I have a Yeti kit coming in the mail.

[fyrstormer]

I'll be running a sensored 4850KV motor and a Hitec HS-7955TG servo, Vanquish .225 and .725 SLW hubs, EXO front CVDs instead of the U-joints that come with the kit, unlocked diffs with super-thick oil (possibly switching to a locker in the front if I decide it would be beneficial), Crawler Innovations dual-stage foams inside the tires, and of course the kit comes with a bunch of factory-upgrade parts included.

I'm not looking to make it an excellent crawler, I already have my Wraith for that. My Yeti will be for all-around bashing with better-than-average all-terrain capability, because I don't have a 1/10-scale electric basher. Tell me what else I need to do to make sure this kit turns out right the first time.

[Sh0rtBus]

Aluminum steering components, servo saver delete (dude rang), aluminum caster blocks and knuckles, and beef up that rear axle if you plan to jump it. Beef tubes, rear truss, etc. Steering would be your first area of concern, though.

[hobbez84]

We met awhile back @ Hobby Hangar, you brought your Wraith in for paint for your front fenders, and we talked about about your upgrades.

As for the Yeti, get spare hinge pins (M3x61mm IIRC), as they tend to bend on even mild crashes or jumps. I ordered some from Hobby Hangar awhile back, so Colin or Dave might have more in stock.

[fyrstormer]

Good to know, I'll keep that in mind. I don't really jump my vehicles, though; I'm more of a powerslider than a jumper, when it comes to fast driving.

Yeah, those front fenders...I cracked one on the first drive. Obviously they need to be reinforced with fiber-tape in addition to being bolted to the chassis in 4 different places.

Where can I get aluminum steering knuckles AND caster blocks? Vanquish only has the steering knuckles. I'd like to go with a blue color scheme for my aluminum upgrades on this truck, to match the paint. As for the steering components, as I understand it the Yeti *kit* includes all of the factory-upgrade steering parts, including turnbuckles and aluminum bellcrank components.

[Sh0rtBus]

For steering components, look to either Hot Racing for the graphite & aluminum offerings, or STRC for their all aluminum set-up. Good options either way.

[nfcrockett]

I went with all STRC up front. They've really taken a beating and are holding up well.

[robertjpjr]

For "free" upgrades. I used silly putty in my front diff. Works really well. Pack it tight.
And I added a bearing to the servo saver and that stiffens the steering up.



Steering sucks

[fyrstormer]

Work proceeds apace.





My hat's off to the CAD genius who figured out how to make all these parts fit together so neatly. I picked a good vehicle to build from a kit; there's a lot to admire about the design of this one.

[rustneversleeps]

i agree with you 100 % when i put my kit together i was like in aw lot of detail went into this to.When it was time to put the tranny case and 2 speed transmission together the Axial logo was like in 3D if you look at the tranny from front the logo it's raise on the gear cover and continues on the 2 speed trans case...and 3d logo on the battery door and front and rear towers etc.i can go on too cool.....
Has any body else notice that or just my eyes going funny...
hope that makes sense

[fyrstormer]

Yeah, I noticed the Axial logo is emblazoned on lots of parts in interesting ways.

[fyrstormer]

Well, the kit is assembled, and now I'm waiting for my backordered ESC to arrive. Since I have no idea how long that will take, I bought a cheap $30 HobbyWing ESC to tide me over until the good one arrives.

[OkinawaCrawler]

Originally Posted by fyrstormer

Well, the kit is assembled, and now I'm waiting for my backordered ESC to arrive. Since I have no idea how long that will take, I bought a cheap $30 HobbyWing ESC to tide me over until the good one arrives.

$30 sensored brushless esc? Where'd you find that at?

[fyrstormer]

No no, the $30 ESC is sensorless. I'll just do without the added smoothness of the sensored operation until the good ESC arrives.

[rustneversleeps]

Originally Posted by OkinawaCrawler

$30 sensored brushless esc? Where'd you find that at?

hi i like the yeti is that soft or hard foam that is in the bumper.
I've seen i few like that on here...

[factorybelt]

Originally Posted by rustneversleeps

hi i like the yeti is that soft or hard foam that is in the bumper.
I've seen i few like that on here...

It's a Crawler Innovations closed cell foam bumper, and it's pretty firm.

