Funny misconceptions I've noticed

[Digger]

Reading through some of the stickied topics and then looking down through the list, I think it's funny how many misconceptions there about crawling with Maxxes.

I build and run the trials course at the biannual Monster Bash events held in Bradenville, PA, at RC Avenue Raceway. I also run on the course with my custom emaxx.

When I started getting interested in crawling and trials, the only roller chassis I had that wasn't in use already was my old race emaxx. It has gone through many different changes over the last couple years. Some mods worked great and some didn't. The point is, you need to try different things to see what works for you.

You don't need to lock the independent suspension to be competative. The current Extreme class trials champion is actually a wide-suspension maxx still running independent suspension and all 8 shocks. The sticky thread that suggests removing 4 shocks I don't agree with. What good is it to remove 4 shocks if you have to stiffen the remaining springs stiffer than the original 8 shocks just to keep ride height? I've tried both ways and I get better suspension action running all 8 shocks with stock springs only preloaded enough to get the desired ride height.

Another beleif I read was that the maxx wasn't long enough to be a really good crawler. I added 8 ounces of BB's to each front tire and my climb angle is unreal! Plus it doesn't take a lot of work to lengthen the wheelbase if you want.

My current setup is a stock chassis emaxx with front bulkheads at each end, complete with bellcranks and front skids. I added a servo in the left battery tray to steer the rear end. It has full CVD's and locked diffs and the tranny is locked into second gear. Feeding the emaxx tranny is the motor and gear reduction unit from a cordless drill, controlled by a rooster ESC and 6 cells. This truck can easily pull me around on a skateboard, and I'm 6'5" and weigh over 300lbs! My maxx is an old style narrow maxx running LST tires on X-75 maximizer beadlocks, foamless.

From what I've seen first hand on my trials course, having 90 or more degrees of axle articulation actually hurts you on some of the obstacles. The maxx suspension works really well and with only slight modification, it can work even better.

As another case-in-point, there's a truck built recently by TOTAL CARNAGE that goes against the beleifs and misconceptions and it does it very well. It's a narrow-maxx based truck running really wide Jumbo Maxx tires/rims, powered by a Novak 5800 brushless motor through a pede tranny, then an rc10 tranny, then the maxx diffs(locked). It's got 4 wheel independent steering, 8 shocks with stock springs, independent suspension and a wheelbase to match the New Bright 1/6 scale H2 body it's running. It has inredible speed range, from inching along at a snail's pace to cruising at a faster that you'd ever think possible speed.

My point is, don't beleive everything you read. Not every mod works for every situation, and in some cases the mod makes it worse. Just build it how you think it will work and play with it. The changes you should make will become clear the more you play with it...

[jason]

Another thing you need to relize is that this is rockcrawling, not trials, 2 very different things.

We had a guy bring a maxx to our last event, and he didn't even make it through the first set of gates on any of the courses.

[AdamF]

Yup, crawling and trials are 2 differnt things.

Can your independent trucks hang with these trucks?

http://projecttwin.com/files/GRSun.wmv

[Digger]

I realize that, but there really isn't that big of a difference. When I build obstacles for the Trials course, I'm basically trying to build portable rock crawling surfaces. The summer event even has a rock pile that must be traversed, with separate lines or "gates" for the different classes. Plus my maxx doesn't just sit and wait for trials competitions to come along, I play with it all year long, especially at the full scale 4wd club's property while waiting for people on the group rides...

[TwistedCreations]

Originally Posted by AdamF

Yup, crawling and trials are 2 differnt things.

Can your independent trucks hang with these trucks?

http://projecttwin.com/files/GRSun.wmv

I would say NO... because it doesn't have the breakover clearance or the WB to climb that steep of stuff to need the breakover clearance. It may be able to hang with the TLT's.



Let's see pics of your trials that isn't on carpet, like your pics in the other thread.

[Digger]

Originally Posted by AdamF

Yup, crawling and trials are 2 differnt things.

Can your independent trucks hang with these trucks?

http://projecttwin.com/files/GRSun.wmv

Impressive vid, thanks for the link!

