Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

By the time I finished the installation the sun had come back out. So I headed to the stump challenge. Well let's just say this truck was stumped by the stump. It simply wouldn't clime the wet stump with these tires - not even with the additional weight. We will have to wait for sunnier days and if recent history is any indication that could be a long while.

The truck climbed any other obstacle it would in the dry. But I noticed the bumpers could use some tucking front and rear. I removed the bumpers and cut off a section of the mounts so I could tuck them in farther. With the stock length the bumpers are pushed in as far as they can before the mounts contact the chassis.

Here's the front bumper showing what I mean. You can't push the bumper in any farther and still get the holes to line up so you have to trim.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1779/...137608b6_b.jpg


Before

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1776/...3b05a171_b.jpg


After. It's not much, but sometimes it doesn't take much to add performance. The bumpers, as I stated earlier, are designed well and they allow for good approach and departures as is, but this will certainly help a bit.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/942/4...c01d892b_b.jpg


And a moist, post-stump failure shot. I like the word moist because my girlfriend hates it! :evil:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/939/4...1774b2f1_b.jpg


And an ass shot because baby got back! Not really, I'm just showing the rear bumper tuck. I could tuck the rear bumper in another notch and it would still look good with the body IMO, but then the tires would hit the bumper when the suspension was compressed.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1835/...159eb3e8_b.jpg

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Definitely look like solid parts and worth-the-investment improvement. And yes, purty too.

Bring on the MOAS!

Edit: Ok, after tires.

I always hear Isaac Butterfield now with that word..."Makes 'em moister than an oyster!"

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I want one of these for 250..... Looks to be coming along nicely.

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

MOAS? What's that?

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

Mother of All Stumps!

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

Ahh. I was thinking it was some new kind of Motor On Axle. :lmao:

Yes, we will wait for the new tars.

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

That is looking really nice! I'd definitely pick one up if it ever gets discounted.

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

Thank you! It's a shame this truck was delayed and then came out overpriced. It'll never get the love it deserves and nobody will care about it until it's gone.

The truck was released, what, 2 years after it was announced? And the original price of $370 wasn't bad and with coupons it was somewhere around $320. But then they decided to think they are Traxxas and raised the price to $400 and make it so you can't use coupons on the truck.

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They definitely screwed themselves. When first announced it offered some interesting innovation but they rested on their laurels too long, and then SCX 10.2 and TRX-4. Their reaction to the response of their marketing apathy was to jack up the price?

Nice try, HPI.

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

Exactly. And despite the fact that people don't want to hear it, the SCX10 II isn't that special. My initial impressions tell me this truck is worth every penny that the SCX10 II is worth. The SCX10 II RTR is going for $390 and it has the Axial name behind it. HPI has to make their truck stand out somehow despite their reputation as a dying company that rarely has parts in stock. The way to do that, IMO, is to lower the price.

Good news is that my tires were delivered a day early. So tonight after dinner when my girlfriend falls asleep (anywhere from 6PM to 8PM because she wakes up at 3:30 AM for work) I will be going Berserk-er.

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Absolutely. You can always creep the price up to expand margin once you have some market credibility.

So when she gets tired, you'll get tired?

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:lmao: Yes! "thumbsup"

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Mmm rubber! I keep feeding my wheel and tire addiction (fetish?). This time with Pitbull (or is it Pit Bull? - I always forget) Braven Berserker tires. That name...odd one, you are.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1811/...f1ae84bb_b.jpg


That's some cool, scale tread, yo!

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1811/...099fb1cc_b.jpg


Step 1 Install the inner ri...WTF?! The included inner foam ripped when inserting the inner ring for the beadlock wheel. I've never had this happen before and it only happened to this tire. Grr! Apparent Dirty Richard is a wuss. Out of sight out of mind, right? Let's continue.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1778/...24e42923_b.jpg


One mounted on Incision MR307 wheels I had sitting around. I used them once in my backyard and that was it. I had Boom Racing Hustlers on them, but the tires pulled right off. After an email discussion with Michael at Vanquish he sent me new rings as mine were apparently too narrow and out of spec. The same thing happened when I installed the Boom tires with the new rings. Michael agreed to see what was the matter if I sent him the wheels and tires. He even sent me a prepaid return shipment box. I forgot about it and the wheels sat here so let's try them again with different tires.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1780/...3b38e87f_b.jpg


I've been long wanting a narrower tire like you see on 1:1 vehicles. I think this fits the bill. Scale tread - check. Good rubber compound - check. Skinny - check. Foams...hmm TBD.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1835/...c41d7fb3_b.jpg


Now lets mount them to the truck!

Me likey!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/852/2...a654fc73_b.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/929/2...f32feefa_b.jpg


The Berserkers next to the stockers. Hmm I didn't gain much if any height with these like I had wanted. But they look damn good IMO.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/929/4...b89234d9_b.jpg

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Of course Mother "Bitch" Nature knew I was installing new tires and it started raining about halfway through mounting the tires. I forgot to mention that before I installed the new tires I once again tried the stump challenge. The Venture just wasn't doing it with the Choline Fauxline tires unless I held it wide open and let the tires get traction after it got hung up. That's not a climb so no video.

Because rain put a dampening on my parade I decided to fix the steering geometry. I order some Hot Racing spacer sets and they were fortunately delivered today as well. After combining a 4mm and a .5mm spacer I got the drag link and panhard bar pretty damn close.

You can see the raw aluminum spacers coming off of the servo horn just under the bumper. You can also see how the panhard bar is hidden nicely right behind the drag link. No bump steer here. I gotta stop rhyming...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1811/...52d6e001_b.jpg


So now we wait, again, for sunshine...

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

Good luck with that wait this year!!

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

Jato The Ad Venture
 

As I was reading the thread, the rains came!! Damn if it wasn’t rain here, not just dribbles, a monsoon from the east!! The Gulf side was blue sky and sunny as it poured !
I had just come in after shooting chassis pics in HDR and wanted to put the body on and turn the lights on ..... OH well more indoor fun !
Hang up and Drive

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

Glad the color is growing on you but I gotta say that the tan/ sand color is the best looking color for that particular body. It's the least Easter-eggy color to go on an FJ imo. Looks so perfect with the black flares, cargo rack , etc... and the Method's and Berzerker's. One hell of a sexy rig there, sir!

Re: Jato The Ad Venture
 

I wanna see the HDR pics if they are of your Origin! I'm sure you'll post them in your thread, right?

Funny, I was just thinking today how PA turned into Florida. It's always raining, always humid, and it goes from sunny to monsoon to sunny again in a matter of an hour.

I like the Easter-eggy FJ. The styling was bold when it was released and it deserved bold colors like the blue that I love. But yes, the color has grown on me.

THanks for the kind words!

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The only thing I don't like about these tires is I guess the foam they come with. It seems like it is too big. When mounted up they look like ATV tires. Way too rounded across the tread. If you look at the pic you took of the unmounted tire the tread is more square to the sidewall and flat across the tread surface, much more like a truck tire. This also is what turns me off the VS4-10 tires. They do the same thing. I had the same issue with my Braven Ironsides. Foam was way too big for the tire and ballooned it out when mounted.

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Well they are UTV tires so...

I understand what you're saying, but the only way to get a flat tire profile is to make the foams too small or too soft or too use closed cell in which case they're rock hard.