Just got my Yeti

[QDRHRSE]

My Yeti showed up this afternoon. I have 15 2s packs and only 1 3s pack which is in my SCX10 so I decided to just stick a 2s pack in it for its maiden voyage. Maybe I'm use to my 1/10 race cars but the Yeti is a big fat turd. I had really high expectations, speedwise, and they were not met. Its probably slower that my kid's Slash Raptors on 2s. The radio is joke and the steering seems like its binding and the servo is underpowered. I'll give it pass on the steering because the car has big ass tires and weighs a lot. Even on 3s its not going to be anything to write home about but I still want to try it out. I like the idea of it being water safe. Just in case I bought a RX8 & 4300HD. I also ordered the servo saver bushing and have a couple hundred in upgrades like Ti links and Blue Monkey rear arms. Its not all bad. I thought the actual mechanical steering wasn't too bad and it handled ok. It seems to traverse smaller rocks very smoothly and it does easy crawling better than my stockish SCX10 although it does cog at low speed under load and the front diff needs the 500k+ everybody is talking about. . I was hoping to throw it down on our offroad track and race it in the 4wd SC class but I think that's wishful thinking the way it sits. I'll throw it down with the rookies tomorrow. If I have a hard time I can always crawl over the pipe. I'm new to the idea of having a car for fun as up until the last month all my cars were race only until I bought an SCX10 "project" with wraith axles.....finished that and then picked up and a regular SCX10.....now the Yeti. I'll give it a go. My first impression is that I'm going to have speend a lot of dough on the Yeti to get it where I want it. I'm surprised that people love it out of the box. Maybe I expected too much.

I'll post updates on how I'm doing.

 

[QDRHRSE]

First update. Put the kids to bed. The wife and I enjoyed a few cocktails until she "fell asleep". Its not normal around here but its been stressful lately. Anyway, I decided to use the time to install a few things on the Yeti including aluminum hexes and Vanquish cans (is that what they are called?), Ti upper links, MIP, rear shaft, Vanquish steering posts, Blue Monkey rear lowers, and I replaced the steering links with Vanquish or Blue Monkey units. I've vever been that guy that intalls something and says "wow what a difference" but wow what a difference! I can totally understand why everybody puts thicker oil in the rear shocks. The rear is so free now that it feels ridiculously soft. Overall it was pretty easy, I didn't need the instructions the hardest part was swapping out the steering posts. Axial products are interesting. Good fit and finish, good design, good hardware, and dog shit plastic. I'm glad I was able to swap all that out before I race the the truck tomorrow.

 

[RustenPaines]

LoL, too funny. I could also say that my scte built off ebay parts would run circles around it but just cannot remember the last time my scte took on a 35 ft rock hill cliff and won. Like your write up. Looking forward to more.

 

[QDRHRSE]

Took it to the track....couldn't stand the remote. Threw in an RX compatible with my M12. The water proof RX I had didn't fit so I had to use a new 92014. It was better. I read a post from another member and he said he couldn't get his to turn with his Futaba radio.....I just adjusted the end points.

On 3s the speed isn't too bad. Its somewhere between a 13.5 and 17.5 SC on the track. It easily was able to clear all of the jumps. The motor has a ton of torque. Maybe I'll dig up a castle link and give it some timing. It did nose down alot when flying but I could control it with the throttle.

It rolled easily. Cornering is definitely not its strong suit. Its horrible around most flat turns. Unfortunately there's not a lot of adjustment. I wish I could add in a degree or two of negative camber. Our track is very high traction bluegroove which really made the Yeti list right over like sailboat being bit by a giant wave. Heavier oil and springs would probably make it work ok.

The servo is a huge problem. It doesn't have enough power to even center itself properly. It broke after a pack on the track. The giant tires will need a stout servo. I just happen to have a new Sanwa 94780 which has 423oz @ 6v. I'll swap that in and report back. I'm really surpised, once again, that people are so happy with these right out of the box. In principle its fun but it needs a lot of stuff to be a competive U4 racer.

 

[Rjohn929]

Most people that bought them early didn't like them out of the box and when they posted their thoughts on here they got flamed by the Axial fanboys. :roll:

 

[QDRHRSE]

I'm nobodys fanboy, just a hardcore RC racer. I'm not implying that I have any talent, but I have an inpressive fleet of 10th scale stuff. I'll tell it how it is. Flame away.

