LOSI LMT.....Thoughts?

[BJoe]

Originally Posted by ScaleLifeNewbie

Surprising, is there not many crawlers in your area?


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That usually comes down to the shop owner’s preferences, sounds like my old store has gone to almost exclusively R/C and air soft in general while forgoing plastic models and model trains as well gaming since those of us who were into any of those have either quit or been fired, Not sure about the other HTU they acquired, haven’t stepped into that one since they acquired it too. There’s a train oriented shop that he styrene kits as well as Plastruct and Evergreen products, but has stopped carrying styrene kits and focused on model railroads since last winter.There’s another HTU and an independent shop about an hour from here and I haven’t been to the Indy since this whole Covid thing kicked off around here, but once things improve I’d take the time to go again since they have R/C and plastic models. That said, the remaining HTU wasn’t impressive enough for me to drive there when the Indy shop is closer to home.

[meatmonkey]

I think I finally figured out why theres "extra" dogbones inside the axle housings. So when you break a housing the shafts just fall apart and survive, an I right?

I'm not a fan of having axle joints where I cant easily inspect them, but I figure theres gotta be some reason they exist? Since there's no significant operating angle is it a moot point because the outer joints will always wear out faster?

[svt923]

Originally Posted by meatmonkey

I think I finally figured out why theres "extra" dogbones inside the axle housings. So when you break a housing the shafts just fall apart and survive, an I right?

My guess would be that the drive cups need to be pinned into the cases for the diffs to seal reliability. An Axial type setup where the shafts just slide into the diffs freely doesn’t seal very well and the oil needs to stay in the diffs for them to hold up for monster truck use.

[350TacoZilla]

On the shafts it might be so the housing can have some flex without bending a inner shaft, though the sealing is also a sound reason.

Overall I like this thing though I think it might be tiny bit over priced considering how its built. The thing I dont get on everyone being hyped for this is the chassis, all the unboxing videos say about how great the chassis design is and all I see is 15-20 year old flat plate chassis with a half cage on top. I mean that functions 100% fine and is what we had before things like the SMT10 came out but seems like a step back for the scale factor, now for bashing its great since you can replace sections on chassis if needed and also adjust it for future bodies.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by 350TacoZilla

The thing I dont get on everyone being hyped for this is the chassis, all the unboxing videos say about how great the chassis design is and all I see is 15-20 year old flat plate chassis with a half cage on top. I mean that functions 100% fine and is what we had before things like the SMT10 came out but seems like a step back for the scale factor, now for bashing its great since you can replace sections on chassis if needed and also adjust it for future bodies.

To be fair, every performance based aftermarket chassis for the SMT10 and Clod is a flat plate design also.

[350TacoZilla]

Yeah 100% I get that. I'm just saying all the people ooo and ahhhh over the chassis design seems a bit paid off considering its not revolutionary, like you said every aftermarket one is like that almost. I'm really impressed with out of the box performance from what I've seen watching videos on it.

[jcanuck]

I wonder how long it will be before someone uses a SMT10 chassis and transmission with LMT axle for the ultimate scale MT.


p.s. their already metal axle for LMT being made

[mdfjhm92]

Originally Posted by jcanuck

I wonder how long it will be before someone uses a SMT10 chassis and transmission with LMT axle for the ultimate scale MT.


p.s. their already metal axle for LMT being made

YES YES YES!!! this was my immediate first thought

[Phildirt]

The SMT chassis is not scale either imo. The offset links and ride height are more super truck or mud truck than monster truck. MTs are low slung. If anything the LMT got the stance right, the axles right, but the frame wrong. Pretty much the only true scale MT using parts from either platform would be a one off tube frame with the 1/8 running gear.

Just my .02

[svt923]

Got my LMT and have ran a pack through it so far.

It has plenty of rip for the confined space of my yard on 2S, more room and I would run 3S. Definitely feels more stable and you can drive it harder than the SMT. Gave it a few tumbles and cartwheels off my makeshift jump and it is no worse for wear. It is the type of driving experience that just leaves you feeling that child-like sense of fun that we all probably got into RC for.



The only negative I have is my body isn’t looking so hot after my 5 year old drove it straight into a brick wall and about half throttle. I’ll print up a replacement grille at some point so the front isn’t looking so empty.

[c0bra]

Damn I saw one of these at the lhs today. All I can say is WOW. I was going to build an smt, but after seeing this the smt is going up for sale. These things just look like pure beef


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[meatmonkey]

Must resist urge to order...

Anyway, cool truck. If all your kid broke was the grille, then your off to a good start.

Maybe it's just the picture, or me, but does your servo mount look odd?

[Phildirt]

Originally Posted by meatmonkey

Must resist urge to order...

Anyway, cool truck. If all your kid broke was the grille, then your off to a good start.

Maybe it's just the picture, or me, but does your servo mount look odd?

I think the front of it is triangular so it looks crooked in the photo

[svt923]

Originally Posted by meatmonkey

Maybe it's just the picture, or me, but does your servo mount look odd?

