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Thread: Dilemma, need help from anyone who has comp'd with one of these!

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Old 05-10-2009, 09:21 AM   #1
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Default Dilemma, need help from anyone who has comp'd with one of these!

Okay guys, here it is: When I bought my son and my CC's, we didn't think there was any organized crawling around us, so we were happy with buying CC's to just bash. Well, after we were up and going (few mods, all low budget, moved batteries, lengthened chassis, locked out rear steer, etc.), lo and behold, I discovered a local club with regular comps. Oh-oh, now me being an ex-racer, I had to get involved in comps! We went to our first one yesterday, and were actually doing pretty well on the courses. Neither one of us has ever been on rocks before, no practice, nothing, so we are green. The CC's were going through some places better than some of the others, and struggling places where they didn't, but we still have a lot of work (and practicing) to do. Now here's the problem........... we both broke early in the day, my son's gave up something in the rear drive (I'm guessing an output joint, haven't opened it up yet), and mine broke a knuckle arm. Major bummer, and we neither one were in tough places where we would expect to break anything, and we were running stock motors; it was just like it was toy quality plastic and popped. :-( I was EXTREMELY disappointed in them because of this. I've been in and out of R/C for 30 years, and this is the weakest stuff I've played with yet. Now comes my dilemma; do I spend the $ to upgrade everything or do I take the $ and put it toward an AX10? I know what the smart $ would be; the AX10, but with having to do 2 at once, it is much cheaper to repair and go on until we can upgrade to new trucks later. What I really need to know is this... From those of you who have comp'd with these things (surely someone has), is it worth putting $ into aluminum knuckle arms, metal gears and ouputs, etc. and go ahead till we have the $ to buy AX10s (or Losis, or Creepers, or whatever) I have the Banebots to put in also, or do I cut my losses and get out now? Sorry about the length,and thanks for your input!
Couple of pics from yesterday:
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Old 05-10-2009, 09:22 AM   #2
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Sorry, guess the pics didn't go through.
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Old 05-10-2009, 09:28 AM   #3
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P.S. I know these will never stack up against the other brands, so I don't need to hear what an idiot I am for expecting to compete with them, I don't. I am willing to live with lesser performance for now till we can upgrade to better trucks. I guess what I need to know is will I keep breaking stuff constantly even after I put $ into upgraded parts; is there always going to be something else to break, or can I put a little over 100$ extra into each of these and get by for now? Thanks again.
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Old 05-10-2009, 09:29 AM   #4
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I would look at the Venom or the Axial if you really want to compete, or a set of Berg axles.
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Old 05-10-2009, 09:35 AM   #5
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sell them and get axial ax-10s i havent broke a thing on mine in 8 months with a 55t motor on 8 cells with daily driveing and i also compete with it. my friend has a duratrax cc and he couldnt keep up to anything on my course at my house where even an scx-10 was not having any trouble. but if you want upgarade them and make them nice and strong enough to compete with go ahead and try it
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Old 05-10-2009, 09:36 AM   #6
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Deff go with some AX10's, if you on a budget, there is used parts everywhere, possibilities are endless, and the aftermarkt is HUGE.
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Old 05-10-2009, 11:48 AM   #7
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Ya know. I say go for it. Be different. You already went to your first comp with cliff climbers and shared a father son experience. Now just upgrade the weak parts and practice. The two of you could be a father son team with the only MOA CC's competing. Thats pretty cool. If your very serious, comp serious, like race podium serious, buy berg. The shafties are no match up against it. Just check the results on here from various comps. Compare berg to ax10 and youll see the difference. But be warned, just like the track, this niche in the RC world is going to get expensive.
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Old 05-11-2009, 07:45 AM   #8
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Go with berg axles if you decide not to use your cc. In the long run it is cheaper to build a easier to use comp rig.
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Old 05-11-2009, 09:53 AM   #9
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papabash, most in this forum might hate for saying this, but here goes, sell the c.c. 's imho, they can't be made comp worthy against what's out there, granted i maybe a little disgruntled with my c.c. since i feel i put to much money into it and it still can't crawl at least decently, i also know i could have gone a different way with it, but still there is much more aftermarket support for axial, berg, hot racing moa, etc. check out my build and you will see what i mean.

