"I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Congrats on buying your first RS10, and most likely (but not necessarily) your first crawler. As a RTR (ready-to-run) unit, it is a good, economy minded "hobby grade" RC. It is not a toy, although it is a hellova lotta fun. Absolutely everything CAN be upgraded if you so desire. OR you can keep it bone stock. It's still fun"thumbsup"

However;
As it comes stock, there are a few issues that NEED attention. Otherwise you will break something, and you will assume that you bought a "cheap-peice-of-crap". So here is a guide of ONLY THE MUST DO modifications you need to do to your Redcat RS10, to keep it crawling. Everything beyond this is personal preference

Right out of the box!
check over the entire truck for parts that may have broken during shipping. And go plug your battery and charger in.

Issue #1.
Some guys have an issue with the shocks leaking oil right away. More times than not, it's just a loose cap on the top, or where the shaft slides into the body. Go around and make sure they are all tight.

Issue #2. Now look at your electric motors. The wires are sticking straight out towards the lower link and tire. When the suspension is articulating, and when the tires are turning/steering, they get so close to these wires that they rip them right off the motors. You need to carefully bend the wire tabs away from the tires, and you could even cover them with something to protect themlike a peice of scotchtape or electrical tape

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91...motorwires.png
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/DSC_9539.jpg


ISSUE # 3 The Broken Diff/spur Pin.
Now here comes the hard one. In the very center of your axle, there is a small pin that connects the axle to the gears. This is the Diff pin. This has a tendency to break once you actually start crawling.
This can easily be replaced with either a cut-to-size allen-key, Or drill bit. Or there are Hardened aftermarket pins available from some retailers.

Unfortunately, you will need to dissassemble MOST of the axle assembly to get to the pin;
Remove steering knuckles,
Eight screws on top of axle housings,
And four screws on bottom of diff pumpkin.
remove the dogbones, and their cups,
Then the four screws on the axle "spur"gear to slide it off the axle bar.
There is that pesky little pin

Sure you COULD wait until it breaks to go inside and replace it, but once it snaps, it will most likely SHRED the plastic cover that holds it. Then you will need to buy a whole new set of gears just to get a replacement. OR get the aluminium upgrade cover.

CHANGE IT NOW AND SAVE YOURSELF THE DOWN-TIME "thumbsup"

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/attac...105-shaft2.jpg

http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/..._/P2090322.jpg



ISSUE #4 The stock steering SERVOs

I might be venturing a bit to say that this is an absolutely necessary modification, but it seems undisputed that the lansu S3660 servo is crap for a crawler. Some guys claim to having stripped the gears in the first 5 minutes, SO, it's got to go, The front one at the very least. You might be able to get away with one on the rear steer if it's just a basher, or lock out the rear steer. In a bind, it doesn't even have the strength to KEEP the wheels straight, let alone turn them under load

The lansu S36690 has 6kg of torque, and plastic gears that strip easy. You can pick up a metal gear servo with 15kg of torque (222oz) for as little as $20, all the way up to 30kg for about $200 +/-.



ISSUE #5 Tires

Okay, this one ISN'T absolutly necessary, But you will be much happier in the long run. The stock tires are pretty stiff for a crawler. Just replace them. Weather it's a competition tire or a scale tire, anything is better than these.

If you INSIST on keeping the stock tires, consider taking the foam out of the tire, or even cutting it in a star pattern. As well you can sipe the tire treads, or remove a few of the lugs to make it form around rocks better. Here's one of many threads on this. http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/redca...ock-tires.html

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/1254/modif006.jpg

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/7964/modifs003.jpg

http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/...1329277024.jpg


THERE! Now you have a Rockcrawler that will actually work, and longer than 10minutes.

This has been an overview of only the ABSOLUTLY NECESSARY MODS to do to your RS-10, as agreed upon by other RS owners. You can now choose if you want to keep it in it's almost stock form, or if you want to venture further into the "building" side of rockcrawling. The sky is the limit here, and RCCrawler.com is a wealth of knoledge and creativity. Remember. The harder you crawl, the more things you will break. Just like with full-size vehicles. It's the nature of the sport, and you can always upgrade parts to something stronger.

