RCCrawler Forums

sprtn4x4cw · 03-06-2006, 12:37 PM

Ok, so I'm nowhere near new to the rock-crawling scene, but have never messed with these little things before and let me just say, I'm intrigued by them. I am in the process of building a course now at my home for the one that I haven't even built yet. I have several questions.

What is a good motor to buy? and Don't some of them run 2 parallel motors?

The Chassis I'm building myself, like a regular truggy.

What kind of shocks are good, I'm guessing the softer the better but don't know?

What axles are a good buy?

Any direction would be nice, it seems to all make sense, it's everything I currently do scaled down which is kickass, but I need some help on what products are good and what isn't good, so I can get started. I'm doing a lot of reading but any help is much appreciated, thanks.

'83 chevy · 03-06-2006, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprtn4x4cw

What is a good motor to buy? and Don't some of them run 2 parallel motors?

The Chassis I'm building myself, like a regular truggy.

What kind of shocks are good, I'm guessing the softer the better but don't know?

What axles are a good buy?

1. either a 45, 55, or 65 turn integy lathe motor
2. most people run Traxxas T-maxx shocks or any other 4 inch shocks
3. depends on how you build it. the ones from a tlt a good for a scale build, clodbuster axles are the easy way out, you could also use txt,x factor, mad force axles, again it depends on what type of truck you want to build

idahorock · 03-06-2006, 01:23 PM

I was in the same boat as you are in and I'm still learning alot every day.

My advice to you is start reading everything here ,see what kind of crawler you want to build and copy what others have done that has held up to the abuse.

rerock · 03-06-2006, 03:40 PM

Well if your going to do a truggy and build real trucks, I'd suggest building a "shafty" which around here means a truck with driveshafts. Take a look at the TXT/Juggernaut forum. They are 1/10 scale axles that are top loaders and look just like 2.5 ton Rockwells. Those are pretty sweet, couple those with some Swamp Dawgs (Look like TSL Boggers) and you have yourself some pretty cool looking stuff. Integy makes some functional piggy back shocks, expensive, but cool looking. Look up "MSR4". RC4WD (look in the vendors section) makes CNC'd aluminum double beadlocks with Trail ready looking rock rings. They're not cheap either, but definately cool. Skipster71 (I think, see limiting strap thread in general forum) makes sweet limiting straps. May not need them, but for a cool looking rig, might be what your looking for. Like was said earlier for crawling try a Integy 35,45,55, or 65 turn Matrix pro lathe motor. The lower number of turns the more speed the truck will have, higher number more torque. Most stick with 55t; but depending on how you gear the truck will determine which to use. Buy different turns, they're only like $20 a pop so get some different ones and play around. If you want a smaller scale, use a tranny out of a stampede; use driveshafts off of a Jato with the optional steel u-joints. Searching will yield all these results. Whatever you get, maybe just go with the "status quo" the first time around, then once it's together and you get some drive time on it; you'll see what you want to change, and get and get new ideas of things to try and understand that RC trucks are different than real trucks. Have fun! These things are as addicting as the real ones, they just cost a hell of alot less!

sprtn4x4cw · 03-08-2006, 02:56 PM

Thanks for all of the information, especially rerock that sounds really cool and now you're speaking my language, haha. I am actually wanting to possibly run a gas-powered engine if at all possible. Can you get the crawl ratio wanted out of gas-powered with gears in the axles and or transmission? Thanks again all, and I'll check back.

Yotakid89 · 03-08-2006, 03:02 PM

From what ive read gas=no crawler. Theyre too fast and no one here runs gas to my knowledge and crawls em. Stick with electric.

sprtn4x4cw · 03-09-2006, 08:11 AM

Yeah I went down to the local hobby s hop yesterday and talked to the guy there and he told me the same thing. There just isn't anyway to slow all that speed down enough to make it "crawl" and it seems like even if there was a way through gearing to do that, you'd just be wasting a lot of power. So I'll go electric, I just hate charging up batteries and stuff ya know. So thanks again everyone, and any more cool ideas would be great, I'll post up a build once I get all my stuff and get started.

rerock · 03-09-2006, 11:06 AM

Well with a 55t lathe motor in my TLT with a 3600mAh pack, I'm getting about 2 hours run time. I can cycle a 3600 pack in about 1h15m. You do the math. I thought about gas too at first, but another thing to remember is heat. Going that slow with those high RPM's being air cooled inside a body, keeping the motor from burning up is a task.

TwistedXT · 03-10-2006, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprtn4x4cw

Ok, so I'm nowhere near new to the rock-crawling scene, but have never messed with these little things before and let me just say, I'm intrigued by them. I am in the process of building a course now at my home for the one that I haven't even built yet. I have several questions.

What is a good motor to buy? and Don't some of them run 2 parallel motors?

The Chassis I'm building myself, like a regular truggy.

