Redcat Everest-16 with Simple Mods. & Hop-Ups

[RGunn]

This post is not about building a competitive mini-class crawler. But rather, this post is about buying a $100 1/16 size crawler and performing simple DIY mods. and adding a few low cost hop-up parts.

Intended use for my two Everest-16s is running them with friends & family on our indoor rock pile and rock climbs that I constructed in our Family Room. During the Spring & Summer these crawlers might find use out on some of the numerous outdoor rock piles in our area.

While my crawlers are Redcat Everest-16s, there are several clones of the same model. If you own an ECX Temper 1/18, Exceed Maxstone 1/16, or an HSP Kulak 1/18, then the information in this post applies.

The largest problem with the Everest-16 design (and clones) is a high center-of-gravity (COG). A few mods. (see pics) will help lower the COG and improve this crawler’s rock pile performance substantially.

Another issue to address is an over abundance of articulation & ‘torque twist‘. Too much articulation is worse than not enough. By adding shock travel limiters, spring preload adjusters, and the right weight shock oil, the total articulation and torque twist can be tuned to your liking.

These mini crawlers come stock with a ‘mini’ size steering servo. That is, except for the ECX Temper 1/18 which wisely comes with a ‘standard’ size servo. Mini size servos just don’t have enough torque to turn the crawler’s large wheels & tires as needed when navigating in a rock pile. Fortunately, for those of us who own one of the other three brands besides the ECX, we can buy the ECX Temper 1/18 standard size servo mount/tray and it will perfectly fit our crawlers with no modification needed.

Other issues I addressed are gearing, tires, stance, weight distribution, ground clearance, and steering travel (see pics).

The following is a list of every change I made to my pair of ‘minis‘. While not extensive, the changes have made these little crawlers perform much better than they did in stock form.


1] Added shock travel limit spacers (both rebound & compression), preload spacers (left rear only), and heavier oil to the shocks (70wt). Shock travel was reduced from .900” to .425” (lower overall COG), ‘torque twist’ is all but gone.

2] Added a 13T pinion (stock is 14T).

3] Added 4.25” O.D. tires (stock is 3.75”).

4] Added working ‘beadlock’ wheels.

5] Added 15mm (.600”) wheel wideners.

6] Added a ‘standard’ size, metal gears steering servo (180 oz/in).

7] Added rear axle lockouts (replaced stock c-hubs & unused steering drag link).

8] Trimmed plastic ‘stops’ off steering arms (more throw).

9] Removed front & rear skids (ground clearance).

10] Trimmed skids mounting post off axles (ground clearance).

11] Moved steering servo to opposite end from stock . Same affect as turning the motor & transmission 180-degrees (weight bias).

12] Moved ESC forward & under battery tray (weight bias & COG).

13] Moved receiver forward & under battery tray (weight bias & COG).

14] Added stick-on lead weights underside of servo trays (1.5oz front, 1oz rear).

15] Trimmed wheel wells on body (tire clearance).

16] Added ‘Deans’ connectors (I like ‘em).


They say, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Rather than write the details, I’ll let you view the changes I made to my Everest 16s with the following pics.


My pair of lightly modded but vastly improved Redcat Everest-16s.

Even with more than 50% of shock travel removed the crawler still has 3.75” of articulation.

Added a .325” internal aluminum spacer to reduce rebound travel. A .250” external aluminum spacer to reduce compression travel. A .200” external aluminum spacer for additional spring preload on the left rear shock only.

By reducing the shock travel the Everest-16’s stance is lower providing for a much lowered COG.

Added a high-torque ‘standard’ sized steering servo.

Moved electronics forward and under the battery tray to improve forward weight bias and COG. Also turned transmission toward the front for additional forward weight bias.

Added rear axle lockouts, and 15mm wheel wideners. Lateral stability is greatly improved.

Removed the skids and trimmed away the mounting post from the axle for better clearance in the rock pile. Added 1oz. weight rear, and 1.5oz. front. Put the weights under the servo trays to help with COG.

