My Exceed Mad Torque 1/8th

[MassiveOverkill]

I'm starting to get settled in after my move to South Dakota. We have a quiet 5 acre lot with gorgeous rock outcroppings that were just begging for me to get a rock crawler. After doing a ton of research on the cheapest way to get a hobby-grade rock crawler in case I didn't like it, I settled on the Mad Torque from Exceed. It was between this and the Max Stone, but the Max Stone's plastic gearbox swayed my decision against it despite being larger.

I took the criticisms about it with a grain of salt, especially from those who compare this in quality to ANYTHING that comes from Toys R Us. I think it's against Toys R Us' policy to carry anything made of aluminum :p I noticed all the spare parts complaints dated back to when the models first came out 4 years ago. I was able to order spares no problem.

My unit came with LED lighting and waterproof gear, all marked so on the box. My unit was manufactured in March of 2015. I'm not going to do an in-depth overview this model is old and it's already been done. I will say I'm impressed with all the aluminum on this thing, from the main frame to the links. The only thing I found disturbing was the lack of skid plates, which I easily made myself. I went ahead and ordered the 4 wheel steering kit as well as aluminum Axial turnbuckles as recommended (which haven't arrived yet). There was one problem with my unit OOTB, which was a bent axle shaft. The vendor AHero-RC gladly sent me a replacement at no charge and was an easy swap-out without disassembling the gearbox. Those of you who buy this, as soon as you get it, disconnect the motor leads and turn each axle's wheels to check for binding. If you have binding (you'll hear a clicking or see the plastic axle shaft housings tweak), chances are you may have also received a bent axle. The replacement was nice and straight.

I swapped out the stock 2 channel radio for my modded Devo 7e with LemonRX so I can switch between crab and 2 wheel steering (I still have to set up 4 wheel same direction steering). Those of you thinking of just doing a Y-harness with inverter for the rear opposite-direction steering, if you can afford it, go with a 3 channel or more setup. There are times when you'll want to disable 4 wheel and just use 2 wheel steering and a Y-harness won't allow you to do this.

I'm a rock crawling newbie and maybe it's just because I have very large rocks at my disposal, but I couldn't imagine going smaller than 1/8th scale.

Let's get to pictures:

This is her with the stock suspension\frame I didn't want to scratch up the stock body and needed a mount for HD Runcam, so an Arizona Iced Tea gallon jug did the trick. Check out the articulation (which is actually bad to have this much but I'm sure every rock crawling newb goes through the articulation phase when they first start out):



I put away the stock body and transplanted my daughter's NewBright Z71 truck body and put the LEDs into the tail light and headlight locations:







The LEDs are pretty bright, more than sufficient for night crawling, but I had to cut up the single strand and add servo leads to each:



Raw materials are hard to come by up here so I had to use what I had on hand from my multirotor parts. I know, it's ghetto-fab, but it's functional until I can get a custom frame cut. I'm using two PDBs as frame extenders. Wheelbase is just shy of 18" now. You can see I used wire loom to cover the lower links to protect them from road rash and the loom is also on the steering links and front brush guard:



I made a bracket to relocate the battery to the upper link assembly and relocated the ESC to where the battery stock location to lower COG. Over the axles is the best place to relocate the battery, but requires lengthening the power lead and requires more extensive bracket fabrication:



The bottom of the Arizona Iced Tea gallon jug has nice strengthening ridges for my front skid (I re made it to wrap around to avoid getting hung up):





Sidewall of the jug was used for the rear skid plate. When you're making skid plates, it's important to have them wrap around so they don't get hung up while rock crawling. You can see from the road rash that they're doing their job. Most of my aluminum is nice and shiny still.