What kind of shocks are good, I'm guessing the softer the better but don't know?

What axles are a good buy?

Any direction would be nice, it seems to all make sense, it's everything I currently do scaled down which is kickass, but I need some help on what products are good and what isn't good, so I can get started. I'm doing a lot of reading but any help is much appreciated, thanks.

If your building a Truggy, a tlt base with a pede tranny would be good for you running a 55 or 65 turn lathe motor, Maxx shocks from traxxas seem to be the majority but build your crawler and determine how much travel you need go from there and buy a couple of different springs with different spring rates... then test it. your driving style and chassis setup could call for really hard or really soft spring... heck some chassis have springs by themselves and shock mounted seperately.

check out this rig

03-06-2006, 12:37 PM	#1
sprtn4x4cw Newbie Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Spartanburg Posts: 23	New at this, Need some direction Ok, so I'm nowhere near new to the rock-crawling scene, but have never messed with these little things before and let me just say, I'm intrigued by them. I am in the process of building a course now at my home for the one that I haven't even built yet. I have several questions. What is a good motor to buy? and Don't some of them run 2 parallel motors? The Chassis I'm building myself, like a regular truggy. What kind of shocks are good, I'm guessing the softer the better but don't know? What axles are a good buy? Any direction would be nice, it seems to all make sense, it's everything I currently do scaled down which is kickass, but I need some help on what products are good and what isn't good, so I can get started. I'm doing a lot of reading but any help is much appreciated, thanks.

03-06-2006, 01:23 PM	#3
idahorock Rock Stacker Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Hailey,Idaho Posts: 59	I was in the same boat as you are in and I'm still learning alot every day. My advice to you is start reading everything here ,see what kind of crawler you want to build and copy what others have done that has held up to the abuse.

03-06-2006, 03:40 PM	#4
rerock Quarry Creeper Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 440	Well if your going to do a truggy and build real trucks, I'd suggest building a "shafty" which around here means a truck with driveshafts. Take a look at the TXT/Juggernaut forum. They are 1/10 scale axles that are top loaders and look just like 2.5 ton Rockwells. Those are pretty sweet, couple those with some Swamp Dawgs (Look like TSL Boggers) and you have yourself some pretty cool looking stuff. Integy makes some functional piggy back shocks, expensive, but cool looking. Look up "MSR4". RC4WD (look in the vendors section) makes CNC'd aluminum double beadlocks with Trail ready looking rock rings. They're not cheap either, but definately cool. Skipster71 (I think, see limiting strap thread in general forum) makes sweet limiting straps. May not need them, but for a cool looking rig, might be what your looking for. Like was said earlier for crawling try a Integy 35,45,55, or 65 turn Matrix pro lathe motor. The lower number of turns the more speed the truck will have, higher number more torque. Most stick with 55t; but depending on how you gear the truck will determine which to use. Buy different turns, they're only like $20 a pop so get some different ones and play around. If you want a smaller scale, use a tranny out of a stampede; use driveshafts off of a Jato with the optional steel u-joints. Searching will yield all these results. Whatever you get, maybe just go with the "status quo" the first time around, then once it's together and you get some drive time on it; you'll see what you want to change, and get and get new ideas of things to try and understand that RC trucks are different than real trucks. Have fun! These things are as addicting as the real ones, they just cost a hell of alot less!

03-08-2006, 02:56 PM	#5
sprtn4x4cw Newbie Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Spartanburg Posts: 23	Thanks for all of the information, especially rerock that sounds really cool and now you're speaking my language, haha. I am actually wanting to possibly run a gas-powered engine if at all possible. Can you get the crawl ratio wanted out of gas-powered with gears in the axles and or transmission? Thanks again all, and I'll check back.

03-08-2006, 03:02 PM	#6
Yotakid89 Rock Stacker Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Central Washington Posts: 83	From what ive read gas=no crawler. Theyre too fast and no one here runs gas to my knowledge and crawls em. Stick with electric.

03-09-2006, 08:11 AM	#7
sprtn4x4cw Newbie Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Spartanburg Posts: 23	Yeah I went down to the local hobby s hop yesterday and talked to the guy there and he told me the same thing. There just isn't anyway to slow all that speed down enough to make it "crawl" and it seems like even if there was a way through gearing to do that, you'd just be wasting a lot of power. So I'll go electric, I just hate charging up batteries and stuff ya know. So thanks again everyone, and any more cool ideas would be great, I'll post up a build once I get all my stuff and get started.

03-09-2006, 11:06 AM	#8
rerock Quarry Creeper Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 440	Well with a 55t lathe motor in my TLT with a 3600mAh pack, I'm getting about 2 hours run time. I can cycle a 3600 pack in about 1h15m. You do the math. I thought about gas too at first, but another thing to remember is heat. Going that slow with those high RPM's being air cooled inside a body, keeping the motor from burning up is a task.

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