Not first time Crawler, but I am a First Time Red Cat Owner.

[Timmahh]

Was never a huge fan of the offerings back in 08/10. More 1/5 scale gasser stuff, and they were just getting out their Short Course Truck as I was getting out around 10/11.

But after a decade, I am no longer playing music live or hardly at all any more, and the Corona Beer Virus got me laid off, but at least getting UE, which is nice as I have been an IC/SE since the late 80s. I only ever drew UE once prior, and that was in 86, when here in Michigan, it was still called the Unemployment Compensation Burearu and in 88/89, the state changed the way it did unemployment completely by calling it a needed 'Modernization" and when they were done, the Unemployment Compensation Bureau became the Unemployment INSURANCE Agency. So as a Gig Worker if you will (construction/remodel/Music mostly) I was never able to file as we are excluded. But thanks to the Corna Beer Virus, I'm home and drawing around 1/2 to 2/3rds of my normal weekly. So that's a good thing. heh.

'Nough of that, as that is an entirely different topic for an entirely different forum, but a not so short way to say I'm bored, needed to do something, and Opps I did it again. lol

After looking at the new offerings, and never owning a Red Cat before, luckily they have stepped up their game pretty decently it seems. Enough so that I talked myself into the Gen 8 Scout II Axe Edition as an rtr to get playing.

It was a toss up on that, or waiting to find the Axial iii, which I'll get when I find one somewhere available.

Any ways. Red Cat has come a good way since 2008 when they kind of became a thing in RC. Back then they were pretty much 1/5 scale players.

Good to see they stepped down into other smaller markets (yes both puns were intended. lol) Because in doing so, they have had to step up their entire game, and they appear to be doing a decent job of it.

So its only been a few weeks since I decided to do this. The Bug has bitten me once again. lol OUch. Wallets gonna hurt a lil I think. I'm gonna stick to crawlers and scale builds for now. But you all know this damn bug, and that Losi Rock Rey 1/10 and 1/6th look like some damn good fun a lil bit down the trail(Cha-Ching).
Hope the Corna Beer Virus keeps me unemployed at least until near the end of July, when it runs out. lol

Until I do go back to work, which wont likey be for a few weeks to a month after everyone opens back up, the RC will be fun to have to waste time while I'm in the hotels after work. I've been doing remodels and updates in Assisted Living and Memory Care facilities and they went on "Self" Quarantine about 10 days before our not so Illustrious Tyrant, Der Furher WHitler here in Michigan decided to turn the entire State into a Prison State.

At any rate, you all have seen dozens of them so here are just a few more.

First in the Oven, then Born. lol
More to come no doubt.

[Flamnpede1]

Welcome back to RC! Any who you couldn't have started with a better platform! The AXE platform has proven to be way more reliable than the standard RTR platform. In fact the only real crappy thing about the AXE would be the tire foams unless you live and crawl when it's 90 degrees outside. There are a few other key upgrades to grab as well like the SSD lower front link mounts because the stock setup will work it's way loose and then the steering becomes sloppy. The one other thing that isn't really critical, but seemed like the proper choice after getting brass nasties on my hands is getting rid of the brass pinion gear. I dropped in a robinson racing #1717. I don't know if that works with your brushless setup as I bought mine as a P.A.C.K version that somebody stripped. Oh and don't overdo it with adding weight. This platform climbs like a goat with the proper tire and wheel combo. I'm currently running chanquish D holes and Deep Woods with Proline dual stage foams. Let's just say it goes places I can barely climb with my hands and feet. :P Well enough jabbering back to work I go. Hope you enjoy it!

[AK KRAWLER]

I will second Flamnpede1, I love mine and have only had do do maintenance on things that broke due to driver inflicted issues.
It's a blast to drive and climb around.

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by Flamnpede1

Welcome back to RC! Any who you couldn't have started with a better platform! The AXE platform has proven to be way more reliable than the standard RTR platform. In fact the only real crappy thing about the AXE would be the tire foams unless you live and crawl when it's 90 degrees outside. There are a few other key upgrades to grab as well like the SSD lower front link mounts because the stock setup will work it's way loose and then the steering becomes sloppy. The one other thing that isn't really critical, but seemed like the proper choice after getting brass nasties on my hands is getting rid of the brass pinion gear. I dropped in a robinson racing #1717. I don't know if that works with your brushless setup as I bought mine as a P.A.C.K version that somebody stripped. Oh and don't overdo it with adding weight. This platform climbs like a goat with the proper tire and wheel combo. I'm currently running chanquish D holes and Deep Woods with Proline dual stage foams. Let's just say it goes places I can barely climb with my hands and feet. :P Well enough jabbering back to work I go. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanx for the Welcome back. I have read the pan hard mount should be replaced and plan on getting on on the way so i have it when needed.

