Jato The Ascender

[JatoTheRipper]

My girlfriend bought me the Ascender kit for Christmas. It arrived early and she let me start building right away instead of making me wait for Christmas. The build was completed early this year and I had a chance to take it for it's maiden trail run earlier this month. Overall, I was really pleased.

This won't really be a build thread since it's already finished and almost everything was built per the manual. It will be more of an evolution thread, but for any extensive information definitely see Natedog's thread! I'll be getting most of my tips from him anyway.

My uncle had an awesome, black K5 when I was a kid. I tried to recreate that going off of my horrible memory.

I knew I would run my typical motor and ESC, but I wanted to try something new with the servo. I typically run the Solar D772.

ESC: HobbyWing Quicrun 1060 Brushed
Motor: RC4WD 35T
Servo: Turnigy TGY-3509MG

Servo:


The kit arrived with a few issues. One of them being this bent link. Interestingly, I bent the same link on my very first run.


Slider:


Roller:


I didn't end up using the JConcepts Scorpios because I wasn't impressed by the feel of the rubber at all and because they were too big for the K5 body.

The Pitbull Rock Beasts are the perfect size.


Painted metallic black. I didn't take that much time on this body because I trusted Vaterra's body holes and they were off by a bit and, therefore, this body doesn't lineup as perfectly as I would have liked.


This picture proudly got me the cover photo on Gear Head's Facebook page!


I'm not a fan of Vaterra's horrible taillight decals.

[JatoTheRipper]

On the first run I quickly learned the size and limitations of the stock body. Not being one to back down or go easy on my trucks, I squeezed through a lot of tight spots and the body shows heavy usage after just the first run.


I typically weight my wheels with a good amount of lead, but for this build I chose not to do that. I didn't add any additional weight and it crawled surprisingly well. It definitely surpassed my expectations. Straight uphills were its biggest downfall.

[RCHuffer]

Metallic black looks good only down fall is you see all the scratches.

" I trusted Vaterra's body holes and they were off by a bit and, therefore, this body doesn't lineup as perfectly as I would have liked."

Cool I thought the same thing when I lined mine up too. I made my holes a inch forward (fail) then when a 1/2 inch and I looked good to me.

[Natedog]

Looks great, the Pitbulls are a great size tire for this body and those shiny Gearhead wheels complete the look! Thanks for the kind words too.

That servo and coupld others of HK's interested me, but I've read of gears separating from shafts inside so I have Hitec as backup and still running stock servos with an output bearing instead of the stock bushing. Please keep us updated on your truck and this servo. Stock configuration, they need to climb to the right going up steep uphill or the TT really kicks in, but rear swaybar fixed this for me. What setting are your body posts on front and rear? Looks like you could drop it down about 1 - 2 more holes front and rear without having to do much fender trimmming. Mine are two holes below stock RTR and I had to trim little bit around wheel cutouts to run stock TSLs.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by RCHuffer

Metallic black looks good only down fall is you see all the scratches.

" I trusted Vaterra's body holes and they were off by a bit and, therefore, this body doesn't lineup as perfectly as I would have liked."

Cool I thought the same thing when I lined mine up too. I made my holes a inch forward (fail) then when a 1/2 inch and I looked good to me.

Black shows everything. My 1:1 is black and I regret buying that color almost every day.

Originally Posted by Natedog

Looks great, the Pitbulls are a great size tire for this body and those shiny Gearhead wheels complete the look! Thanks for the kind words too.

That servo and coupld others of HK's interested me, but I've read of gears separating from shafts inside so I have Hitec as backup and still running stock servos with an output bearing instead of the stock bushing. Please keep us updated on your truck and this servo. Stock configuration, they need to climb to the right going up steep uphill or the TT really kicks in, but rear swaybar fixed this for me. What setting are your body posts on front and rear? Looks like you could drop it down about 1 - 2 more holes front and rear without having to do much fender trimmming. Mine are two holes below stock RTR and I had to trim little bit around wheel cutouts to run stock TSLs.

Thanks. I love my Gear Head wheels!

I've had great luck with HK's servos. I'm not sure what company is the OEM of this particular servo, but the others that I've tried are made by Power HD and I've never had a failure. When I raced I had a TrackStar TS-400MG servo in my B5M. Again, I don't know the OEM, but that looks like Power HD servo. I was a newbie racer so I crashed a ton and it never failed. After I sold my buggy, I put it in an on-road car and it's still kicking.

I bought Axial's front Wraith sway bar you suggested. I haven't installed it yet.

