RCCrawler Forums

AdamF · 01-25-2006, 07:35 PM

I really wouldn't waste any time or money on these trucks. They cannot compare to a hobby grade truck in any way. I know, I've had 3 or 4 of them. The F350 is the same truck as the Monster Patrol, Carnivore, and the Avalanche.

The motors are weak. I've burned out several of them. The dogbones are EXTREMELY weak. They work fine in stock form, but as soon as you lock the diffs they snap on command. Maybe you could fix this with some aftermarket HD dogbones. But they are geared WAY to high for any real crawling. The motors stall and burn up if you "crawl" with them for too long.

They may seem to have a lot of suspension travel, but I'm guessing you have never seen a hobby grade IFS/IRS truck. Go to the hobby shop and check out a Savage or TMaxx. Those trucks have 4 times the suspension travel as the RS truck does.

I say keep it stock. I wish I would have. Now I have a box of parts. I was going to make a 1:6 scale Humvee out of the parts, but I don't think it will be worth my time and effort. I'd rather use some Savage parts.

culhan9 · 01-25-2006, 07:51 PM

"BECK" that thing deserves a WTF! Pretty cool contraption though!

Aantoin · 01-25-2006, 08:00 PM

I can tell by your experiance but why did you buy so many? After the first $100 I would have stopped and purchased a Maxx, RC10T, or ect. Hell a Rustler is only around $50 more and thats RTR.

I got mine at a great deal and couldn't pass it up. I use to work at Radio Shack and I would get these incredible deals $1.00 for returned broken merchindise. To some people, why bother, right? This one was by luck and most of the time its user error. This unit wasn't working but when I brought it home it worked fine. The customer must have beendoing the one thing you should never do, playing in water. Well they got water in the electronics and it shorted out. To my surprize it only needed to be dried out.

AdamF · 01-25-2006, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aantoin

I got mine at a great deal and couldn't pass it up. I use to work at Radio Shack and I would get these incredible deals .

lol....same here. A few had cracked bodies, and the others were discontinued and missing the remotes, sitting in the back room for months.

Aantoin · 01-25-2006, 08:27 PM

LOL what a small world, I do have a question for you though. Do the wheels for the other RS toys mount the same way? I am looking for bigger tires. This truck has good torque but I am not sure if I want to make it into a crawler or into a racer anymore. Toys a Toys and I like my toys to go fast.

Beck · 01-25-2006, 09:07 PM

[QUOTE=AdamF]I really wouldn't waste any time or money on these trucks. They cannot compare to a hobby grade truck in any way. I know, I've had 3 or 4 of them. The F350 is the same truck as the Monster Patrol, Carnivore, and the Avalanche.

The motors are weak. I've burned out several of them. The dogbones are EXTREMELY weak. They work fine in stock form, but as soon as you lock the diffs they snap on command. Maybe you could fix this with some aftermarket HD dogbones. But they are geared WAY to high for any real crawling. The motors stall and burn up if you "crawl" with them for too long.

They may seem to have a lot of suspension travel, but I'm guessing you have never seen a hobby grade IFS/IRS truck. Go to the hobby shop and check out a Savage or TMaxx. Those trucks have 4 times the suspension travel as the RS truck does.

Like I said on my first post, I'm a newbe at this, being that the RS mattrax is my very first 4WD RC model (ok, toy

). I can tell from your list of rides that you've been doing this for a while.
I disagree with your assesment that the RS mattracks trucks are a waste of time. First of all I got two of them at a fraction of their retail costs. second, it certainly offers so much more than the majority of low priced RC trucks out there with no 4WD and non-independent suspension. and third, my "trekker" can handle my rockgarden and the big sandstone rock piles on the back of the hill behind our house with no problems. That's all I expect of these RS chassis trucks, so I'm a very happy camper. Anyway I don't have the money to to spend to get into the more "serious" levels of RC crawling. The batteries alone are expensive enough for me as it is.
Well, more fun to come later this season when I get to start building up "Trekker 2"!

Thanks for the buildup tips!