If you are looking to improve your budget mini crawler’s performance, and don’t want to invest a lot of cash, perhaps some of these simple mods. And hop-ups might work for you.

[high plains drifter]

RG, You already know how much I appreciate this update! Thanks so much for the contribution and for helping me with my own 1/16 crawler mods and upgrades. Awesome job, rigs look great, and I definitely need to step it up since better performance can indeed be achieved!

[RGunn]

HPD, thank you. I've also enjoyed having another person on the board with the same crawler to swap ideas with.

I know I told you I had used .165" spacers over the shock shaft for compression travel limit. After installing the new (larger O.D.) tires and the wheel wideners, I decided the crawlers still had too much articulation. So, today I changed out those .165" spacers for .250" and now I feel the amount of articulation is about right.

The only other thing I might do is figure out how to mod./sand the transmission case so I can add a 12T pinion and be able to push the motor over enough to achieve proper gear mesh. I feel like the 13T allows a little too 'tall' of gear ratio with the 4.25" tires.

I know you bought better tires & wheels than I did. The tires and wheels I bought go along with my theme of trying to keep cost low and still achieve some reasonable performance gains over stock.

I know the tires I bought are frowned upon my most avid crawler owners but I tell ya..., they give MUCH better overall performance than my stock tires! Bye the way, I'm running without foams. The sidewalls and tire carcass are thinner on these new tires than my stock tires. The new tires squat about right. Also, the sidewalls do not rollover too much while sidehilling.

[high plains drifter]

Hey, Thank YOU! Been great to see someone really squeezing out all that this platform has to offer!

I'll probably go with the .165" spacers first and see if I'm satisfied and then move to the .250" if warranted. Planning to flip my transmission forward also.

Well my tires ( although much improved over stock) are definitely only a small part of the total equation and I doubt that my ems16 is anywhere as capable as your e16... at least for now haha. I like the ones that you upgraded to. Compared to stock, they look to have much improved sidewall bite and a more aggressive shoulder profile for lots of grab. I can see getting a set of those since having several different flavors is always a good thing!

Few questions...

Did you drill any holes in the wheels? I did not and although the bead-locks provide a tight seal, I feel that performance is not negatively affected. Just curious.

Also I probably missed this but what electronics are you running? Stock? Mainly interested in battery, ESC, receiver, battery charger and when you say that you are using Deans connectors, does that mean that you simply spliced and soldered them onto the factory wiring?

One more... Where did you get the rear lock-outs or who makes them?

Thanks again for the info!

[RGunn]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

Hey, Thank YOU! Been great to see someone really squeezing out all that this platform has to offer!

I'll probably go with the .165" spacers first and see if I'm satisfied and then move to the .250" if warranted. Planning to flip my transmission forward also.

Well my tires ( although much improved over stock) are definitely only a small part of the total equation and I doubt that my ems16 is anywhere as capable as your e16... at least for now haha. I like the ones that you upgraded to. Compared to stock, they look to have much improved sidewall bite and a more aggressive shoulder profile for lots of grab. I can see getting a set of those since having several different flavors is always a good thing!

Few questions...

Did you drill any holes in the wheels? I did not and although the bead-locks provide a tight seal, I feel that performance is not negatively affected. Just curious.

Also I probably missed this but what electronics are you running? Stock? Mainly interested in battery, ESC, receiver, battery charger and when you say that you are using Deans connectors, does that mean that you simply spliced and soldered them onto the factory wiring?

One more... Where did you get the rear lock-outs or who makes them?

Thanks again for the info!

HPD, my wheels already had a hole in them. If they hadn't had the hole I would have put a hole in the tire between the thread. A hole in the tire will drain water better. If you will not run in water then It doesn't matter where the hole is located.

All electronics are stock including the battery. The stock Redcat ESC puts out 6V to the servo. I don't know if the Exceed is the same???

