Vaterra ascender $400 good purchase or no

[GrapeNutz]

I just purchased the vaterra ascender was that a good decision for my first rig or no?

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[LSXGMC]

Buyers remorse? In my opinion the Ascender is the best out of the box scale truck you can buy (SCX10 II may be some stiff competition now). You'll be very happy with it!

[GrapeNutz]

What upgrades would you do to it?

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[GrapeNutz]

Originally Posted by LSXGMC

Buyers remorse? In my opinion the Ascender is the best out of the box scale truck you can buy (SCX10 II may be some stiff competition now). You'll be very happy with it!

Thanks for the good feedback!

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[LSXGMC]

Is it bone stock? The nice thing about the ascender is it has the aluminum links, steel trans gears, etc. Firstly, check to see if it's got the HD pinion gears and HD Driveshafts. Worthwhile upgrades, and relatively inexpensive, if it doesn't. Second thing would be an aluminum servo horn, as the stock plastic one flexed on me alot and limited my steering to the left.

Stock electronics are fantastic for beginners - only thing I'd think about upgrading is the steering servo if you feel it doesn't steer as strongly as you'd like.

Stock tires work fine, but you can always choose to upgrade those if you want, more of a personal preference. Pit Bull Rock Beast are a very popular tire and won't require any trimming to the body. If you don't mind trimming it, the Proline TSL XL are an awesome all around tire, as are the Voodoo KLR. Not sure what terrain you'll be rolling on.

For everything above there's countless threads with a ton of information in them. Spend a couple hours searching the forum and you'll learn a ton, I've found it incredibly useful. If you can't find anything after searching, don't hesitate to start a thread and ask the question.

Good luck!

[GrapeNutz]

Thanks I have never had an electric rc before lol I had the t-maxx 3.3 that was such a pain after I went mudding events to clean up or just even messing around.

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[pete959]

The first upgrade to do is the wraith swaybar kit and read through nates posts he has awesome cheap improvements ben does also they made their trucks badass stock mt thread starts off as newbie and i have gone completely over the edge i have replaced everything but the tranny housing on mine i run crazy power instant throttle responce and love it

LIFE IS GOOD

[pete959]

Btw ben is itali83

LIFE IS GOOD

[SPLATT]

I swapped one spring off of every shock to stiffer ones from a SCX10 as it really helps combat torque twist and the tendency to flop over without hampering the suspension performance.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by LSXGMC

Buyers remorse? In my opinion the Ascender is the best out of the box scale truck you can buy.... You'll be very happy with it!

Yes!

Originally Posted by pete959

The first upgrade to do is the wraith swaybar kit and read through nates posts he has awesome cheap improvements ben does also they made their trucks badass stock mt thread starts off as newbie and i have gone completely over the edge i have replaced everything but the tranny housing on mine i run crazy power instant throttle responce and love it

LIFE IS GOOD

Yes!

Originally Posted by SPLATT

I swapped one spring off of every shock to stiffer ones from a SCX10 as it really helps combat torque twist and the tendency to flop over without hampering the suspension performance.

You mean left rear and front right springs? This is another way to fight torque twist, although probably not quite as effective, we used to do that on 2.2 shafty comp crawlers.

Read, experiment, ask questions, post your truck at least in the stickied Ascender thread up top, Start a thread and welcome to RCC!

[GrapeNutz]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Yes!



Yes!



You mean left rear and front right springs? This is another way to fight torque twist, although probably not quite as effective, we used to do that on 2.2 shafty comp crawlers.

Read, experiment, ask questions, post your truck at least in the stickied Ascender thread up top, Start a thread and welcome to RCC!

Nate do you have a ascender. I do what could do to it to improve it?

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[LSXGMC]

Originally Posted by GrapeNutz

Nate do you have a ascender. I do what could do to it to improve it?

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Nate has an awesome build thread, check it out. Lots of great information there.

[SPLATT]

Originally Posted by Natedog

You mean left rear and front right springs? This is another way to fight torque twist, although probably not quite as effective, we used to do that on 2.2 shafty comp crawlers.

Nope all 4.
Rear

Front

A better one of the front


I don't compete, just play around and found with the stock springs in addition to the severe torque twist it would have a tendency to flop when the weight would shift. Now the torque twist is about the same as my SCX10 and it's more controllable when the weight shifts and it still out does my SCX10.

[Natedog]

Thanks for pics, all four shocks could work if they are stiff enough, but your ride height is going to be very high and flex will be much less. Have a few pics from the side ready to crawl sitting on the ground? Swaybar is cheap and easy mod.

[SPLATT]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Thanks for pics, all four shocks could work if they are stiff enough, but your ride height is going to be very high and flex will be much less. Have a few pics from the side ready to crawl sitting on the ground? Swaybar is cheap and easy mod.

I found even with the higher ride height it crawled better because it's more predictable in what it's going to do and it still flexes pretty well. I run it more than my modified SCX10 because it will go places the Axial won't or has problems doing so.

[stonecold]

I've got the front wraith sway bar on mine and it works great. I actually compared it out while driving, first drove with it off and it did okay, got the job done. Put the sway bar on and it crawled the same line so much better and looked more composed while doing it.

Other than the sway bar, that's about all had done on mine for quite sometime, now is another story...

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by GrapeNutz

Nate do you have a ascender. I do what could do to it to improve it?

Sorry thought I answered you, yes I do it's in my signature. I also have a 1.9 Wrascenderaith. There are lots of free and cheap mods you can do, and it goes from there with beadlock wheels and Crawler Innovations Deuces Wild foams etc.

Originally Posted by LSXGMC

Nate has an awesome build thread, check it out. Lots of great information there.

THanks!

Originally Posted by SPLATT

I found even with the higher ride height it crawled better because it's more predictable in what it's going to do and it still flexes pretty well. I run it more than my modified SCX10 because it will go places the Axial won't or has problems doing so.

OK, interesting and makes sense. If you internally limit all four shocks 5-9mm you'll do even better. If you want later on, try the Wraith front swaybar on the rear of Ascender, night and day improvement.

Originally Posted by stonecold

I've got the front wraith sway bar on mine and it works great. I actually compared it out while driving, first drove with it off and it did okay, got the job done. Put the sway bar on and it crawled the same line so much better and looked more composed while doing it.

Other than the sway bar, that's about all had done on mine for quite sometime, now is another story...

[SPLATT]

Originally Posted by Natedog

OK, interesting and makes sense. If you internally limit all four shocks 5-9mm you'll do even better. If you want later on, try the Wraith front swaybar on the rear of Ascender, night and day improvement.

I had been thinking about dropping a bit. The only reason I went with stiffer spring is that I already had them in the parts bin leftover from another project. I did swap the battery tray mounts around to relocate the upper links. I may try out a set of SXC10 II axles when they become more available.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by SPLATT

I may try out a set of SXC10 II axles when they become more available.

Be prepared to motor up significantly. 3.75:1 gearing in the axles combined with the Ascender's 4.05:1 trans will produce a truck capable of inducing yawns at full throttle. A 3500kv brushless motor on 3s should get you into the realm of slow.

[LSXGMC]

Originally Posted by svt923

Be prepared to motor up significantly. 3.75:1 gearing in the axles combined with the Ascender's 4.05:1 trans will produce a truck capable of inducing yawns at full throttle. A 3500kv brushless motor on 3s should get you into the realm of slow.

I ran into that issue when I our SSD D60's under mine. Running 35T motor with the Twin Hammers 78T spur and a 28T pinion. Seems to drive just like it did before, no heat issues yet.