Making this thread for other CR12 owners to browse and for those that may be interested in one. Mine arrived a few days ago and I was able to get it out yesterday to evaluate it's performance and the fun-factor. Have to say that this is an incredibly cool little truck right out of the box despite it's limitations and faults. My buddy also received his CR12 the same day in the F150 version. His tires/ wheels are still stock but I had some bigger tires laying around so I slapped 'em on to compare. This thread will document my first impressions, my plans, etc.
What I've done so far:
> Cut the headlight leads in order to solder in a jst-style connector. Pretty cumbersome to have the body tethered and flopping around as you try to work on your rig.
> Raised the rear body-post mounts up one hole to allow a little more room for bigger tires. Out of the box, the FJ body had a slight rear-rake so this leveled it out. Also went ahead and used some "L" shaped body-post pins as the stock pins are much harder to grip.
> Installed larger tires/ wheels. I pulled these from my 1/16 Exceed Max-Stone crawler. Was cool to compare my buddy's stock F150 to the FJ with significantly larger tires. I was surprised to find that we both were able to do the majority of the same lines although the larger tires obviously had some advantage in certain situations. Also the FJ body is able to more easily accommodate larger tires than the F150 due to the slightly larger fender openings.
What sucks:
> Backing paint is pretty thin so that allows a lot of light to shine through the body at times.
> This particular lexan is very thin and flexible. It's more rigid around the hood and roof but in other areas like the bed, you can certainly tell how flimsy it is. Thankfully as small and light as this truck is, it's really not a big deal.
> Cheap-o plastic parts like body-posts, sliders, etc have very little rigidity. This also means that you need to be extra careful when tightening down any screws. Stripping out this plastic would be quite easy if not paying attention.
> Shocks/ springs are seem more toy-grade than hobby-grade. I had to stiffen up the preload all the way and there's still a bit of sag. I can appreciate the soft spring rate as this is a light-weight rig and needs to be able to fully articulate but I believe springs as well as shock-bodies should be a little longer. Springs pop out of the lower retainers very easily. The shocks themselves ( including adj collars and caps) feel as cheap as any shock I've ever handled. I'll be removing the caps and checking the oil before the next run... assuming that there's actually oil in them lol.
> Braking is very abrupt if the rig is going any faster than a crawl. I need to play with the "run mode" setting on the ESC as well as the trim/ dual rate to see if I can get this dialed in a bit better. As it is now, letting off the throttle results in the rear drivers side lifting up in the air... looks like a dog lifting it's leg to pee lol. Same behavior in my buddy's stock CR-12.
> Some of the steering components/ links ( tie-rod for example) feel awfully flimsy and the steering geometry isn't perfect although that didn't seem to noticeably hinder the overall performance on this first run.
> I could nit-pick a few other details but I think I've covered the most glaring negatives.
What's good:
These CR-12's are an absolute BLAST to run! They articulate very well and even the smaller stock tires have a good deal of grip, all things considered. The lightweight bodies allow these trucks to handle well and feel quite stable at steep angles, side-hilling, etc. The metal upper and lower links articulated freely and smoothly throughout full range of motion and although pretty thin, they seem adequate under this little rig. Axles also seem sturdy fwiw. We ran the CR-12's on a variety of surfaces including steep concrete angles, natural rock, shaggy grass, and a fairly steep hard packed dirt hill climb. The little 380 motor and ESC never even got warm ( although the ambient air temp was quite cool/ low 40's). Battery run time was fairly impressive. We were able to get almost an hour of run time on the first charge. I charged these 850mAh packs at .8 amps/ 7.4 v and charging took all of about 15 mins for mine/ 25 mins for my buddy's. I plan to run a larger pack in the weeks ahead but for now, I'm happy with how these little lipos did. The radio while not great, actually seems okay for this particular vehicle. No glitching at all and brake function/ throttle ( fwd/ rev) was constantly predictable and effective. I heard some guy suggest that the CR12's radio should be replaced/ upgraded but I personally don't feel as if that's immediately necessary. Although this rig could certainly benefit from a better servo, the stock servo held it's own for the most part. It sucks but it's usable for someone who might not want to immediately upgrade. Adding any weight obviously causes the servo to struggle in order to center and make it to full lock left/ right but the lackluster performance certainly didn't inhibit the fun! There's probably some other good things that I'm forgetting but again... this is just stuff off the top of my head that I found to be notable.
Short-range plans:
> DS 3218 servo
> Servo relocation
> Machined aluminum battery tray
> Upgraded shocks ( if I can find something better that's the right size/ length)
> Silver or black backing coat
> Front/ rear bumper D-ring mounts
> Tie-rod ( fabricate or buy.. not sure yet)
> Keep the larger tires and try some different compounds/ foams. I can't go back to the tiny stock tires now!