To get the 3rd person perspective, I mounted the HD Runcam up high on a plastic post. It's velcroed to the truck bed as well as zip tied.............in a fashion that allows it to break away in a roll over, which worked beautifully as nothing has broken yet. (Stay tuned for FPV rock crawling):



I'm uploading videos now and will post when ready. I'm really impressed with the capabilities of the Mad Torque. I'm not using cut foams or wheel weights or anything else traction-related. Maybe the lichens on the rock may help with grip but keep in mind it's between 40-60 degrees out here now and traction isn't the greatest as a result. The only other mod I may do next is getting bent lower links for clearance. I can go over my indoor steps but not my outdoor steps as I get hung up on the rear lower links. One other thing, many complain about the stock servo sucking. Move your mount on the servo horn to the inner hole. The inner hole gives the servo more leverage and faster response. Trying to adjust your trims for maximum steering throw will cause binding anyways on a stock setup. You could alternatively keep the stock servo horn mounting and use the inner holes on the turnbuckles.

[MassiveOverkill]

Video is up

[Cavedave_185]

That looks like a awesome place to have in your back yard

[MassiveOverkill]

Originally Posted by Cavedave_185

That looks like a awesome place to have in your back yard

Thanks Dave! Anyone in the Black Hills area is more than welcome to come and run their rigs. I only showcased half the rock outcroppings on the property.

[Cavedave_185]

Did you cover all of your links with wire loom? To help it slide or to keep it appealing to the eye?

[MassiveOverkill]

All but the front main steering link as there's not enough clearance to have both the brush guard (which is covered) and the steering link covered. I did it mainly to prevent road rash but the added benefit is that it also acts as a an anti-hang-up guard. Aluminium can be 'grabby' when rubbed against a rock (which is why I shied away from AL skid plates) whereas the loom will slide for 3 reasons: because it's plastic, being corrugated it reduces contact area, and additionally because it will rotate. I don't mind the black on green look either.

[Cavedave_185]

I hadn't thought of the friction caused and the lack of friction on your links after you covered them. That's a great idea with little $ required.

[crawldogg]

Nice Video! I too recently purchased a Mad Torque Crawler. I have been looking at after market parts and ran across these a few days ago! What I don't understand is,that the blue/green one's seem to be of a different design,than the orange one's (my frame color). Maybe some of the "Mad Torque Guy's" can comment on them? My lower links are scratched up,since we climb in huge piles of broken concrete. http://www.asiatees.com/display?Exceed RC-Mad+Torque-Parts-Hop-Ups&brand=Exceed RC&model=Mad+Torque&id=96377 http://www.asiatees.com/display?Exceed RC-Mad+Torque-Parts-Hop-Ups&brand=Exceed RC&model=Mad+Torque&id=96376

[crawldogg]

Here's a few pics. of mine crawling on the concrete piles.

[MassiveOverkill]

Playing in the snow:



Using HS1177m camera with Elgae 200mw VTX with IBCrazy\VAS Airblade and FR632 diversity system with Airblade and Pepperbox antennas. Not bad reception for controlling it in my house which has foil-backed insulation.

https://youtu.be/cbOlHfEBtbs

[rude_k9]

looks like fun,got some good water proofing ?

[MassiveOverkill]

All stock and not a glitch yet. I bought another Mad Torque for my daughter for Christmas and took the servo apart to reverse it (swap +/- leads on motor and potentiometer) and it looks like the servo is coated in conformal or Corrosion X. I don't get the bashing on the stock servo. It's all metal gears inside. I have some updates I'll post after Christmas done to my own.

[MassiveOverkill]

Daddy-daughter time, FPV Chasing Barbie: https://youtu.be/rRS2lliLEoc

[EeePee]

Just approved post #8

[cabron]

instead of that loom think about heat shrink for the links
even double up on the heat shrink. it would be smaller diameter than the loom
and might look ok plus the ability to have different colors.

I almost bought one but wanted something in the 1:10 size
now I know I could have just removed the extenders on the axle housings and ended up with a berg copy.

enjoy

[MassiveOverkill]

I thought about heat shrink but I still like wire loom better. It's easier to install\remove, has less friction, whereas heat shrink's rubbery nature can catch easier.......the wire loom is plastic and will slide over obstacles easier as well as twist on axis. It may not be as pretty but I'm more into functionality than realism\looks.......otherwise I would have bought a scalar. I appreciate the input though.