Reviewed: The truck, the axles, potential mods.

[RCMFMaxxMan]

Stopped by good ol' Tammie's Hobbies and got my red mini crawler. I was exciting. Smiling like I just got a girlfriend! haha. By the way it was $209.99. Better than the web, no shipping charge, no waiting for shipping, no risk of shipping, no shipping, and supported the local yokels! So what I'm saying is look local before the web (unless the local shops are real jerks. i've been there), second look to the rcc vendors. So.... on to the tech...

Had to cut through like 10 zip ties to get everything out. This thing is packaged well! Reminiscent of Apple's packaging (well, almost. Apple wouldn't use zip ties. and it would take you ten minutes just to figure out how to open the box haha).

Took it outside for some shots:


Front knuckle assembly (already factory clocked a few degrees but can be clocked more with some grinding and drilling here and there):


Rear lock out (same concept as the front but one more part... we'll take this apart later). I can see this needing to be turned 90 degrees to get those screws out from under the axle:


Checking out the pinion angle. Pretty close to being in line with the links but it does hang down a bit and the angle could be improved, so some clocking of the axle is in the future. Probably just add a spacer to the axle end of the upper link to lengthen it. eventually will probably be four-linked anyway:

[RCMFMaxxMan]

Here is a naked side view. Note the pinion angles. I'd like to see both the front and rear axle get clocked a bit. What I want to really look at though is that upper plate. Look at how high that battery is. This is just an idea but it seems like it should be good and neat. Here's my idea: See the space behind the tranny? that is hardly taken up by the esc? Well how about turning the tranny around so that that big space is at the front of the chassis, then just turning the upper plate upside down so that the battery mounts to the under side of the plate and is still in the front of the chassis, and is still neatly tucked away. Then the body can also be slammed some without cutting a hole in the windshield for the batt.


This is just a shot showing how the upper link is mounted. Same concept as the ax10. Also look at the springs. (the rear driver side spring is a gun metal color and the rear passenger side is silver like the other two springs. The gun metal one does feel a little stiffer. Unless mine is defective or miscolored, Losi has some smarts about this crawling thing :


Is that a bleeder valve i see on top of that shock?


This is max articulation for the suspension (not max for the springs though, so some of it is forced but the truck can force articulate from torque in the right position). I'll most likely be limiting this articulation by like 10 or 15 degrees:

[RCMFMaxxMan]

I think this will be a common battery location out of the box. Drops the battery about an inch, gets in further forward, and all it will take to do is some velcro or zip ties or something. No cutting of any chassis parts or reconfiguring of the battery. Only downside is the body can't really be slammed from stock, but maybe you like it high.


this is for the oregon guys especially ;) read thy second line, scoff, and ignore!


The hex area looks pretty good. especially for this little guy!


next up: axle exploratory surgery!

[RCMFMaxxMan]

Inside the lockout. no straight axle :( oh well, it leaves it to be very basic for modding it to 4ws. Also you can see the o-ring in there. don't lose those or there could be issues!:


This plastic piece differentiates the lockout mounting from the front axle c mounting (just remove it to install knuckles and c's for 4ws). This piece just holds the axle shaft's bearing.


GREASY! not going to tear into the diff right now. don't want to get messy. but that is indeed a metal gear! (part of the noise, but it will be strong. great for the 1/10th scalers). pinion is also metal and looks like any other old pinion so I wont post a pic.

[RCMFMaxxMan]

less exciting...

The tires do crease a bit from packaging but mine wasn't bad. this is the extent of it:


With some hair dryer heat and some massaging I got it almost back to normal shape. driving will take care of the rest:


Here are some servo comparisons. Top to bottom: standard, micro, mini crawler:






Overall: I'm exciting to run this thing and see if it runs as good as it looks (battery currently on the charger). A few very minor cons:
-pinion angle not the greatest
-battery toooo high and the upper plate flip probably could have solved this and been production.
-the shocks will need some more oil (a little airy).
-plastic wrench is useless. took one wheel nut off before I stripped the thing 'hex-style'
-The screws holding on the lockouts hang low and out in the open. I think it could have been designed rotated 90 degrees and not messed with the axle housing besides different holes for c's if you install 4ws.
-Not too thrilled about the screws on the side of the chassis holding on the skid and links. Couldn't have been counter sunk?
-springs don't stay in their cups all the time.

