help with small upgrades.

[Gravebane525]

after buying this with plans to turn it into a crawler, going thru and finding info on alot of things specific for crawling, when I actually got it to the campground to run it its just to much fun as is to change into a full crawler. this my first RC car and I'm having a blast with it, even fixing the transmission when I lost FWD was fun.

now what I would like to do to it.

1. make it alittle slower - its fun its just alittle fast for my needs and with the kids playing with it I don;t want them smashing it on a tree or a rock. I know it has a 20t motor and axial sells 27t and 55t motors for it. would dropping in one of the 27t motors do it? or would I need to swap out gears too. would I be better off going with something between 27t and 55t with out it being to slow. also the stock motor has a really high pitched whine at slow speeds, is abit annoying but I'm not sure if its fixable.

2. increase the steering - I've not figured out just how the steering works or how to fix it but I've seen people with the same axels have twice the steering on them.

3. weight the wheels abit - I think I'm pretty set on how this works. axial sells some beadlocks that don't look to bad and are a good deal cheaper then the VP ones I've seen.

4. get some better rubber on them - again think I'm pretty set but advice of decent tires wouldnt hurt. I'm kinda liking the pit bull rock beast II's from the looks and the reviews. but I really don't have any experience to back that on. I may just wait and try and pick up some cheap used beadlocks and tires in the classifieds.

5. switch out the battery connection to take lipo's - I have a big heavy old style battery in it now, and a charger that will handle both. I bought them because they use the same connection as the truck had and the shop guy said the charger will do lipo's and the cars will take them, it just requires adapters and swapping out the connectors. no idea how any of this would work. I'd also like to add some disconnect points to some of the stock wires, would be nice to be able able to unplug from either end when trying to work on it. have no idea how to go about any of this though.

6. purple shock springs - not looked into how to do this yet but I think it would be fairly simple. hoping I don;t have to take the shocks apart to the point I'll have to deal with the oil though. will looks into it later.

for now that all I really think would improve the car for trail runnin and bashing thru the woods. then again as I learn more about RC's I may change my mind again.

[Gravebane525]

think I figured out #2, AR60 OCP Universal Axle Set. will stop at the hobby shop see if they carry it in stock tonight. prolly end up ordering it online though. almost 50 bucks according to axial's site but under 35 on the CK site. also could get the stage 1 VP set for 100 bucks, go along way tward making my car a little more crash resistant.

[redsawacs]

Start with the motor - I would get a 27t and a 35t. I have several and I think the 27 and 35 options are the best unless you are going to either make it a speed demon or a basher. Sometimes I like the 27T and sometimes I like the 35T. Depends on the Terrain I'm on. Trails 27T, Rocks and ridges where I do more slow navigating obsticles, 35T for sure. you'll just have to see what you like better. I dont do much gear changing as I can get the desired effect from motor swaps and it puts me right where I want to be. Keep experimenting. With a castle link and a PC (not a mac) you can adjust a few setting on the speed controler to help with the power...especially that silly reverse!

Steering - check to see if the steering gain on your remote is adjusted properly...it may be turned down too much.

Wheel weights? Sure, but I would only use the rings and not add any slugs to it - that and the battery swap is more than you need. Heck, you may be able to keep the battery in the rear for downhill stability...too much in the front and you'll "heals over head".

Purple or ever black springs and some more work on the shock piston, but I think I already gave you that info in another post today.

The stock rubber will be fine - its pretty good rubber, just needs some "cutting 101" work and you're in the game!
Axial Racing - Tire Cutting 101

The battery connector is whatever you want - all batteries have different connectors - just pick one and stick with it...anything can be changed to fit what you want - just need to learn to solder them off and on....easy peasy

Here are a few links that will get you going. There are TONS more out there but I like to use the ones from the guys that engineered, built and field the car.

