Newbie to crawling need help.

[rick_c]

Hi I am new to this world. Im currently experimenting with getting onto this hobby permanently as I have a young son that I want to teach when he is old enough.

I bought a NB rockcrawler Jeep to start off with because it was cheap. I know most of the good and bad about them. I have done some basic mods to the suspension and tires. I am having a few issues that i need advise on.

First, the rearend is grinding pretty bad and I want to upgrade the gears the metal. I cant get the clips on the axle tubes to depress so it will come apart. Is there a special tool to get these things off?

I was also thinking about using a stronger motor but dont really know what to look for outputwise for a crawler. I dont want to put a high speed motor because then Im having to do gear reductions and such. Any ideas?

The steering servo has trouble under a bind, but i guess thats normal. Im thinking that if I go to a 3cell lipo that will correct itself. I assume that going from 9.6v to 11.1v will increase the output without burning up the controller. Oh, and Im going to convert it to four wheel steering so Im adding another steering servo so I think ill have to increase the output somehow anyways.

I have currently just aired down the tires some and added an inch the the shock screws and cut 1.5 coils off each spring. It made a rediculous difference in where it would go from stock. So basically...without spending an enormous amount of money, i want it to go anywhere I aim it. Or over anything.

I appreciate any advise I can get...wont apperciate NB bashing as much though...I know its toy grade yada yada...but I cant spend 300 on an axial and dont want to get bored and have wasted all that money if I decide to stop messing with it.

Thanks in advance,
rick

[racerrandy]

Hi Rick, and welcome to the world of crawling.

If NB means New Bright then you know it is toy grade and there are no upgrades unless you make them.

The speed control,servo, and receiver are all built as one unit and you can't add hobby grade parts to them. The control board is all built as one unit.

I don't know if you can change to metal gears, but if you can get it apart and put up some pics we might be able to steer you in the right direction.

I would suggest trying to mod it, have fun with it for what it is. If you and your son enjoy it, look for a good used crawler from the for sale ads.

You can post pics and see the ads by become a supporting member. Its well worth the $20 it cost. Here is a link to doing that.

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/payments.php






Randy

[rick_c]

yea thats pretty much what Im finding out. I wonder if adding voltage will increase the servo output? It hardly has any torque at all now. If I drop in in a hole the tires lose the ability to turn and the steering gets stuck until I get it out of the bind.

thanks for the response

[fastfred28]

I would not suggest putting any more voltage to it.first it will not help your steering and second it would not be good on any of the other electronics.these were not made to upgrade or be rock crawlers.they were designed to be run by kids in the house.

[racerrandy]

It might a tiny bit but not enough to make a real difference. The risk is frying your electronics. You just don't know what they are capable of taking.





Randy

[rick_c]

I was afraid of that...Ill have a spare control box coming shortly because I bought a chasis for parts from a guy. But more than the power issue, i have to get a bigger mAh battery because the factory one SUCKS! 20ish minutes and its dead. Thinking about 5000mAh Nimh. Dont know if that would give me any more torque but I know it'll run longer.

[rick_c]

Well i got my spare chasis and its a 16th scale mudsliger, so i guess i should have verified what i was buying...duh...

[rick_c]

Plastic gears suck...I have a ten tooth pinion gear that has 8 less teeth on it. I was wondering what all that grinding was...lol

[rick_c]

Well I tried a 11.1v battery and it doesn't help the steering servo, does make the truck act better but it has too fast of a response now. Oh, the battery went from 600mAh factory to a 1700mAh with the 11.1v and it doesn't run any longer...dont get that at all.

[rick_c]

um actually it is a 10cell so I guess thats 12v so it didnt kill the truck

[rick_c]

Here is a link to the 4 link that I made for the jeep.

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...20611006-1.jpg

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...P020611002.jpg

[rick_c]

Here is one just to show the difference in the ride height before and after.

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/...P020611003.jpg

[Diesel-tech]

Ha ha I bought a toy r us tundra a few years back, wasnt to bad for a toy grade rc. it was intended to run on 7.2v so I series it out to 21.6.. thing hauled a** untill POP then it hauled no more..

Just a tip on bumping up voltages in those

[rick_c]

Sounds like 12 wouldnt be out of line then