Are portals overrated?

[Druxus]

There is actually 2 questions here so on to the first

I got a vs410 pro in May and have been driving the heck out of this rig. Decided the other day to take out the scx10.3 and what a tip over fest it was. Areas that I got used to going with the vs410 the 10.3 struggled with he side hill parts and I have brass portal covers on the scx10.3. So today I took out the scx10.2and didn't have the tippy issues. You do have to drive to protect your diffs, so I'm not saying portals are absolutely crap. But so far there isn't a spot my portaled rig can go that my nonportaled can follow it.


Other question

At this point almost all of my rigs are brushless, mamba x and a Holmes motor. when I got the vs410 I couldn't find a mamba x for it. So I decided just to put a 1080 brushed setup in it. I didn't realize the control difference was so noticeable until I ran the scx10.3. Started to make me think that maybe I have some settings wrong. Biggest thing i noticed was going down hill it just freewheel. Like I took my foot off of the brake. I have it set to crawler mode and use the aux wire for drag brake. Is this normal or am I missing a setting for this?

[MOguy]

Originally Posted by Druxus

There is actually 2 questions here so on to the first

I got a vs410 pro in May and have been driving the heck out of this rig. Decided the other day to take out the scx10.3 and what a tip over fest it was. Areas that I got used to going with the vs410 the 10.3 struggled with he side hill parts and I have brass portal covers on the scx10.3. So today I took out the scx10.2and didn't have the tippy issues. You do have to drive to protect your diffs, so I'm not saying portals are absolutely crap. But so far there isn't a spot my portaled rig can go that my nonportaled can follow it.


Other question

At this point almost all of my rigs are brushless, mamba x and a Holmes motor. when I got the vs410 I couldn't find a mamba x for it. So I decided just to put a 1080 brushed setup in it. I didn't realize the control difference was so noticeable until I ran the scx10.3. Started to make me think that maybe I have some settings wrong. Biggest thing i noticed was going down hill it just freewheel. Like I took my foot off of the brake. I have it set to crawler mode and use the aux wire for drag brake. Is this normal or am I missing a setting for this?

First paragraph. You are comparing an RTR with a 45lb body to your Vanquish and think the problem is because of the axles?

Second paragraph. You are comparing an inexpensive ESC to a nice Castle product. What motor are you running with the 1080? Did you set the drag brake on the 1080?

[Druxus]

Originally Posted by MOguy

First paragraph. You are comparing an RTR with a 45lb body to your Vanquish and think the problem is because of the axles?

Second paragraph. You are comparing an inexpensive ESC to a nice Castle product. What motor are you running with the 1080? Did you set the drag brake on the 1080?

Well I took out the scx10.2 today and I thought it performed better then the 10.3. Hence my posting this in the first place. I have been thinking portal was the end all and I'm just questioning it now.

Secondly I'm saying the inexpensive 1080 works better then the mamba x does for low speed downhill control.

[MOguy]

Originally Posted by Druxus

Well I took out the scx10.2 today and I thought it performed better then the 10.3. Hence my posting this in the first place. I have been thinking portal was the end all and in just questioning it now.

Secondly I'm saying the inexpensive 1080 works better then the mamba x does for low speed downhill control.

Take the body of both, make sure the weight is the same and so is the ride height. To have a legit test you can only have one variable, it this case the axles. Thee are so many factors. The diffs are higher with the portals so all other things equal they should be worse at side hill BUT you can use a smaller tire to compensate and still have the same clearance. A big deal with portals is the gear reduction and how that can almost eliminate torque twist. The high diifs can be good or bad depending on terrain and how you build the RC.

How are you programing your MambaX? Your MambaX can be set to 100% drag brake down in 10% increments, you can also adjust how fast it comes on. You can also set the regular brake. You can also adjust the trhotlle and brake curve to almost infinite positions. If it isn't preforming exactly the way you want it you don't have it programed right. OR you have an inexpensive or worn motor that won't hold.

P.S. I would rather have a 10.2 than a 10.3. I am not a fan of the 10.3 itself but the axles can be good.

[Druxus]

I have the speed controls set to crawler, the aux wire to do drag brake at 0,50%,100% how fast it comes on is set to medium. I was under the impression that the regular brake setting has no effect when your in crawler mode using drag brake. All of my motors I use are Holmes hobbies in either a 2200kv or 2700kv. I do have a 1400kv revolver that does seem better but the noise gets to me. I'd get one of the new Holmes esc if they would ever go in stock. But they all seem to do the same thing, great low speed going flat to uphill but as soon as I start heading down they just freewheel. Like lifting your foot off of the brake instead of keeping some pressure on it.

[ferp420]

there 3 different rigs there all gona have different strangths and weeknesses thats what makes having more than one truck fun and also why you go to alot of differnt spots to crawl one might work in one spot but suck in another spot

[twade984]

You may have already, but Holmes has a video specific to programming castle esc’s. I’ve used his settings exactly and have had zero issues on my mamba x and puller pro 2200kv in my vs410 pro. I’m using aux drag brake control on one of the knobs on my Flysky gt5, from no drag brake to complete lockup with the turn of a dial.

And yes, IMO portals are overrated. I still have some, but I tend to prefer straight axles most of the time.

[MOguy]

Originally Posted by Druxus

I have the speed controls set to crawler, the aux wire to do drag brake at 0,50%,100% how fast it comes on is set to medium. I was under the impression that the regular brake setting has no effect when your in crawler mode using drag brake. All of my motors I use are Holmes hobbies in either a 2200kv or 2700kv. I do have a 1400kv revolver that does seem better but the noise gets to me. I'd get one of the new Holmes esc if they would ever go in stock. But they all seem to do the same thing, great low speed going flat to uphill but as soon as I start heading down they just freewheel. Like lifting your foot off of the brake instead of keeping some pressure on it.