Bender's backyard basher
Axial Racing - Bender’s AX10 Ridgecrest Project Backyard Basher
Bender's ridgecrest build - way more indepth crawler abilities
Axial Racing - Bender’s AX10 Ridgecrest Stage 1
Axial Racing - Bender’s AX10 Ridgecrest Stage 2
Axial Racing - Bender’s AX10 Ridgecrest – Stage 3

Another ridgecrest build tutorial (Jamie@Axial)
Axial Racing - AX10 Ridgecrest – Stage 1 Upgrades
Axial Racing - AX10 Ridgecrest – Stage 2 Upgrades
Axial Racing - Jamie

[Gravebane525]

man that is some great info... will prolly keep me busy for a few nights atleast with out having to spend much at all. not sure I trust myself to take a dremel to my tires but I have a good set of model clippers that will split the center lugs and remove the outer ones easily (an prolly alittle cleaner then the wire cutters[EDIT: much closer and cleaner but I got to close a few times.]). the gap just won't be as big because nothing is being removed.

defentaly need to stop at the hobby shop and get an extender, I don't trust the electronics being mounted under the battery tray like I did last night because the wires weren't long enough. it had a large effect on how the car works. tried climbing the stairs before and it would flip, now there enough weight up front that it gets hung up but doesn't flip. does flip alot easier in reverse now though, and that was easy enough to do before.

just hit me that I was only really interested in weighting the front tires. while mismatched tires might mess with my OCD abit, it will make that upgrade alittle cheaper atleast to start with.

ok for now I'm going with the universals, a 27t axial motor(for 16 bucks even if it don;t last long I'll see what it does), a servo extension cable, and black-purple springs. think the universal's will need to be ordered in... in that case I may look into the battery connection parts even if I don't install them yet.

next batch will be 2 beadlocks 2 r35 tires and 2 ring weights.

after that depends on how much I like the tires and beadlocks. either a set for the rear or put some money aside for a decent servo.

EDIT: didn't make it to the hobby shop last night but I just picked up 8 tires 4 beadlocks and a castle link off the classifieds. universal and springs will have to wait a few weeks but will still stop at the LHS for the extender and a few other odds and ends I could use.

[Gravebane525]

ok got to try it with the stock tires on saterday climbing a slope of piled rocks. I found a few lines I could make it up but even with the front tires cut it had a hard time gripping the rocks.

sunday I went back with used super swampers I bought on some used axial beadlocks, huge huge difference. where the stock tires would slip and I had to try to find an edge on the rock to grip, the only thing that stopped the car with the swampers on it was bottoming out or flipping over. even when it bottomed out half the time I could get it to bounce enough by gunning it and turning the wheels to get grip again, the other half of the time the bounce would slip it sideways or flip it over.

found a great deal here last week for 4 more axial beadlocks new and new weight sets for 4 wheels. all for less then I would have paid for the weight rings for 2 wheels. they should be waiting at home. also ordered the universals and purple springs last week. they should be at the LHS this week sometime.

side note. you really need to keep up on the screws in the hubs or chubs or what ever they called... the front steering. lost a screw out of that sunday and lost the little sleeve. I was lucky enough to find the sleeve in the grass at the bottom of the rock slope. stole from the electronics tray so I am one screw short now. will need to fond some king of locktite safe for plastic (blue stuff I got and tried yesterday may be working but is not good for plastic) and a pack of extra screws.

EDIT: also found out that the controller has a trim knob that handles the max steering arc. was able to turn it up so high that the stock dogbones would jump around as it was trying to thun and backed it down untill that stopped. much better turning then it was before. still lookin forward to the universals so I can get even more.

[redsawacs]

NICE! Have you changed the screws out for fine thread machine screws yet? Once I did that, I havent had them back out!

[Gravebane525]

not yet... I have a screw set in and I'll need to pick up a a pair of new chubs... one of them has stripped out. had the screws going into the chubs back out on me atleast 10 times this weekend.

biggest problem right now is the increased steering I got with the universals has the tires ripping the spring cups off the bottom of my shocks and now I think my shocks are leaking after running it without the cups. need to figure out how to fix the shocks and the steering by sunday for a comp.