I have several chargers as I use to be into electric aerobatic helis. I have two Dynamite chargers that are dedicated to Nimh batts. and I use those for the crawlers. I have no plans of moving to LiPos for these crawlers.

I like Deans connectors so I usually just cut-off any other connector on an RC and solder a Deans onto the existing wiring.

The axle lockouts are 'Hot Racing' brand. They are sold for the EXC but of course will work on any of these clone crawlers. They may not be available for much longer as the axle housing have changed. They come blue anodized but I chemically removed the anodizing as it clashed bad with my Everest brown anodizing.

The lockouts are not a direct 'bolt-on' as the manufacturer of all these cloned crawlers has changed the axle housing to a V2 version. These HB lockouts were designed to work with the V1 version of the axle housing. The Losi MRC and the Vaterra Slickrock also used the V1 version. The only difference between the V1 and the V2 is the addition of two plastic nubs/post out near the outer ends of the axle housing. They changed the hub carrier piece to slip on over the post and thus the new design gives more threads for the screws to bite into that hold on the hub carrier. To use these lockouts I simply cut the little plastic post off with a pair of flush-cut side-cutters. A Dremel would also do the job quickly. Also, had to use shorter screws to mount the lockouts as the stock screws that come with the V2 axle version are too long once the post are cut off.

If you are not aware of the two different axle housing versions you can see both versions on the parts page at Redcat. It's easy to see the difference once you look close at both V1 & V2.

I know the ECX Barrage 1/12 uses a rear lockout as stock and it is designed to fit the V2 axle design (same housing on Barrage & Temper). It comes either plastic (stock), or as an aluminum 'hop-up'. What I don't know is whether the Barrage uses the same diameter spindles, thus bearing sizes??? If the bearings are the same as our 'rigs' then the Barrage lockouts would work on any of our clone 1/16, 1/18 crawlers.

Hope this answers your questions???

[high plains drifter]

Perfect! Thank you again for addressing my questions. I'm anxious to take my crawler to the next level and after studying in more detail the things that you've done/ recommended, I feel that I am able to move in a direction that makes more sense than simply throwing random parts at it. Can't thank you enough for all the help.

[Ziff73]

Good stuff! I JUST bought three of these for myself and two sons. I've been into RC since I was a kid (way too many years to say and now that I have kids, I'm back! I haven't even pulled them out of the boxes yet....actually, the boys don't know that I got them yet...hehe.. Can't wait to fix them up with these mods. Thanks a bunch, RGunn, great timing.
-Stephen

[RGunn]

Originally Posted by Ziff73

Good stuff! I JUST bought three of these for myself and two sons. I've been into RC since I was a kid (way too many years to say and now that I have kids, I'm back! I haven't even pulled them out of the boxes yet....actually, the boys don't know that I got them yet...hehe.. Can't wait to fix them up with these mods. Thanks a bunch, RGunn, great timing.
-Stephen

Hope you enjoy your Everest-16s as much as my two Grandsons and I do ours!

I also have two different neighbors from out in our rural area who are coming by to have coffee and run the rock pile with our Redcats! Kind of addicting.

[Ziff73]

Originally Posted by RGunn

Hope you enjoy your Everest-16s as much as my two Grandsons and I do ours!

I also have two different neighbors from out in our rural area who are coming by to have coffee and run the rock pile with our Redcats! Kind of addicting.

That's awesome! Funny, I always assume I'm one of the older guys on these forums, so when I read 'Grandsons', I was surprised. Haha! Good stuff.:-)

[Ziff73]

Okay, we finally got them out and ended up making a little rock garden in our backyard!..:-) Man, these things are fun. Now, we're ready to do the mods! Couple questions: 1. where do you get the spacers for the wheels? 2. did you open up the shocks and add the limiters inside? I think that's how I read it...if I don't do that, but add the compression limiters, would that mess me up or still help a bit? Thanks for the great info!!

