New to rock crawling and the rs10 - mine arrives today, what basics should I know?

[mujzeptu]

As the title states, what are some basic things i should know and be aware of?

I have heard you should only charge the battery at 1c? I hear the servos go out easy? Do I need to weigh the front tires?

[camobob]

I would plan on tires first . the stock battery is 1500 mah so you should charge it at 1.5a . servos lasted me a while I actually never did strip one I just upgraded . I would weight the axles before the wheels , especially with stock motors. Losi claws worked well for me and they can be had pretty cheap . I noticed the rovers rub even with narrowed wheels and chassis. Battery upgrade would be next on my list . something over 3000mah . You can get a great servo for 10.00 on ebay something around 220oz but it ships from china and takes about 10-15 days . Thans all I have

[redcatguy]

well it depends if you plan on comping your rig. i comp mine and have a ton done to it. first i got a battery, tires, weight up front, did the four link and a servo. then i got tired of being the butt of all jokes at the comps. so then i went on a shopping spree. i got a goat esc, spectrum dx3e, hh 454s and a couple of 3s batteries. now i have an amazing rig. well ill be putting the motors in tonight so we shall see how those do.

On the other hand if you dont plan on comping just do the simple cheap stuff. if i were you i would get a lipo cut off and run a 2s in it you will have to mod the battery tray but thats easy. you get longer run times and you also will have a bit more power.

first off get a good set of tires, i run proline chisels on mine and love em. make sure you put some weight up front i used lead line from the fishing section at wal-mart. then soon after you put weight in the tires you will strip the gears in your servo so get a good one. i have a hobbyco on mine and it works well. the four link kit gets rid of some of the unneeded flex. there is no point in 90 degrees of flex lol. also some stiffer springs and some heavier shock oil all the way around will help. well do the little things and dont do it all at once. do one thing at a time then go crawl and see the improvement or if it gets worse. well hope that you have fun with your rig and stay with the rc thing.

Brent

[jsowens]

I'm surprised nobody suggested a charger before a battery, to be honest. The stock charger isn't that good...you'd benefit by getting a decent one...if there's a chance at all you'll go lipo...go ahead and get a charger that can charge them, otherwise you'll kick yourself later on when you want lipo batteries and have to buy yet another charger. The stock battery is decent when charged with a good charger...it can certainly work for you until you can get a higher mah battery for longer run time. The first thing I suggest you do is read the tips and tricks thread found here:

Official RS10 tips and tricks thread.

That thread will get you started and show you some easy things you can do to get some better performance out of your rig. A bit of weight around your rims is a good thing. I highly suggest a different set of tires, or at the very least get a soft set of foams for the stockers. As far as the servos are concerned, yeah they're not that great, but personally I would run them until they do go out, then upgrade them. If the front goes out, you could always lock the rear steer and still have a back up servo until you get a better one.

Lastly, decide what you wanna do with your rig...do you wanna comp or just keep it as a casual backyard basher? If you plan to comp it at all, you're gonna want to shell out some coin and get some parts to make it better. However, you could put less than $100 more into it and have a hell of a backyard basher. If you have the tools or any fabricating skills, you can do plenty of mods to the RS10's that are cheap or free. Above all else...just drive your rig and get a feel for how it reacts to certain obstacles...and then make changes. Even things as simple as relocating the shocks and links makes a difference. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have.

[mujzeptu]

Thanks for the input guys!

Working OT this week so got home late and unboxed it and charged it and just got to run for about 10 minutes before bed.

Im loving it so far and definitely excited to get home with daylight and run it outside!