RCCrawler Forums

swisherteets · 12-23-2008, 07:04 AM

So I have been in the process of the past few months of building up a couple rigs. Unfortunately I got into crawling right as the winter started and in western NY there is no way ya can crawl outside during the winter lol. Luckily There is an indoor comp series starting this month nearby.

Reviews: (strictly functional have not crawled yet)

So I got my axial kit a while back and built it the only thing i dont like is that there is some philips head hardwar in these kits which dispise but is not a huge issue. I then proceeded to buy a boat load of ST Racing aluminum to deck it out. The price vs. quality on their product is great with the exception of on thing. The green color is the closest to Axials I have seen and to me this is a plus on the looks side as I hate anodizing that is off (pet peave of mine) I purchased their 4-link plates which look great fit great and function very well when it comes to articulation. Their aluminum C's and Knuckles fit very well and functioned well with the axial CVD's I didnt see a huge gain over the plastinc steering links in steering angle but they are in the process of making high steer ones as a running change from what I am told. The aluminum shock bodies make the stock shocks ten times better. They are still no Losi threaded ones but with the right limiting to them they work smoothly and can definately do the job. the cross braces and motor plate fit beautifully and look great too. I bought the aluminum one before I knew that aluminum does not make for a good skid plate. Their 30 degree bent links are nearly identical to the Axial ones minus the lettering. This leaves me with the only part that I was disapointed in and that is their straight axle adapters and shafts. The fitment with the adapters onto the axles is fine but the shafts have horrible slop in them. If you look at the RCP versions the shafts have a large OD in-between the two bearings in the shaft to hold the bearings in place and to take care of this slop and allow one to have a place to shim. on the ST Racing versions you have to take some tubing and cut it to size as a spacer inbetween these bearings. you cannot shim the back of the outermost bearing because then what will happen is it brings the lock pin in flush to the aluminum adapter and causes the hex to rub on the adapter. Overall its just a poor design but is "fixable"

This is what my crawler had on it chassis wise before the Slingshot:

swisherteets · 12-23-2008, 07:32 AM

So now onto what I know everyone wants to see:

DNA Slingshot CFX Kit
First off I want to say thank you to the guys at DNA for the great customer service and perhaps the best products out there for crawlers.
This kit was like trying to find the rarest thing on earth. I was finally able to get my hands on one from RPP hobby (amazing service great people Highly reccomend). The Kit is like a piece of art from how its made to its looks to the way it fits to the axial drivetrain.
No as far as cons go on the chassis a few minor ones. One of my chassis plates did not have the countersinks machined into it and its holes her slightly shifted. I simply widened the holes ever so slighttly and added the counterbore in with an exacto knife (did it thi way cause a dremel will eat straight through CF like a hot knife on butter if your not careful) The battery/lipo tray also had to have coutersinks added into where the support posts needed to go. I am not sure if they intended to use support posts with it however because the kit does not have them I just used them from the ST racing stuff I had. My only other very small gripe was the finish on the CF was a little rough with some frayed fibers left over in the holes and around the plates from machineing which is nothing a little exacto knife trimming wont fix.
I really feel that this kit absolutely needs superglue added to all the edges. This is nothign different from any other CF chassis out there.
I used the traxxas revo gtr titanium coated shocks on mine and they work beautifully they really have the perfect amount of travel needed and they are so smooth and they are cheap off ebay from the guys who part trucks out. set up was fairly smooth. when it came to bolting everything together. It just takes a little adjustment here and there to get links and so on to clear everything.
I mounted the uppers on the inside and had just enough room to clear everything. Ya gotta be careful on the rear when you do this so you do not hit the dig servo.
Speaking of the Dig servo. The mount for this to optimize the DNA Dig is Perfect. Ya just can't have a better place to make this dig work flawlessly. You can really tell that major time was put into makeing this work so well. The mounts/crossbraces themselves have holes drilled into them made specifically for zipties which is a simple yet awsome little added feature.
the motor plate and skid are also nothign short of perfect as expected. They are both extremely strong and very well machined. (the skid is astoundingly well made for a skid)
The 4 link mounts I was a little worried over at first when I pulled them out as they seem to have a little less material to hem than I would like but We shall see this week when I head to my first comp

