oldpunk and son's spawn

[oldpunk]

Hi guys. I've been trying to figure out something that me and my son could get into together. RC rock crawling!!! Hahaha, I hope. He seems pretty excited so far.

Quick backstory. I've been into RC stuff for roughly the last 25 years. Until about a month ago, it's been about a decade since I've been active in the hobby. Stuff got cooler! I think I'm pretty much cought up now. Still reading a lot.

I'll keep this short and add a list of what we've done so far at some point. Here's how it sits at the moment. (Work in progress - don't hate. Thats not the body we'll be using. I've got proline bronco body I'm working on.)



One quick question. I'm going to be using 13t crawl master pro with a Robinson 80t slipper. What pinon should I go with? Going to be using a 2s lipo.

[Dawagner]

I believe they recommend the 16th pinion. If you are gonna use the 13th crawl master. That's what I bought for mine and it's been very nice.

[oldpunk]

Ya, I read that was the max. Is there any reason not to go with a lower ratio?

[TAT76]

One of the best things about this hobby is the family time. Enjoy it while you can..
The 16T is just for a best of all performance ratio guideline but it's up to you to watch temps and gear as you see fit. Gearing down would make it slower with more torque so if that's what your looking for it's not going to hurt. I would suggest lowering it to help get the COG down..

[Dawagner]

I am running 3s so I followed the recommendation from the holmes hobbies website.
"IMPORTANT! For use in the Axial Wraith on 3s lipo (11.1v) you must use a 16t pinion to avoid overheating the motor!"

If your only running 2s you probably can swap around with some different pinions and see what u like best without as much danger of frying ur motor.

[oldpunk]

Thanks guys!

You know what sucks about the Internet? It gives us the opportunity to ask questions about something we'd be able to figure out on our own without the internet. I'll start off with the 16t.

[altd896]

You could definitely go lower, generally crawling guys seem to like somewhere between a 5:1-6:1 spur/pinion ratio.
The 4:1 ratio the Wraiths have stock is ridiculous for a brushed motor, my U4RC rig with brushless doesn't even run that high at 56/13.
The 80/16 is right at 5:1, a 14 pinion is around 5.5:1, 1 13 is right on 6:1.

There's a lot to be said for the Holmes motto "Gear down, Volt up". The lower ratio will def keep load off the motor & esc & keep their temps down.
If wheels speed is lacking 3s will fix that.

[oldpunk]

^ thanks!


Ok, small update. I guess I'll add the upgrades we've made so far:

Axial aluminum knuckles/c hubs
Strc rear lock outs
Vanquish wheel hubs
Strc steering linkage
Chinese method knock offs (surprisingly nice - hubs are crap)
Strc upper links
Robinson one piece locker
Robinson idler
Robinson 80t slipper
Supershafty top shaft
Junfac drive shafts
Steel singer that should get here soon
Proline bronco body
Abs roof
Holmes cawlmaster pro 13t
Holmes torque master brxl
Tower pro servo from locked up rc
Castle bec which I'm not sure I need???
And probably somethings I forgot. There's still stuff on the get list hut we haven't even driven yet.

I can't take a pic to save my life.

[oldpunk]

I just realized the title of this thread is bad - lol I should change it...

Today I ordered some beef tubes and flipped all of the shock mounts I could. The stock shocks seem ok but need a little work. I bought this new/but someone else put it together and then decided to go another route. They needed help... Anyway, they didn't know how to build shocks. I got some aluminum caps for them and when they show up, I'll rebuild them with different oil and springs. I guess these are supposed to have machined Pistons. Kinda curious to see them.

I've decided to go with a 14t pinion. If that's not enough wheel speed, I'll just get some 3s.

[oldpunk]

So that's cool. I live close enough to Vanquish that I get next day delivery with priority mail. I might have to order more stuff, hahahha

Here's the stinger we're using:



I wish I would have read that vanquish uses 4-40 threads on the hubs. I wonder what not M3? One more trip... I forgot some paint anyways.

