RCCrawler Forums

Cherokee Chief · 05-01-2010, 12:32 PM

I just ordered a Venom Creeper and I'm waiting on its arrival and I was browsing ths section and now I'm wondering if its a bad choice. The issues with the axle pins coming out and the drive shafts braking and the lockers not locking and then not staying locked.
I chose the Venom creeper over the axial Scorpion ARTR Orange because I wanted to build a crawler and I liked the idea of a 4 link over the 3 link axial. I also liked the idea of being able to lock and unlock the diff's at will.
Was this a bad decision? I know I can do the same mods that has been done but is this going to be crawler thats going to let me down all the time?

Darren

rmdesignworks · 05-01-2010, 12:48 PM

Hey Chief,,,,I highly endorse the Creeper,,it has some issues that can be overcome,,,,welcome to crawling,,,every comp level crawler available is gonna have one issue or another. some require alot more upgrade to comp level than others,,,really the Creeper only requires tires, shocks and the mod to the diff to lock it and its all good.

you can spend more for a base line rig that will need upgrades to get to the same point the Creeper will be at when upgraded for less than the price of most other base line rigs in the first place.

The best thing you can do to the Creeper is drive it,,learn its pros and cons like any other rig,,,make small changes to its set up and drive it more if it helped then leave it and drive it more make more changes one at a time so you know what is making a difference and what hurts its performance

lazynocturnal · 05-01-2010, 01:07 PM

no man you didnt make a bad choice. the creeper is a exellent rig. the one thing that i would replace right away is the drive shafts...i would recomend the axial integy drive shafts, will require being shortened. i would also into moding the cvd's. those are the to weak points of the creeper byt easily fixed. im currently trying out a mod i did on the cvds that i will soon be posting after a couple more runs. i took someones idea off of here and changeds it up a little but.

as for the locking diffs i find that unless you use the creeper axles for a scale build you will find that you will just leaving them locked all the time will be fine. there 3 mods you can do there, flm locker, j b weld the spyder gears (ive done this personaly) and ive seen some one mod a axial diff locker to fit a creeper.

all in all man, build it enjoy it. break it and mod just as all of have done. i bought my creeper about 7 months ago and im happy with it. everyone here is frieldly and willing to give you a helping hand/thought when you have a problem.

also this treads will help during your build...Venom trick and tips FAQ thread!

Cherokee Chief · 05-01-2010, 01:26 PM

Thanks for the replies.
Im new to the rc world, always wanted one and wasn't able to afford one, till now. I am waiting for the Venom to show up along with a axial rock racer rtr for my son. We do not have any comps here that I know of but I'm buying them for my son and I can do something together. I'm in the process of building a sort of a tough truck challange course for us to run on at home and we will just woods roam at the lake.
Thanks for all of you people that has posted info in these forms for newbies like me to do the resurch on this hobby.

Darren

rmdesignworks · 05-01-2010, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazynocturnal

as for the locking diffs i find that unless you use the creeper axles for a scale build you will find that you will just leaving them locked all the time will be fine. there 3 mods you can do there, flm locker, j b weld the spyder gears (ive done this personaly) and ive seen some one mod a axial diff locker to fit a creeper.

4th Locker Mod,,,,You can also cut a coil spring or piece of wire and do the locer mod like I did,,,a piece of bailing wire will work great.

nocturnal's right about the drive shafts too,,I replaced mine with traxxas metal yokes and traxxas shafts

Tractortug · 05-01-2010, 04:48 PM

Just to make the build go better I would buy a Dubro tap and drill bit set. They sell a small metric set that goes from 1.5mm to 4mm or something like that, it makes driving screws into unthreaded plastic holes go much smoother. Also consider the RCscrewz kit, the small socket heads that come with the kit are garbage. I am very pleased with my son's Creeper but be prepared to start modding, my 5 year old loves to help.

lazynocturnal · 05-01-2010, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tractortug

I am very pleased with my son's Creeper but be prepared to start modding, my 5 year old loves to help.

LOL, dont they all!!

rcslsafut · 05-01-2010, 07:08 PM

i would not say that it is a bad decision !!
i put tires and locktite the grub screw in the driveline's
so far on mine and i would say it will keep up very well
with my uncles ax10 that he has spent at least seven
hundred dollars on !!!(im into mine less than half that)
i will do one of the driveline fix's one day when
when my drivelines let loose untill then i will just run it !!