[redsawacs]

Am I the only one thinking that motor is going to be too high of a KV motor for that truck? I personally think you're going to destroy that motor. The Yeti XL is too heavy to use anything that high unless it is a 4 pole motor and you're using a large ESC. (example, Tekin or Pro4 4600) These motors are rated for 2s only....keep that in mind.

With a sensorless ESC and a sensored motor, you're going to see cogging the likes of none other. Very hard on the motor and ESC. I would highly recommend against that setup all together.

During your build, did you notice a lack of 20mm screws in your kit?

[fyrstormer]

Nope, the kit contained all the screws I need.

I doubt the motor will be too fast for this vehicle; I'm going to use it for general bashing instead of rock-crawling, because I already have a fully-kitted Wraith when I want to show the rocks who's boss. My Yeti has unlocked diffs front and rear, and dual-stage foams with closed-cell inner rings to make the tires stiffer in corners. Basically I bought the Yeti because I like the way it looks, the suspension setup is intriguing, it shares parts with one of my other vehicles, and I don't have a single-battery electric off-road basher yet. (my Summit requires two batteries, my Telluride is slow and better-suited to trail-driving, and my Savage XS is so bleeding fast and low-slung that it can't really be considered an off-road basher.)

If this motor can't handle the load (which I admit is entirely possible), I'll just get the larger 4-pole version with the same KV rating. I just got this one first because I like the trademark Tacon green color, which the other motor annoyingly doesn't have. I admit it looks kinda small, but then I look at the Titan 775 in my Summit, which must weigh twice as much as my Yeti does, and it does just fine despite having similar proportions compared to the size of the Summit's chassis.

- - -

EDIT: Whoa whoa whoa, hang on, I built the 1:10 Yeti, not the 1:8 Yeti XL. Now I understand why you were so concerned about the size of the motor.

[redsawacs]

I'm not saying that is going to be too fast, I'm saying the KV rating (rpm/volt) is too high which means more top speed and less torque. That motor will not have the torque to effectively handle the weight of the Yeti. If you get a larger 4 pole motor, you wont be that high of a KV rated motor. Its like being severely overgeared....you'll see what I mean when you get it outside.

It appears that motor was built for a 2wd vehicle, not a 4wd.

[fyrstormer]

That's not how electric motors work. Lower turns means less electrical resistance, which means more power output regardless of RPM. A lower-turn motor can spin faster AND produce more torque at startup, because the total wattage flowing through the motor is higher.

The only reason low-turn motors aren't well suited to low-speed, high-torque applications like rock crawling is because the motor will spend a fair amount of time stalled or spinning at extremely low speed, and full-throttle at a stall is the scenario that allows the most wattage to flow through the motor -- thus heating it up the fastest. (the faster the motor spins, the more the interaction between the coils and the magnetic field increases the electrical resistance of the coils, limiting the wattage passing through the motor -- but that wattage-limiting effect is completely absent when the motor is stalled.) That's not a problem when the motor can rev-up very quickly, but when the motor is forced to operate at low- or zero-rpm for more than a few seconds at a time, the massive wattage flowing through it can burn it out.

That's why crawlers need to use high-turn motors, instead of low-turn motors with lower gearing, which would allow them to benefit from the extra torque produced by the low-turn motors, if only the overheating-while-stalled problem didn't exist -- the high-turn motors have longer and thinner wires in their coils, which increases their electrical resistance and limits the wattage flowing through the motor in *all* scenarios. That protects the high-turn motor from burning-out when it's working hard at low RPM. The unfortunate side-effect is that it also limits the total power output the motor can provide, thus requiring super-low gearing to get the kind of torque a rock-crawler needs to get itself un-stuck from rock crevices.

- - -

In short: I don't think it will be a problem, because I'm not going to be driving this vehicle in conditions that cause the motor to run at low RPM for long periods of time. If I'm wrong and the motor burns out anyway...meh, it was only a $30 experiment and I'll have learned an useful lesson.

[fyrstormer]

Finally got it all put together today, except for the lights. Even with the 4750KV motor, it's still surprisingly slow, though it's possible that's the fault of the cheap 35-amp ESC I'm using while I wait for the good ESC to arrive. I have to give the cheap ESC props though, it runs really smooth even though it's running a sensored motor without the benefit of any sensor readings.

It cannot handle speedbumps, though. I have to approach them under about 7mph and then stomp the throttle just as it hits the speedbump to keep it from completely front-flipping. Not sure if this means the rear shocks are over-damped or under-damped.