Exceed Mad Torque, review/mods

[chalmene]

Well, I received my first crawler yesterday, an Exceed Mad Torque 1/8th. Overall seems nice for the price, but will need some work of course. I will try to log my progress here for anyone interested. Any tips or advice/constructive criticism appreciated.

The unboxing: received in perfect condition, no damage on the box or vehicle. The bags are the 4ws kit I ordered with it.






Little shot with the lights on, they don't look half bad lol Have since removed to get working on it.


Everything seems to be smooth and in order out of the box, no weird noises or grinding. Radio and all electronics seem to be functioning properly. Lots of torque from what I can tell. I feel like this will be a fine crawler after some mods.


Work I have done since yesterday:

-Moved shock mounts to outside of frame
-Replaced all spindles with aluminum AX10
-Greased trannys with white lithium
-Replaced wheel foam with memory foam (stock foam is useless)

Next up:

-Install my own radio
-Decide on a pair of good servos, better servo mounts, and set up for 4ws
-3/8" bolts for wheel weights
-Install aluminum shocks on order
-Find any rocky terrain somewhere here in Florida or set up my own course...


More to come.....

[cabron]

well, it came in I see. now the fun starts.

how you plan to use 3/8 bolts as weights is something I am coming back to see haha

research on using a bec to power your servos. check the specs on the servos and you will see that at a higher voltage
you get a significant increase in torque. there are a few ways to accomplish this. look to see what is the max voltage your receiver
can handle, this will affect how to best use the bec. food for thought.

check you later

[chalmene]

Of course, definitely going to have my servos running at the highest voltage my system/servos will allow. I'll post up my progress!

So here are my wheel weights, 3/8" carriage bolts (3/4" thread length), washer on the inside with 1 or 2 nuts for added weight. The heads interfere a bit with installing/removing the wheel nuts, so may have to go with a different bolt head type or grind a bit of the heads off.

[cabron]

interesting, polish the heads to make them seem like mirrors haha

a mod for later would be some kind of collar around the knuckles and put the weight
on those and keep the rolling weight down.

[chalmene]

Originally Posted by cabron

interesting, polish the heads to make them seem like mirrors haha

a mod for later would be some kind of collar around the knuckles and put the weight
on those and keep the rolling weight down.

Ha, yea I thought of grinding the lettering off and giving them a coat of bronze paint.

[chalmene]

Is anyone running this on 2s lipo with the stock receiver? What about a LiFe pack? Which would be better to run on a crawler?

[cabron]

look at the specs for the esc and see if it says lipo ready, also if it is just 2s or 3s also.
if not lipo ready you can get a low voltage cut-off or just a low voltage alarm to let you know
when it is time to change batteries.
3s would be better, more range of speed and longer running times might be possible.
there are reasons life batteries are not overly popular but I don't remember why besides cost and durability issues.

[chalmene]

Originally Posted by cabron

look at the specs for the esc and see if it says lipo ready, also if it is just 2s or 3s also.
if not lipo ready you can get a low voltage cut-off or just a low voltage alarm to let you know
when it is time to change batteries.
3s would be better, more range of speed and longer running times might be possible.
there are reasons life batteries are not overly popular but I don't remember why besides cost and durability issues.

Yes, it is the stock ESC, there is a pin jumper to select 2s or 3s. Was just looking for feedback from anyone using lipo or LiFe on performance.