RC4WD Rock Rider - NoBrainer

[NoBrainer]

I bought the RC4WD Rock Rider ARTR kit and this is my experience so far...

I also bought the Mayhem High Torque Standard Servo, a Castle Creations Sidewinder Sport ESC and a Castle Creations BEC.
The XVD for RC4WD T-Rex 60 Axle and Aluminum Knuckles for T-Rex Axle I also got.

With a Axiom 35T motor and a 20T pinion I was ready for some speed.
The kit comes with 90 mm shocks. Might consider 110 mm shocks to better adjust ride height and angle of the dampers.

I love the looks and feel of this kit, but I'm not satisfied with it just yet.

This is what I got in the kit:



First of all, straight out of the box you need to tighten all screws, that is no problem and is a thing you should do anyway. But did they need to assambly the wheels....

Well I pulled all apart and added some weight



Changed to XVD, just loved the greased axel. And they also greased the R2 transmission.



Tried it outside and got an hell of a Torque Twist.
Needed to change something and this is what I did on the rear axel:

Lower links on the outside.
Removed Spacers on the upper links.
Added spacers on the top mount of the dampers.
Moved dampers to the outside of the mount.



On the front axel was a little bit more complecated:

Lower links on the outside.
Removed Spacers on the upper links.
Added spacers on the top mount of the dampers.
Moved dampers and mounted them to the axel.





I still get some Torque Twist, but not as much as before.


I have no pictures of this BUT....

• The link mounting holes are scewed (?) so that you don't get parrallell axels. I need to shortenlinks on one side to have the car go straight.
• The link mounts are mounted to low, so that the head of the screw touches the cage. This makes mounting the screws very difficult and often it bends the mounting.

This means that I can not use any other link mounting holes other than just some. I get limited by this....

This wedensday I'm hoping to test my configuration. And see if it holdes up to others.
Still needs to fix alu body panels and a battery mount.
And the wish list is DIG....

This is somewhat what I would like it to look like. More or less.





And this is what it looks like right now:



On this last picture here,you can see that I have mounted the upper links with spacers (4 mm) so that the screws is aligned correctly. I can use any other mounting holes in the front, due to scewed links. But in the back I could raise the lower links upright like I want it.

The transmission and the axels runs smooth and really well. Just love this version of the R2. Just that it needs a DIG....



to be continued....

[The Roaming Basher]

Nice ride, me and my buddy were going to get a copperhead for him and a diablo for me, well till cc probs derailed that :(

[austexjg]

Nice rig - how does it perform? I have been interested in this set up since it was a kit.

[NoBrainer]

Going to test it tomorrow.
In prox 16 hours...

I'll let you know what I think of it.

[Racer4Life]

Kit looks great.

Nice work on the changes. Hope she does well for you.

[NoBrainer]

This was a hole other world...

oki, first of all, at least 3 people saw that the rig is not straight.

Maybe you can see it too....





First of all, I learned a lot about drag brake.
I need to test 2 things, smaller pinion and/or higher anmount of T on the motor.

Second, this setup is way to Torque Twisty! I get really bad handling. Really need to fix something for that Torque Twist.

Third, shock mounts and link mounts are way to weak. They bend like he**.
So after just 1 hour in a rocky hill...





I also got 1 broken wheel, where the rims just broke down. Only the hex was left on the axel.
The foam in the X-Lock is to soft for sidehilling, so turning on the hill made the Rock Rider to turn on her back...

It was a joy to ride otherwise. But I don't like the poor quality of the chassi...

This is of course my opinion. Maybe I got a product that was bad. But I paid for it so...

Right now I can't recommend it to anybody.

[Harvo]

Does it flex freely in your hands? Maybe your suspension is binding somewhere causing extra stress on the mounting points?

If all your opposing links are equal length and your still crooked like that... that is jacked up .

I'd guess that one has something to do with the other. If it was straight, it probably wouldn't bent the mounts.

[NoBrainer]

I have measured the links and they are the same length.
Seems to me that the mounting holes are to blame, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, my local hobby shop is talking to RC4WD right now to see if it can be fixed in some way.

And yes, the axles seems to be moving freely.

[TheHeadHunter]

You would thing such a big name in RC as RC4WD would be making their tube chassis out of more solid materials than the paper thin steel shock mount and some soft type steel piping ???

I've never bought or used a tuber chassis and gave up building one when I realized that I could bend the brake line steel pipe chassis with my own hands after I was done putting most of it together ...

I always imagined that vendors who sell them would be using a more superior advanced technique and materials ,DOM or stainless steel+TIG welded possibly?

Knowing that they don't I am sure that I will never run a tuber just for its looks ...

Unless it was tested like JIA's "Ralph"



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[soundcolor]

not to knock RC4WD or nothing, but from the pics it looks as if the frame is bent.

[Gizmo]

I had similar problems with the upper link chassis mounts bending on my bastard jr. chassis. First run with the chassis all the tabs were bent up and i noticed that parts of the chassis weren't as straight as they could be. I just accepted it for what it was and am waiting for the tabs to rip off so I can pull the truck apart and re do a few things

[NoBrainer]

Got an e-mail saying that a new chassi is on the way.
Seen a few options on how to manage Torque Twist. I might try 1 or 2...
Also swapped out the R2D transmission with a R2DIG so maybe it will be competitiv.

Looking forward to see this one as a runner again. Still need to get me som new rims, since one got broken last time.

[NoBrainer]

I drilled and tapped today.



This is the first step to fix some of that Torque Twist. Just need to fix all links so it will be correct.

Maybe I get my Rock Rider this week and then can start putting it back together again.

[NoBrainer]

did some more on this...

[ozpall]

orange looks pimp!!!

[major94]

wow man sweet video. And awesome song choice, Danzig, Mother

[NoBrainer]

The "body" is now finished.







used 2x 2mm alu plates in the sides, for reinforcement.
The rest of my parts are in the mail and I need to paint it.

Maybe I can manage it towards the weekend

[meffie]

"Ralph" is awesome...damn.

[NoBrainer]

So far....no electronics...

[ozpall]