 

[QDRHRSE]

When I first looked at it I initially thought that I'd have to remove everything to get the servo out. However, when I started working I was pleasantly surprised that it was ultra easy. So for third or forth time I was impressed with how easy to work on the Yeti is. It took me all of 10 minutes to get the new servo in. All I need to do now is take the RX cover off and re-route the new wire. Hopefully I'll have time to do that today and give it a test drive. I installed a metal servo horn while I was at it. I wish that I had a better turnbuckle to install to the steering rack as well....I wish that I had the Vanquish rack. Maybe next week.

 

[QDRHRSE]

The Airtroncs servo is a little different in terms of geometry. I need to turn the bolt/nut around that goes through the servo horn. I think the way it is limits steering to the right.

After driving the car I can feel the difference but the servo saver is now the issue. I will probably have the lockout next week. The faster more powerful servo does allow for the car to track better too. On our high bite track it felt squishy and wandered, now at least it goes straight and true.

My next question to the group is are there a recomended front suspension settings like camber, toe, and ride height? I have the blue monkey tie rods as tight as I can get them and I've got a little toe in. I wonder if I'll have to slightly shorten the ends....less than a mm on each side would probably be more than enough.

 

[gdb85]

You can go that route or you could get the Traxxas adjustable turnbuckles that are as strong as anybody's big ole solid link. Then you could tune that thing to your little hearts desire. "thumbsup"

 

[QDRHRSE]

I ran it our around our 1/10 offroad track again. Huge improvement. With a few other small mods I think that I could race it on a cold night when traction isn't that great (I think it would roll over less). Even with the servo saver making the steering sluggish I had no problems getting around our track. I noticed that the Yeti has a lot of oomph down low. I could pretty much hit all the doubles with no speed. i could stop st the bottom of each approach and just punch it. All that being said it only lasted about one battery before a wheel loosened up and rolled off. Is it just me or are the front axles not even long enough to get the lock nut all the way on?

So, I got the wheel back on and went to played in the parking lot. We have a big dirt barrier seperating the lot and I decided to jump it a few times and I got some good air. I was enjoying it until I noticed that the front wheels were no longer throwing a roost. I picked it up and spun the rears and the front didn't move. My first thought was that I grenaded the transfer case. I was F'n pissed! In my mind I was already thinking "I'm selling this piece of shit as soon as I can". So I threw the Yeti back into the car and went home. After dinner and the kids homework I sat on the living room floor and decided to pull the Yeti apart. It took a second to figure out that the entire gearbox dropped out by removing 4 screws. I ended up pulling out a few more things but it was quick and easy. At the very moment I lifted the whole tranny and T case up the front drive cup fell off the T case and I could not find the pin that was supposed to hold it on....I guess a new RTR RC is like a new dirtbike and you need to threadlock and tighten everything after a little use. I powered up the car and made sure it worked, which it did. The drivetrain is really rough and noisy by the way. Just for shits and giggles I opened up the T Case to take a look. It looked brand new but I would like to mention that just as others have said its as dry as a bone in there. I plan to buy a bearing kit so when I do I will disassemble the whole tranny and put some synthetic grease in there.

Something to note.....with the stock axial servo I had to set the epa @ 150% for both sides to get it to sort of turn. With the monster Sanwa servo I only needed 80% & 95%. When I lock out the servo saver its going to rock!

The Yeti is proving to be be pretty good. I think my overall impression is that its not worth money the way it comes. I'm sure by the time I'm done with it I will have doubled or trippled its price in upgrades easily.....I'm already close and I could spend another $500, which I probably will, without blinking an eye. Better beadlocks, tires, all of axial aluminum pieces, another set of rear shocks, aluminum C hubs & knuckles, the 94mm front universals......I could go on and on. I spent less money racing dirtbikes than I do on racing RC cars. Its pathetic but I really enjoy it.

 

[QDRHRSE]

I've been really busy. No time for anything until today. I managed to get my kid to the track to race and I brought the Yeti. I threw it down with the rookies and the 4 wheel SCs. I managed to win but it was nothing to brag about. It was a slow field. I ran 4-5 packs with no issues. Its not exactly what I was hoping for. I can run at least a couple more laps with a regular SC. I had to really slow down to turn but I could manage keeping the nose up with the throttle. The stock motor has an amazing amount of bottom end. I could catapult the Yeti even if I rolled up to a jump and just hammered the throttle on the face. I also didn't need a turn marshal. I never turned the car over but I did over shoot a bunch of jumps. I crawled right over the pipe! All in all the Yeti has proven to be fun. I think I'm at the bare minumum in terms of mods to make it reliable. I'm now up to about 10 packs of run time.