[RGunn]

Originally Posted by Ziff73

Okay, we finally got them out and ended up making a little rock garden in our backyard!..:-) Man, these things are fun. Now, we're ready to do the mods! Couple questions: 1. where do you get the spacers for the wheels? 2. did you open up the shocks and add the limiters inside? I think that's how I read it...if I don't do that, but add the compression limiters, would that mess me up or still help a bit? Thanks for the great info!!

Ziff, there are various brands of 'wheel wideners' out there. Just Google 'rc wheel wideners'. They come in different widths as well.

If you are not going to get taller tires I would not add wheel wideners. With wider wheel width, and no extra tire height, you're crawler will get high-centered more easily when crawling a rock pile.

The problem with limiting the shock compression direction only is that the suspension on the opposite corner of the truck will still be able to extend fully and can drop down into a hole or crevasse when in a rock pile. Perhaps more importantly, you won't gain the LARGE advantage of keeping the center-of-gravity lower without limiting the overall ride height.

To answer your shock question, yes, the rebound spacers are added to the inside of the shock, under the damping disk. If ya don't want to do custom metal spacers you can just cut fuel tubing to do the job. An easier option might be to purchase some inexpensive shocks that are shorter with half the travel and half the overall length of the stock shocks???

I would advise being patient and run your crawlers a while longer and then you will begin to learn things that you might want to change. Depending on how you mostly use them, you may not even want to do the same mods. or add the same parts I did.

These are just my own thoughts about the issues you mentioned. At 60-years old I'm not as 'smart' as I use to be.

[Ziff73]

Good info. Thanks!
Yeah, I don't need to widen the track yet..
I cut every other lug off the tires and that helped a lot. Problem is that when I do something to mine, I have to do it to two other trucks also...clipping those lugs adds up to a time consuming and painful task. LOL!
the info on the shocks makes perfect sense. I'll wait on disassembling the shocks, just because I'll have to do 12 of them at once...ugh. I will, however, add weights to the front and back, and the one spacer to the left rear spring...the torque twist is insane. if that helps, it will be great. Then I'll cut the bodies...they get caught up in the tires really bad.
At 44 and with two little kids, I've been lead to believe that they know everything and I'm an idiot...I think I'm starting to believe them...Ha!

Originally Posted by RGunn

Ziff, there are various brands of 'wheel wideners' out there. Just Google 'rc wheel wideners'. They come in different widths as well.

If you are not going to get taller tires I would not add wheel wideners. With wider wheel width, and no extra tire height, you're crawler will get high-centered more easily when crawling a rock pile.

The problem with limiting the shock compression direction only is that the suspension on the opposite corner of the truck will still be able to extend fully and can drop down into a hole or crevasse when in a rock pile. Perhaps more importantly, you won't gain the LARGE advantage of keeping the center-of-gravity lower without limiting the overall ride height.

To answer your shock question, yes, the rebound spacers are added to the inside of the shock, under the damping disk. If ya don't want to do custom metal spacers you can just cut fuel tubing to do the job. An easier option might be to purchase some inexpensive shocks that are shorter with half the travel and half the overall length of the stock shocks???

I would advise being patient and run your crawlers a while longer and then you will begin to learn things that you might want to change. Depending on how you mostly use them, you may not even want to do the same mods. or add the same parts I did.

These are just my own thoughts about the issues you mentioned. At 60-years old I'm not as 'smart' as I use to be.

[the_law_man01]

Hoped maybe this would fit here.

Used a hobby knife, dremel, soldering iron, file set to remove the skid plate mounts and seal up the holes left behind. Nice and clean now. Next up, rear lockouts.

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[RGunn]

Lawman, nice work. Axle housings look very 'clean' with the post completely removed.

[the_law_man01]

Thank you. If I decide to go with a CMS on the Raptor (and I will) I'll likely take the posts of the top also. I'll probably work on the 4-link mount next.

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