bilinvic's SCX10.2 Build Ver. 2

[bilinvic]

Thanxs chaos.factor....here is the settings for my MMP:

[bilinvic]

Some fairly significant changes to the SR5 10.2 to hopefully improve the performance even more.

1. Hot Racing HD Steel Bevel Gear Set 27T / 8T to overdrive the front axle.
2. Team Ottsix 1.9 KLR-M/T X Tires - Vex Red Compound w/ Ottsix 2-stage 4.19 foams mounted on VP OMF Outlaw II wheels / VP .350 SLW Hubs.
3. Replaced the Wertymade flat top stinger bumper with a Wertymade SCX10.2 stinger front bumper.
4. Replaced the RC4WD sliders with Wertymade SCX10.2 truggy round tube sliders.
5. Yeah Racing 90mm Desert Lizard 2-stage internal spring shocks set up for droop.
6. Lowered the body and cage.
7. Shortened the wheelbase to 327mm (12.85")
8. Added a Bomber interior.

[Teng]

Nice to see your new updates here Brother , any noticeable improvement for the front HR overdrive gear? And comments for the Yeah Racing 90mm Desert Lizard 2-stage internal spring shocis? Thank you

[bilinvic]

I haven't run it yet with the new upgrades....but when I do, I will report back my impressions.

[bilinvic]

With all the recent changes, I couldn't wait to get the SR5 Truggy out on the rocks.....but that excitement was short-lived. It didn't take much time to conclude that the 4.19 tires were simply too small for this rig. I can get away with small tires on my TRX4 because of the Portal axles, but the VP 10.2 Curries were hanging too low with the Class 1 KLR MT/X tires, and the skid kept getting hung up on the rocks and roots.

The shocks worked OK, but they definitely need to be tuned more, the truck was just too bouncy.

About 1/4 way up the mountain, I noticed my steering wasn't quite right....upon closer examination I could see the Samix front shock hoop / Panhard mount had cracked and bent outwards. I was able to somewhat correct the steering with my radio sub-trim and carried on until the inevitable happened! I continued up the mountain for another half hour or so and the Panhard mount was still intact. I changed out to my Twin Hammers that was in my backpack for the majority of the 5 hours we were out crawling.

With all the distractions, I didn't even really get a chance to notice if the overdrive front axle was effective or not. I will pay closer attention next time when my 10.2 is repaired and hopefully more dialed in.

I reverted back to the 10.2 for the ascent down Mt. Work and surprisingly, the cracked aluminum Panhard mount held up the whole 1.25 hour trek to the bottom....about 5 feet from the trail head and I was trying to PIT maneuver my buddies 10.2 and rolled and the mount finally snapped!

As far as I am concerned, Samix is one of the top RC parts manufacturers that come from Asia, so I was surprised to see this failure. For the record, my truck didn't take a nasty fall or roll when this happened, it was just rock crawling. I emailed Samix (in Hong Kong) Saturday evening to explain what happened and in the morning, there was a response asking for pics. I sent pics and they replied again promptly indicating they will replace the Panhard mount for free, I just pay the shipping which is $13.00 USD from HK to Canada. Yes, expensive shipping, but I will do it. I have to say, I'm impressed with their customer service so far which means a lot to me, and with that, I will continue to be a Samix customer.

In the mean time, I have a STRC front shock hoop/Panhard mount on it's way from AMain.

So with all that, I'm going to revert to larger tires and set the shocks up to be semi-droop. I'll have to raise the body a bit, but that's OK.

I have yet another set of tires coming...but I will leave the details for a surprise!!!

Here's a few pics from Saturday's session.

[Teng]

I was a bit shock after seeing the broken panhard mount from Samix. But I am happy they send you the replacement unit as soon as possible.

[redemon]

I think you will like the STRC one just as well.
I have seen or heard of one of those breaking yet.

[bilinvic]

I had one on my other 10.2 before I sold it, although I didn't get a chance to use it, it looked quite strong for a single sheer mount.

[Natedog]

Looks great with the lowered body/cage and 4.19 tires! I'm going back to the smaller tires on one of my crawlers just for something different. Nice warranty from Samix on the panhard mount, it could use a little more metal in that area and/or more brace, probably made of cast aluminum and then just machined to finish.

[bilinvic]

Thanxs Natedog....I'll keep my TRX4 with the tiny tires because it is an incredible crawler now that it's dialed in. Back to the drawing board for the 10.2!

[pullstarter]

What an awesome build thread, I read the whole thing in one go! A couple of questions - did you have to re-engineer any of the Ascender cage due to interference from the trans (I had to do this using a Honcho cage and the SR5 Cab)? Do you find the HH 2200KV is hard to control at lower speed, e.g. too much wheel spin? I'm currently using brushed for the sake of smoothness and have been curious about how smooth a BL setup would be. It would be nice to have a bit more power I think. Is the version you're using the XL or Standard?