I will likely only upgrade a few things out of the gate, before I do to much. want it to be reliable, but don't plan on running it in any comps. at least not this rig. not yet anyways. lol

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by AK KRAWLER

I will second Flamnpede1, I love mine and have only had do do maintenance on things that broke due to driver inflicted issues.
It's a blast to drive and climb around.

Yes, Indeed. Is always good to have consensus.

I had a real blast when I was crawling a decade ago.
Looking forward to rejoining the good times.

[Flamnpede1]

We have probably about 35 or more miles on ours currently. I did relube everything with red-n-tacky grease.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by Flamnpede1

We have probably about 35 or more miles on ours currently. I did relube everything with red-n-tacky grease.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Yeah, for sure. I will be going through things and ensuring everything is good, greased, tight, lock tighter. etc.

[triptherip]

Your gonna love it. The only thing that i have broken was a slider. So i built some steel ones.

[Tylus]

Just got my Gen8 today. I'm looking forward to playing follow the leader with my TRX4 and the Gen8. See which one is going to be more satisfying to drive

For a $288 rig, the Gen8 is very high quality. Redcat has really upped the bar for RC rigs

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by triptherip

Your gonna love it. The only thing that i have broken was a slider. So i built some steel ones.

Interesting that you say that. Picked up the unit last night from the side, and the front slider mount snapped on me. It was probably a bit tweaked in one of the roll overs as we don't have any real rocks to crawl/fall on yet. lol

Was looking at using a set of the plastic SSDs I have here I'm not using but the mounts in are totally different spots. I have to tube here. I may have to do a lil cutting and fabbing and come up with a set. Already spent too damn much on the SSD/RC4WD Builds and they both need all electronics and other odds and ends yet. lol

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by Tylus

Just got my Gen8 today. I'm looking forward to playing follow the leader with my TRX4 and the Gen8. See which one is going to be more satisfying to drive

For a $288 rig, the Gen8 is very high quality. Redcat has really upped the bar for RC rigs

Welcome to the Cats. lol I am also 'impressed' with the Cats quality. Its not like they were totally junk 10ish years ago, but they did have some fairly big issues, but then they were only doing 1/5th scale in 2010 so they tried to take a pretty big bite of a small market, and somehow managed to not only stay afloat, but improve the quality and expand their market share into other areas like these crawlers.
They still have a ways to go, but for the last 10, they have done well. Im happy I bought the G8 Axe. The Electronics alone was worth it.

Setup the radio to my liking, made some ESC changes with the HW App and blue tooth. How cool. Change all parameters on the phone, save to the esc, then just shut it off and restart and all the new settings are there.

I did one minor mod so far. Shortened the Rod Ends on the passenger side pan hard and steering link from Servo. They were a little too long and on full compression, the entire axle and shocks would shift sideways. 1mm off each of the passenger side ends took most of it away. Just need a bit more, so I'll shave just a little bit on the drivers side ends and that should fix that.

Interesting on of the other crawler guys nearby said his TRX also has a slight shift. Not as back the the RC but it was noticeable.
Seems not too much attention has been spent on the slightly long pan hard bar and steering link from the servo. 2mm shorter or at least 1mm shorter would make a huge difference on the Cat.

More as I get to it.

[Timmahh]

Had my first 2 minor issues with the RC Axe.

Drives side (right) slider rail broke at the bend for the mount. No biggie, but it broke when I picked it up from that side a week ago.

When Running yesterday, the bottom driver side knuckle screw fell out, didn't lose the brass spacer/insert luckily. But I didn't notice it right away, and the top screw came out too. Got into it before dinner today, and found the top screw was stripped (thread hole) It was an M3 x 10mm so I put it in the bottom, and it tightened in as it should so the bottom screw just unthreaded and fell out. On the top, I took an M3 x 12 mm screw and used it. It threaded in just fine and tightened up so the Axe should be back ready to go. I didn't get to the front shocks yet, but will here in a bit. Going to be a little busy this week doing 1:1 scale life things but hope to get the front shocks done before next weekend. But for now, its back going.

may look at getting a set of upgraded aluminum knuckles. But may get a spare stock plastic one to replace first. See if it happens again.