CleptoLeptic · 05-01-2010, 07:41 PM

You made a great decision! Replace the stock tires with HB rovers ( both cars ) put your pins in and put some heat shrink on em to help keep them in. Then go out and have fun. As long as you keep up the maintenance the car will last a long time and be great for what you are gonna do with it. If you decide to comp it later on, minimal upgrades and you will be able to keep up with any other shafty !

Cherokee Chief · 05-01-2010, 08:16 PM

What type of grease do you use on the trany and diffs when building the crawler?
Dyaletrick or lithium or some other type?
Thanks for the feedback your replies make me feel better on the choice I made.
Oh also I read somewhere that u use a peice of paper between the motor pinion and the gear is this correct or do you set it by feel? remember a nube here.

Darren

rmdesignworks · 05-01-2010, 08:19 PM

A piece of paper is a good guage.

I use white lithium grease in the tranny and axles.

But the kit comes with grease you can use too as well as shock oil.

sidewaystreak · 05-01-2010, 09:42 PM

i love my creeper..... its actulay a hybrid between the axial and the creeper so you can have best of both worlds LOL

Santa Cruz Jeff · 05-01-2010, 11:36 PM

No you didnt make a bad choice. The CVD pin thing is so easy to fix its not even an issue. You can build a savage beast of the Creeper probably easier than making amonster out of the Axial. Torque twist is easier to deal with on the Venom hands down. I did the Axial thind and threw a ton of $$$ at it and never got over the the torque twist no matter what. Shocks , springs , oil whts, axle and wheel weights and still not acceptable. With the Creeper it was only a matter of springs , placement, and a bit of dialing . I think its about the angle of the drive shafts that makes the difference in the two cars

rcslsafut · 05-01-2010, 11:41 PM

i dont know if you have put it together yet?
but... i am thinking you will never get a piece of paper
between the pinion and spur gears ,it was all i could do just get the
motor tightened up enough that i was confident it would stay there.
yes you USUALLY use a piece of paper your correct there .
but what i did was reach my finger through the hole to feel the
backlash, you should feel a tiny bit of play between the gears.
plus i had to make an allen wrench that is about 6 in's long to tighten up the motor screws!!!

Cherokee Chief · 05-02-2010, 07:14 AM

I wont be getting it till next week. I called the hobby shop and the radio I want wont be in till the 6th then it well be sent out.
Thanks again all of you for responding to my posts on this thread. I feel better now on my choice and when I build my crawler I will take all the mods you all listed in here and apply to my crawler.
Thanks again
Darren

freemachinist · 05-02-2010, 08:14 AM

Nah, you made a good choice. You will want another though. The axle pins and all the stuff mentioned, has easy fixes. There is a sticky with all the necessary and cheap modifications in the Venom Forum.

Get your self a good charger and some lithium batteries. Yes, expensive, but allows for 1 hour+ of run time. The stick packs are heavy and run out fast. I recommend a MRC SuperBrain 977. Does it all, and well.

CleptoLeptic · 05-02-2010, 10:15 AM

The paper trick works great on the axial but not so Much on the creeper because of the sealed tranny. I tuned my mesh by the sound it makes. You should be able to hear the tranny work but it should not be too loud. It's kind of a trial and error thing ...

lowandslow2 · 05-02-2010, 10:44 AM

the venom is a good crawler they all have some problems out of the box the attend too. I think you should just work with it and enjoy crawling
HAPPY ROCK HUNTING

bradkanus · 05-02-2010, 01:51 PM

I've had my venom for about two months and have worked out all the bugs and headed toward a CKRC stage two kit (ordered it about 10 minutes ago). The bugs with the little pins are annoying, but are really something that happens the first day you use it and you figure out how to keep them in after that.

I'm running chissel tires right now and have flipped the shocks, stiffer springs in the rear and put the rear axle lock outs. You have to cut the hell out of the body to get a good look with out rubbing.

My buddies with axials are about $200 ahead of me in upgrades and price of initial purchase and I can hang with them anywhere. Once the stage two kit is installed I'll be smoking them.

You also save money by not having to buy an expensive esc and motor combo that serves as a de facto tranny break. The transmission that comes wit the venom means you won't be rolling backwards or forwards when you don't want it to.

Have fun building it!

rmdesignworks · 05-02-2010, 01:57 PM

Setting gear mesh with a sealed tranny,,,easy way to do it is to wet the paper and apply it to the pinion and work it into the teeth,,let it dry then install the motor. The dried paper will stay put until you set the mesh and the first time you run it the paper will be gone,,just use a small piece.

