A deeper look within the Redcat Everest 10 crawler

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Figured i'd post up some "meat and potato" shots of the Redcat Everest 10 crawler while everyone else get's their ya-ya's on.

First up, the obligatory side, front- and rear-quarter shots ...







Not a bad looking unit, imho. At the very least the body isn't as bad as some of the others out there. But alas, love is in the eye of the beholder. The E10 is sold in red, shown, or blue. The body size is VERY close to that of Redcat's 1/10 Volcano (pics to come), so if you prefer that shape or have a clear body you want to custom paint you won't be far off in size.

Below, a look from the rear. You can see how easy it would be to introduce rear steer, if you so wish, as well as the 14t pinion and 87t spur gears that drive the E10. If you decide to add rear steer please be forewarned - the front lower links have a bend in them to provide clearance for the tires, the rear lower links do not. Bend the stock units, make new ones or order the proper parts.





The Everest-10 comes with a 2000 mAh NiMH battery outfitted with a Tamiya connector. Hooking up to my Team Great Hobbies 4-button charger this battery showed a 2353 mAh capacity. Typical with all of the Redcat/HexFly batteries I have, they have always held at least 10% over their advertised rating.

The battery tray is held to the chassis plates by 4 machine screws. Easy to remove and eventually modify (read: replace with custom carbon fiber tray). The ESC, power switch and receiver are standard Redcat fare, all held in place by thick 2-sided tape.





Here we see what lurks beneath. All very Axial-ish. In the second pic you can see the lack of motor clearance to the side plate. Not sure you'd be fitting much larger a pinion in there. Was kind hoping to throw in the Axial 55T motor I have with a slightly larger pinion ... we'll see what happens.

Also worth mentioning are the plastic link ends. Pay attention to the upper link ends both front and rear - they have a heavy bend in them to accommodate the bend in the link itself. If you're gonna be fabbing something up keep this in mind when you're bending your new pieces.







Steering angle - yes please! It's not great, but it's not terrible either. As mentioned by others Axial aluminum c hubs and knuckles bolt up, so it should stand to reason that similar mods to increase steering angle would work. Will have to look into that eventually.

Again, a really good look at the upper link end bend.





Below is a comparison shot with the E10 tire at top and an RS10 tire at bottom. Same diameter, but the E10 tires are 10mm wider at 65mm (2 9/16"). The tires are an improvement over the RS10 meat hooks, but aftermarket is still the way to go in my books.





Overall i'm VERY impressed with the Redcat Everest 10 crawler. There's a good platform to start with if you're new to crawling and you're not breaking the bank to get off the ground either.

Performance is very good also, certainly for the price. I found taking a minute to set up the trim on the radio provided the best measure against torque twist. For me, having finite control of the throttle means having some room to play in "deadband land". The only time I experience torque twist now is if i'm whacking the throttle open and closed (I usually reserve that technique for when i'm on the motorcycle lol). KISS principle - less torque is less twist.

These tires are certainly an improvement over those on the RS10 (I swear those things are hockey pucks!). I see some others have already tried their luck with trimming/cutting/siping knobs/foam on these tires - perhaps they'd like to share?

Crawlability is really good with this truck. While i'd prefer to see a softer spring rate and some sag (just a bit of droop), even just the way it sits it does a good job. The E10's counterpart, the HSP Right CR, shares the same skin and bones, but ships without any spring preload spacers in place. I'd say this should be the first mod. While it won't change the spring rate itself, it will reduce the amount of pressure needed to get the suspension doing what's it's supposed to do (I still can't understand how crawlers are so highly sprung). These 125mm long shocks could use some help - softer springs and whatever oil you like, but i'd say these would tie-in with the "first mod". Let's keep in mind that softer springs mean more twist, though, so plan accordingly. I'll give the RS10 the credit here - it's got better shocks.

Special thanks goes to Amazing RC Store for ordering this crawler for me. Pam and Dave are always great to work with. Thanks guys!

That's it for now. Camera was acting up and lighting wasn't the best to begin with, so i'll put up a placeholder post for more pics and info to come in short order (hopefully tomorrow).

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Delving deeper still ...

A few comparison shots between the Everest 10 body and a Redcat Volcano. Probably not what most guys would opt for, but that's not the point of the pics.









Now against something more pertinent, my RS10 "CALOB". Calob is a little modified, for more info see here ... http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/redca...ke-tracer.html







Fellow RCC member aftershock1 posted pics and info about a plate he made after noticing his rear upper-link-to-axle mount wasn't up to par. I noticed the two screws that hold the stock unit to the axle were just a little loose, so I tightened them up (it's only the two screws that hold it on). Here you can see more details on the area. I couldn't see any harm in making some plate type thing to unify the area. Good job aftershock1! Link to his post for those interested ... http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/redca...ml#post5049056







Under the belly of the beast. The bent upper links clear the shocks with room to spare. My only real gripe about this truck so far is the 4 button head screws used to hold the transmission to the lower chassis plate. Really?!?!?! I'm a little shocked by this to be honest. I have several other Redcats and they exclusively use countersunk screws for all hardware passing through the chassis. I can't imagine it would be a difficult thing to remedy. This, imho, would be mod #2 (after the shocks). EDIT - actually, i'd sooner make a new plate and move the transmission/motor assembly over one or two mm if I was thinking of changing to a larger pinion.





Stock ground clearance is 3 3/4" (95mm). With the as-delivered 8mm shock spring spacers removed that drops to 3 3/8" (86mm). With the shock springs removed completely for full droop it plumets to 1 3/4" (45mm). (i'm not a "looks guy", by any means, but I gotta say this thing looks friggin' cool in full droop with those square body lines!)













