Just Received - My RS10, new body style

[BarelyCrawlin]

This crawler joins my other two (Maxstone 16 and Mad Torque 8 - both with mods). My, my, my - those stock servos are the worst I've seen in ages. No power, jumpy, jittery and in need of replacement first thing. Of course with the new servos, the wheels actually turn all the way and hit the motor wires. For now, I gently moved the wires out of the way and used a zip tie around the motor to keep the wires out of harm's way. When I take the gear boxes apart to install the hardened drive pins and grease the gears, I'm see if I can rotate the motors 90 degrees as that may produce the needed clearance. If not, I guess I'll resort to extensions or more offset wheels. Some other recommended-as-necessary mods will be completed in a few days, then it'll be re-evaluated. I just do lazy crawling, so not much more may be needed.

[BarelyCrawlin]

Quick update. Unfortunately there's not a good way to rotate the motor mounting and not loose mount strength. FYI, the amount of grease present was minimal. New pins installed - pain in the butt as usual.

[iDC5]

Lots of fun to,come.

Glad to,see a new rs10 owner.

Lets see wich way u,go,with it

[MountainStorm]

I found it was pretty much best to unsolder and resolder the wires so they can be routed up against the can. I taped mine down with electrical tape. Not pretty but after breaking wires from flexing them several times I decided beauty is as beauty does lol.

Check the grub screws on the hexes. They will probably be loose from the factory if not they will be loose after the first run. Constant PITA until I put a dab of loctite on them.

My drive train has been remarkably reliable. Daily crawling for months no failures. But one thing that will get loose is the plastic plate on the spur gear that is held by 4 tiny screws. If that gets too loose the pin will beat the hell out of it.

[BarelyCrawlin]

Thanks for the comments, guys. I noticed the loose grub screws not only on the hexes but also on the internal split hubs in the gear boxes. Two of the screws in one plastic plate were also a little loose. Loctite to the rescue. Time for a bit of soldering, while avoiding that sharp edge of the motor can that will cut the insulation! I think the wires relocation will avoid the use of any hub extensions.

[iDC5]

yes....

I ignored this advice when researching now have ruined inner spur shaft.. it works but I have lots of play.

wich Loctite are you guys using?

[MountainStorm]

The thing to do on the output cups is to take those screw pins out and throw them in the trash and drill out the holes to fit a tension pin (also called a roll pin) you can get at any auto parts store. Those screws pins are brittle and will break very soon. Roll pins are the way to go there. They don't sell pins that are a press fit...you will need to drill the cups and shaft to fit the pin. 3/32 or 1/8 will work fine.

[BarelyCrawlin]

Have lowered the COG by moving the electronics plate lower. Using 2200 mah 2s lipos. Getting about 45 mins from each. Foams have been removed and some tire lugs. 2 ozs of stick on weights on each front wheel, 1 oz per each rear wheel. Skid plates made for front and rear. I like sliding over rocks. Don't like the course thread screws but it is what it is.

[MountainStorm]

Hey we got a tinkerer over heah!

Do it man. Tinker until it's not even recognizable!

[BarelyCrawlin]

Originally Posted by MountainStorm

Hey we got a tinkerer over heah!

Do it man. Tinker until it's not even recognizable!

Ha! Nothing I have stays stock for long.

[BarelyCrawlin]

For whatever reason, I found that if I put a bit of rear "tilt" in the chassis angle (rear of chassis is about 1/4" lower than front), the front servo responds better (still have the front wheels weighted as before). That is, the front servo will respond more forcefully than before resulting in more equal steering response between the servos when using rear steer. To achieve the angle and maintain tire clearance between the tire and shock mount on the rear tube, I drilled a new upper shock mount hole in the chassis that allows the shock to be mounted more toward the front of the truck while keeping the correct chassis angle. Same configuration also works on my 4 WS 1/8 crawler.

[cabron]

might rotating the front axle (or clocking the tubes) back accomplish the same as lowering the back of the chassis?
the back of the chassis is set higher for better clearance going over rocks.
then again, why do things the way the herd does them?

[BarelyCrawlin]

I will post some pics ASAP. Been trying to figure out the physics of this situation. At first I thought there was just a little too much weight on the front which slowed the front servo. But removing some weight did nothing. Put the weight back on and tilted the chassis as described, and the servo response was better. I wonder if running the front servo at a bit more voltage (=more torque) would produce the same result? I'll try it on the 1/8 as its servos can take higher voltages. Of course, more torque may equal broken parts.
Interestingly I haven't noticed any difference going over things - I can high center it just as well! But I'm still learning to read the obstacles so only time will tell.
Forgot to mention - the chassis tilt may bias the weight slightly rearward while in motion. A rear steer servo would probably have a bit better response as the rear wheels should experience less drag.

[JCon]

u can use different voltages, but u will need a bec I would think to do so.

[cabron]

what servos are you using?
specs as in torque and voltages? the higher the voltage the more the torque
if you are using the stock esc and a new servo specially a much higher torque model,
the voltage might be too low and you are not using the servo to its full potential. the stock esc is 4.5 or maybe 5 volts only,
if you are using the stock stick nimh or a 2s lipo, try connecting the servo power leads to the battery and only the
signal lead to the esc.

[BarelyCrawlin]

Originally Posted by cabron

what servos are you using?
specs as in torque and voltages? the higher the voltage the more the torque
if you are using the stock esc and a new servo specially a much higher torque model,
the voltage might be too low and you are not using the servo to its full potential. the stock esc is 4.5 or maybe 5 volts only,
if you are using the stock stick nimh or a 2s lipo, try connecting the servo power leads to the battery and only the
signal lead to the esc.

Using some TowerPro servos that seem to work well but are rated for 5 volts max I think. The servos I'll test on the 1/8 crawler are rated at 8+ volts. Will connect as you described (no external BEC) to check the torque increase. Have to wait a few days as work calls.

[cabron]

sad state of affairs that we have to work to support our habbits.
oooops i meant hobbies

[BarelyCrawlin]

Snuck in some time for the front servo test. The Solar servo is rated for a 2s battery. Wired the servo power leads directly to the battery via the balance plug as described elsewhere. Signal wire goes to Rx of course. Servo power has increased as expected. Will install a switch so all components go on and off at the same time. That way I don't forget to unplug the front servo!

[MountainStorm]

The phenomena you are experiencing is the one of the reasons guys with other axles that have rotatable C hubs tilt the whole knuckle assembly back. You can get the same thing to happen without tilting the chassis by putting the lower links to the furthest hole in the chassis plate and/or (since you like to tinker) using shorter upper links or shifting the upper link mounting hole back to "clock" the axle. The real reason to clock the knuckles back is improve climbing ability so you can catch an edge of rock with the edge of a tire and do a "pull up" when you steer the tire.

All things in moderation. Ideally you would want the axle clocked in a way that promotes good clearance and the c hubs clocked to help with climbing...usually they are clocked in opposite directions. But that is not an option without modding the axle on the RS10 (see Suji's thread on clockable C hubs for his RS10). On mine with BTA steering I would clock the whole axle forward...but that hurts climbing ability. As high as the motor is clocking the whole axle back shouldn't cause clearance issues with the rocks...especially with the steering links in front of it.

[BarelyCrawlin]

Great info, RS. I will do a bit of clocking to the front end. Seems this method is one of adjusting the camber of the axle as opposed to just the wheels. This shifts the weight toward the rear and lowers the motor/gear box COG. Time to tinker....after work.