RCCrawler Forums - wheel weights

So my son was given his first MRC this weekend, he turned 9. As i have had one a month or so and made mods to it based on what I learned here, and he got to see that one for the first time, naturally he wanted to upgrade his.

this was exactly what I had intended, for him to learn a bit about how a crawler is built and works (well an RCcrawler anyway) and about how to use the small tools and parts involved. It worked, he is hooked- line and sinker.

SO he choose a few 'choice' upgrades and executed them himself such as wrapping the springs over the ends of the shocks, flipping the shocks, pulling out the foam and adding weight to the tires.

neither of us have been happy with the loose balls in the tire solution, and we couldn't find any copper or solder wire around the house - but I did have some lead diy battery post clamps, and beer.

We found that a beer bottle cap is the right size to make wheel 'hub cap' style weights- so we burned the plastic out the bottle cap (i ran the torch) and then melted the lead into it making half cap full for the back wheels and a full cap full for the front. then we just drilled some holes to mount to the wheel, and wala, great weights and heavy too!

Actually he made his thinner because the ones on mine stick out too far in his opinion, so he did more like probably a 1/4 cap full aft and 1/2 cap full up front, making for very nice size weights that do not stick past the tire wall and work well. we did remove the plastic 'bead lok' rings on to save width as the lead does the same job.

thought to share, it worked well. now with the loose bbs gone the tire conforms to obstructions better. sorry I can't post photos.

On a side note, i have made a few more changes to mine such as moving the battery aft, the ecs decase and up front, bending the chassis arms in to centerline all around to increase articulation and lower more, made an aluminum upper chassis bridge to stiffen the chassis, and bent the lower links to improve clearance- his more stock RC works just as well or even better in many cases with just the wheel weight and spring wraps. those seem to be the most important upgrades to lower and weight.