Enjoy! And welcome to the addiction.
Jason "The Jackalope"


Need More??????? Well, Here ya go!
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/redca...ps-tricks.html

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

I will just suggest to go with stick battery and buy some 7.2V 4600 mAh or higher , if you want to crawl more than 10min.
You can go with LiPo, but it would meen special charger + new on board electronics...

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Good write up

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Great write up. I hope we can make this a sticky"thumbsup" Good work Jackalope, this needed to be done.

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Perfect.

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

nice writeup..and my siped tires made it lol. good job,and everything is pretty much spot on.

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

A must read topic for anyone thinking of buying a RS10.

Congratulations!!!!!!

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

And a big THANK YOU to everyone who's pics and threads I will be quoting in my tips and tricks threads over the next couple weeks. Lots more to come.

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

good write up, lots of info....

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Also, it might be a good idea to double check EVERY screw, bolt, and nut.
At least half of them on my RS10 were loose right out of the box!

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

I agree with this. Would also add to tighten the shock caps (both tops and bottoms) while you're at it. Among other things.

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

I take a break from the old rccrawler site to enjoy some summer. Come back to a few new names and old questions.

So..... BUMP

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

it's your fault for leaving us, you should always carry rcc with you where ever you go ;)

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Can someone tell me the Dia. of the drill bit or allen wrench that will replace the Diff/Spur pin so I can get the pins cut before iI take te Diff appart. THANKS

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Great write up I followed the recommended items listed above ant everything is working great
Thanks for putting this together

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Wondering what to do with your stock RS tires? They make Wicked sand tires on a Traxxas Slash or other high-speed machines. Not so much on the rocks though. 8)

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Out of the box it's not a bad semi grade RC. he problem is the cash starts going up real quick in trying to make something its not and the small motors don't help either.

It's nothing more than a starter truck (think Exceed), when you start adding up what you put into it you could of bought a better truck (or 2) that's why its a $150.00 rig. Yea its fun to mod but all mods aren't free. And not much in parts support. I had one so I know.

So think before you start to sink a ton of cash into something that's best suited for light terrain. As for comping, USELESS unless you have deep holes in your pockets.

flame all you want boys , you cant hide the truth

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

Thanks for the post Jackalope. Great advice. I already found most of this elsewhere before I bought the Redcat but it's good to see it all together in one place with pics. I nominate this for a sticky. The title says it all.

Redcat should fix that plastic drive plate or at least make the part available as a separate item. It's really an odd design to use a soft plastic plate with what is essentially a shear pin. I suspect that given a drill press it may not be too hard make a new part out of a couple or three washers. Might give it a go just to see.

On the motor wires, I bent the wires flat as you suggest and tied them together at the edge of the motor can with a zip tie. Redcat should do this in the factory imo.

I did the ~$20 front servo from Crawford Performance Engineering, CPE-SER4: CYS and it's a big improvement. I would do this before new tires. If you can, do it before you break the original servo so you can use that for another project. Lots of uses for a spare servo if you have a little imagination. I also replaced the servo horn with an aluminum one but I don't think that is strictly necessary.

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

+1 on sticky-ing this; every RS10 n00b needs to read this thread and it will prevent a ton of unnecessary requests for help & bad-experiences/complaints/Redcat-hating that would otherwise come about due to the servos/pins/loose-bolts/etc issues mentioned here. "thumbsup"

Re: "I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***
 

If I understand correctly, the reason for this pin is to prevent damage to the gears, cups, dog bones, motor, etc. if and when the tires get locked up.

While the existing pin may indeed be too soft, I'm wondering whether a hardened steel replacement may be too hard and actually cause further damage.

Perhaps a better solution would be a slightly harder pin (anyone have ideas?) along with a metal cover (see Newfie's work-in-progress here) to hold it; then if/when it broke, it would only happen when the wheels actually do get locked up, plus with a metal cover to contain the damage, only the pin should (in theory) need replaced.