Cheers, great truck

[bilinvic]

Thank you pullstarter. I did not have to alter the Ascender cage in the area of the transmission, keep in mind my 10.2 is a kit transmission vs. an RTR trans. I did have to remove the lower section at the rear of the cage where it mounted to the Ascender chassis. The rear of the SR5 cab definitely needs to be clearanced for the trans, but that's no big deal.
I'm using the standard "540" can size. The low end is extremely smooth with the 2200kV HH PP motor and even more so when the throttle curve is set on the ESC to a gentle downward curve and negative expo is set on the transmitter. The 2200kV is right in the sweet spot for low end torque and lots of wheel-speed when needed. I would also suggest the 2700kV motor if you want even more wheel-speed.

Hope this helps.

[pullstarter]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

Thank you pullstarter. I did not have to alter the Ascender cage in the area of the transmission, keep in mind my 10.2 is a kit transmission vs. an RTR trans. I did have to remove the lower section at the rear of the cage where it mounted to the Ascender chassis. The rear of the SR5 cab definitely needs to be clearanced for the trans, but that's no big deal.
I'm using the standard "540" can size. The low end is extremely smooth with the 2200kV HH PP motor and even more so when the throttle curve is set on the ESC to a gentle downward curve and negative expo is set on the transmitter. The 2200kV is right in the sweet spot for low end torque and lots of wheel-speed when needed. I would also suggest the 2700kV motor if you want even more wheel-speed.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Bill. Mine is a kit SCX10 II trans and I had to modify the Honcho cage quite a bit to get it to fit. To be honest I prefer the look of the Ascender cage and will probably give it a go.

Thanks for the info, I think it may be time to try brushless

Cheers
Simon

[bilinvic]

I recently ordered some parts from AMain for my 10.2 and now the package has been stuck in Canada customs (CBSA) since the 15th. I have a feeling AMain put "brass knuckles" on the declaration. Ugh!

[bilinvic]

Finally, my package was released by Canada Customs and my "brass knuckles" arrived, along with some other goodies.

I received the SSD RC SCX10 II AR44 Heavy Brass Steering Knuckles, ST Racing Concepts SCX10 II HD Front Shock Towers w/Panhard Mount, Vaterra Interco TSL SX Swamper 1.9" Rock Crawler Tires and Gmade 1.9 SR04 Beadlock Wheels (Un-coated Silver).

I've read some decent reviews regarding the Vaterra Swampers and their size is perfect at 4.55" tall x 1.69" wide, larger than an P-L SS SX and smaller than a P-L SS XL. Although, I did read these tires came with 2-stage foams and was expecting them to have them; unfortunately that's not the case anymore and the included foams are crappy single stage. Luckily I had a set of CI Lil' Novas in my stash of extra parts that fit these tires perfectly, I believe they are 4.25". I gave the tires a bath in Castrol Super Clean and Simple Green prior to mounting them to the wheels. The compound feels fairly sticky and hopefully they will stick to the rocks.

This is my second set of the G Made SR series beadlock wheels. These wheels are great, easy to install on any tire, have excellent weight to them and look "legit". Since I bought the un-coated steel wheels, I mixed up some salt water and let them soak for a couple of hours and let them air dry....voila, rusty wheels to match the body. The blue wheel nuts are my bench nuts, I save the black wheels nuts for the trail so that I don't deteriorate the Nyloc.

I'm going to use the STRC shock hoops with single shear Panhard mount for now, there's lots of metal in the Panhard mount and I feel they are going to hold up well. Samix sent the replacement Panhard mount for their shock towers so now I have that as a spare just in case. Samix really stepped up to provide the best possible customer service.

Now to get this rig back on the rocks and see if it can match the lofty crawling performance that my TRX4 set!

[Ltd.yfz]

Have you got a chance to take this out with the new stuff?

[bilinvic]

Unfortunately no. Hopefully soon though.

[Browneye]

I like it...rustic and trail ready.

I run one set of the vaterra tsl's, sold the others off. They're a nice size and fine for dirt and trail but not as sticky as prolines or pitbulls on the rocks. If you trim the web out of the middle of the tread it helps, and the single stage foams actually work okay on a lighter rig - likely not for a souped up one like you have here. You can also roughen the tread a little with a course emery board for a little more claw grip.

The PB rockbeasts in standard 'sx' size are 4.45 or within a quarter inch or less of diameter of the vaterra tires and just work all around better. Most do tend to like the look of the tsl's for whatever reason.

Nice custom build - cool to see all the parts put together for something totally custom.

[bilinvic]

Thanxs for the info Browneye. I'm hoping the overdrive front gears will offset the slight performance loss of the Vaterra Swampers.

[GoatFarmRC]

Hey Bill any more thoughts on the Shocks? (Or have any suggestions) My scx10.2 is really jealous now that her sister Trx bronco showed up 😀 so I’m gonna throw a set of new shocks in the shopping cart along with some goodies for the bronco. My 10.2 kit was built to kit specs and original body.