Harley's #AxialYeti

[Harley]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

Josh, by chance do you have one of the Slash baja bug bodies laying around? id love a pic of it thrown on top of the yeti
Pro-Line Volkswagen Baja Bug Body 3238 for Short Course

Nope, no SC stuff here

[Harley]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

I wonder if a coat of that Never Wet would help with the mud not sticking in the tub.
Last time I took the exo down I dumped out a few ounces of gravel that had wedged itself in there, the Yeti looks like it will suffer the same fate.

That stuff is not nearly as good as it looks in ads. It leaves a residue and wears off super fast. I also don't think it would help since they are really pockets in the tub. Looks like it's just going to take a good shake and blow after each use...

[Harley]

Last night was a long night getting prepared for the trip this weekend. Jason and I will be throwing our Yeti's into the G6 arena. We shall see how they do! I haven't tried the truck on hardly any rock up to this point so we'll see how it survives!

[Aebous]

Video's or the race didn't happen!

[Harley]

It was a long weekend! I got back home from our 12 hour drive around midnight.

Jason and I took the Yeti's to Buena Vista Colorado to be the first people to enter these new rigs in an Official RECON G6. It's going to be hard to beat this location for a G6, I can't imagine a better combination of rocks, scenic views and beautiful weather. However, this Missouri resident was not properly acclimated to the 9500 foot elevation! Running around on the side of this mountain was going to be a chore!

[Harley]

Since this isn't the particular use that these rigs were targeted at and knowing what a G6 from previous experience, Jason and I both had done some G6 Prep to our Yeti's. I decided to lock my Yeti's front end as previously shown (I'll get back to that soon). Along with the locked front axle, I also got my hands on a set of the U4 tires from Ottsix, mounted on a set of Crawler Innovations 6-Bolt wheels with Closed Cell foams.




Beyond that, I was going to try and run the stock motor and ESC and swap out the servo and radio, adding a BEC for the use of 3s. However, I ended up swapping out almost all of the electronics after an electronic gremlin (turned out to be a back-feeding/faulty servo) was causing me all kinds of issues. The sensorless motor and ESC would have likely made it through this type of situation with some lower gearing, however the cogging would have likely been pretty annoying.




It was time to start lining the cars up and get ready to hit the trail for the first G6 test!

[Big Daddy]

How did the Voodoos do?


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[Harley]

Obviously the Yeti's are at home at high speed across uneven terrain, and the start of this G6 stage was perfect for that. We had a 50 yard dash right into a little mud pit to christen the cars. A quick 180° turn and another couple hundred yards of flat out uneven dirt road made the Yeti's look good right out of the gate. Then into the rocks...

Honestly I was impressed. Both trucks did very well in the rocks, even Jason's with an open front diff with only heavy silicone in there. We beat on the trucks for over two hours on the terrain and other than my servo issue I had not mechanical issues at all. The only gripe I would have is that the steering is not up to the task of this kind of abuse. The servo saver is much too weak and in general this type of abuse just tears the stock rack up.

[Harley]

We both finished the day stage with huge grins on our faces.




We then headed down the mountain for some food and rest before the second half of the event. After eating a slightly over cooked burger and drinking some mexican Coke we bombed back up the sanding wash to line up for the night stage.




This time, not a single issue over the full run. With all the bugs worked out the car did everything I asked it to do, and then took a hell of a beating after crossing the finish line!

[axial 4x4 crawler]

Looking good Harley! How did the yetis do on the G6? From my guessing it looks like the did very well especially with a locked diff.

[Harley]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

How did the Voodoos do?


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They did great, I was running the sticky compound and Jason was running the slightly firmer compound. I couldn't tell a difference between the two on the rocks because neither was really fighting for any more traction, they both had all they needed.

I was running mine "backwards" I guess, and that wasn't really on purpose, it just happened to be the way I thought they mounted up when I first pulled them out of the box.