And still farther into the rabbit hole of the E10. I discovered a shock that had a small leak. Not sure if it's assembly related or something wrong with the shock, but i'll keep an eye on it. The shock internals are much what you'd find on any other shocks like this really - a plastic, undersize piston with two small holes in it. For reference and clarity I have a piston/rod assembly from a Redcat Volcano EPX Pro on the right - same idea. Again, first thing i'd do with this truck is get into the shocks and top up the fluid.



Last one for the time being ... adjustability. The upper links have no adjustment of any kind. The shocks have two locations where they attach to the chassis, seen below. Same goes with the lower links at the chassis. Of special note - while it appears at first glance that there are three mount locations for the lower links this is not the case. The inner most "hole" is actually used to locate and partially secure the lower chassis plate. The red arrow shows this location. The green arrow shows the hole you can use to re-locate the lower link.



Okay, i'm done blabbing for now. HTH!

[aftershock1]

So far so good here but i did twist a drive shaft so having to order new ones i'm pretty impressed with the steering servo plenty of torque to turn them tires and also it being waterproof is a plus trust me i've tested it lol

[lobodog1]

Thanks for all the info, just what i was looking for. I ordered mine this morning and had a quick question about the motor. Can you confirm what turn motor comes stock, and what turn you might recommend as a small upgrade? I want to make it a trail truck/crawler and would like a little more wheel speed than what I have seen in some of the videos on youtube. Would a 35t be too much in your opinion?
Thanks

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Originally Posted by lobodog1

Thanks for all the info, just what i was looking for. I ordered mine this morning and had a quick question about the motor. Can you confirm what turn motor comes stock, and what turn you might recommend as a small upgrade? I want to make it a trail truck/crawler and would like a little more wheel speed than what I have seen in some of the videos on youtube. Would a 35t be too much in your opinion?
Thanks

No idea how many turns the stock motor is. The casing just shows generic info that doesn't bring up anything related with a Google search from what I saw.

"540SH 5053DF"
"7.2V 140710"

Best I can tell you is that when I look inside the vents and compare against known motors I have the stock motor lies somewhere between 27T and 55T. Maybe 35-ish? Maybe 42-ish? Mmmmaaaaaayyyyybe 39.659-ish.


If you want to keep up with SCX10s and the likes, i'd say give a 27T a try before anything else (whether it be a Redcat unit or whatever else is up to you). The 14/87 combo for the pinion and spur already take care of matters on that end of the equation. That would put you at the same starting point, at the very least.

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Originally Posted by aftershock1

So far so good here but i did twist a drive shaft so having to order new ones i'm pretty impressed with the steering servo plenty of torque to turn them tires and also it being waterproof is a plus trust me i've tested it lol

AWESOME! UPGRADE TIME!!!!!!!!!!! All-aluminum shafts on order?

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Second post updated with pics. From here on in anything new comes after this.

[aftershock1]

Originally Posted by TakeOffYouHoser

AWESOME! UPGRADE TIME!!!!!!!!!!! All-aluminum shafts on order?

That and new front axle it was doin 1-wheel peel today so took the axle apart and looks like it rounded off the spider gears

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Originally Posted by aftershock1

That and new front axle it was doin 1-wheel peel today so took the axle apart and looks like it rounded off the spider gears

Sounds like it's time for either an Axial locker or some (steel) epoxy. There's your weekend project. lol

[Robotron]

So, has anyone tried running 3S on the stock ESC and motor?

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Originally Posted by Robotron

So, has anyone tried running 3S on the stock ESC and motor?

Not brave enough here. I'll stick with 2S to keep it safe. I'm not interested in LiPo for (burst) power as much as I am longevity, especially when teamed up with the lower weight.

But you guys have at it.

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Interesting thread started by fellow RCC member mowheelin earlier this year for his Exceed Maxstone 10. Some good info and pics to be found on the Exceed version of the Redcat Everest 10 crawler ... Maxstone 10 budget build

Another from SLC 4x4 Club member Brad ... http://slc4x4.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.p...p=16827#p16827

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by aftershock1

That and new front axle it was doin 1-wheel peel today so took the axle apart and looks like it rounded off the spider gears

On stock motor and battery?

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by aftershock1

So far so good here but i did twist a drive shaft so having to order new ones i'm pretty impressed with the steering servo plenty of torque to turn them tires and also it being waterproof is a plus trust me i've tested it lol

On stock motor and battery? And did you submarine it? I read somewhere that the servos weren't sealed?

[aftershock1]

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

On stock motor and battery? And did you submarine it? I read somewhere that the servos weren't sealed?

Yes stock motor and a traxxas 3000mah nimh battery, the servo is still kicking had it up almost touching the speed controller and went great

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

On stock motor and battery?

Stock motor traxxas 3000 mah nimh battery

[NorCal69]

Excellent intro review.

1st time to the party. Everest 10 is on order. Done just bout everything RC but Rock Crawlin is a 1st. Would like to stay w/ LiPo's.vs NiMh's. Would this burn up the ESC if I stayed w/ just 2 cells?

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

On stock motor and battery? And did you submarine it? I read somewhere that the servos weren't sealed?

Servo has a sticker on it stating waterproof. Don't know what the reality is, but it says it's waterproof. With a 90 day warranty you're covered either way.

[StomperCrawler]

Sweet servos then!

NorCal, lipo 2s is fine I'm sure but you might need a low-voltage alarm if the esc can't be set to lvc. I haven't been able to find a manual to download yet.

[NorCal69]

Manual: It's not much but better than nothin...http://www.redcatracing.com/manuals/everest10manual.pdf
Parts Search: Search for Redcat RC Cars, Trucks, Parts and Accessories

[NorCal69]

Stomper: Thanks. I've got low voltage alarms comin out my ears for planes that don't care what kinda vehicle they end up in. Dime a dozen on eBay.