Upgrades

[Osteo]

I've been away for a bit a as well, it was the kitchen, and this past weekend it was wiring the electrical and insulating the workshop, next it it building Christmas presents!! damn other stuff keep getting in the way of my CR0!!

Richard - your list of items looks good, looking forward to seeing it all in place!, also like your Flat Irons! question - are you using the foam that came with the tires? are you trimming them? I trimmed mine and wonder if I took off too much, pretty sure I took off a good 1cm or so... As my truck is in pieces I can't take a picture of how much they are squished, so will create my own build page and get some pictures hopefully soon.

D

[RichardinNZ]

In the end I didn't trim at all (and have added no weight either); I was impressed with what 860crawler had done and just copied that. My aim is more towards trails than hard core crawling. I'd like to finish by Christmas but it looks unlikely and immediately after we are taking our summer holiday/vacation in wintery California. Likely to be a while before I complete it!

[RichardinNZ]

Lots of progress. I spent a relaxing Boxing Day installing the updates and took the car out today. I still have the BEC to install but otherwise all now complete.

Initial impressions are good, although the ESC seems to have less braking than I'd hoped. The new tyres grip well, although I have now locked both differentials which also helps significantly.

New servo is very powerful. Car seems more stable with the short barrel springs.

Some pictures:

[RichardinNZ]

Hi Osteo
This photo shows how much the Flat Irons are squished with uncut foam. The car has a six cell NiMH in it in this photo.

The other thing I've noticed is that it has a slight 'rake' since I installed the short barrel springs (I forget which strength I put where, but it is as per the original build manual for the standard springs).

Richard

[new2rocks]

That's looking seriously good. If I recall correctly, I ended up ditching the manual's recommended spring settings almost immediately because the truck wasn't sitting right. I ended up with stiffer springs in the front than the rear to compensate for the front weight bias (I run a 5000 mAh 3s lipo hardpack), and it sits level now.

Also, FWIW, I run both sets of Flat Irons using the included foams. On the set mounted to RC4WD wagon wheels, which were a challenge to mount, I trimmed the foams at an angle along the inner edge (along the beads) so that the foams didn't get caught in the wheel with the bead. On the two other wheels I've tried (Rocksters and a set of Hot Racing beadlocks), I didn't have to trim at all.

[Osteo]

Originally Posted by RichardinNZ

Hi Osteo
This photo shows how much the Flat Irons are squished with uncut foam. The car has a six cell NiMH in it in this photo.

The other thing I've noticed is that it has a slight 'rake' since I installed the short barrel springs (I forget which strength I put where, but it is as per the original build manual for the standard springs).

Richard

Richard - looks good and thanks for the pic with the tires. I actually spent a good few hours yesterday in the workshop, I worked on my CR01 and my buddy did a bunch of custom work to his Axial, and I took a pile of pic's so will start my own build thread and stop being a lurker!

D

[860Crawler]

Those seem like the softer set up front unless your battery is quite heavy. I have been running Lipo for so long I can't recall how mine sat with a nimh pack un there

sent from Galaxy S3

[RichardinNZ]

I'm going to check the springs....!!
Thanks
Richard

[EeePee]

I went with stiffer springs up front when I was running a brick of a battery. As can be seen, it's practically necessary. No different than a car in real life with the heavy motor up front and thus much higher front spring rates. Pretty sure I run the sway bars opposite of the springs. So, stiff springs and soft bar up front and soft springs and stiff bar in back.

[860Crawler]

Same here pretty much... actually I think I didn't run the hardest bar out back

sent from Galaxy S3

[EeePee]

I went and looked after recalling there's three choices.

Front medium spring and soft bar
Rear soft spring and hard bar

Ah, but now I read I'm running the normal length barrel springs and not the shorties...

[RichardinNZ]

...come on 860Crawler you need to reply...one more post and you've made 1000...

[860Crawler]

Here.

sent from Galaxy S3

[RichardinNZ]

Excellent; now you can enter into 2015 knowing that you have made a positive contribution to the RC Crawling community...

..more seriously, thanks to you and others for posting your experience on here to help those like me who are still learning.

Richard

[RichardinNZ]

More progress. Fitted the external BEC; I soon found that it wasn't a good idea to mount it directly next to the Receiver. The servo was instantly twitching and the throttle all over the place. Also fitted cable ties to the cantilevers.

I checked what I'd done with the springs and do have the hard springs front and medium at the rear. It is a big heavy battery. I have a lighter one I can try. I may research alternatives but know zero about them!

[860Crawler]

What receiver and ESC are you using again?

I've never used a BEC before. I don't think I had any reason with the electronics I've used. Even way back when I had my first real RC, a Traxxas Bullet, I can't remember if there was a BEC. Maybe there was but I was too young or new to understand.

sent from Galaxy S3

[RichardinNZ]

I'm using the HobbyWing Quicrun 1060; very cheap. It has a built in 2Amp BEC. Best part is that it is waterproof (given I killed my last ESC with water is seemed a good idea). Given the new servo (Turnigy MG 959 which is 30kg) everything I read was saying I'd need an external BEC....although I'm not sure whether that it just good advertising from BEC manufacturers, 'forum/internet' experts or truth. I bought that from Hobbyking too; I think I may need to somehow waterproof it just in case.

The receiver and transmitter are old ones from Futaba; 27mhz. I keep them as I love the looks of the transmitter!

[RichardinNZ]

I should have mentioned; when researching the ESC I came across an 'unbranded' version of the RC4WD Outcry for a lot less money on Ebay. It had the standard Outcry external BEC with it too. However, I've lost the link now!

Would be interested on comments on my ESC. It is OK for now but I am not adverse to changing it in the future....I have the 35T Tamiya Crawler motor already. Everything is quite sensitive and it is quite hard to go slow (OK for me, but hard for my 12y.o.)...is that the ESC or gearing?

I must get around to advertising the CC-01 to pay for all of this.......

[new2rocks]

I don't know anything about your ESC. I run the HH BRXL ESC (waterproof version) with CrawlMaster 16T (equivalent to 35T) on 3s, and with an exponential throttle curve programmed through the ESC. I use a Castle BEC instead of the ESC's internal BEC to power the electronics since I'm running two Savox 1210 servos. It is super smooth at low throttle and has plenty of punch wide open. I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 hrs runtime off of a 5000 mah Lipo pack.

[RichardinNZ]

This is the ESC (its the 1060)
HOBBYWING TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.