Set your drag brake all the way up and to instant. Your regular brake will have settings to. Once you know they work then play around.

Are you using the cable and a computer or the Blink?

[HumboldtEF]

Druxus make sure your Mamba X is running the latest firmware. Plug it into castle link and look at the software tab, if its not on the latest firmware update it.
They added drag brake ramp options, I forget when they added the freewheel feature (drag brake is active under low throttle/descending).

Its also possible you dont have your adjustable drag brake setup right and its just a very weak drag brake.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Portals aren't over rated at all, I'm running capra portals on 4 rigs and 3 of them are stupid stable. My class 2 toyzuki on VP capra axles is silly on sidehills. I'd put it up against my old 10.2 axled toyzuki any time without fear of being beat by it.


I run brushless in all my scale stuff and it has all the lower end control I could hope for being ran by an airtronics mt4 radio. The radio makes a huge difference in control vs any other radio I've tried. Absolutely worth the cash for me.

[mikemcE]

I’ve got basically a ii with a sherpa frame and transmission, 25%od on ar44 axles and a iii with shocks and suspension tweaked with a three speed dig.
These two trucks totally different but yet they can follow each other on almost the same line.

My first rig was the R1 portaled rock bouncer. Both my SCX10ii and SCX10iii will outrun it . I do more climbing short jagged rocks and little trailing


Hang up and Drive

[furadi]

So I'm working with a local startup to develop LCG chassis kits specific to certain RTR's. (TRX4, Capra and SCX10III) In all of our testing we could find no benefit to using straight axles and they actually introduce torque twist. So this local designer has flat out decided not to produce any kits for straight axle rigs.

This is my TRX4 based prototype on about a 47 degree sidehill.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CP97DlJFJv-/

[MOguy]

Originally Posted by furadi

So I'm working with a local startup to develop LCG chassis kits specific to certain RTR's. (TRX4, Capra and SCX10III) In all of our testing we could find no benefit to using straight axles and they actually introduce torque twist. So this local designer has flat out decided not to produce any kits for straight axle rigs.

This is my TRX4 based prototype on about a 47 degree sidehill.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CP97DlJFJv-/

What the TRX others even with the stock chassis is already lower weight than other RTRs. The trans in a TRX sit lower than other RTRs and the motor is pushed forward for better weight displacement.

Below is a pick of a TRX on a stock chassis next to a LCG Brazin chassis with a TCH 2 low. The stock TRX sits the trans and motor lower than a LCG comb chassis with a TGH 2low AND the TGH 2LOW is set on an axial skid that sits the trans lower than the stock TGH skid. In the pic below I even have the ESC on the TRX trans and it is still lower.

I am not saying the TRX chassis is better, it is not. Its design limits susp travel. The last pic is the "TRX" in a comp chassis.

[WHITE-TRASH]

The ATL is not a great chassis, I've built a couple and swapped them out eventually. If you want to keep the trx4 trans grab a brazen printed skid off shapeways and slap it in a V3 Toyzuki and kick ass. Want to really rule the world use the Toyzuki forward motor mount and 2.5 t case. It doesn't get better than that for trx4 axles.

[MOguy]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

The ATL is not a great chassis, I've built a couple and swapped them out eventually. If you want to keep the trx4 trans grab a brazen printed skid off shapeways and slap it in a V3 Toyzuki and kick ass. Want to really rule the world use the Toyzuki forward motor mount and 2.5 t case. It doesn't get better than that for trx4 axles.

The TRX, is a scattergun and seems good I had never heard of Toyzuki. The brazen was for the scx 10. I am running a bow house skid with the scattergun. When I built it there was nothing but complaints about shapeways and them not delivering their products.

[Druxus]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

Portals aren't over rated at all, I'm running capra portals on 4 rigs and 3 of them are stupid stable. My class 2 toyzuki on VP capra axles is silly on sidehills. I'd put it up against my old 10.2 axled toyzuki any time without fear of being beat by it.

The capra axles are wider then all the other axles aren't they? I have no competition setups or extreme places to run any of my crawlers, its all sandy woods trailing. More going over logs and dirt mounds then any rocks, which don't exist here in west Michigan. Maybe if I had different terrain I would find portals more useful.

[NickelPlate]

Portals are definitely nice to have but they're not completely necessary. I went to Axialfest this year with my old SCX10 gen 1 and was worried that with no portals and the super huge pumpkins (by today's standards) I wouldn't be able to keep up on the trails Much to my surprise my truck was able to hang with and in some cases out perform many other people out on the trails with newer rigs. Granted, some of this is driving ability my SCX10.1 is running a super light weight body and small battery.

[themountain]

It depends on what you want to do ....on a trail truck they are ok on a more comp oriented car they are pointless on the front because they limit the steering angle...a lot.

[MOguy]

Originally Posted by themountain

It depends on what you want to do ....on a trail truck they are ok on a more comp oriented car they are pointless on the front because they limit the steering angle...a lot.

That is a good point. I have the portals on my C3 and the gates are wider, so turning is not as big of a deal and you can use dig or 4ws in that class. On my C1 and C2 I have AR44s.

The TRX does have worse but it can be improved greatly, but the steering joint on the shaft can become a weak point if you don't have the selectable lockers and unlock them when turning real tight. And if you do all that and have 4WS you can get them to turn on a dime, mine will. I have no experience with the AR45s but from what I have seen they turn better than the TRX ones out of the box. Not sure about other portals.

[furadi]

Originally Posted by themountain

It depends on what you want to do ....on a trail truck they are ok on a more comp oriented car they are pointless on the front because they limit the steering angle...a lot.

Mmm my capra based build definitely has more steering angle than my old enduro or an scx10II.