed badly.
Its what you get for the price, hard body, metal wheels, light set, two spring sets, 27T motor...
I really like it so far and now i got to get test the car asap.


Thanks for reading!

[FinCrawler]

Test drive was a success. Only lost both driveshafts and one mirror.

Heres from the testing session..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T_TQlBsVG4

I really like this car!

[djjiz]

Got any pics of the axle internals or side by side with another vehicle?

[Szczerba]

Great build thread and video! I like the Cross R/C products as well.

[FinCrawler]

Originally Posted by djjiz

Got any pics of the axle internals or side by side with another vehicle?

Axle internals, no. But heres a link to Scale4X4 forums where is another build thread and he has taken much more and better pics.

Scale 4x4 R/C Forums - View Single Post - Cross-RC PG4

Im going to take a pic with this side by side with my Sawback soon.

[FinCrawler]

The more i get to drive the PG4, the more i love it. Durability seems good as i have bashed the car quite hard to find possible weak spots and so far nothing broken, except those crappy driveshafts.

Im also more and more convinced of the tires, they seem to work well on the rocks and on the mud/sand. So atm no need to replace them.

After 10 hours of driving, i can strongly recommend this car what comes to quality.

[new2rocks]

Thanks for putting this together. I've been curious about their products for a while, so it's good to see a detailed and honest write-up. The video also came out great. And for what it's worth, your written English is better than most who grew up speaking the language.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MaFoDes]

Nice one! How do you think the motor itself performs? A friend of mine is rather interested in building a Cross-Rc and he's wondering about the quality of the motor.
Also, what is the weight of the car? It seems quite stable.

[FinCrawler]

Originally Posted by MaFoDes

Nice one! How do you think the motor itself performs? A friend of mine is rather interested in building a Cross-Rc and he's wondering about the quality of the motor.
Also, what is the weight of the car? It seems quite stable.

So far its almost perfect with stock ratios and 3s lipos. Wheelspeed is exactly what i want and after 10 hours in, it hasnt burned with that voltage.
Almost perfect meaning with the motor is the lack of drag brake, it lets the car roll forward in steep hills. Or is that a problem or not depends on the user i guess.
But so far i like it.

Car weighs approx. 3,7kg/8.15lbs with 3s 2200mah Zippy lipo.

[FinCrawler]

Long time nothing to tell about the car. Except that it has been working flawlessly.

Until today..

Took her for a ride, after first battery the car began behaving like it had slippery clutch loose. But as this car dont have one, i guessed that the pinion screw is loose.
Wrong.



The plastic gear carrier had given in. The cross pin had eaten its way through the plastic and now it just spins there.
Known problem with the 6x6 and 8x8 Cross-RC vehicles.

No worries, going to put order in to Greens Models for the alloy gear carrier.



Really have to be happy with the cars durability. As i opened the gearbox, after approx 12 hours in, its still as new.
I have no picture of it now, but thers not even sand inside the gearbox.
Must be the grease i used to "seal" of the gearbox seams.

[HANgOVER Airbrush RC]

I'm building one right now...
We got the chassis together enough for some testing last night.
Broke the driveshaft in the first 5 minutes.
I might cross drill the shaft so the set-screw has somewhere to dig.

Good to know about the plastic gear carrier.

[Curb Crawler]

How are you getting along with this? I'm putting together the bigger dually L version at the moment and I'm really impressed so far

[FinCrawler]

Originally Posted by Curb Crawler

How are you getting along with this? I'm putting together the bigger dually L version at the moment and I'm really impressed so far

Hard to say, the car has been shelf queen for the last 6 months as i dont do winter driving.

But all and all, so far i have really liked PG4 and just planning upgrades for this season, which would probably be aluminium axles as they are now available and that hard top to rear.

https://greensmodels.co.uk/collectio...ont-alloy-axle

https://greensmodels.co.uk/collectio...ear-alloy-axle

https://greensmodels.co.uk/collectio...4-luggage-rack

Also, shocks will be most likely replaced for better ones. Zero problems with them so far, but they are quite plasticy and toyish. It also seems that they dont keep the shock oil inside as every single one has leaked during the winter.

Tires will also be one thing to consider for replacing. I dont actually have anything bad to say about the stock tires, but i know for sure that they suck compared to Pro-Line or RC4WD tires.
Some soldering needs to be done also, my fog lights has lost their wires last autumn because of the front tires were catching the wires.
Oh, i do need a new motor also most likely, last time i was driving the stock motor lost its power every now and then, might be that it has served it purpose. Great motor for being a stock motor though, can handle 3S lipos nicely!

Looking forward getting my hands back to my PG4, so far im on my winter hiatus as theres just too cold and snowy here in Finland.

[HANgOVER Airbrush RC]

Originally Posted by FinCrawler

Hard to say, the car has been shelf queen for the last 6 months as i dont do winter driving.


Also, shocks will be most likely replaced for better ones. Zero problems with them so far, but they are quite plasticy and toyish. It also seems that they dont keep the shock oil inside as every single one has leaked during the winter.

Tires will also be one thing to consider for replacing. I dont actually have anything bad to say about the stock tires, but i know for sure that they suck compared to Pro-Line or RC4WD tires.
Some soldering needs to be done also, my fog lights has lost their wires last autumn because of the front tires were catching the wires.
Oh, i do need a new motor also most likely, last time i was driving the stock motor lost its power every now and then, might be that it has served it purpose. Great motor for being a stock motor though, can handle 3S lipos nicely!

An update from my friend's truck. I crawl with him almost every weekend, and we built the kit at my house.

Shocks are indeed cheap, and toy like. But somehow they've stayed together. I'm trying to talk him into running (at least) the Axial's...they would be an upgrade.
He also added "revolver" or "shooter shackles." I don't see where they benefit.

His motor has had no problems. Even running the 3s. It's wicked fast in 2nd gear!!!

Tires do great. He's wanting to change them, but I don't see where it's necessary. That truck is a tank, and as long as it doesn't high center, it goes everywhere.

I hope your weather breaks soon, Fin...
It's a fun truck to have around.

[FinCrawler]

Yeah, about the tire change im not so sure either, was just a thought that i would try something else.

I cant remember if i have mentioned this earlier but yes, i do find this truck much more fun and rewarding to drive than for example SCX10.
SCX10 is just.. boring.

Sure, this has its own little problems, what comes to driveability especially that long rear catching ground and getting stuck all the time is one of them.
And the fact that theres a very little to do what comes to getting better turning radius.
And of course the fact that there isnt aftermarket parts available..

But i dont mind, i really like this truck and so far, Cross-RC has very good quality and im never going back to Axial.

I would like to buy the 2.2" version, PG4S but atm i just dont have room for that.. :(

[HANgOVER Airbrush RC]

Yeah, the Cross RC bug must be addictive, as my buddy is already talking about adding another to his fleet.
I too, am bored of the SCX, but mostly because I am bored of lexan.
And yes, the PG-4L has a turning radius of a school bus, but that just adds to the challenge!