[Flamnpede1]

Originally Posted by Timmahh

Had my first 2 minor issues with the RC Axe.

Drives side (right) slider rail broke at the bend for the mount. No bigger, bug it broke when I picked it up from that side a week ago.

When Running yesterday, the bottom driver side knuckle screw fell out, didn't lose the brass spacer/insert luckily. But I didn't notice it right away, and the top screw came out too. Got into it before dinner today, and found the top screw was stripped (thread hole) It was a M3 x 10mm so I put it in the bottom, and it tightened in as it should so the bottom screw just unthreaded and fell out. On the top I took a M3 x 12 mm screw and used it. It threaded in just find and tightened up so the Axe should be back ready to go. I didn't get to the front shocks yet, but will here in a bit. Going to be a little busy this week doing 1:1 scale life things but hope to get the front shocks done before next weekend. But for now, its back going.

may look at getting a set of upgraded aluminum knuckles. But may get a spare stock plastic one to replace first. See if it happens again.

Um, perhaps this is an AXE issue LOL. I lost the screw in the knuckle this weekend and my slider completely broke off Saturday. It had broke previously and I used e6000 to glue it back together until i got new ones. Oh and my shocks are toast as well even after rebuilding them with green slime and replacing the oil. They lasted all of 2 runs after rebuild and now are very squishy with a severe lack of dampening.

[Timmahh]

so far the shocks have been good, other than not having enough oil in the rears. Only got 2 runs after refilling them and so far so good.
I have yet to go through the rig with a 2mm hex to tighten. I should tear it down and regrease it all too. Go through the diffs etc.

Just been charging and running so far.
Another issue has been the steering servo horn screw getting loose. I need to drop a dab of locktite on that screw too.

[triptherip]

Yeah, im having shock issues as well. Squishy in the front, but the rears are good. It must be something im doing. Guess ill rebuild them....again

[Flamnpede1]

I have the AXE in P.A.C.K form and my shocks have been iffy at best since I got it. My son's RTR on the other hand has not had any issues with the shocks. We both have roughly the same amount of miles on them being that we hike together. At this point I'm thinking mine just have junks seals and I will need to replace them. There was a guy that used AE seals in his, but ideally i would like to use some x-ring / grooved seals if I can find some that fit. I remember the little red o-rings from my RC10 days and I was constantly leaking oil so I'm trying not to re-live that experience.

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by triptherip

Yeah, im having shock issues as well. Squishy in the front, but the rears are good. It must be something im doing. Guess ill rebuild them....again

Getting the rears done was a bit of a trick. That big diaphragm drops down into the shock enough that the shaft hits it on full compression. May need to find some small dimple diaphrams or maybe made a few out of some rubber that don't drop so far into the shock body.

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by Flamnpede1

I have the AXE in P.A.C.K form and my shocks have been iffy at best since I got it. My son's RTR on the other hand has not had any issues with the shocks. We both have roughly the same amount of miles on them being that we hike together. At this point I'm thinking mine just have junks seals and I will need to replace them. There was a guy that used AE seals in his, but ideally i would like to use some x-ring / grooved seals if I can find some that fit. I remember the little red o-rings from my RC10 days and I was constantly leaking oil so I'm trying not to re-live that experience.

Yeah, the small lower cap orings (silicone I think) never did very well in the past. I always sources some good rubber ones locally and would replace them at first chance. I'll have to find some again.

Another really good option is Vitron Orings. No need for the heat protection they offer, but they are great orings beyond their heat resistance.

[triptherip]

So, this might sound dumb, but i thought that the shocks were the same front to rear. Are they different? And if they are different, how do i tell the fronts from the rears?

[Timmahh]

I believe they are the same F & R on the Redcats. Though I may be mistaken on that myself.

If the shocks are different lengths, the way to know they are installed in the correct position is level frame. Put the wrong shock in the wrong spot, it will be too long or too short and the frame will be setting very off level.

But for the most part, most of these rigs have the same length shocks f and r.