Beck

bobbo27 · 01-25-2006, 10:44 PM

Adam you still have that box of crap? I might be more interested now because my rig stopped working right and I still want something to screw around with in the mud and snow.

Aantoin: I know my Monster patrol and Ricochet (was that even a RS car?) have the same hex size and the wheels are interchangable. Monster patrol wheels work with clod-sized tires, I have Clod Pullers on mine. And a Mag Mayhem to turn them.

plyr2k · 04-10-2006, 12:15 AM

is this post dead? if not i to might br interested in some of those parts i have owned the raminator ans my friend had a monster patrol and another buddy of mine had the f-150 and now i just got my h2 running again. i too have broken many dog bones as soon as i locked my rear end on my raminator and i hate the tracks and i do belive that the raminator and monster patrol were geared diffently then the hummer but im not sure

Beck · 07-23-2006, 05:17 PM

Here's my latest Project made form an RS vehicle I got for cheap!

Before:

After:

It's really torquey and climbs up real steep inclines. It fast too! Spring rates are a little too stiff for full articulation, but just right for flat road high speed cornering.
Whaddya guys think?!

joecrawler · 07-23-2006, 08:51 PM

You bought that from radioshack?

Beck · 07-23-2006, 10:47 PM

Yes, Radioshack. it started life as their blue Yamaha ATV racer as seen on the smaller pic. I should have mounted the big racer figure they had with it to show you the whole original package
Got it for half clearance price at around 60 bucks.
Took all the ATV stuff off and added tubes and junk I had lying around. The Recaro seat the figure sits on was actually a cell phone holder that mounts in car interiors that I bought in SF Japan Town the upper brush bars are clearance items from a hobby shop bought at a couple of dollars The aluminum tube frame parts and clamps are all hardware items. The dual "HID" LED light pods on top of the vehicles were bicycle shop purchases. The 1:6 scale figure is a bomb disposal action dolly from a toy shop. The rest of the stuff is just recycled junk drawer items I had that just kinda fell into place. All in all, the new vehicle might still be under the RS's regular price for the ATV to start with.
This is fun! can't wait to do the next bargain RS vehicle mod!

Beck

murdock · 07-24-2006, 04:09 PM

i dont know if some one already said this but these mattraxx came out like two or three years ago with a silverado body on it maybe i can find the link to one.

TwistedXT · 07-25-2006, 02:54 PM

ive only ever seen the f350 and hummer bodies.

Brainstain · 07-26-2006, 12:36 PM

[quote=Beck
I disagree with your assesment that the RS mattracks trucks are a waste of time. First of all I got two of them at a fraction of their retail costs. second, it certainly offers so much more than the majority of low priced RC trucks out there with no 4WD and non-independent suspension. and third, my "trekker" can handle my rockgarden and the big sandstone rock piles on the back of the hill behind our house with no problems. That's all I expect of these RS chassis trucks, so I'm a very happy camper. Anyway I don't have the money to to spend to get into the more "serious" levels of RC crawling. The batteries alone are expensive enough for me as it is.
Well, more fun to come later this season when I get to start building up "Trekker 2"!

Thanks for the buildup tips!

Beck[/quote]
So, after 2 $50 "bargains" and now this atv for $60 and all the shiat you stacked on top of them, you could have had a TLT to play with. $160 plus the money you would have saved buying all that tubing and b.s. would have gotten you a TLT, a Traxxas TQ, a moped esc, a mini battery pack and a motor.

TwistedXT · 07-26-2006, 01:24 PM

just remember that even though you could.. not everyone wants to.

DumpsterRC · 07-26-2006, 02:21 PM

I have the older Aftershock version with the S-10 body. I am expecting to break it beyond repair soon. I got it used, and after running one battery through it, I locked the diffs, and cut out the battery box. I velcroed the battery to the top of the electronics box. Soon after that I made an adjustable motor mount and installed a 9t pinion installed on a cordless drill motor. I ran it that way for a while. Now it has HPI radio gear, Moped esc, Traxxas 2055 steering, semi-forced articulation on the rear axle, rewound 35t Johnson 550, and new chassis from 1/4" polyethelyne which adds some flex and lowers the cg. The plan is to run it till it drops then move the electronics into a TLT based rig of some sort.

