I'm Back in the Money Spending Business.....

[Redharris]

I stopped into my LHS on a whim. (You all know how this story goes, Right?)
Anyway, I've always wanted a Crawler and just never got around to making the Purchase,,,,,,until Yesterday, Lol.

I picked up a pre-Owned, (cuz nothing is USED anymore) SCX10.3....
Its a nice Truck and I know i'm gonna have fun messing around with it....Axial makes a good Product, but the $$$ spending Part has started already.....
I find that the Steering servo is,,,,,on its last leg, and the Dig servo and whole Dig mechanism is intermittent /difficult to actuate. Soooo, I really need to tear this thing down and check/perform some maintenance.....

Since I'm here writing this, I might as well ask you guys if you are Familiar with the the You Tube channel, "RC Review" and his method of testing the Torque output of Servos? Useful? Legit?

[Redharris]

So...a day later and a couple hours of labor and the new Rig is already working much better.
Turns out I dont NEED a new steering servo after all.
It also turns out that the Dig/Locker mechanism works OK as well.
Apparently the last owner never figured out how to set up his stock RTR Spektrum radio.
I found a video on YT that showed how to set up/adjust/program (or whatever you want to call it) the transmitter. Its not very intuitive, and I never would have guessed how to do it without the (Horizon Hobby ) video. But it works OK!
I managed to set the steering endpoints and trim, and even to do the same for the #3 channel so that the Dig works with the radio now.....
I kinda feel sorry for the guy who commisioned a sale at his LHS, and took a loss..... I'm guessing someone bought the RTR and used it as it was set up from the MFG. After a while it needed some adjustment or some TLC and he couldnt deal with it and put it up for sale. His Loss, my Gain

[Fallen]

I found the stock 10.3 servo to be adequate, which is surprising for an RTR servo.

I think it's the Spektrum S614. While it's not going to impress anyone, it did everything I needed it to do.

I only replaced mine because I used it in a monster truck build, and that killed it. A direct hit to the servo in a crash is a lot to ask at monster truck speeds.

[ferp420]

upgrading rcs gets exspensive my first axial was over $400 new i then dumped another 1000 in to it to stop it from breaking every run lol

the new stuff is so much better though so i would budget about 500 to get it were you want it

rc review guy is a active member here his servo tests arent %100 but there legit enuff for our needs he dosent always put out the best info but i dont think ive ever seen any wrong or bad info in his videos i would say over all he dose a good job with his videos way better than my videos anyway lol

axial makes good rigs they hands down have the best aftermarket parts available to upgrade so be prepaired to spend money cause even if you dont need to upgrade some of the stuff is just to good to pass on


a side note i used to know a guy named red harris you dident by chance live in lake forest did ya lol

[Redharris]

Originally Posted by ferp420

a side note i used to know a guy named red harris you dident by chance live in lake forest did ya lol

Nope . Never lived in Lake Forest......

[Goos3]

Originally Posted by Redharris

I stopped into my LHS on a whim. (You all know how this story goes, Right?)

This is why my wife only lets me go to work by myself, barely.

[JimInMiami]

Red, welcome to the crawler for fraternity it’s a great aspect of the RC Hobby. You seem like an intelligent fellow who knows how to figure things out. Well please take crawler boys advice with a grain of salt and figure out what works for YOU first. At first the performance of a stock RTR rig will be greater than your driving ability. As you gain experience find out where the weak points are and only then upgrade as needed. Enjoy the ride and only spend money as required.

[Redharris]

Originally Posted by JimInMiami

Red, welcome to the crawler for fraternity it’s a great aspect of the RC Hobby. You seem like an intelligent fellow who knows how to figure things out. Well please take crawler boys advice with a grain of salt and figure out what works for YOU first. At first the performance of a stock RTR rig will be greater than your driving ability. As you gain experience find out where the weak points are and only then upgrade as needed. Enjoy the ride and only spend money as required.

Good Advice Thanks! My First Day went Well!....I found some Real rocks (not in my backyard with a few bricks) and tested the rig out. The Truck Impressed me with its Performance. I was surprised at how well the Rig climbed what I thought, were some real steep and difficult lines. It kept completing the ascent when I didnt think it could!

I did notice a couple weaknesses. The Stock JL body is way cool but it is HEAVY. While side hilling, I killed my poor plastic driver half a dozen times by rolling down the side of the hill and off the Cliff! Also, on steep ascents, even if I hooked a tire over the edge of a lip, the back end would lift the front tires off the ledge and flip me over backwards, Mebbe Driver error, but I think Im gonna try some heavier oil in the rear shocks.

The only thing I really want to change for now is the Radio. Its hard to like RTR radios when you've been a Racer for years. For now Im going to throw in my old DX3 Spektrum Radio. It has a decent interface and is nicer to Hand.

All in all an awesome first day!....Now I just need to find some Crawler Friends!...If you live in So Cal, near the San Fernando Valley or Simi Valley,,,,,shoot me a PM if you want to meet up on the weekend sometime!