Radio for 8x8...how many channels?

[jamesbernatchez]

I've been out of the game for quite a while. A lot has changed.

I just ordered the Cross RC BC8 Mammoth 8x8 and trying to figure out how many channels I need.

I have my old Airtronics M11X and just scooped up a 4 channel receiver which should be plenty I think. I'll be running:

2 steering servos
1 shifting servo
ESC


Would you run each steering servo on a separate channel or do a Y harness? Pretty sure I can channel mix so I would think separate channels would be good so I can set endpoints on each individually.

[Greatscott]

Depends....

If you can adjust the steering servos with their linkages to give you different turn radiuses, if so, then you just need a minimum of three channels. If you can't adjust the steering servos with their linkages to give you different turn radiuses, then you'll need two channels dedicated to steering and your radio will need to have mixing to move the servos at different rates. If they have the instruction/setups available on their site, recommend looking at them to see how they recommend setting them up. But, you will want more channels than the bare minimum for winches, lights and such. If it were me, I'd look at a six channel radio as the bare minimum.

[HumboldtEF]

If you want to use the light and sound kit 6 channels, I'm using 7. I use 1 extra channel for the aux function on the Mamba monster X.

The truck has the geometry setup so that the front turns more than the 2nd steering axle so you dont need to worry about dialing that in to turn less, it already does. Theres also a provision for manually adjusting the trim for each axle by moving where the linkage mounts.

I have a build thread that might have some useful info and pics in it Cross RC BC8 8x8 Build

EDIT: Oh and on the steering servo setup they do show a way of running the servos off of one channel with a splitter (Y) but I didnt really want to deal with not being able to fine tune the end points so I used 2 separate channels for my steering.