Mad Crusher, now with factory 4-link!

[JennyC6]

I have one of these, too, only mine's the GP version. And I love it to death. What I've noticed from running mine, though?

* For sure loctite issues. I had one of the suspension links come loose and dangle during engine breakin!

* Max reasonable speed for this thing is around 30MPH. That's roughly what the VE tops out at, but the GP with its three speed transmission will reach around 40-45MPH. And it's terrifying to drive at those speeds. At that kinda speed it bobs and weaves randomly, with little if any grip on what direction it's actually pointed. You're at the mercy of inertia at that point, the suspension just can't handle it. Probably irrelevant for crawling on the platform, but even right out of the box they're a bit weeble-wobbly at high speed.

* On the topic of power, the KE-25 Kyosho put in mine is an absolute brute and I'm never short on power. I can do a standing half-backflip on command whenever I damn well please just about, and it powers through foot-and-a-half tall grass with grace and easy. I can only imagine the brushless one's similarly potent. I'm pretty sure with how much power I have on tap I don't really need locked diffs unless it's super technical(In which case why even run a truck this enormous?). When in doubt, Power Out! And I'm probably running 20-30% less power than VE guys run...

* The GP doesn't stop for *$(%. I'm kinda jealous of you VE guys reporting one tap of the brakes endo's the thing. I firewall my brakes and it's like 'oh fine I guess I'll laze up to the stop sign if you absolutely insist'. Might be part of why I find it so terrifying to drive the thing at high speeds?

* Stock setup offers about...oooh, 30-35 degrees of flex. IT's not exactly designed for crawling but I've seen the potential in mine, hell I've actually clambered up things with it just to see how it'd do.

* It does pretty good when it's asked to stop being a monster truck and start crawling around, all things considered, but the ground clearance under the pumpkin leaves much to be desired, it hangs up on the center of the chassis VERY easily, and the diffs are a massive problem vis-a-vis resisting unloading. Also means, at least in my experience, they can't do donuts very well. Gonna put 200k cst silicone in mine's diffs this week and see what difference that makes.

* It's HUGE. GL ever comping one of these things, they're so wide they'll straddle the damn gates with both tires.

* Rear steering isn't a difficult modification at all to make, since the axle housings are interchangeable front and rear.

* The offset diffs induce some torquesteer. Mine loves to veer right a bit when I get it up on the wheelie bar.

* Getting to the fuel tank with the body on is a pain in the rear, but engine startup doesn't require de-lidding.

* Stock body is awesome. GP's gets painted a lovely shade of red and the factory light buckets mean you can drive these things at night with a lightkit fitted and have no trouble avoiding running into stuff.

* The stock servos are terrible. I was having brownout issues 15 minutes into a run, on both 4 alkaline cells as intended by Kyosho and on an 1800mAh 2s LiFE receiver pack. Repalced Rx/Tx with a Futaba stick radio, replaced steering servo with a Reedy 1514MG, throttle servo with a Reedy S1903, and the brownouts disappeared. If you VE guys are finding battery life less than ideal, or if the BEC in the ESC starts getting excessively hot, might wanna look into doing the same.

* Why are the axle housings held together with JIS screws instead of allen screws?!

I'd dearly love to take mine to a trail run, be the only nitro guy there and prolly still do better than stone dead last .

[sawback]

Sounds good I got one of each Mad force gp, mad crusher ve , foxx gp.... Sawback with mf axles for scale crawling is also lots of fun.


As for the brakes with some minor adjustment they can be made a bit better, the brake should almost drag a tiny bit when in neutral throttle, for best stopping. I also made a slightly larger rotor, and now it will do a front flip. My servos however have lasted a many years I think some are for sure defective right outta the box like one of my throttle servos.

If you wana go fast with any of the 4 link crushers you need the optional sway bar kit, or convert it to the old school but better imo 2 link radius arm setup

Love the kyosho made in japan, and still supports nitro and brushless the same. Makes them a very unique brand!

[Stray]

I love my mad crusher ve. So damb sexy.
I was going to try an make it into a crawler. But I just can't do it. She perfect just the way she is

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[JennyC6]

Originally Posted by sawback

As for the brakes with some minor adjustment they can be made a bit better, the brake should almost drag a tiny bit when in neutral throttle, for best stopping. I also made a slightly larger rotor, and now it will do a front flip. My servos however have lasted a many years I think some are for sure defective right outta the box like one of my throttle servos.

Post some pics of your linkage. I'd love to have brakes that stout, beyond being able to whoa this thing down they'd make mid-air control much easier on the GP. I don't trust the brakes on mine to bring the nose back down if it launches nose high on me and I can't imagine the links are up to very many vertically-oriented landings like that. Tires might give enough to save 'em but it's not something I'm willing to risk.

If you wana go fast with any of the 4 link crushers you need the optional sway bar kit, or convert it to the old school but better imo 2 link radius arm setup

I'll keep it in mind, but truthfully, I don't really intend to run mine in third gear very much. Mostly just when trying to get the HSN tuned in nice. The wayward handling is challenging, yes, but it's also exactly how the real thing behaves at high speed. I give it scale points for being that wayward. Definitely something to note in case someone goes to buy one of these things so they can be prepared, but I don't necessarily dock it any points because it doesn't drive very well at high speed.


It's not a racer. And down in the 15-25MPH range where it belongs it handles perfectly. Ish. Except for the diff unloading issues.

I put the 200k silicone in the rear diff of mine last night, haven't run it but it's already night-and-day. Gonna try just the rear, if it still won't donut I'll hit both, if it still can't donut on pavement I'll start putting thicker oil in there. Factory only puts some grease in to lube the gears but the diffs themselves are fully sealed.

Viable way to lock the diffs that isn't permanent, too, if that's your goal.

Love the kyosho made in japan, and still supports nitro and brushless the same. Makes them a very unique brand!

Oh definitely, and on top of that they make good stuff. Far as I can tell the KE-25 is basically a debadged OS powerplant, which is backed up by how mine runs.

I think my next outdoor RC is gonna be the Scorpion XXL kit. Build it GP, dunno what engine will live in there. Will decide later on.

[Stray]

Just a pic of my girl with her big shoes on

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[TIME MACHINE]

You guys still running the Crusher?

[Stray]

She's still on the shelf, but with her normal shoes....

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[dkchance74]

I bought my based off this video. Just came in today
https://youtu.be/lJ8fasXwbIE

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[ttppll]

Just got one of these to bash around with. I've never run anything more than 2S, so this should be interesting! Batteries are charging now!

https://imgur.com/RIde21c