[Harley]

Final G6 Wrap-up

The Yeti is not designed to be the ultimate G6/Trail vehicle. However with just a little work, it feels right at home here. The Yeti does not drive like a solid axle vehicle such as the Wraith, but you should expect that as soon as you pull it out of the box. It takes a different style of driving to maneuver the Yeti through rock terrain with tall ledges. The belly on the Yeti is wide and low, this is the trucks second biggest downfall in the rocks, and it’s really just a matter of adjustment. You need to drive with momentum; the good news is that this truck is very stable when a little rock bouncing is called for. However this truck outshines any of my previous Wraiths when it comes to flying over loosely packed boulder fields. Just point and shoot, this truck tip toes across the top of the rocks making it look effortless (which sometimes make things look much less impressive than they really are)!

Now the only actual negative I have found in the truck, the steering. I knew that going in the steering of an IFS truck would not be something that could match my previous SA rigs. So with that in mind, I am not comparing this to the steering of a SA truck. The steering system is not designed for technical rock crawling duty and that is clear. The servo saver is very loose, too loose for anything like the situation I threw it in. After 4 hard hours of actual hard pushing in the rocks, the system became noticeably less rigid. Simply replacing the bushings in the rack is not going to make this a system that is ready for consistent beatings in the rocks. This is an area that we will continue to delve into over the upcoming weeks.

Overall, if there was another G6 this coming weekend I would chose to run this truck again. The steering will get upgraded to handle this punishment, and after that I have no doubt that it will be one of the most fun and most versatile trucks I own.

[imthatguy]

Thank you sir.

Great recap. Would you feel like the aluminum steering upgrade bits from the Exo would help, or are you anticipating a 3rd party creating a solution?

[Harley]

Originally Posted by imthatguy

Thank you sir.

Great recap. Would you feel like the aluminum steering upgrade bits from the Exo would help, or are you anticipating a 3rd party creating a solution?

I can't say I'm aware of what Exo upgrades would work to fix the steering. I need to get into the car and take a close look at what I think is needed. It may simply be aluminum replacement parts that can lockout that servo saver. I personally want my steering rigid and depend on my servo's strength. This method however would not be suitable for everyone.

[sixty2]

Ya I would be interested to see what y'all do to improve the steering, since it's probably what I will end up doing too.


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[gillbily23]

Love the feedback and great information coming out in these threads so hopefully there will be soem more upgrades available by time the rest of us get these in our hands. I hate the steering setup in my Exo as well so this was a concern that I had with the Yeti and with the Wrexo conversion; one reason I never did the conversion. I am also pretty concerned with the front toe block/lower bumper mount so I would love to see someone start working on an aluminum or steel upgrade for that. I just feel that there needs to be more support for the kingpins so that they aren't ripping through the chassis if you land a jump wrong. Great work overall on sharing your thoughts on the Yeti though and let's see some video of the rock action!

[STANG KILLA SS]

great write up Josh. I particularly like the part about the belly width In the rocks. great info that only first hand experience can point out, no pics can show that. and that even the new steering still leaves some to desired by cone dodgers.

$10 bucks says VP just happens to have a new alum rack for the Yeti. probly on or near release day

[Harley]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

great write up Josh. I particularly like the part about the belly width In the rocks. great info that only first hand experience can point out, no pics can show that. and that even the new steering still leaves some to desired by cone dodgers.

$10 bucks says VP just happens to have a new alum rack for the Yeti. probly on or near release day

We'll see how the steering plays out, there are some options to work with the EXO parts. Going to see what mixes and matches.

[Harley]

Originally Posted by gillbily23

I am also pretty concerned with the front toe block/lower bumper mount so I would love to see someone start working on an aluminum or steel upgrade for that. I just feel that there needs to be more support for the kingpins so that they aren't ripping through the chassis if you land a jump wrong. Great work overall on sharing your thoughts on the Yeti though and let's see some video of the rock action!

The new front bumper/toe block type piece is integrated and seems much more beefy than the multi-piece design of the EXO. I think we will see this design hold up pretty well as long as the screws are kept tight on the hinge pins and bulkhead. I'm not sure that I want to run an aluminum piece in that position for performance but if it shows to be needed for durability then I suppose there are worse things.

[Harley]

Ok, now onto the stuff I really enjoy... making the rig look the way I want!

I worked with FreqEskinZ.com to create the new template for the release of the Yeti Skinz. These are the first prototype run and they are almost perfect, just a couple small tweaks and they will be set!