new to crawling... bought a Rock Force

[yellow1]

i've been reading up on crawlers for months, and trying to learn everything i could about these things. i had my heart set on an Axial AX10 kit for awhile, until one day the guy at the LHS says... "Did you know that Kyosho has a crawler? and it comes with a worm gear..."

after looking through the specs, hours wasted on youtube, and devouring every forum post i could find about the RF, i was sold, and decided to bite the bullet.



it is configured as follows:
* CC Mamba Sidewinder Sport
* CC CMS36-5700 Motor
* Hobbico CS-150MG Servo
* Spectrum DSM 3001
* Helios EX10
* Axial AX-10 rockster beadlocks
* OEM tires, filled with Airsoft pellets
* OEM Shocks, filled with 90 wt oil, with 0.7mm filed off the side (per instructions)
* 6 cell NiMH stickpack

my RF is, for the most part, complete. i just need to come up with a killer paint scheme, or at least find someone local who is more artistic than i am.

my thoughts so far:

whoa! it looks like a darn tough truck!
but it doesn' have the most flexible setup... i want it to be able to something like this berg, but i think that the high CG won't be conducive to this stunt...

the turning radius/action sucks! i'm going to try and add 4WS on this badboy, and give it some manuverability. can anyone point me in the direction of adding this to the vehicle? is this even a good idea? grrr! apparently the helios does not allow for ch3 to be a mixable channel. sigh.

i had originally used a Kyosho Perfex ESC + G20 stock motor combo from my ReadySet ZX-5, but it was too slow for my tastes. thus, enter the brushless. i just hope i don't melt something and break it.

i'm trying out the pellets for now, but will probably switch to foams + lead weights in the future. i'm gonna need to use up these pellets... so i guess i'll be purchasing an airsoft gun soon.

[dkingston]

Greetings!

Glad you decided to go with the Rock Force.

Addressing your articulation and flexibility, first the 90wt shock oil has to go. With the pistons stock you should be somewhere in the 15-30wt range, even if you shave the side or drill holes in the piston. That will help a lot.

Additionally, look at my build thread DK's Rock Force Build here. The rear setup will give you a tad more articulation. Also notice the video I posted in that thread. Climbs like the one in your link are very possible with the RF!

I would hold off on the 4ws if you intend to compete with your truck. The dig setup works very well and is a great way to get more enjoyment out of your truck.

And for the tires, I would ditch the stockers unless you are just going to play with it. There are several great choices out there like Panther Cougar, Losi Claws, and several others.

Post some pictures of it as soon as you can, we all would love to see them.


- David

[BILLYGOAT]

welcome, i have done the rear link mod david did and it works great.dig will get you more maneuverable for sure. i run hotbodies rovers with vanquish pro comp wheels and 6oz of weight in each front wheeland this rig is extreamly planted . slam a body down and you should have some recovery ability .thats all about wheel speed. i am running 30wt with a 1/16 hole drilled instead of filing and the movement is live but controled. good luck and keep us posted

[yellow1]

here's the link to the whole album
http://tinyurl.com/9gxv79

[yellow1]

with the brushless mamba 5700, and the stock gearing, i was able to get alot more wheelspeed, but i wasn't able to actually crawl. the motor would cog any time i tried to get one wheel up a wall. plus the ESC was getting mighty warm.

my question is, where did i do wrong? i considered reducing the pinion size to gain more gear ratio, but couldn't find a suitable 1/10 scale pinion to use, so there went that great idea...

FWIW, out of consideration for the ESC, i pulled it, and replaced it with a perfex ESC and black can G20 motor from Kyosho. also, i tried out DK's arm swap idea, and had i minor hiccup with the drive-shaft. luckily compressing the rear shocks and slowly turning the motor helped re-seat the hex. a quick change of the shock oil to losi 25-weight, and addition of limiter straps has totally transformed the crawler, and i'm once again happy with my purchase.

i'd be happier if the darn thing drove a bit faster and had a better turning radius, but i'm still waiting for the LHS to get the hi speed worm gear set.

i'm also still trying to figure out how to enable a 4WS setup with the system i have now. any suggestions? of course, if that doesn't work... a DIG will be going in.

[BILLYGOAT]

i had the exact same issue . i tried many combos and if your looking for wheelspeed, the high speed gears will make thing right. i tried a 5t puller 47ookv brushless 55t,35t and all kinds of gearing and after all that . i bought the high speed gears and now i have lowend torque and plenty of wheelspeed from a 35t 86/26 than any of those lsg combos. going to put the 5t puller back in for some crazy fun.