I don't know, but I'd sure love to try! You guys have until August to plan your trip to come see if your trucks can hang with our maxxes on my trials course... LOL! So far no solid axle rig has out-scored the maxxes in the extreme class on my course. To qualify for the extreme class, you need maxx height or taller tires and at least 2 of the 3 serious crawling mods: lockers, reduction and 4ws.

[gregrocks90046]

Originally Posted by Digger

Reading through some of the stickied topics and then looking down through the list, I think it's funny how many misconceptions there about crawling with Maxxes.

I build and run the trials course at the biannual Monster Bash events held in Bradenville, PA, at RC Avenue Raceway. I also run on the course with my custom emaxx.

When I started getting interested in crawling and trials, the only roller chassis I had that wasn't in use already was my old race emaxx. It has gone through many different changes over the last couple years. Some mods worked great and some didn't. The point is, you need to try different things to see what works for you.

You don't need to lock the independent suspension to be competative. The current Extreme class trials champion is actually a wide-suspension maxx still running independent suspension and all 8 shocks. The sticky thread that suggests removing 4 shocks I don't agree with. What good is it to remove 4 shocks if you have to stiffen the remaining springs stiffer than the original 8 shocks just to keep ride height? I've tried both ways and I get better suspension action running all 8 shocks with stock springs only preloaded enough to get the desired ride height.

Another beleif I read was that the maxx wasn't long enough to be a really good crawler. I added 8 ounces of BB's to each front tire and my climb angle is unreal! Plus it doesn't take a lot of work to lengthen the wheelbase if you want.

My current setup is a stock chassis emaxx with front bulkheads at each end, complete with bellcranks and front skids. I added a servo in the left battery tray to steer the rear end. It has full CVD's and locked diffs and the tranny is locked into second gear. Feeding the emaxx tranny is the motor and gear reduction unit from a cordless drill, controlled by a rooster ESC and 6 cells. This truck can easily pull me around on a skateboard, and I'm 6'5" and weigh over 300lbs! My maxx is an old style narrow maxx running LST tires on X-75 maximizer beadlocks, foamless.

From what I've seen first hand on my trials course, having 90 or more degrees of axle articulation actually hurts you on some of the obstacles. The maxx suspension works really well and with only slight modification, it can work even better.

As another case-in-point, there's a truck built recently by TOTAL CARNAGE that goes against the beleifs and misconceptions and it does it very well. It's a narrow-maxx based truck running really wide Jumbo Maxx tires/rims, powered by a Novak 5800 brushless motor through a pede tranny, then an rc10 tranny, then the maxx diffs(locked). It's got 4 wheel independent steering, 8 shocks with stock springs, independent suspension and a wheelbase to match the New Bright 1/6 scale H2 body it's running. It has inredible speed range, from inching along at a snail's pace to cruising at a faster that you'd ever think possible speed.

My point is, don't beleive everything you read. Not every mod works for every situation, and in some cases the mod makes it worse. Just build it how you think it will work and play with it. The changes you should make will become clear the more you play with it...

i saw the independent rigs your posted in the other thread. they are good looking rigs! but, you do need to lock out the suspension to be competitive in rock crawling. anyone on these boards with a SAS maxx will out crawl ANY independent suspension maxx rig.

[Digger]

Originally Posted by TwistedCreations

I would say NO... because it doesn't have the breakover clearance or the WB to climb that steep of stuff to need the breakover clearance. It may be able to hang with the TLT's.



Let's see pics of your trials that isn't on carpet, like your pics in the other thread.

The pics in the other thread were taken during the winter event, so it was held indoors on the track. The summer event is outdoors and was actually featured in an issue of RC Driver... Let me search around for some of the outside pics...

[Digger]

Originally Posted by gregrocks90046

i saw the independent rigs your posted in the other thread. they are good looking rigs! but, you do need to lock out the suspension to be competitive in rock crawling. anyone on these boards with a SAS maxx will out crawl ANY independent suspension maxx rig.