Well I know you want to see pics so here they are:

I am extremely pleased with this chassis kit. I know that some look at the price and are turned of by it but for what you get with the kit it is a tremendous deal for a top of the line product.
great work DNA!!! and lets see some more upgrades I know ya guys got them in the works ;)

rotten · 12-23-2008, 02:05 PM

very nice, you still have the old chassie?

i sent you a pm

NeXt559 · 12-23-2008, 02:44 PM

just a quick suggestion:

you may want to use a longer draglink and connect it to the opposite knuckle

here's a link to an article on why
http://www.rccrawler.com/strongsteering.html

hodges996 · 12-23-2008, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeXt559

just a quick suggestion:

you may want to use a longer draglink and connect it to the opposite knuckle

here's a link to an article on why
http://www.rccrawler.com/strongsteering.html

x2 leverage is a good thing

hawaiiancrawler · 12-26-2008, 06:23 PM

just got one for xmas and not happy at all!

bigflex · 12-26-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawaiiancrawler

just got one for xmas and not happy at all!

really why? wanna unload it?

swisherteets · 12-26-2008, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawaiiancrawler

just got one for xmas and not happy at all!

??sarcasm?? or you seriously dont???

this kit is superb. I took it over to my parents and did some crawling christmas eve and man that thing did insanely well it will crawl circles around the stock one and though I have not tried any of the other comp chassies I really think that this chassis can give them their run for the money.
It takes everything that the other sling shot versions were and just makes the design even better. I cant stress enough how smooth the dig works with this chassis.

hawaiiancrawler · 12-26-2008, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swisherteets

??sarcasm?? or you seriously dont???

this kit is superb. I took it over to my parents and did some crawling christmas eve and man that thing did insanely well it will crawl circles around the stock one and though I have not tried any of the other comp chassies I really think that this chassis can give them their run for the money.
It takes everything that the other sling shot versions were and just makes the design even better. I cant stress enough how smooth the dig works with this chassis.

i know this chassis works great but the quality of this $200 chassis is not up to par at all!just early production problems i hope.

hawaiiancrawler · 12-26-2008, 08:46 PM

no hopefully solomon will take care of it.im sure he will.for $200 just want it right!

this reply is to bigflex

cruz*hotboxrc · 12-26-2008, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawaiiancrawler

just got one for xmas and not happy at all!

if you need a set up p/m me....you got use it to find your set up, dont give up
when it spanks, it will put a smile

swisherteets · 12-27-2008, 07:02 AM

I guess I understand the quality thing I did meantion a few small issues I had with mine in this thread but it was nothing I couldnt take care of and nothing a little work/superglue on the edges like ya should be doing anyways on any kit you buy no matter the company to keep it from delaminating. I bet if you are unahappy with it Solomon will help you out,

hawaiiancrawler · 12-27-2008, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swisherteets

I guess I understand the quality thing I did meantion a few small issues I had with mine in this thread but it was nothing I couldnt take care of and nothing a little work/superglue on the edges like ya should be doing anyways on any kit you buy no matter the company to keep it from delaminating. I bet if you are unahappy with it Solomon will help you out,

all i did was take it out of package so far thats it,didnt even pass visual inspection.ive got a 1.5 inch of void in bottomof chassis and grinder marks all over it

hawaiiancrawler · 12-27-2008, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cruz*hotboxrc

if you need a set up p/m me....you got use it to find your set up, dont give up
when it spanks, it will put a smile

this is the problem as far as i got was to take it out of package.doesnt pass visual inspection to even start to put together

cruz*hotboxrc · 12-27-2008, 10:39 AM

If you want sell it let me know or p/m me...

