exceed rc maxstone 16 upgrades and tuning?

[daBigO]

Nice! The E16 tires are glued with no foams...
Be aware that the ecx full size servo mounts are not very deep and may effect where you mount upper links on the 4link conversion. I had to redo my 4link once I went up to the ecx servo mounts. I'll try and upload pics later to show the difference.

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[osterac]

Hi everyone,
So I've been in the RC hobby for a while now and right now I'm working on my friend's exceed maxstone 16. I was wondering if anyone else had noticed their rigs sort of "shuddering" when they drive. With the one I'm working on (it's actually the second one, returned the first), the crawler does this sort of stop/go/stop/go/stop/go thing at slow speeds. With the one I returned, it had gotten so bad that it was happening at high speeds too, occasionally accompanied by a grinding noise. I had taken the central gearbox and transfer boxes apart and couldn't find anything that looked suspect. On the new one I haven't taken anything much apart, though I have converted it to 4WS and fixed the suspension.
On the first crawler this problem would sort of come and go and just gradually got worse. At this point I'm wondering if I should even bother with the 2nd one.
Any thoughts?
Thanks

[daBigO]

Not sure about the grinding noise... and I would think there shouldn't be any sputtering on a fully stock crawler. The stock ESC on the Redcat version isn't very good and will stutter just as you described with an upgraded 370 motor especially at slow speeds. If maxstone ESC is just as bad that may be part of it. The angle of the driveshafts to the axles can cause that too, but typically if the suspension was modified like going to a 4link and the length of the links are wrong. In that case the angle/bend at the universal joints on the drive shafts may be to severe causing the drive shafts to not turn smoothly. This too can cause stuttering. But a stock suspension and motor should not stutter. Make sure the bearings and gears are good in the transmission.

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[osterac]

Thanks, daBigO. All I've done to the suspension is fill the shocks with oil (they were nearly empty, the car was almost "poseable"), and put stiff springs on opposite sides. I have replaced the esc, the stock ESC had a 1 amp BEC (the first one I got had a 2 amp BEC) and the stock servos draw 1 amp each so 4WS wouldn't have worked with that. I'll take a look at the drive shafts.

[nedmo]

Originally Posted by daBigO

Nice! The E16 tires are glued with no foams...
Be aware that the ecx full size servo mounts are not very deep and may effect where you mount upper links on the 4link conversion. I had to redo my 4link once I went up to the ecx servo mounts. I'll try and upload pics later to show the difference.

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Please do! Hadnt considered that!!

[nedmo]

Originally Posted by osterac

Hi everyone,
So I've been in the RC hobby for a while now and right now I'm working on my friend's exceed maxstone 16. I was wondering if anyone else had noticed their rigs sort of "shuddering" when they drive. With the one I'm working on (it's actually the second one, returned the first), the crawler does this sort of stop/go/stop/go/stop/go thing at slow speeds. With the one I returned, it had gotten so bad that it was happening at high speeds too, occasionally accompanied by a grinding noise. I had taken the central gearbox and transfer boxes apart and couldn't find anything that looked suspect. On the new one I haven't taken anything much apart, though I have converted it to 4WS and fixed the suspension.
On the first crawler this problem would sort of come and go and just gradually got worse. At this point I'm wondering if I should even bother with the 2nd one.
Any thoughts?
Thanks

My HSP version is also very glitchy at low speeds and occasionally at high speeds. I even put it upside down and turned up the throttle trim so it was just ticking over and you can see the jerkiness in the wheels!

I was thinking the motor needs to be broken in? Or its binding somewhere....

[daBigO]

Originally Posted by nedmo

Please do! Hadnt considered that!!

Ok so the first pic was my original 4link with the original servo mount. You can see where I connected the upper links to the servo mount. This was before my 4ws upgrade so there is no actual servo in the back yet. The front is the same but with the stock mini servo. Also note that this requires changing the upper shock mount location.

