Starting out

[drgrcr74]

Ok. I have been researching this for weeks now. I have been trying to figure out which crawler to buy, an d I have decided on a RS-10.

Question is, when I order the truck, what else do I need to be looking to order to "fix the bugs"?

I dont have unlimited money, but dont want to play for an hour and have to wait to play again for a week waiting on parts.

Thanks for any info guys.

[barshots]

First off, Charger, the charger that comes with it take like 8 hours to charge the battery. Next would prolly be servo/servos, some ppl have good luck and get a truck that has good servos, bu 9 times out of 10 the stock servos are gonna slip and strip.

[drgrcr74]

Well that doesnt seem that bad to start off. Am I making a smart choice getting this unit over an axial?

[WarHog]

No you haavent made a bad choice picking the RS10. They are awesome beginner rigs and I truely believe that they can be winners in comps.......with work. Id say as soon as you get (A) new servo<----lock the rear steer and you only need one-----get some tires ordered, do the batwing removal, get a better battery......ZNO runs a 3s lipo on his stock electronics and says its holding up well. With those mods you should be able to play and have fun with it against other rigs. Just my opinion

[John82601]

Originally Posted by drgrcr74

Well that doesnt seem that bad to start off. Am I making a smart choice getting this unit over an axial?

Absolutely. If you're just getting started in crawling, the RS10 is a great way to go. It's a very capable crawler with just a few changes and has many out of the box advantages over other RTR crawlers.

For me, one of the biggest is the factory speed control. It's a great little crawling esc. To the best of my knowledge, NONE of the other RTR crawlers on the market have an esc with Drag Break. I've been running mine for over a year on 3s Lipo (with a lipo alarm added on), it comes with a fan and has a 5v/5A internal BEC. I run the stock motors, 1300mah 3s lipo and a JR Z9000T servo and have had zero electrical failures. I purchased another E-401 for my Honcho and it's working great with a 35t, 3s lipo and a 645mg servo.

The RS is also just a tough little truck. I replaced the plastic knuckles with aluminum ones for an AX10 after I twisted the stock ones (Rovers, 320oz/in torque, tight jam, something had to give). Otherwise I haven't had to replace any of the plastic parts.

Things I'd recommend for starting out:
1) - Lower the ride height by moving the lower shock mounts to the edge of the hex area on the lower links.

2) - Buy a better charger, but any RTR needs this because the wall warts are unreliable.

3) - Different tires. Hot Bodies Rovers are a great tire and are usually on sale somewhere.

4) - Lock the rear steering out and buy a better steering servo. Rear steer isn't legal for comps so why practice with it. CPE sells a great servo for under $30, other servos that can be picked up cheap ($20 or so used) are 645mg, z650m, s2008 and cs-150.

5) - Practice. Set your truck up so that's it's stable and reliable. The rest of it is getting out there and getting to know your truck and how it responds. Throwing money at a truck to make it better typically has very small gains. Practicing is a lot more fun, a lot cheaper and pays much bigger dividends.

[drgrcr74]

Thanks for all the info. Ordered the truck. It is on the way, I cant wait. I think I am going to like this more that the nitro racing.

[Jeepkid]

You will, I have had 5 crawlers. I started in O7, so that tells you how much I like tuning and crawling. Use to be a nitro guy, sold my last nitro a month ago. All I own is crawlers now.

[jsowens]

I second what has already been said by the other guys, but I do have a couple of suggestions. First of all, consider spending a little extra money on a charger that can handle nimh, nicd, and lipo batteries. One of my good friends spent around $60 on a all in one charger/balancer and loves it. It might seem like a lot of extra cash at first, but you won't be kicking yourself later if you decide to convert to lipo and have to buy another charger.

Secondly, I highly recommend locking out the rear steer. It's fun to tinker around with for a while, but ultimately I like my rig better without it...not to mention you save money when you only have to buy 1 upgraded servo instead of 2.

Lastly, do plenty of reading and research on this section of the forum. You'll find an insane amount of helpful hints and suggestions for mods that you can do, mostly for incredibly cheap. Have fun and enjoy your rig!