05-01-2010, 12:32 PM	#1
Cherokee Chief Newbie Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Kentville , Nova Scotia Posts: 46	A bad decision? I just ordered a Venom Creeper and I'm waiting on its arrival and I was browsing ths section and now I'm wondering if its a bad choice. The issues with the axle pins coming out and the drive shafts braking and the lockers not locking and then not staying locked. I chose the Venom creeper over the axial Scorpion ARTR Orange because I wanted to build a crawler and I liked the idea of a 4 link over the 3 link axial. I also liked the idea of being able to lock and unlock the diff's at will. Was this a bad decision? I know I can do the same mods that has been done but is this going to be crawler thats going to let me down all the time? Darren

05-01-2010, 01:07 PM	#3
lazynocturnal Rock Crawler Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: eugene Posts: 549	no man you didnt make a bad choice. the creeper is a exellent rig. the one thing that i would replace right away is the drive shafts...i would recomend the axial integy drive shafts, will require being shortened. i would also into moding the cvd's. those are the to weak points of the creeper byt easily fixed. im currently trying out a mod i did on the cvds that i will soon be posting after a couple more runs. i took someones idea off of here and changeds it up a little but. as for the locking diffs i find that unless you use the creeper axles for a scale build you will find that you will just leaving them locked all the time will be fine. there 3 mods you can do there, flm locker, j b weld the spyder gears (ive done this personaly) and ive seen some one mod a axial diff locker to fit a creeper. all in all man, build it enjoy it. break it and mod just as all of have done. i bought my creeper about 7 months ago and im happy with it. everyone here is frieldly and willing to give you a helping hand/thought when you have a problem. also this treads will help during your build...Venom trick and tips FAQ thread! Last edited by lazynocturnal; 05-01-2010 at 01:10 PM.

05-02-2010, 10:15 AM	#17
CleptoLeptic Rock Stacker Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Denver Posts: 71	The paper trick works great on the axial but not so Much on the creeper because of the sealed tranny. I tuned my mesh by the sound it makes. You should be able to hear the tranny work but it should not be too loud. It's kind of a trial and error thing ... Last edited by CleptoLeptic; 05-02-2010 at 10:17 AM.

05-02-2010, 01:51 PM	#19
bradkanus Newbie Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: El Paso Posts: 13	Great Crawler I've had my venom for about two months and have worked out all the bugs and headed toward a CKRC stage two kit (ordered it about 10 minutes ago). The bugs with the little pins are annoying, but are really something that happens the first day you use it and you figure out how to keep them in after that. I'm running chissel tires right now and have flipped the shocks, stiffer springs in the rear and put the rear axle lock outs. You have to cut the hell out of the body to get a good look with out rubbing. My buddies with axials are about $200 ahead of me in upgrades and price of initial purchase and I can hang with them anywhere. Once the stage two kit is installed I'll be smoking them. You also save money by not having to buy an expensive esc and motor combo that serves as a de facto tranny break. The transmission that comes wit the venom means you won't be rolling backwards or forwards when you don't want it to. Have fun building it!

05-01-2010, 12:48 PM	#2
rmdesignworks I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ...the burning end of the rope. Posts: 5,013	Hey Chief,,,,I highly endorse the Creeper,,it has some issues that can be overcome,,,,welcome to crawling,,,every comp level crawler available is gonna have one issue or another. some require alot more upgrade to comp level than others,,,really the Creeper only requires tires, shocks and the mod to the diff to lock it and its all good. you can spend more for a base line rig that will need upgrades to get to the same point the Creeper will be at when upgraded for less than the price of most other base line rigs in the first place. The best thing you can do to the Creeper is drive it,,learn its pros and cons like any other rig,,,make small changes to its set up and drive it more if it helped then leave it and drive it more make more changes one at a time so you know what is making a difference and what hurts its performance

05-01-2010, 01:26 PM	#4
Cherokee Chief Newbie Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Kentville , Nova Scotia Posts: 46	Thanks for the replies. Im new to the rc world, always wanted one and wasn't able to afford one, till now. I am waiting for the Venom to show up along with a axial rock racer rtr for my son. We do not have any comps here that I know of but I'm buying them for my son and I can do something together. I'm in the process of building a sort of a tough truck challange course for us to run on at home and we will just woods roam at the lake. Thanks for all of you people that has posted info in these forms for newbies like me to do the resurch on this hobby. Darren

05-01-2010, 04:48 PM	#6
Tractortug Newbie Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Bay Area Posts: 8	Just to make the build go better I would buy a Dubro tap and drill bit set. They sell a small metric set that goes from 1.5mm to 4mm or something like that, it makes driving screws into unthreaded plastic holes go much smoother. Also consider the RCscrewz kit, the small socket heads that come with the kit are garbage. I am very pleased with my son's Creeper but be prepared to start modding, my 5 year old loves to help.