HOWEVER, Let me tell you! all these cons are quite on the minor side and can be fixed relatively easy. And also the pros FAR out weigh the cons.

pros:
-2.4 ghz radio
-I hear the esc and motor work well
-The tires' compound feels very similar to their 2.2 counterpart
-Looks like it will be easy to mod and experiment with and to go in sooo many different directions.
-Just looks like alot of fun (I'll run it in about an hour)
-The body is pretty cool looking
-steel yokes and steel axle gears (haven't opened the tranny)
-looks like pretty good suspension geometry
-the size is good for anywhere unless you have huge boulders with big gaps haha
-Proportioned well (wheelbase, track width, tire size, body size)
-Shocks feel good for an rtr
-So far simple to work on
-easy to pack on trips
-feels very stout and well built

I'm sure I could go on.

Bottom line. These will be big! Probably as important to rc rock crawling as the tlt kit was and as popular if not more popular than the ax10 kit.

Out of 10 points. I'll give this a 9.5 for first impressions. not perfect but pretty darn close! very few minor things that could have been improved but they seem to not even matter when you think of all the positive side of this truck.

I now await my battery to charge to see if the truck's driving will live up to my first impressions!

Thank you, good job, and congratulations Losi on an awesome product! Especially to Mr. Trujillo.

[dezrik]

Extensive Review dood, I like, Keep up the good work and it looks like you thought of the first great mod if it goes well (the battery placement flipping the battery plate around)

[CreepyCrawl]

Nice write up...thanks for taking the time to tear into it!

I had a chance to check one out thoroughly at my LHS today, and the only things I would add to your comments and suggestions are these mods that I'll be trying:

I would add a second vent hole in each rim...tire compound is a bit bouncy

Weight bias the front rims (I'm thinking 3/4 to 1 ounce each)

Utilize the front tri link for battery placement (if you run Lipo) Max Amps has a nice little 860 mAh 2S and 1100 mAh 2S

Add an external cut off for said Lipo

Heavier shock oil (somewhere between 40 and 60)

Remove the servo saver immediately!

Waiting patiently for mine to come in...looks like all the Black ones went somewhere other than the East Coast!

[NeXt559]

nice write up

i got mine on tuesday but have yet to tear into the box.
damn work and responsibilities

im hoping to be able to tear into the crawler this comin weekend.
its not cause i have time off, its cause the boss has time off

[RCMFMaxxMan]

thanks guys! I actually didn't get it out tonight like I thought I would. Going camping in the morning so I lost my day light with packing. But no worries because I am taking the mrc camping too! So when I come back I think I will have a very good feel for the truck and I'll be ready to start compifying this thing!

[TOYUTAH]

I think you'll enjoy driving this lil guy! I had a blast driving mine last night! This little rig is awesome, it seems to be pretty dang strong and the stock electronics are awesome for an rtr. Me, my girlfriend and my nephew drove mine for at least an hour on a single charge. This thing has a ton of potential and really is pretty capable out of the box. If you guys don't have one already, GET ONE!!

[FDAapproved]

Thanks RCMFMaxxMan and CreepyCrawl, I feel more confident about tearing it apart to start changing things around. Looks easy enough to improve the performance. I had fun taking mine out for its first run yesterday at the San Elijo site. It does seem like it is a bit top heavy compared to its 2.2 counterparts.

First objectives for my rig:

Find a new body (Suggestions anyone?)
LiPo battery mounted lower
Weights in front wheels
Change shock oil

[nmanuel01]

ITS THE DREADED MLST DIFF!!!!!
I sure hope it holds up better in the cralwer than it did in the mini lst
only reason why I got rid of mine, man tear into that diff and see if the spider gears are plastic, if they are man that will keep me from buying one right away until its fully put to the test
I know it will have limits but I think crawling will bring them out
I hope i dont sound like im bashing it, but i just could never get it to work in my mini lst
I have seen this at my lhs and wuld buy one

[Desolas]

only reason why I got rid of mine, man tear into that diff and see if the spider gears are plastic

...stop and think for a second. rock crawler. what's different between a rock crawler and a MLST diff? ...think about it for a bit and it will come to you.