5150bronco · 12-27-2008, 02:45 PM

i just got mine too. everything looks good. I dont need all the parts for the cfx so if you need something pm me. good luck and keep us updated. Thanks.

swisherteets · 12-28-2008, 09:39 PM

I had my first competition today and the first time I have ever crawled and I have to say this chassis and DNA dig set up ran flawlessly. My driveing skills need some work and I know i dont do the thing justice but I was able to place 7th out of 16 haveing never crawled before. The chassis' performance impressed several people. It stayed planted very well and I cant stress how smoothly the dig worked with it.
great job DNA on a perfect set up it really showed through how much real research and tweaking went into this chassis design

5150bronco · 12-29-2008, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swisherteets

I had my first competition today and the first time I have ever crawled and I have to say this chassis and DNA dig set up ran flawlessly. My driveing skills need some work and I know i dont do the thing justice but I was able to place 7th out of 16 haveing never crawled before. The chassis' performance impressed several people. It stayed planted very well and I cant stress how smoothly the dig worked with it.
great job DNA on a perfect set up it really showed through how much real research and tweaking went into this chassis design

what kind of shocks are you running?

what is your link setup look like?

Thanks.

210solomon007 · 12-29-2008, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawaiiancrawler

this is the problem as far as i got was to take it out of package.doesnt pass visual inspection to even start to put together

What he did not mention is that we have taken care of his issues 100%. Anyway the build looks great and thanks for the support

dirtydirtysouf · 12-29-2008, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeXt559

just a quick suggestion:

you may want to use a longer draglink and connect it to the opposite knuckle

here's a link to an article on why
http://www.rccrawler.com/strongsteering.html

thats a pretty good read.....thanks for posting it up

12-23-2008, 07:04 AM	#1
swisherteets Quarry Creeper Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Jamestown Posts: 357	DNA Slingshot CFX, ST Racing... So I have been in the process of the past few months of building up a couple rigs. Unfortunately I got into crawling right as the winter started and in western NY there is no way ya can crawl outside during the winter lol. Luckily There is an indoor comp series starting this month nearby. Reviews: (strictly functional have not crawled yet) So I got my axial kit a while back and built it the only thing i dont like is that there is some philips head hardwar in these kits which dispise but is not a huge issue. I then proceeded to buy a boat load of ST Racing aluminum to deck it out. The price vs. quality on their product is great with the exception of on thing. The green color is the closest to Axials I have seen and to me this is a plus on the looks side as I hate anodizing that is off (pet peave of mine) I purchased their 4-link plates which look great fit great and function very well when it comes to articulation. Their aluminum C's and Knuckles fit very well and functioned well with the axial CVD's I didnt see a huge gain over the plastinc steering links in steering angle but they are in the process of making high steer ones as a running change from what I am told. The aluminum shock bodies make the stock shocks ten times better. They are still no Losi threaded ones but with the right limiting to them they work smoothly and can definately do the job. the cross braces and motor plate fit beautifully and look great too. I bought the aluminum one before I knew that aluminum does not make for a good skid plate. Their 30 degree bent links are nearly identical to the Axial ones minus the lettering. This leaves me with the only part that I was disapointed in and that is their straight axle adapters and shafts. The fitment with the adapters onto the axles is fine but the shafts have horrible slop in them. If you look at the RCP versions the shafts have a large OD in-between the two bearings in the shaft to hold the bearings in place and to take care of this slop and allow one to have a place to shim. on the ST Racing versions you have to take some tubing and cut it to size as a spacer inbetween these bearings. you cannot shim the back of the outermost bearing because then what will happen is it brings the lock pin in flush to the aluminum adapter and causes the hex to rub on the adapter. Overall its just a poor design but is "fixable" This is what my crawler had on it chassis wise before the Slingshot:

