Back into Hobby with a CC01 Land Cruiser...HELP!

[jongrill]

So on a trip to Nashville last week I came to be the proud owner of a bone stock CC01 FJ40. I'm really excited because it's my attempt to get back into RC and have fun building something scale (kind of like model railroading...my other hobby).

I have been searching the board and have found a lot of great projects but right now I am going to ask for some opinions. I know thats a silly thing to ask for on ab oard but hey! Why not?!


I have not worked on a RC truck in a LONG time. So I want to do a few modifications to the truck, but not so much as cutting the frame as I see a lot of people. Bolt ons (if there is such a thing) for right now.

**EDIT** - Just discovered JunFac parts....what do we think of these?


So here are my questions:

1 - Motor/ESC - I've been looking at replaceing the stock Tamiya electronics with a Novak system. It looks like they are some of the best around. Should I go brushed or brushless? Regular ESC or LiPo compatible?

2 - Radios - My buddy just gave me an extra Traxxas TQi (the new one)....is that sufficient? It seems to be rather nice!

3 - Scale wheels and tires - I have NO idea what even fits on this truck.


4 - Suspension - Any bolt on upgrades out there? What about metal links and a metal drive shaft.




Thanks for your help..I will keep perusing the boards while I'm waiting!


Thanks!

[pantablo]

Welcome (back)!

1-the stock cc01 is plenty fast. I personally wouldn't go brushless on this as I would fear damaging the plastic gears. They seem delicate to lots of power. For me, the slower the better. putting in a 55t motor is a good first step to slow it down. This keeps it fast but gives you a bit more slower speed control. On my rigs I use a RC4WD 4:1 gear reduction unit (ie GRU) with a 55t motor. I like that very slow control for crawling.

2-I dont know. sounds fine. You dont need anything fancy to run it. Just a basic 2 channel will do.

3-Stay as small as possible to keep the scale look. The IFS limits how much clearance you can get so 3.75" tires are the best IMO. I actually cut down tires to 3.3" or so and it looks much better IMO (see below)
cc01 with LR3 body and 1.9 wheels with custom tires:


Same but earlier when it had 1.9 Trail Doctors. These are some of the smallest tires you can get in 1.9. The 1.55 tires are almost all larger overall diameter so be careful.



4-yes, Junfac, but you can make your own for far less. I would suggest driving it for a while before you upgrade. You may find it works fine as is. I've never had to upgrade the links.

[jongrill]

Thanks! I don't know if I am good enough to build my own parts! Every time I have tried it doesn't come out to good!


I see a lot of people here with boxes containing their electronics. Are those home made or can those be bought?



Thanks!

Originally Posted by jongrill

So on a trip to Nashville last week I came to be the proud owner of a bone stock CC01 FJ40. I'm really excited because it's my attempt to get back into RC and have fun building something scale (kind of like model railroading...my other hobby).

I have been searching the board and have found a lot of great projects but right now I am going to ask for some opinions. I know thats a silly thing to ask for on ab oard but hey! Why not?!


I have not worked on a RC truck in a LONG time. So I want to do a few modifications to the truck, but not so much as cutting the frame as I see a lot of people. Bolt ons (if there is such a thing) for right now.

**EDIT** - Just discovered JunFac parts....what do we think of these?


So here are my questions:

1 - Motor/ESC - I've been looking at replaceing the stock Tamiya electronics with a Novak system. It looks like they are some of the best around. Should I go brushed or brushless? Regular ESC or LiPo compatible?

2 - Radios - My buddy just gave me an extra Traxxas TQi (the new one)....is that sufficient? It seems to be rather nice!

3 - Scale wheels and tires - I have NO idea what even fits on this truck.


4 - Suspension - Any bolt on upgrades out there? What about metal links and a metal drive shaft.




Thanks for your help..I will keep perusing the boards while I'm waiting!


Thanks!

[apsilon]

Originally Posted by jongrill

I see a lot of people here with boxes containing their electronics. Are those home made or can those be bought?

I'm just returning to the hobby as well so I've been doing lots of reading.

