Badger's Vaterra Twin Hammers 1.9 Rock Racer

[badger]

I was lucky enough to get one of the early "media" Twin Hammers, big thanks to Rich!

Horizon did their home work and released an rc crawler/rock racer with features that a lot of us have been wanting for a long time. With the shift on the fly two speed transmission, an IFS front and live rear axle with TONS of travel, this rock racer should be a blast to drive!

Here is a TOC for relevant updates posted throughout this thread:

Second set of photos
First run feedback & photos
Waterproof electronics feedback and warning
Rear axle housing taken apart photos(thanks Rubbaneck!)
My opinion on the stock tires
Battery upgraded suggestion to "shorty" lipo batteries (thanks Rock Concepts!)
Battery tray dimensions
Comparison photos next to my SCX10 Jeep JK
2.2 tires/wheels installed photos
Night time photos of installed spot lights
My opinion on what lights the Twin Hammers needs with pic of the triple LED scale off-road lights installed
Mini Trophy body set on rig photos
Ultra thick diff oils for the front diff to make it crawl better
Video of my Twin Hammers
Parts that broke while making the video (and purposely abusing on the rig)


On to the first batch of pics. I will be taking more pics today so check back later.

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Nice scale cockpit and driver!

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Fully waterproof ESC with Lipo cutoff

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ESC on/off switch is even sealed

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Waterproof Spektrum SR300WP receiver

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Aux servo to handle the shifting

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Brushed Dynamite 15T motor

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Independent cantilever front suspension

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4 link rear suspension with a lot of travel

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[wrightcs77]

NICE!!!!!

I am loving the looks of it so far.

[Rubbaneck]

Very pretty, Take it off any sweet jumps yet?

[squish72]

Can you post pictures of it next to other familiar vehicles to show size please.

[badger]

Originally Posted by Rubbaneck

Very pretty, Take it off any sweet jumps yet?

Not yet. You have any tips on tuning it for both crawling and high speed action? I was thinking about putting 500K diff fluid in the front diff to make it feel like a locker but still have a little give to not break stuff.

[badger]

Originally Posted by squish72

Can you post pictures of it next to other familiar vehicles to show size please.

Will do. It's almost exactly the same size as my SCX10 JK.

[Meatwad]

Please take it off some sweet jumps! The thing looks really good, my only visual issue is the front cantilever setup... would be cooler looking to have standing up shocks out front imo. Vaterra whomever you are, give us a kit. A lot of us have rx's, servo's and bl systems on standby for something this cool.

[Rubbaneck]

Originally Posted by badger

Not yet. You have any tips on tuning it for both crawling and high speed action? I was thinking about putting 500K diff fluid in the front diff to make it feel like a locker but still have a little give to not break stuff.

I played with rear oil and piston the most for this. I went with a bigger hole piston with heavy wt shock oil. It comes with 30wt and I'm at 40-50wt with a 54 hole piston. The shocks are the same size as the Losi Crawler and XXX-series vehicles so pistons are easy to come by.

Springs are a great tuning point too. Heavier spring in the rear helps keep it stable at high speeds. The big hole piston helped going slow so the suspension will float a bit.

As for the front I tried about every spring and oil combo and kept goin back to stock. I do play with the ride height too for going fast, too high you'll role it, too low it will ride very stiff like on bump stops.

I'm so glad this is out and I can talk about it now

[JDCrawler27]

nice rig, i really like it,,

[badger]

Originally Posted by squish72

Can you post pictures of it next to other familiar vehicles to show size please.

Here's a pic of the Twin Hammers next to a Losi 22SCT courtesy of John Schultz.

[badger]

Originally Posted by Rubbaneck

I played with rear oil and piston the most for this. I went with a bigger hole piston with heavy wt shock oil. It comes with 30wt and I'm at 40-50wt with a 54 hole piston. The shocks are the same size as the Losi Crawler and XXX-series vehicles so pistons are easy to come by.

Springs are a great tuning point too. Heavier spring in the rear helps keep it stable at high speeds. The big hole piston helped going slow so the suspension will float a bit.

As for the front I tried about every spring and oil combo and kept goin back to stock. I do play with the ride height too for going fast, too high you'll role it, too low it will ride very stiff like on bump stops.

I'm so glad this is out and I can talk about it now

Awesome thanks. You forgot to answer my question on the diff fluid. I need tech support from the expert stat!

[Rock Concepts]

i am running 500,000 in mine and it made it work alot better in the rocks!

[sally1800]

I didn't notice the front Revo like shocks. Sweet

Thanks for all the great pics.

Can you check if maybe some Axial lights would fit in those fake lights?

[Skeeno]

The motor wires appear to be wrapped around some metal spacers. What's the story behind that?

[JohnRobHolmes]

Those are toroid chokes. Adds a bit of inductance to the motor and filters RF noise.

Cool looking rig!

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by Rubbaneck

Very pretty, Take it off any sweet jumps yet?

LOL, great reference! Could you post a pic of a Pro-Line 1.9 Flat Iron next to the Hammer's tires?

[Rubbaneck]

Originally Posted by badger

Awesome thanks. You forgot to answer my question on the diff fluid. I need tech support from the expert stat!

Yes it will help it out a lot. Running it stock and you come up to a rock and the one-tire-fire sorta throws it off line. I just punch it and wheelie up!

[mojave450rider]

when can i get one!?

[benny_wiskas]

I'm curious how well the front axleshafts would hold up to the locker in the front. Please install it and report back.

[xgerstandtx]

Awesome, Excited to fondle one of these.

Have you or Rubbaneck had a chance to tear down the rear axle, and maybe give us a little love on how the rear axle is assembled.