[johnnyrockett]

Nice build! Really looks clean and nice look too!

[dmax1000]

awesome build I cant wait to see more as you go

[oldpunk]

Originally Posted by dmax1000

awesome build I cant wait to see more as you go

Thanks! I'm hoping that this week the whole thing should get put together. I really want to cut the body out but also don't want to do it at the same time in fear of butchering it. I'm really not looking forward to cutting the hood out. I guess we're just going to beat it up anyway. I just want one good pic, hahaha.

I have read and read and read and watched a few YouTube videos and am still a little unsure of what lipo to go with. Experience makes up for a lot of reading. Can someone please recommend a good battery for my rig?

[ussprinceton2004]

value hobby LiPos are excellent batteries

[oldpunk]

Thank you. I meant the size and c rating. I have idea how long 3000 vs 5000mah will last or what c rating I need to look for.

[NWHavok]

Originally Posted by oldpunk

Thank you. I meant the size and c rating. I have idea how long 3000 vs 5000mah will last or what c rating I need to look for.

My 2 cents, the bigger the number the better/longer the battery will perform. Higher MAH (milla amp hour) the longer the battery will run for and the C rating is how much of that power is being discharged to your rig.
Personally I found these to be the most powerful batteries for the cheapest price and have been running both 2S for a year and now jumped to 4S with no battery related issues.

http://www.smc-racing.net/index.php?...tegory&path=67

[oldpunk]

^ thanks, I'll check those out.

The more I mess with this thing, the more I realize that I'm used to a different animal when it comes to suspension. There's so much weight in the axels and so little in the chassis in comparison. I think I found a set up that's better than stock. Axial' black springs and a little lighter weight oil. Now it's sitting slightly dropped with out any of the electronics in or transmission in.

Edit -

So... I was hoping the aluminum axial shocks didn't suck. Well, in stock form, they do. They have the aluminum body's but still have the plastic caps. Which have no bleed hole. You end up with pressurized shocks. Or air bubbles. Anyway, with softer springs, slightly lighter oil and aluminum cap with a bleed hole, they're pretty nice. You can actually tell there's a machined piston in there now.

Here's what they look like with the Strc cap.

[oldpunk]

The super shafty top shaft came today. Rebuilt the trans again only to realize that I need another pinion or I did something really wrong? See pic.



Is this when someone informs me that the beefy top shaft only works with their ultimate motor plate? :/ lol

[oldpunk]

Can someone please inform me if the spur gear looks like I'm the right spot.

Edit-

Turns out I'm a tool. I had been assuming that the kit came with 48p spur/pinion. I went back and looked and figured out that it was 32p. So that's cool. I got the 56t 32p Robinson slipper. I went and got a 32p, 10t pinion that fits. I've been away for too long...

Hahahha - I'm a tool. I need to rethink laughing at others that I would consider a tool.

[oldpunk]

Ok, so... Something is obviously different between the spawn's trany and the one all the aftermarket stuff is made for. Anyway, after I got home with the new Robinson pinion, I tried once more to put it all together. It all worked until I tried to hook the motor up. The spur rubs the motor screws. Bummer.

I went and compared the way the two top shafts worked with their respective slippers. The super shafty top shaft has some play in and out, about 1/16". The stock one is held in place with a long aluminum bushing. The bushing won't work with the super shafty shaft. It's too long and covers up the pin hole for the new slipper.

Here's what I'm talking about:



I already started grinding it down at the point where I took the pic.

Here's how it ended up:



^ Just barely works. I mean like 0.020-0.030" clearance between the spur and the motor screw. It got rid of all the slop in the top shaft. I also had to turn the pinion around to get that to work. Again, just barely. The set screw is fully on the motors shaft it it's as far out as I could go.

I feel like I've opened a can of worms trying to use the Robison slipper.

Was I just missing a vital part that made all this work properly or is the Robinson slipper meant for the non-spawn wraith?

Again, if anyone has experience with this and knows where it all went wrong, please let me know. Thanks for looking