My plans will probably change as ( or if) things fail, break, etc but for now I'm not planning on having a major headache or expense to remedy anything. Hopefully this will be a cheap rig to own because it sure is a LOT of fun! Really hope that this thread compels some others to maybe get one for themselves. I'll continue posting up here as warranted and depending upon other people's interest.
Onto the pics!
What I've done so far:
> Cut the headlight leads in order to solder in a jst-style connector. Pretty cumbersome to have the body tethered and flopping around as you try to work on your rig.
> Raised the rear body-post mounts up one hole to allow a little more room for bigger tires. Out of the box, the FJ body had a slight rear-rake so this leveled it out. Also went ahead and used some "L" shaped body-post pins as the stock pins are much harder to grip.
> Installed larger tires/ wheels. I pulled these from my 1/16 Exceed Max-Stone crawler. Was cool to compare my buddy's stock F150 to the FJ with significantly larger tires. I was surprised to find that we both were able to do the majority of the same lines although the larger tires obviously had some advantage in certain situations. Also the FJ body is able to more easily accommodate larger tires than the F150 due to the slightly larger fender openings.
What sucks:
> Backing paint is pretty thin so that allows a lot of light to shine through the body at times.
> This particular lexan is very thin and flexible. It's more rigid around the hood and roof but in other areas like the bed, you can certainly tell how flimsy it is. Thankfully as small and light as this truck is, it's really not a big deal.
> Cheap-o plastic parts like body-posts, sliders, etc have very little rigidity. This also means that you need to be extra careful when tightening down any screws. Stripping out this plastic would be quite easy if not paying attention.
> Shocks/ springs are seem more toy-grade than hobby-grade. I had to stiffen up the preload all the way and there's still a bit of sag. I can appreciate the soft spring rate as this is a light-weight rig and needs to be able to fully articulate but I believe springs as well as shock-bodies should be a little longer. Springs pop out of the lower retainers very easily. The shocks themselves ( including adj collars and caps) feel as cheap as any shock I've ever handled. I'll be removing the caps and checking the oil before the next run... assuming that there's actually oil in them lol.
> Braking is very abrupt if the rig is going any faster than a crawl. I need to play with the "run mode" setting on the ESC as well as the trim/ dual rate to see if I can get this dialed in a bit better. As it is now, letting off the throttle results in the rear drivers side lifting up in the air... looks like a dog lifting it's leg to pee lol. Same behavior in my buddy's stock CR-12.
> Some of the steering components/ links ( tie-rod for example) feel awfully flimsy and the steering geometry isn't perfect although that didn't seem to noticeably hinder the overall performance on this first run.
> I could nit-pick a few other details but I think I've covered the most glaring negatives.
What's good:
These CR-12's are an absolute BLAST to run! They articulate very well and even the smaller stock tires have a good deal of grip, all things considered. The lightweight bodies allow these trucks to handle well and feel quite stable at steep angles, side-hilling, etc. The metal upper and lower links articulated freely and smoothly throughout full range of motion and although pretty thin, they seem adequate under this little rig. Axles also seem sturdy fwiw. We ran the CR-12's on a variety of surfaces including steep concrete angles, natural rock, shaggy grass, and a fairly steep hard packed dirt hill climb. The little 380 motor and ESC never even got warm ( although the ambient air temp was quite cool/ low 40's). Battery run time was fairly impressive. We were able to get almost an hour of run time on the first charge. I charged these 850mAh packs at .8 amps/ 7.4 v and charging took all of about 15 mins for mine/ 25 mins for my buddy's. I plan to run a larger pack in the weeks ahead but for now, I'm happy with how these little lipos did. The radio while not great, actually seems okay for this particular vehicle. No glitching at all and brake function/ throttle ( fwd/ rev) was constantly predictable and effective. I heard some guy suggest that the CR12's radio should be replaced/ upgraded but I personally don't feel as if that's immediately necessary. Although this rig could certainly benefit from a better servo, the stock servo held it's own for the most part. It sucks but it's usable for someone who might not want to immediately upgrade. Adding any weight obviously causes the servo to struggle in order to center and make it to full lock left/ right but the lackluster performance certainly didn't inhibit the fun! There's probably some other good things that I'm forgetting but again... this is just stuff off the top of my head that I found to be notable.
Short-range plans:
> DS 3218 servo
> Servo relocation
> Machined aluminum battery tray
> Upgraded shocks ( if I can find something better that's the right size/ length)
> Silver or black backing coat
> Front/ rear bumper D-ring mounts
> Tie-rod ( fabricate or buy.. not sure yet)
> Keep the larger tires and try some different compounds/ foams. I can't go back to the tiny stock tires now!
My plans will probably change as ( or if) things fail, break, etc but for now I'm not planning on having a major headache or expense to remedy anything. Hopefully this will be a cheap rig to own because it sure is a LOT of fun! Really hope that this thread compels some others to maybe get one for themselves. I'll continue posting up here as warranted and depending upon other people's interest.
Onto the pics!
