Axial 1/18 Yeti (and Yeti Score)

[odomandr]

I dig mine. The glitchy turns out was me being a new and not realizing how the esc worked. Still issues with the servo but that's ok I knew it was the case. I think the motor is sufficient for me

[sherman918]

Any update on metal lockers? Seen a good mod for rear metal axles.

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[84yoda]

GPM has a bunch of aluminum parts on ebay. What caught my eye was the steel rear driveshaft and steel front axle shafts.

Hopefully there working on gears, locker and rear shafts next.

[LiqrSicc]

Other than body and wheels, is there anything else needed to convert the Score truck to the Yeti?

[MaxxPain]

Originally Posted by SCREAMER

It really is a fun truck once you replace the ESC, servo, and receiver. I used my RX/TX from my RTR Bomber and it's great. You don't have to go overboard or spend a lot of money to have fun with this truck, you just need reliable. I've got a $25 servo, a $40 ESC and I'm having a blast now. I'm wondering how long the stock motor will last but so far so good.

My son loves his Jr with only a servo and horn replaced. But when I drive it. I notice the steering still seems like it does not center well or seems to over turn coming out of corners. I was thinking could it be the esc providing low power or slow response from the crappy esc. Would a new esc fix that. Or is its the plastic steering and links.

[robert@castle]

Originally Posted by MaxxPain

My son loves his Jr with only a servo and horn replaced. But when I drive it. I notice the steering still seems like it does not center well or seems to over turn coming out of corners. I was thinking could it be the esc providing low power or slow response from the crappy esc. Would a new esc fix that. Or is its the plastic steering and links.

I found that the stock plastic links have a lot of resistance to them. Even with a good hitec servo it didn't center perfectly. I got a set of steel links/plastic cups for the RC18T (Part number: ASC21052) and it steers a lot better now.

I also found that with an aftermarket servo the bec built into the stock ESC couldn't keep up and it would lose power constantly.

[SCREAMER]

When I replaced the stock servo with a good one, I figured out a way to make the stock servo saver work for the sake of longevity. After the first drive I had to get rid of it because the spring was too weak to hold a centered position on the horn. I decided to throw caution to the wind with my $25 investment and just use an aluminum servo horn. Steering control became much more positive and the wheels returned to center as they should. I did all this at the same time I replaced the ESC and receiver so I'm not sure what did the trick but I know the combination of the three took this truck from frustrating to fun. I also replaced all four steering and camber links up front with the Team Associated titanium turnbuckles mentioned in one of the earlier posts. I did this primarily to gain adjustability but I didn't really feel like the stock links were all that noodley.

[MaxxPain]

Thank you Robert and Screamer. Do the Associate cups pop onto the stock axial ball ends. What esc do you recommend. Thanks

[SCREAMER]

Yes they do with the right amount of force and fit with no slop. I'm using a Hobbywing 1080 Quicrun and it's great. Lots of adjustment with the included program card, waterproof, switchable 3 amp BEC, 2s or 3s, small footprint. Great little esc for $40. It's definitely overkill but not overpriced.

[TheLetterJ]

Originally Posted by TheLetterJ

Considering that 9/10 of their scratch and dent rtr's are 1/18 cars with bad rx/esc combo's, I could see that happening with the Yeti Jr's... in which case I'm sure most of us here will be buying several!

...and the first 2 scratch and dent yeti jr's are posted up on Tower's site right now, both with bad rx/esc's and a bad servo. I'm sure they'll move fast at $96 each, I wonder if you can use coupons since they're scratch and dent?

[user unrelated]

I have a Score on the way from RRP Hobby, and if I ever find either of these in the scratch/dent at Tower I'll be buying one/more as well (I have a veritable ARMY Of Dromida SC18 carcasses from the scratch/dent. My main rig doesn't quite like the Mamba Micro X system I put in it.)
I think I'll probably be "converting" to a normal Yeti Jr. after a while... The more I think about it, the more I want to try and do some light crawling/rock racing with it.

I have a Novak 18.5T (4400Kv) and Mongoose ESC currently in a Vaterra Kemora, and I'm thinking it might be switching to the Score when it gets here.

I hate beating on that motor, though, because it's a cool little part of history, in my opinion.

Looking around I found these:
Carisma Racing 4600KV Sensored Brushless Motor | Products - Carisma Radio Control Model
Leopard 2838 4700KV Sensored Motor for Losi Mini 8 LC Racing EMB-1 1/14 | eBay

Color me interested in that Carisma unit. Who cares if it's expensive, they make great stuff!

[84yoda]

GPM has an aluminum bell crank.

[moyoman202]

Finally picked one of these up and so far my electronics have held up ok. However on my 2nd battery it snapped the center doggone. Does anyone make these in steel yet? The is.

[sethstiles]

Has anyone turned their Yeti Jr. into a sorta "mini-wraith" for crawling? I know some guys are locking the diffs and of course many of you are switching our the servo. Any other thoughts? Worth the try or not?

[Brake Weight]

Originally Posted by sethstiles

Has anyone turned their Yeti Jr. into a sorta "mini-wraith" for crawling? I know some guys are locking the diffs and of course many of you are switching our the servo. Any other thoughts? Worth the try or not?

Not worth it. This has nearly zero support from Axial or aftermarket. It was a flop.

I've seen you posting around about mini and micro crawlers. The best option is to bite the bullet and go 1/10 scale. Micros can be fun, but the 1/10 is where it's at...globally. I keep a 1/24 Fungi rig for uncooperative weather days, but my go to crawler is a 1/10 Wraith or a GMade R1 with an SCX10 drivetrain. Both have less than $200 invested each.

[monkeyracer]

I was working on a solid front axle, but as Brake Weight said, these didn't end up being as popular as they could have been, so it stopped being worth developing the parts. I might still make my own for fun, but it wouldn't be something I would sell unless I can get enough people to commit to buying it. (don't post that in this thread though, this isn't the place to do so.)

[Brake Weight]

I'd love to see a 1/18 straight axled RC that's more high speed than low crawler. It'd need a new chassis aside from this YJr one because these will soon be obsolete...as will the axles be, too.

There's a few smaller Chinese RCs running a similar setup as the YJr but I haven't looked at them closer than noticing rear axle indy front.

[scott1981]

Not popular because, somehow, Axial actually screwed this product up even worse than they usually do.

Literally these electronics were absolute crap - $179 for a servo that wont center and electronics that literally burn up within 5 battery packs. For $15/ea they could have partnered with a halfway decent company and included electronics that weren't literally the worst I have ever seen in included on a RC car. This coming from a guy in the hobby for 25 years and I have owned over 35 vehicles. Even after multiple reports and complaints Axial does nothing for its customers or to fix the products in future production.

Axial acts like Ford/Chevy did in the 90's. They completely take the loyalty of their customers for granted and do not even care if they literally release sh't products.

I eagerly purchased the first one launch day - burned up within 3 batteries and had a servo that was sh)T, had the full size Yeti preordered months before launch, had 2 SCX-10s, 1 AX-10. I m done with them as a company. Too many other options where companies actually make an effort.

/Rant

[tjohanne]

Originally Posted by DenisLM

If fits I'm really serious.
There's no reason why not. The idea is go fast, make a little devil!
And the the power can always be controlled with exponential throttle and some other esc configuration, gear down...
I use 1/8 scale electronics in my Yeti and Bomber 1/10. 1/10 electronics in a 1/18 will be so much fun!

All I can say is "wow"
I imagine it would run more like an uncontrolled helicopter with those electronics

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[Brake Weight]

It won't fit.