Then I upgraded to 4ws and got an ecx full servo mount for the front with a 15kg Hexfly servo mounted. I moved the original mini servo to the back. This is the 2nd pic. You can see the "lip" on the mini servo mount on the rear where the 4link was connected and how that "lip" isn't there on the ecx mount with a full size servo. The ecx mount is not as deep combined with the servo itself is deeper. As a result you can see there is no place to mount the upper links. So I reverted to the 3link temporarily.

I then mounted a ball stud to the side of the ecx mount and was able to redo the link that way but there was a lot of side movement. This was noted earlier by jebster earlier in this thread. So I took his advice and made a custom skid plate to relocate the lower link mount points. That removed most of the side movement on the 4link. That is the 3rd pic.

On the 4th pic you can see where I connected the upper links to the ecx mount to recreate the 4link.

I'll eventually make a custom servo mount to use the full size servo and mount the upper links the way it was before so you have geometry correct to remove all the side movement but that's a future upgrade. Perhaps with a cage around the servo to protect it.

Btw on the 3rd pic I was still adjusting the link lengths and in that pic you can see the driveshafts have too steep of a bend at the universal joints causing it to sputter badly at slow speeds. I fixed that by taking 1/4" off the lower links and adding about 3/16" on to the uppers. That rotated the axle so the drive shafts we're more straight and so they would spin smoothly.

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[nedmo]

Thanks for the pics and explainer.

Once I get my order of spares to do the 4 link I will have a better idea of a plan of attack.

Prior to full size servo, did you use the standard 3 link upper mounts for your 4 link and leave the bottom link standard? Thus not needing to make a new skidplate? I was thinking to do this, but just flip the balls to inside the chassis.

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[daBigO]

Yes. On the 1st 4link I moved the ball stud to the inside of the chassis. The trick is to have one side wider while the other side is more narrow. This will prevent the side movement on the 4link. For example if your upper links are mounted to the servo mount like in my first pic then they are more narrow at the servo mount and wider at the chassis side. With the ecx mounts I lost that as the width or the upper links are now the same on both the chassis side and the axle side.

So the new skid plate makes the lower links more narrow at the chassis side and wider at the axle side. As long as you have that pattern of wide to narrow on the upper or lower links you should be fine. Ideally would to have that pattern on both upper and lower links but just having it on upper or lower links seems to work fine.

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[nedmo]

Yeah that's what my thoughts were, so glad im on the right page.

Went to the dollar store today and found a 3 pack chopping boards - black, red and white. So I designed up a scale style chassis! It even has a rhino liner texture to it!

Going for a scaler style and will have multiple shock and link mounting positions for different uses/wheelbases! Will use the chopping boards to make new servo mounts as well. Plus with this chassis im going to get the battery right over the front axle! A Traxxas waterproof receiver box will.go in the back with the receiver and ESC.



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[sk1nnib3n]

Just bought a E16, and some spare parts to upgrade to a 4link if I ever want to. Question is, is this worth the time and effort to get into crawling or should I have bought like a wraith or something higher quality? I've been racing/bashing for 10/11 years and have every other discipline, buggy,truggy,sc,1/5 scale, monster. Want to round out and have 1 of each. Is the Redcat worth it?

[nedmo]

Originally Posted by sk1nnib3n

Just bought a E16, and some spare parts to upgrade to a 4link if I ever want to. Question is, is this worth the time and effort to get into crawling or should I have bought like a wraith or something higher quality? I've been racing/bashing for 10/11 years and have every other discipline, buggy,truggy,sc,1/5 scale, monster. Want to round out and have 1 of each. Is the Redcat worth it?

I took it for its firat rock crawl on the LHS indoor crawler setup and i was pretty impressed. I've never owned a crawler before, but for $100 this seems pretty good value. It's small...Much smaller than an 1/10 scale so guess it depends where you plan on crawling



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[nedmo]

Made a change of plans RE new chassis... Now going buggy style!!

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[nedmo]

Chassis is shaped. Now just need to make the centre skid/motor mount with new bottom link mounts and front and rear plates. A ally bonnet and roof will also be added. I have a axial RR10 waterproof RX box coming ehich will be mounted between the rails into the rear.

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[nedmo]

Went for mine and Kulaks first crawl on actual rocks today!