SO I for one love to see what others are doing with these admittedly worthless radio shack toys.

Nice work on the 4-wheeler Beck.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0455.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0458.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0457.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0460.jpg

blue-beard · 07-28-2006, 11:57 AM

does anyone know where to get or even if they make any bearings to replace the plastic bushings in the hubs?
I get a lot of play at the tire when its bolted down. from the looks of it you would need a 3/16" id x 1/2" od bearing that is only 1/8" wide. It actually looks like rpm makes one that might fit. http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEU82&P=7
But at $17.50 for 4, thats kinda pricey when you need 8 especially if they don't work!

SO I was just wondering about your experiances with it.
thanks

EDIT a 3/16" id bearing won't fit over the stub axle, so it is likely 5mm.

raytard · 07-28-2006, 12:45 PM

Ha, ha, ha...

Listerine pocket packs...

blue-beard · 07-28-2006, 01:27 PM

EDITED a 3/16" id bearing doesn't fit. It looks like the stubs are 5mm

DumpsterRC · 07-28-2006, 05:03 PM

I got some off of ebay for pretty cheap. I think I paid less than $10.00 shipped for 8 bearings. I think they might have been metric, its been 6 months or so.

01-25-2006, 07:51 PM	#62
culhan9 Newbie Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: College Station Posts: 8	Wtf "BECK" that thing deserves a WTF! Pretty cool contraption though!

07-23-2006, 05:17 PM	#69
Beck Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 10	Unser's new Pike's Peak climber? Almost done! Here's my latest Project made form an RS vehicle I got for cheap! Before: After: It's really torquey and climbs up real steep inclines. It fast too! Spring rates are a little too stiff for full articulation, but just right for flat road high speed cornering. Whaddya guys think?! Last edited by Beck; 07-23-2006 at 05:22 PM.

07-24-2006, 04:09 PM	#72
murdock Rock Crawler Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: jacksonville beach Posts: 848	i dont know if some one already said this but these mattraxx came out like two or three years ago with a silverado body on it maybe i can find the link to one. Last edited by murdock; 07-24-2006 at 04:11 PM.

07-26-2006, 02:21 PM	#76
DumpsterRC Pebble Pounder Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: grand rapids Posts: 122	I have the older Aftershock version with the S-10 body. I am expecting to break it beyond repair soon. I got it used, and after running one battery through it, I locked the diffs, and cut out the battery box. I velcroed the battery to the top of the electronics box. Soon after that I made an adjustable motor mount and installed a 9t pinion installed on a cordless drill motor. I ran it that way for a while. Now it has HPI radio gear, Moped esc, Traxxas 2055 steering, semi-forced articulation on the rear axle, rewound 35t Johnson 550, and new chassis from 1/4" polyethelyne which adds some flex and lowers the cg. The plan is to run it till it drops then move the electronics into a TLT based rig of some sort. SO I for one love to see what others are doing with these admittedly worthless radio shack toys. Nice work on the 4-wheeler Beck. http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0455.jpg http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0458.jpg http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0457.jpg http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...6/IMG_0460.jpg Last edited by DumpsterRC; 07-26-2006 at 06:35 PM.

07-28-2006, 11:57 AM	#77
blue-beard Quarry Creeper Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Danville Posts: 375	does anyone know where to get or even if they make any bearings to replace the plastic bushings in the hubs? I get a lot of play at the tire when its bolted down. from the looks of it you would need a 3/16" id x 1/2" od bearing that is only 1/8" wide. It actually looks like rpm makes one that might fit. http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEU82&P=7 But at $17.50 for 4, thats kinda pricey when you need 8 especially if they don't work! SO I was just wondering about your experiances with it. thanks EDIT a 3/16" id bearing won't fit over the stub axle, so it is likely 5mm. Last edited by blue-beard; 07-29-2006 at 06:38 PM.