My body posts are high - too many holes to count this late when I'm this tired. I'll try to do that tomorrow if I remember.

[JatoTheRipper]

I forgot to mention that on my first time on the trail my Ascender wouldn't run. It turns out the servo extension I got from my LHS must have been purchased from Rock Hard Wire Company because it snapped rather than flexed in the receiver box. I had to move the receiver out of the receiver box as a temporary fix for my first run. I bought a better quality servo extension and stood my receiver up on it's side rather than putting it flat on the bottom of the receiver box. This eliminated the hard 90° bend on the servo extension and ESC leads going into the receiver. Hopefully this solves the problem. I don't foresee any other issues.

I would like to make the receiver box waterproof. I think I'm going to use some Shoe Goo to seal the overly large bottom opening and then I'm going to have to make a gasket of some sorts for the lid.

I didn't lower my body, but I did adjust the preload of the shocks. Thanks for noticing my body was high, Natedog. I had the shocks jacked up for some reason. Obviously, reducing preload makes the truck sit lower so the body also sits lower as a result. On the fronts I took all of the preload off. Then I adjusted the rear shocks to try to get the truck close to level. The suspension is still too stiff so I'll have to change shock oil and/or mod the pistons. I put this off because I want to see how some of my other changes affect handling before I go and get drastic and then not know which changes helped, which hurt, and which did nothing for performance. And I also hate building shocks so that was my excuse for procrastinating here.


On the trail I lost two GMade hubs. This was the first time that I've ever had an issue with their hubs so I thought it was a bad batch. It turns out that the hub is too large to fit in the recess on Gear Head wheels. The nut that is pressed into the hubs is small enough to go into the recess so while tightening them I essentially partially unseated the nuts from the hubs. This made it easy to lose the hubs on the trail and I'm actually surprised I didn't lose all four of them. I need to find hubs that fit inside the Gear Head recess so I'm open to any recommendations. If I can't find any I might just try to find a washer that fits perfectly in the recess.

I bought Vaterra's scale brake brass weights. I have no idea how I missed the note about these requiring the aluminum knuckles. So I immediately ordered those and they should be delivered to my house today.


I decided to give Crawler Innovations foams a try for the first time. I got the Pitbull Rock Beast sized Deuce's Wild foams and installed them in the stock TSL tires that came with the kit. The CI foams are in the tire on the left and the stock, open cell foams are in the the tire on the right. You can see the profile of the tire is much improved. The foams are slightly shorter than the tire which is is good because it allows some flex in the tires with these stiff foams.

The foams are a little stiff, but they will be waterproof. Because of this, I used my soldering iron to make two air holes in each of the tires. This is also a first for me.

I tried the tires out in my back yard and they really surprised me. It will be fun trying them out on the trails, but I'm going to go back to the Gear Head wheels and Pitbull Rock Beast tires before my next trail run. Again, this is to keep my setup close so I can see how the other changes (front weights and lowering the body) affect the handling of the truck.
Foams

[JatoTheRipper]

I've long been fascinated by scale hardware so I decided to buy some. I got Locked Up RC scale acorn studs and Gear Head black scale hex bolts. I'm not sure if I like the contrasting black, but the hardware really is cool!

Before:

After:

I also added some Yeah Racing red D-rings just to add some accents.

[Natedog]

That's too bad about losing your scale hubs, maybe find/make some kinda thick flat washer to fit down in the wheel recess with the Gearheads. Might have to remove the machined lip from the wheel hub centers or turn down the washer OD a little? Truck looks great and the stock TSLs work so well with the CI DW foams, just give them a chance. Did you soak yours with a little Simple Green and water?

[svt923]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I've long been fascinated by scale hardware so I decided to buy some. I got Locked Up RC scale acorn studs and Gear Head black scale hex bolts. I'm not sure if I like the contrasting black, but the hardware really is cool!

I recently got into the scale hardware thing on my wheels too (spent yesterday replacing 72 screws on my Motoworx wheels with Locked Up MC zinc scale hardware). It really does make them look a whole lot better than regular cap screws and the scale lugs are icing on the cake.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Natedog

That's too bad about losing your scale hubs, maybe find/make some kinda thick flat washer to fit down in the wheel recess with the Gearheads. Might have to remove the machined lip from the wheel hub centers or turn down the washer OD a little? Truck looks great and the stock TSLs work so well with the CI DW foams, just give them a chance. Did you soak yours with a little Simple Green and water?

I'll definitely give the tires a fair chance. They did much better than I expected in my back yard rock garden.