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Old 05-11-2009, 02:19 PM   #10
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Its nice to be the underdog sometimes! Pacman vs delahoya
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Old 05-11-2009, 07:13 PM   #11
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Keep the CC's! My son, daughter, and I have CC's and have yet to break knuckles. We've stripped a few gears, though. I think the dogbones are a little on the short side and need a somewhat flexible shim in the cups on the stub axles. I used traxxas shock o-rings, and they work great. It keeps the bones in the cups, and popping out of the cups may get the bone wedged between the axle and the knuckle and break the knuckle, especially if you have high torque servos. It even happened to my AX10 once. As for the gears, just order a few spares and keep them on hand. It's kind of expensive to use ALL metal gears, and I just use metal counter gears, since they are the only plastic gears we've broken. Don't give up on your CC's, look at it as a father/son engineering challenge.
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Old 05-11-2009, 08:57 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spartacus_nuc View Post
Don't give up on your CC's, look at it as a father/son engineering challenge.
My thoughts exactly
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Old 05-11-2009, 09:03 PM   #13
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I have both a CC and a AX10, I bought my CC first and then bought a used AX10. I still like driving my CC, I did alot of work to it and it will go places my Ax10 won't because it has more clearance. I still need to try the banebot motors. I put alot of money into my CC but now I am also putting alot into my AX10 its just the nature of the sport. Always something better or a new upgrade. I think its cool you entered a comp with your CC's i've been wanting to just have'nt had a chance. The only things i've broken are one knuckle which was stock and broke off a few threaded ends on the upgraded aluminum links. I have driven the hell out of it and it seams to stay together. I have upgraded and or customized everything now. Good luck either way you go.
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Old 05-11-2009, 10:45 PM   #14
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Thanks for all the replies guys. I decided that if I'm going to continue this challenge, it will be with one of the trucks, not both. I just bought an AX10 that is fully tricked-out on the Bay and will give it to my son to run. It is more important that he have a good truck than I, and I will continue to run my CC for now. My son's CC will hit the Bay tomorrow; I thought it was broke, but one of the dogbones had simply popped out of the output joint. Stuck it back in and it's good to go, didn't even strip it out. Guess I'd better do the o-ring thing to mine! I, like some of you, am the type that likes to be different and prove that I can do what others say can't be done, so I'll probably keep fighting mine to whip it into shape. It is encouraging to hear some of you say that breakage is rare, I guess I'll give it another try and see what happens. Wish me luck!
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Old 05-11-2009, 10:51 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spartacus_nuc View Post
I just use metal counter gears, since they are the only plastic gears we've broken.
Are you running the Banebots on 12 cells with just the metal counter gear? I have the motors ready to put in, but haven't wanted to spend the $ on all metal gears. I can't run on 9 cells because my charger only charges from 4 to 8 cells, and I don't want to buy a new charger right now. If I can just buy the counter gears and continue using my 2 6-cell packs, I will do that when I order my new knuckle, I know it would make a world of difference in the next comp!
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Old 05-12-2009, 06:33 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by papabash View Post
Are you running the Banebots on 12 cells with just the metal counter gear? I have the motors ready to put in, but haven't wanted to spend the $ on all metal gears. I can't run on 9 cells because my charger only charges from 4 to 8 cells, and I don't want to buy a new charger right now. If I can just buy the counter gears and continue using my 2 6-cell packs, I will do that when I order my new knuckle, I know it would make a world of difference in the next comp!
Both of my kids are running 9 cells with plastic gears. I am using 12 cells with metal idler gears and metal counter gears waiting just in case.
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