01-25-2006, 07:35 PM	#61
AdamF RCC Addict Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Cincinnati Ohio Posts: 1,673	I really wouldn't waste any time or money on these trucks. They cannot compare to a hobby grade truck in any way. I know, I've had 3 or 4 of them. The F350 is the same truck as the Monster Patrol, Carnivore, and the Avalanche. The motors are weak. I've burned out several of them. The dogbones are EXTREMELY weak. They work fine in stock form, but as soon as you lock the diffs they snap on command. Maybe you could fix this with some aftermarket HD dogbones. But they are geared WAY to high for any real crawling. The motors stall and burn up if you "crawl" with them for too long. They may seem to have a lot of suspension travel, but I'm guessing you have never seen a hobby grade IFS/IRS truck. Go to the hobby shop and check out a Savage or TMaxx. Those trucks have 4 times the suspension travel as the RS truck does. I say keep it stock. I wish I would have. Now I have a box of parts. I was going to make a 1:6 scale Humvee out of the parts, but I don't think it will be worth my time and effort. I'd rather use some Savage parts.

01-25-2006, 08:00 PM	#63
Aantoin Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Centeral Michigan Posts: 3	I can tell by your experiance but why did you buy so many? After the first $100 I would have stopped and purchased a Maxx, RC10T, or ect. Hell a Rustler is only around $50 more and thats RTR. I got mine at a great deal and couldn't pass it up. I use to work at Radio Shack and I would get these incredible deals $1.00 for returned broken merchindise. To some people, why bother, right? This one was by luck and most of the time its user error. This unit wasn't working but when I brought it home it worked fine. The customer must have beendoing the one thing you should never do, playing in water. Well they got water in the electronics and it shorted out. To my surprize it only needed to be dried out.

01-25-2006, 08:27 PM	#65
Aantoin Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Centeral Michigan Posts: 3	LOL what a small world, I do have a question for you though. Do the wheels for the other RS toys mount the same way? I am looking for bigger tires. This truck has good torque but I am not sure if I want to make it into a crawler or into a racer anymore. Toys a Toys and I like my toys to go fast.

01-25-2006, 09:07 PM	#66
Beck Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 10	[QUOTE=AdamF]I really wouldn't waste any time or money on these trucks. They cannot compare to a hobby grade truck in any way. I know, I've had 3 or 4 of them. The F350 is the same truck as the Monster Patrol, Carnivore, and the Avalanche. The motors are weak. I've burned out several of them. The dogbones are EXTREMELY weak. They work fine in stock form, but as soon as you lock the diffs they snap on command. Maybe you could fix this with some aftermarket HD dogbones. But they are geared WAY to high for any real crawling. The motors stall and burn up if you "crawl" with them for too long. They may seem to have a lot of suspension travel, but I'm guessing you have never seen a hobby grade IFS/IRS truck. Go to the hobby shop and check out a Savage or TMaxx. Those trucks have 4 times the suspension travel as the RS truck does. Like I said on my first post, I'm a newbe at this, being that the RS mattrax is my very first 4WD RC model (ok, toy ). I can tell from your list of rides that you've been doing this for a while. I disagree with your assesment that the RS mattracks trucks are a waste of time. First of all I got two of them at a fraction of their retail costs. second, it certainly offers so much more than the majority of low priced RC trucks out there with no 4WD and non-independent suspension. and third, my "trekker" can handle my rockgarden and the big sandstone rock piles on the back of the hill behind our house with no problems. That's all I expect of these RS chassis trucks, so I'm a very happy camper. Anyway I don't have the money to to spend to get into the more "serious" levels of RC crawling. The batteries alone are expensive enough for me as it is. Well, more fun to come later this season when I get to start building up "Trekker 2"! Thanks for the buildup tips! Beck

01-25-2006, 10:44 PM	#67
bobbo27 Pebble Pounder Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rapid City Posts: 156	Adam you still have that box of crap? I might be more interested now because my rig stopped working right and I still want something to screw around with in the mud and snow. Aantoin: I know my Monster patrol and Ricochet (was that even a RS car?) have the same hex size and the wheels are interchangable. Monster patrol wheels work with clod-sized tires, I have Clod Pullers on mine. And a Mag Mayhem to turn them.