Darn! No, I forgot to give them a Simple Green bath because my memory is horrible. Do you think it's necessary to dilute the Simple Green?

Originally Posted by svt923

I recently got into the scale hardware thing on my wheels too (spent yesterday replacing 72 screws on my Motoworx wheels with Locked Up MC zinc scale hardware). It really does make them look a whole lot better than regular cap screws and the scale lugs are icing on the cake.

Yeah they look so cool! I enjoy wheel work for some reason. Probably because I'm a wheel and tire fanatic.

[Natedog]

You can take a scubby sponge (kitchen dish washing type) soak it in Simple Green, scrub the tires, wait 2 minutes and rinse them with plain water, helps get the mould release off, softens them a bit and speeds up break-in.

EDIT: Some LockedUpRC scale hardware on the 8-hole alloys would look really sweet too...they already look awesome!

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Natedog

You can take a scubby sponge (kitchen dish washing type) soak it in Simple Green, scrub the tires, wait 2 minutes and rinse them with plain water, helps get the mould release off, softens them a bit and speeds up break-in.

EDIT: Some LockedUpRC scale hardware on the 8-hole alloys would look really sweet too...they already look awesome!

OK I'll try that. I know Ottsix recommends oven cleaner for their tires, but that seems too harsh!

Thanks! I am planning on getting scale hardware for those too. I'm torn about getting black or stainless color.

[Natedog]

Oven cleaner for how long, instructions? That prolly works, but seems really harsh to me too, don't get that on your pretty alloy wheels!

Color, zinc plated is what I usually like, has the slightly yellowish/gold tint to it.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Oven cleaner for how long, instructions? That prolly works, but seems really harsh to me too, don't get that on your pretty alloy wheels!

Color, zinc plated is what I usually like, has the slightly yellowish/gold tint to it.

I'm not sure. I just know he recommended it to me via PM and he recommends it on the "Voodoo tire fan page" group on Facebook.

The zinc does look cool, but sometimes the extreme color variation drives me nuts.

[JatoTheRipper]

I received the aluminum knuckles which are required to run the brass disc brake weights. Like the rest of Vaterra's parts, they are very nicely made. I wanted to weigh the plastic knuckles vs the aluminum knuckles and also weigh the brake weights to see how close they were to Vaterra's claim of 27 grams each, but I forgot.


Before:


Aluminum knuckles installed:


Brass brake weights installed:
They sure do look cool and the machine work is awesome.


In my excitement I tried to put the wheels back on and then realized I had forgotten to install the wheel hexes.


You can see the brakes through the holes in the wheels which adds some cool scale factor.

[Natedog]

NIce, are you going to detail paint the brake rotors and calipers?

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Natedog

NIce, are you going to detail paint the brake rotors and calipers?

I should. It would look much better. We'll see if I get time to do that this week.

I really don't want to scuff the pretty brass to get the paint to stick though!

[Sammy J.]

I think they look pretty cool in brass.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[JatoTheRipper]

I wanted more weight than the Vattera disc brake weights offered on their own so I purchased the new Beef Patties for Gear Head wheels. They are great looking pieces and the machining is exceptional. They weigh exactly what Beef Tubes claims.

Unfortunately, you can't use the narrow offset option of the Gear Head wheels when using these weights. I should have realized this when I ordered them, but I guess I was so excited to have weights for Gear Head wheels that I didn't even think about it. You have to use the wide offset and I think it makes these wheels too wide for the K5 body. You also have to buy longer screws in order to use these weights. The stock screws are too short. I chose LockedUp RC M2 x 10mm Scale Hex Bolts. That's only a 2mm difference in length, but I feel confident that this is enough to hold the hubs on without breaking out on the trail.

Another issue is that you can't use the Beef Patties with the Vattera disc brake weights as you can see in the photo. You could add some spacers or washers between the Beef Patties and Gear Head hub, but that would have made the track even wider. I chose to remove the Vattera disc brakes so I can try the Beef Patties. I haven't had a chance to drive the truck like this yet, but I will ASAP.

I also ordered TSS brake weights for my 8-hole wheels seen elsewhere on this thread. They should be here soon so I will let you guys know if those work with the Vaterra disc brake weights. Of course, on those wheels I believe you could switch the size of the SLW hub to add clearance, but again you'd have to worry about the track or width of the truck with the body.

[Natedog]

One set of the Beef Patties are brass and the other aluminum? That's the problem with GearHead wheels, is the are too wide on most trucks unless you run them 'backwards' which often still makes them too wide (plus they don't look as good built this way.)