See, there's the thing. last august we had a SAS maxx show up and it was a sweet looking rig for sure! A scorpion-like tube buggy that was bright yellow, nice and long and great breakover angle. It was able to take the cinderblocks straight on. It finished my course, but the score was nowhere near the winning independent maxx's score. Perhaps it just wasn't setup right or whatever, but on steep climbs, it would flip backwards when climbing and forwards when descending, on grades that the maxxes had no trouble with...

[TwistedCreations]

sounds like it wasn't setup right then. If your rig can climb more vertical stuff than mine, I will take a sledgehammer to my truck and wheel a stock maxx

[Digger]

Here's the sas maxx rig I was speaking of on one of my rock-piles:


And here's my Bronco clearing the same spot:



Because we hold the events in the winter as well as the summer, I have to pretty much stick to portable obstacles that can be set up anywhere in an hour or so...

[TwistedCreations]

well that maxx doesn't impress me none. Shocks are all screwy and the suspension doesn't look to hot either.Can't tell too much from that pic though

[JasonInAugusta]

Digger,

I'm going to send David the green/black Jeep from this vid.

http://projecttwin.com/files/GRSun.wmv

[gregrocks90046]

digger, your bronco looks cool, but there is no way it can stay with a SAS maxx. check out this video link-

http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...758881462223653

my SAS maxx has the red and black rock pleazer body with the moab XL's. tell me you could follow me through those sections. i'm talking about hardcore rock crawling, not trials or obstacle courses.

i'm not trying to rag on ya, but this is a hardcore crawling site. like twisted said, if you can beat my rig, i will destroy it and run a stock suspension maxx.

[gregrocks90046]

use the link from this page instead on the first post.


SoCal Crawl January 15th

[Digger]

So far from everyone that has attended any of the events and out of all of the trucks I've seen, I haven't been real impressed. All these vids I've seen are cool, but every single one of them has questionable positioning so you can't truly tell how steep they are climbing. Nothing personal, you understand, I just haven't seen anything in person that really impresses me enough to consider building one over just continuing to run my maxx Bronco...


***Edit***: the whole gist of this long-winded post wasn't to step on toes, it was merely an attemp at helping out people interested in crawling, but all they have is a maxx. To start with a maxx, just lock the diffs, drop the gearing, throw on some sticky tires and have some fun with it before you go hacking up the truck to build a mega-crawler. The experience will help you to see what you need to focus on for the type of terrain you run on...

[AdamF]

See, the problem is, you have never seen a well built competition level solid axle'd rock crawler before, so you have nothing to compare to your maxx's.

[TwistedCreations]

you can never tell how an obstacle looks, through pictures or video. It doesn't give the perception of depth or how tall it is really. If it looks halfway steep on the video, it is much steeper in person. Since your in PA. you should come over to one of our comps.

I promise, if you beat me in a comp, against any of my crawlers, I will take the sledgehammer out and destroy my truck with it on the spot

[Digger]

Originally Posted by AdamF

See, the problem is, you have never seen a well build competition level solid axle'd rock crawler before, so you have nothing to compare to your maxx's.

Supposedly some of the guys that have shown up have been self-proclaimed disciples of RC Crawler. Now whether they were or not, I have no way of knowing, but their rigs weren't real brag-worthy. I would LOVE to see some comp level rigs in person and even run with them with my truck. To an extent, I guess you're right; I can't really compare my crawler to the ones that have shown up so far because I've out scored every one of them...

[Digger]

Originally Posted by TwistedCreations

you can never tell how an obstacle looks, through pictures or video. It doesn't give the perception of depth or how tall it is really. If it looks halfway steep on the video, it is much steeper in person. Since your in PA. you should come over to one of our comps.

I promise, if you beat me in a comp, against any of my crawlers, I will take the sledgehammer out and destroy my truck with it on the spot

Shoot me some info, if it's not too far away, I'd love to come play!

Don't destroy your truck though, I don't want any rig's death on my concience! LOL! Who knows, maybe we'll both learn something! LOL!