testing

[John]

I competed in the Socal event at Stodard Wells yesterday and tested out the Rock Force. The rocks were very challanging for even the highly modified rigs. Track width needed to be narrow in order to do well on the challenging rock courses set up by the SoCal and RCP Crawlers crew. A few mods that I recommend after the first day out.

#1 Narrow your track width. With the stock Rock Force sitting at a 11" track width, I recommend getting a set of wheels with a pretty good offset. I talked with Proline at the event and I would highly recommend getting a set of their Slash wheels. The rears should work perfect to get the Kyosho width down to 10 1/4".

#2 File down some of the sharp edges on the bottom skid. Also file down the screws that hold the skid to the chassis supports. Mine stuck out just a little and hitting it with a file brought them flush.




#3 Extend the links. The Rock Force sits at 11 7/8" squashed. I made some plastic spacers for the rear that brought it out to 12 3/8". You could also add them to the front to get to 12 1/2".



#4 Raise the steering linkage to above the knuckles. With the steering linkage at stock postion, I hit a lot of rocks on entry.


#5 I laid down the shocks a little in the front and cut off the chassis were the stock shock mounting holes used to be. This was just a personal choice as I was able to lower the front portion of the Bug body that I used to run in the comp.




#6 Raise the rear dig linkage and servo arm. This wasn't a huge problem as I only noticed the servo arm draging one time on one specific set of rocks. You could also make a skid plate to protect the linkage. I really like the rear disconnect design. It brings a full size servo to just above the axle case for lower CG. There is no additional weight with the dig mechanism as seen with other digs that mount to the tranny.


Some pics from yesterday. The rocks were like razor blades and very challanging. I have a bunch of pics from the comp that I will post up later today.









I am really interested in tryiny out the high speed gears. I ran a Kyosho X Speed motor which is probably equal to a 27 turn brushed motor and I felt I could use a little more torque. I think the high speed gears and a 35 or 45 turn brushed motor may be a good choice for those going with a brushed motor. I will test this out during the week and let you know the results.