05-01-2010, 07:08 PM	#8
rcslsafut Rock Stacker Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: american fork Posts: 52	i would not say that it is a bad decision !! i put tires and locktite the grub screw in the driveline's so far on mine and i would say it will keep up very well with my uncles ax10 that he has spent at least seven hundred dollars on !!!(im into mine less than half that) i will do one of the driveline fix's one day when when my drivelines let loose untill then i will just run it !!

05-01-2010, 07:41 PM	#9
CleptoLeptic Rock Stacker Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Denver Posts: 71	You made a great decision! Replace the stock tires with HB rovers ( both cars ) put your pins in and put some heat shrink on em to help keep them in. Then go out and have fun. As long as you keep up the maintenance the car will last a long time and be great for what you are gonna do with it. If you decide to comp it later on, minimal upgrades and you will be able to keep up with any other shafty !

05-01-2010, 08:16 PM	#10
Cherokee Chief Newbie Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Kentville , Nova Scotia Posts: 46	What type of grease do you use on the trany and diffs when building the crawler? Dyaletrick or lithium or some other type? Thanks for the feedback your replies make me feel better on the choice I made. Oh also I read somewhere that u use a peice of paper between the motor pinion and the gear is this correct or do you set it by feel? remember a nube here. Darren

05-01-2010, 08:19 PM	#11
rmdesignworks I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ...the burning end of the rope. Posts: 5,013	A piece of paper is a good guage. I use white lithium grease in the tranny and axles. But the kit comes with grease you can use too as well as shock oil.

05-01-2010, 09:42 PM	#12
sidewaystreak Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: north phoenix Posts: 212	i love my creeper..... its actulay a hybrid between the axial and the creeper so you can have best of both worlds LOL

05-01-2010, 11:36 PM	#13
Santa Cruz Jeff Quarry Creeper Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Santa Cruz Posts: 244	No you didnt make a bad choice. The CVD pin thing is so easy to fix its not even an issue. You can build a savage beast of the Creeper probably easier than making amonster out of the Axial. Torque twist is easier to deal with on the Venom hands down. I did the Axial thind and threw a ton of $$$ at it and never got over the the torque twist no matter what. Shocks , springs , oil whts, axle and wheel weights and still not acceptable. With the Creeper it was only a matter of springs , placement, and a bit of dialing . I think its about the angle of the drive shafts that makes the difference in the two cars

05-01-2010, 11:41 PM	#14
rcslsafut Rock Stacker Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: american fork Posts: 52	i dont know if you have put it together yet? but... i am thinking you will never get a piece of paper between the pinion and spur gears ,it was all i could do just get the motor tightened up enough that i was confident it would stay there. yes you USUALLY use a piece of paper your correct there . but what i did was reach my finger through the hole to feel the backlash, you should feel a tiny bit of play between the gears. plus i had to make an allen wrench that is about 6 in's long to tighten up the motor screws!!!

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05-02-2010, 07:14 AM	#15
Cherokee Chief Newbie Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Kentville , Nova Scotia Posts: 46	I wont be getting it till next week. I called the hobby shop and the radio I want wont be in till the 6th then it well be sent out. Thanks again all of you for responding to my posts on this thread. I feel better now on my choice and when I build my crawler I will take all the mods you all listed in here and apply to my crawler. Thanks again Darren

05-02-2010, 08:14 AM	#16
freemachinist Pebble Pounder Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Flat Orlando Posts: 149	Nah, you made a good choice. You will want another though. The axle pins and all the stuff mentioned, has easy fixes. There is a sticky with all the necessary and cheap modifications in the Venom Forum. Get your self a good charger and some lithium batteries. Yes, expensive, but allows for 1 hour+ of run time. The stick packs are heavy and run out fast. I recommend a MRC SuperBrain 977. Does it all, and well.

05-02-2010, 10:44 AM	#18
lowandslow2 Pebble Pounder Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Wenatchee Posts: 101	the venom is a good crawler they all have some problems out of the box the attend too. I think you should just work with it and enjoy crawling HAPPY ROCK HUNTING

05-02-2010, 01:57 PM	#20
rmdesignworks I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ...the burning end of the rope. Posts: 5,013	Setting gear mesh with a sealed tranny,,,easy way to do it is to wet the paper and apply it to the pinion and work it into the teeth,,let it dry then install the motor. The dried paper will stay put until you set the mesh and the first time you run it the paper will be gone,,just use a small piece.

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