It's pretty capable and was able to point it up and over some pretty decent ledges. Stock tires are way too small and lack grip majorly! So bigger better tires are on order.

I also just managed to find a discontinued Novak Mongoose 18.5t brushless combo at a LHS! So that should be fun!



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[nedmo]

Look what randomly came up.for a sale at a tiny LHS!

Brand new in packaging. Must of been sitting on the shelf for 5 years!

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[pilotkpleil]

DUDE!!!!! do you mind sharing that stl file?? Total BADASS!!!!

Originally Posted by xsputnikx

My fs gt3b arrived and it was better than expected thanks for the recommendation still waiting on my castle creations sidewinder micro decided to take your guys advice on the 370 firebolt motor. Got a hitec 645mg to replace the stripped micro.

Stupid question ? With the derlin chassis that have a rod in the middle for spacing the plates what rod material do I use? I tried using 3/16 brake line cause it matches the thickness of the end link rods however there was not enough material left to thread 3mm screws into it


The front rod right now is held in place to show example

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[high plains drifter]

So my head is spinning after reading through this entire thread lol.

I've get a EMS 16 and I really need to figure out a solid game plan now because the stock battery is [ I believe] toast. It doesn't seem to be taking much of a charge anymore and run time has been drastically cut down to only a few minutes as opposed to when it was new. I've probably got about 10-12 hrs on this stock battery and vehicle.

Anyway... I want to find a good replacement battery without making modifications. What mAh? Voltage? Aftermarket Part #?

I don't mind sticking with NiMH if going to a LiPo would require me to upgrade ESC, however... if I were to upgrade to LiPo, do I also HAVE to upgrade the ESC? Again.. what would be a direct fit ESC? Aftermarket Part #?

Another thing maybe worth noting is that recently there seems to be a very brief ( split second) lag or dead spot somewhere in the electronics ( tx? rx? esc? I dunno) where the vehicle sort of acts as if the signal is cutting out... very briefly. I don't know if it's a sign that the battery is on it's last legs or if it's something else but I'd like to get all this remedied all at the same time. I don't think this is a transmission or gear issue but rather an electronics issue.

I desperately need to upgrade some [all?] of the electronics so if anyone can help me out, I would be very much appreciative.

[durok]

51C871 1/16th Scale Exceed RC MaxStone Rock Crawler Spare Parts

shows that the factory replacement battery is "LIPO 7.4V 1300MAH"

1/16 Maxstone Crawler EP Spare Parts (51C871)

https://www.asiatees.com/model.php?E...model=MaxStone

Looks like a HobbyWing 1060 ESC will work as a replacement...

[daBigO]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

So my head is spinning after reading through this entire thread lol.

I've get a EMS 16 and I really need to figure out a solid game plan now because the stock battery is [ I believe] toast. It doesn't seem to be taking much of a charge anymore and run time has been drastically cut down to only a few minutes as opposed to when it was new. I've probably got about 10-12 hrs on this stock battery and vehicle.

Anyway... I want to find a good replacement battery without making modifications. What mAh? Voltage? Aftermarket Part #?

I don't mind sticking with NiMH if going to a LiPo would require me to upgrade ESC, however... if I were to upgrade to LiPo, do I also HAVE to upgrade the ESC? Again.. what would be a direct fit ESC? Aftermarket Part #?

Another thing maybe worth noting is that recently there seems to be a very brief ( split second) lag or dead spot somewhere in the electronics ( tx? rx? esc? I dunno) where the vehicle sort of acts as if the signal is cutting out... very briefly. I don't know if it's a sign that the battery is on it's last legs or if it's something else but I'd like to get all this remedied all at the same time. I don't think this is a transmission or gear issue but rather an electronics issue.

I desperately need to upgrade some [all?] of the electronics so if anyone can help me out, I would be very much appreciative.

Fyi the stock ESC on the E16 will run a lipo but it does not have a low voltage cutoff.

I run the hobby wing 1060 that Durok mentioned and it works great.

I run a gens ace 1800 2s lipo without any issues
https://www.genstattu.com/gens-ace-1...eans-plug.html




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