Just picked up my first CR-01
 

After months of drooling over the beautifully built rigs that I have been looking over on this site - I finally bit the bullet (just doing my part to stimulate the economy :) )and bought my first CR-01 from a lhs.

This is my first scale crawler and I am really looking forward to putting this together. I am planning on taking my time and building it up stock initially and get a good feel for how it handles and make upgrades progressively later.

I would like to have it built and sorted out by the time I go down to Moab (UT) in April. You think they would mind if I drove it in Arches?

I'll be sure to post pics (and questions) as I go through the build process.

I also am building my first crawler and taking the winter to do it. I'm nearly done with the chassis and am starting the painting. then will order my electronics. thinking novak brushless and spectrum tx rx and hitec servos frt and rear It a blast to build have fun

I'd like to go to Moab sometime, place looks wicked

I have completed steps 1-4 thus far - so far so good. You certainly have to pay close attention to all the details in each step or you will miss something important. Now that I have started to put it together a lot of the setup tips make much more sense to me.

I am going to start out with no stabilizer up front and the medium in the rear. The first bits that I am likely to upgrade will be the shocks and drive shafts. What would you recommend - and where should I look?

The shocks definitely need to be upgraded, they will start to leak right after you build them. I'm still using my stock ones though :lol:

If you're planning on running the silvercan, keep the stock shafts in the meantime. Just upgrade when needed. Invest your dough on high clearance links instead "thumbsup"

I have to disagree with this. You will twist and destroy the stock shafts, it's just a matter of how quickly. I would use at least Traxxas Stampede parts to upgrade your shafts and yokes. I use all plastic parts and have no problems, even when running a 3S lipo and 35 turn motor.

#1951 and #4628 or #4628X

Well I guess it depends on one's driving, in my case I'm still on the original shafts. Some people twist and destroy the stock shafts on their first run, others like me have had better luck with them. Why replace something that ain't broke (yet)? If you're competing then it's a must, or if shaft failure can lead to other damage then by all means, upgrade now to prevent further damage. But in this case shaft failure will not take any other part of the truck with it, and they can be replaced in 5 minutes.

I have completed the chassis and have the electronics in place. That was a lot of fun (my finger tips are raw from putting the tires together) - there are a couple things that I still need to sort out.

1) Alignment: What is the best way to setup the alignment? Do you want all tires to be perfectly parallel or is it better to have some toe (is that the correct term).
2) Turning radius: The turning radius was hilarious - what to do here?

Thanks in advance.

I think the main problem with my turning radius is my weak servo - I just threw in a futaba s3003 servo that I had lying around. I will need to invest in a high torque servo. I will stop by the lhs tomorrow and see what they have in stock.

Yes 44 oz-in @ 4.8V or 56.8 oz-in @ 6V is way to weak, if your looking for a cheap high torque that seems to be pretty good -just make sure you set your epa's - Toward Pro mgr946 , under $20 for a 180oz - jpcustomrcs.com, also a vendor here, but even then the stock radius is pathetic at best, 4ws makes it much better , but untill someone comes out with cv's all you can do is cut/grind the cups a tad this helps a bit.

I stopped by a local hobby shop during lunch today and had a few options. Did not want to get to spendy so I went with an Integy C22435MB (v2) for $38 out the door. Torque: 190oz-in @ 6V Speed: 0.17 sec @ 60° I will install it tonight and see how it does.

Well I have it together and painted, it came out a little darker than I thought it would - but I like it. It looks darker then it actually is in this picture - so I will need to take another shot with better light.

http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/q...at/MyCR-01.jpg