No reason why you couldn't make one if you have the materials and skills but I just received an Ofna waterproof receiver box. Water resistant would be a better description as it's not sealed but I don't plan on running through deep water or submerged so it fits my needs. Easily big enough to hold the ESC and Rx with room to spare and small enough to fit between the front guards once I make a mount (I want a little more weight up front, could easily be mounted at the back).

[Smoke&Mirrors]

The CC01 is an awesome truck and a great choice!

1. I use a Novak 55t brushed motor and a Rooster Crawler by Novak as well. The 55t has plenty of speed for a crawler and more importantly, lots of torque! It is just faster than walking speed for me at full throttle, which is the pace I like. Try that to start. The ESC I choose has the ability to run LiPo or NiMh (though I only run LiPo on it) and what they call an 'instant reverse'. LiPo's feature better performance curves in terms of nominal voltage over time. Meaning that you rig will have full power through almost all of its runtime and then will drop off very quickly when it needs to be recharged; a valued benefit. The instant reverse is just as it sounds and means that while crawling, there is no "brake" to go through when you reverse the trigger on the transmitter. This can be a real roll-over saver if you're vehicle is about to flip. Look for both of these features in whichever ESC you go with. It's also worth noting that the Rooster boasts "waterproof" casing, though I don't care to test that.

2.The TX/RX combo you have is fine. It runs off of 2.4Ghz technology so you will not have to deal with the interference issues that plagued RF transmitters of the past in addition to faster response times from the receiver.

3. In terms of wheels and tires, you can look in either the 1.9 tire/wheel size or the 1.55 tires/wheels. Depends on how stock or modified you want your FJ to look. I have the Wrangler body and deal with lots of rock and dirt so I went with a set of 1.9 Rock Crushers from RC4WD and Tamiya HUMVEE 1.9 wheels for a beefier look. You can get either functional beadlock wheels or just glue your tires to regular wheels to prevent slippage.

4. As Pantablo suggested, try it out stock for now and see how she handles. I think you'll be rather surprised. The CC01 is very capable out of the box with a few minor adjustments. What I have come to upgrade on my CC in terms of suspension is just adding some homemade metal linkages, and I have to fashion a replacement u-joint on the driveshaft until I get the Junfac one. To get more lift because my tires are much larger than the ones that it comes with, I went the route of a body lift. It is much easier and cost effective than new shocks, although aluminum GMP ones will eventually be in order.

5. I too use boxes on my rigs to house and protect electronics. I always go to Radioshack and pick up some of their "project boxes". They come in various sizes and are nice and easy to drill and fit ESC's, RX, and whatever else. Then I'll put some putty around where I drilled the box for the wires. It's not waterproof by any means, but it's enough to protect my valuables from dirt and debris ().

Something else you might want to consider is a scale, functioning winch (great site too btw). There really are scale winches with small motors, gear reductions, and cable that are controllable from your transmitter (provided it has the ability to support 3+ channels) and can 'recover' your vehicle from stick situations - because just picking it up is no fun!

Lastly, picture of my rig for your reference and my ego. Happy scalin'! (winch no installed at time of pic)

[jongrill]

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to check out some things.


I'm just worried about fashioning my own parts. Not really good with that stuff!

[daddyduck]

in my experience, the front geys seriously hung up on everything. I cut that big bump off the front from below the front body mount to the lower skid plate. Now it drive.over.anything.

It screwed right in to the body mount and the 2 front holes of the bottom skid plate.

Sent from my LG-E739 using Tapatalk 2

[rnathan]

Stock options are to work quite well already. It just depends on what upgrades you want to have that would make it run better and smoother.

The ESC should be just a matter of choosing the ones with far more options. I mean, if you have requirements that would make use of special buttons.

For the battery, in as much as lipos are the in thing now, they are actually quite hard to maintain so you should proceed with it in caution.

[jongrill]

I finally got a chance to run my FJ this morning. It's bone stock except for the Tx/Rx. SO MUCH FUN! The motor/ESC are probably the first major upgrade I am thinking about. I am still looking for a nice wheel and tire combo. Other than that....I am still lost at what upgrade you can find for this thing!


Thanks for all the help. This truck is going to be a BLAST!