------------

I've spent the afternoon running mine. Wow, it works much better than I expected really. Needs wheel weight, I pulled my tires apart and added weight to the wheels, and also to the inside of the wheels, front and rear. This makes a big difference. If you add enough weight to counter balance the top heavy battery - it makes a big improvement.

I also removed the NIMH pack and put a 2S 730mah lipo up top, makes it side hill much better ... looking at it I think it can be moved to the front upper 3 link. Having the weight bias forward of course works better than the truck being neutral.

Star cut the foams. Makes it work much better. The stock foam is okay with just weight, but cutting them worked better.

I have not modified the shocks much, I added more reload to the rear left shock to reduce some of the torque twist, but mine still twists up really bad. I am going to add some more preload, bend the rear links, and take it back out right now.

[nmanuel01]

Stopped to think about and yea nothing......I never made any assumptions. I asked what was inside the diff, The mini lst diff blew. many mini forums will prove that. The difference well I dont know because in the axial they sell both an open diff and a locked diff. im holding both in my hands as we speak. Ive owned many losi items my LHS is a horizon hobby nut, and I am too.
Looks like they have a nice locker for it, and with this locker hell ill probs buy a used mini lst and run it.

[rocresq]

Im a bit sceptical on the diffs as well. I blew several pinions on my MLST with stock batteries and motor just bashing around. At least theses axles look like theyre easier to get into than the MLST with 16 SCREWS!

[Mic]

There is no dif, just lockers I agree these things are fun but I need to find a way to make them work better. Have to get the battery down to the axle by some means. I have to I am making the adjustments on one and comparing them head to head to see what works.

[CreepyCrawl]

Originally Posted by FDAapproved

Thanks RCMFMaxxMan and CreepyCrawl, I feel more confident about tearing it apart to start changing things around. Looks easy enough to improve the performance. I had fun taking mine out for its first run yesterday at the San Elijo site. It does seem like it is a bit top heavy compared to its 2.2 counterparts.

First objectives for my rig:

Find a new body (Suggestions anyone?)
LiPo battery mounted lower
Weights in front wheels
Change shock oil

You're quite welcome.

As far as bodies...we took Mini Mega Baja, and Bronko bodies, and held them over the MRC at our shop. The Bronko will look killer, and the MMB will be very similar to the HPI Bug body. Looks like both will work well

[kulangflow]

I've beat the crap out of the diffs for about two hours so far, and they are holding up perfectly. I even did a bunch of forward-backward-forward action on carpet, and they're rock solid. (pun intended)

[Chris_The_Battery_Man]

Yeah I got mine today and will pry drive it once and then tear it apart..... Im totally doing a piano wire chassi, mamba 25 esc and some other goodies... I will have to post up too when I get time lol

[yarddog35]

Originally Posted by nmanuel01

ITS THE DREADED MLST DIFF!!!!!
I sure hope it holds up better in the cralwer than it did in the mini lst
only reason why I got rid of mine, man tear into that diff and see if the spider gears are plastic, if they are man that will keep me from buying one right away until its fully put to the test
I know it will have limits but I think crawling will bring them out
I hope i dont sound like im bashing it, but i just could never get it to work in my mini lst
I have seen this at my lhs and wuld buy one

I have a Mini LST 2 running a Quark 33 pro car to a Wraith 7k bl motor, all powered by 2s 1900 to 3s 1250 lipo. Dang thing is practically a daily driver (except for when I slam it against stuff and break a-arms) I'm sick and tired of all you guys dogging out this truck because you don't want to turn a screwdriver now and then.

Anyway great review and ideas, this truck is going to be huge

I drove one at my lhs and its sick, problem is they want $239 for it and I need to sell some stuff. Good job Rich and Losi