The servo mount is designed to tilt down a bit towards the front of the axle, not sure why they made it that way but it’s the way it comes out of the box.

[twisted84toyota]

I like my SOD but that body is on the shelf now. I opted for the AXIAL 67 K10!

[Shinook]

I got my roller in and built yesterday, I have a RTR Gravedigger coming in sometime this week. I wish I had just gotten the RTR initially, the roller for the price just isn't worth it IMO given you have to source the motor, ESC, servo, transmitter/rx, and body. The $200 price difference is well worth it for the RTR, but I think the roller is over priced. There also isn't a ton of info on what bodies work and don't work yet, so I rolled the dice and ended up with one that doesn't really fit. Kindof a bummer. I thought the wheelbase would be the issue, but it is the width of the cage, some of the non-truck bodies get pushed out by the cage.

The truck seems well thought out, though. Everything is in a place where it's easy to organize and lay out the electronics, the rubber damper on the center diff is a nice touch also given how much abuse they tend to take. The roller aspect was quite literal, given that it had tires and everything mounted the moment you pull it out. The manual goes into fair detail on accessing / maintaining the diffs, which was nice given other pre-built trucks lacked a lot of details in the manual. They didn't really cover body installation though, which was kindof lame, but also not difficult to figure out. The servo mount being plastic was a little concerning, but it seems stout and doesn't flex under heavy loads. The servo saver does a great job, also, from what I can tell. The links are stout and I doubt they'll ever break, the chassis plates are really thick also and modular, which is nice if you do bend part of one.

I've only got a little driving time with it and it's a blast. I was able to nail a few backflips off a wall with almost no effort. It doesn't handle speed as well as my Maxx does, but I think it's more fun to drive given how easy it is to flip, jump, and do other tricks. It's actually surprising to me, not having a truck like this before, how easily it does stuff like that whereas my Maxx requires a ton of speed to accomplish the same thing. The LMT just wants to jump and bash off everything and it's easy to control in the air. I did try to enable AVC a bit to keep it stable at speed, but it made matters worse, I think it does better without.

I do have a few minor complaints, though. Access to the spur gear is via one plastic cover held on by a single screw, but the screw is in line with the chassis rail, so you have to sortof bend the rail down to access the screw which is a little annoying. They thought to leave a nice cutout above it, though, so you could easily torque down the setscrew for the spur gear, which was a nice thought. I do wish the receiver box was waterproof, not only does it lack a seal around the top, it's got a hole in the bottom of it. I think replacing it with a Traxxas or similar waterproof box would be a good idea, but I think given this truck's purpose, it would have been a nice thought from the get go esp considering almost no one makes waterproof receivers.

The biggest issue is the axles, it seems a lot of people are having problems with them breaking online. There are numerous reports on Facebook of broken axle housings. They seem stout at first glance, so I'm a bit surprised, but they seem to be breaking for a lot of folks, which is disappointing. There were a few Treal aluminum axles available, but they are sold out until Feb, and the only whole axle brace available sold out quickly, also. There is a 3d printed option, but given that it only seems to brace the inner 80% or so of the axle, I think it would make matters worse by reducing flex from the interior plastic pieces and result in breakages on the outer portion of the axle. There seems to be some speculation that these breakages are from a combination of cold temps and excessive fast driving, but they seem frequent enough that I think some improvement could be made there. I plan on getting next run of Treals, provided they don't sell out before I can.

I'll buy the first set of aluminum axles I can get my hands on...(hint hint @Vanquish...)

[durok]

Originally Posted by Shinook

There also isn't a ton of info on what bodies work and don't work yet, so I rolled the dice and ended up with one that doesn't really fit. Kindof a bummer. I thought the wheelbase would be the issue, but it is the width of the cage, some of the non-truck bodies get pushed out by the cage.

Have you watched this yet?

Highly recommended:

[Shinook]

Well, on the durability front, I'm not having the best luck.

I ran two packs through it today and broke a spindle carrier, bent the front chassis right portion, broke the cross brace, and cracked a steering linkage. I didn't really have any insane crashes and wasn't getting a ton of speed, but I was on asphalt part of the time. Temps weren't that low either.

A bit annoying that it only has a handful of packs and I'm already spending almost $75 on replacement parts. I'm lucky I have a RTR one also to poach parts off of while I wait for a battery adapter for it. I wonder how people who aren't breaking these are driving them, because I really wasn't driving it hard enough to justify that kind of damage, although I know asphalt is probably partially to blame.

I guess the aluminum components will be a worthwhile upgrade whenever they are available again.

Originally Posted by durok

Have you watched this yet?

Highly recommended:

Good info, I'll check it out. Thanks!

I managed to make the body I had fit, but it doesn't look pretty. Then again, it's gonna be scratched all up within a few days or less, so it isn't a huge deal.

[Phildirt]

Fake news! This thing was supposed to be bulletproof

[meatmonkey]

The axles look beefy from the outside, but seem to be thin walled and made out of too many pieces. Just looked, and a stock front housing is $55, and the rear is $40!