04-10-2006, 12:15 AM	#68
plyr2k Pebble Pounder Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: igloo, Alaska Posts: 193	is this post dead? if not i to might br interested in some of those parts i have owned the raminator ans my friend had a monster patrol and another buddy of mine had the f-150 and now i just got my h2 running again. i too have broken many dog bones as soon as i locked my rear end on my raminator and i hate the tracks and i do belive that the raminator and monster patrol were geared diffently then the hummer but im not sure

07-23-2006, 08:51 PM	#70
joecrawler Quarry Creeper Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Southern Maryland Posts: 264	You bought that from radioshack?

07-23-2006, 10:47 PM	#71
Beck Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 10	Yes, Radioshack. it started life as their blue Yamaha ATV racer as seen on the smaller pic. I should have mounted the big racer figure they had with it to show you the whole original package Got it for half clearance price at around 60 bucks. Took all the ATV stuff off and added tubes and junk I had lying around. The Recaro seat the figure sits on was actually a cell phone holder that mounts in car interiors that I bought in SF Japan Town the upper brush bars are clearance items from a hobby shop bought at a couple of dollars The aluminum tube frame parts and clamps are all hardware items. The dual "HID" LED light pods on top of the vehicles were bicycle shop purchases. The 1:6 scale figure is a bomb disposal action dolly from a toy shop. The rest of the stuff is just recycled junk drawer items I had that just kinda fell into place. All in all, the new vehicle might still be under the RS's regular price for the ATV to start with. This is fun! can't wait to do the next bargain RS vehicle mod! Beck

07-25-2006, 02:54 PM	#73
TwistedXT Powered by Awesome Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Parker, Colorado Posts: 3,622	ive only ever seen the f350 and hummer bodies.

07-26-2006, 12:36 PM	#74
Brainstain Nope.. Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Whiteland, Indiana Posts: 1,849	[quote=Beck I disagree with your assesment that the RS mattracks trucks are a waste of time. First of all I got two of them at a fraction of their retail costs. second, it certainly offers so much more than the majority of low priced RC trucks out there with no 4WD and non-independent suspension. and third, my "trekker" can handle my rockgarden and the big sandstone rock piles on the back of the hill behind our house with no problems. That's all I expect of these RS chassis trucks, so I'm a very happy camper. Anyway I don't have the money to to spend to get into the more "serious" levels of RC crawling. The batteries alone are expensive enough for me as it is. Well, more fun to come later this season when I get to start building up "Trekker 2"! Thanks for the buildup tips! Beck[/quote] So, after 2 $50 "bargains" and now this atv for $60 and all the shiat you stacked on top of them, you could have had a TLT to play with. $160 plus the money you would have saved buying all that tubing and b.s. would have gotten you a TLT, a Traxxas TQ, a moped esc, a mini battery pack and a motor.

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07-26-2006, 01:24 PM	#75
TwistedXT Powered by Awesome Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Parker, Colorado Posts: 3,622	just remember that even though you could.. not everyone wants to.

07-28-2006, 12:45 PM	#78
raytard RCC Addict Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: ...Here & There Posts: 1,590	Ha, ha, ha... Listerine pocket packs...

07-28-2006, 01:27 PM	#79
blue-beard Quarry Creeper Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Danville Posts: 375	EDITED a 3/16" id bearing doesn't fit. It looks like the stubs are 5mm Last edited by blue-beard; 07-29-2006 at 06:36 PM.

07-28-2006, 05:03 PM	#80
DumpsterRC Pebble Pounder Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: grand rapids Posts: 122	I got some off of ebay for pretty cheap. I think I paid less than $10.00 shipped for 8 bearings. I think they might have been metric, its been 6 months or so.

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Thread: New Radio Shack Mattraxx ..... CRAWLER POSSOBILITIES? MAYBE