12-23-2008, 07:32 AM	#2
swisherteets Quarry Creeper Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Jamestown Posts: 357	So now onto what I know everyone wants to see: DNA Slingshot CFX Kit First off I want to say thank you to the guys at DNA for the great customer service and perhaps the best products out there for crawlers. This kit was like trying to find the rarest thing on earth. I was finally able to get my hands on one from RPP hobby (amazing service great people Highly reccomend). The Kit is like a piece of art from how its made to its looks to the way it fits to the axial drivetrain. No as far as cons go on the chassis a few minor ones. One of my chassis plates did not have the countersinks machined into it and its holes her slightly shifted. I simply widened the holes ever so slighttly and added the counterbore in with an exacto knife (did it thi way cause a dremel will eat straight through CF like a hot knife on butter if your not careful) The battery/lipo tray also had to have coutersinks added into where the support posts needed to go. I am not sure if they intended to use support posts with it however because the kit does not have them I just used them from the ST racing stuff I had. My only other very small gripe was the finish on the CF was a little rough with some frayed fibers left over in the holes and around the plates from machineing which is nothing a little exacto knife trimming wont fix. I really feel that this kit absolutely needs superglue added to all the edges. This is nothign different from any other CF chassis out there. I used the traxxas revo gtr titanium coated shocks on mine and they work beautifully they really have the perfect amount of travel needed and they are so smooth and they are cheap off ebay from the guys who part trucks out. set up was fairly smooth. when it came to bolting everything together. It just takes a little adjustment here and there to get links and so on to clear everything. I mounted the uppers on the inside and had just enough room to clear everything. Ya gotta be careful on the rear when you do this so you do not hit the dig servo. Speaking of the Dig servo. The mount for this to optimize the DNA Dig is Perfect. Ya just can't have a better place to make this dig work flawlessly. You can really tell that major time was put into makeing this work so well. The mounts/crossbraces themselves have holes drilled into them made specifically for zipties which is a simple yet awsome little added feature. the motor plate and skid are also nothign short of perfect as expected. They are both extremely strong and very well machined. (the skid is astoundingly well made for a skid) The 4 link mounts I was a little worried over at first when I pulled them out as they seem to have a little less material to hem than I would like but We shall see this week when I head to my first comp Well I know you want to see pics so here they are: I am extremely pleased with this chassis kit. I know that some look at the price and are turned of by it but for what you get with the kit it is a tremendous deal for a top of the line product. great work DNA!!! and lets see some more upgrades I know ya guys got them in the works ;) Last edited by swisherteets; 12-23-2008 at 07:47 AM.

12-26-2008, 08:46 PM	#10
hawaiiancrawler Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: CEN*CAL Posts: 48	no hopefully solomon will take care of it.im sure he will.for $200 just want it right! this reply is to bigflex Last edited by hawaiiancrawler; 12-26-2008 at 08:48 PM.

12-23-2008, 02:05 PM	#3
rotten Pebble Pounder Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 108	very nice, you still have the old chassie? i sent you a pm

12-23-2008, 02:44 PM	#4
NeXt559 RCC Addict Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Fresno Posts: 1,464	just a quick suggestion: you may want to use a longer draglink and connect it to the opposite knuckle here's a link to an article on why http://www.rccrawler.com/strongsteering.html

12-26-2008, 06:23 PM	#6
hawaiiancrawler Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: CEN*CAL Posts: 48	just got one for xmas and not happy at all!

12-27-2008, 07:02 AM	#12
swisherteets Quarry Creeper Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Jamestown Posts: 357	I guess I understand the quality thing I did meantion a few small issues I had with mine in this thread but it was nothing I couldnt take care of and nothing a little work/superglue on the edges like ya should be doing anyways on any kit you buy no matter the company to keep it from delaminating. I bet if you are unahappy with it Solomon will help you out,

12-27-2008, 10:39 AM	#15
cruzhotboxrc Pebble Pounder Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Santa AnaO.C. Posts: 189	If you want sell it let me know or p/m me...

12-27-2008, 02:45 PM	#16
5150bronco RCC Addict Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: San Jose Posts: 1,697	i just got mine too. everything looks good. I dont need all the parts for the cfx so if you need something pm me. good luck and keep us updated. Thanks.

12-28-2008, 09:39 PM	#17
swisherteets Quarry Creeper Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Jamestown Posts: 357	I had my first competition today and the first time I have ever crawled and I have to say this chassis and DNA dig set up ran flawlessly. My driveing skills need some work and I know i dont do the thing justice but I was able to place 7th out of 16 haveing never crawled before. The chassis' performance impressed several people. It stayed planted very well and I cant stress how smoothly the dig worked with it. great job DNA on a perfect set up it really showed through how much real research and tweaking went into this chassis design

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