Marv's RS10 Adventure

[MarvTowel]

I am new to crawlers and haven't had an RC since I was a kid. Last Christmas I was with my young nephew who had a cheap crawler (don't remember what it was) and it was really fun to toy with. I wasn't sure how much time would be spent enjoying it so the RS10 XT was the way to go, especially for a new driver. I found that working on it was as much fun/relaxing as using it. Here is what I have found out through trial and error plus this forum.

- Servos suck (duh). One stripped out within minutes of getting it out of the box and the other caught fire. Replaced them with a HS-645 in the back and a Savox SW-0231MG in the front because the LHS was out of cheap ones.
- Tires were really stiff. I originally removed the foams but had to have the TSL SX as a replacement. Just too cool to pass up.
- Suspension was too high. Moved the shock mount locations down the lower links about 3/4" of an inch. This helped with center of gravity which was a problem out of the box. It doesn't roll over nearly as much.
- The set screws with a post that lock the drive axles in place on the spur gear all were loose. One of them backed out and snapped off. It carved a groove inside of the plastic axle housing. I used a regular set screw on the opposite side to allow the now shorter stud to drive into it as a fix.
- 5oz per front wheel with stick on weights. Nothing in the back. Helped with clod stall.
- Steel 10t pinion and gears in the front. Still stock 8t plastic (pinion is steel) in the back. The overdrive in the front is helpful from a new drivers point of view. Much less clod stall with the front overdrive.
- Lowered the body about an inch and cut the crap out of it. A little too much really. I will probably order the new red body for it.

I am in the Portland Oregon area and have hit several of the spots that were listed on orcrc.com. High rocks and Lucia falls are awesome. Met some other crawlers as well which was great. Everyone has been friendly and had a chance to check out their Axial gear which is really nice.

Here is a vid from Spring Park RS10 XT at Spring Park - YouTube

 

[MountainStorm]

I was marvelling at how parallel our new user experiences were. I stripped one servo immediately and the other caught fire. Tires were stiff so I pulled the foams and cut the S lugs. I've got about 10 ounces of brass in front of the axle. I never thought about putting two different pinions in. That seems like it would wear everything out a bit faster (I am concerned about breaking stuff faster than I can afford to replace it). Moved my shocks and links around a lot. Finally found something I think works...but who knows.

But the main thing is I am having a great time doing it! Hope you do too. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[riskyjedi]

I have mine setup with overdrive. So far so good. Been that way for a couple of months now. I did it when I got the metal gears for the transmissions so I'm not to worried about anything breaking in there. Also in your video my son flips like that All the time the drag break gets him every time lol. Next time you hit the line give it some throttle on the way down. It helps stop the front flip. I like how low you have it. Looking good. "thumbsup"

 

[redcatkrawler]

Maybe try the thrift stores for a scale looking body. Portland rocks!!

 

[iDC5]

I may be missin something here. what is overdrive? is it just diff sizing of the pinion, front to back?

 

[MountainStorm]

I may be missin something here. what is overdrive? is it just diff sizing of the pinion, front to back?

Yep. Front spins faster than the back. Never considered it but now I am intrigued.

 

[MarvTowel]

You all probably get it, but its worth typing out for my own sake. The over driven front end is not noticeable on flat ground since the front is able to pull the rear along. It doesn't drag the tires at all especially since it isn't shaft drive where the gear ratio/tire speed is forced between axles. Don't know the math but the tire speed difference isn't too drastic anyway. What I did notice is that the rear end will now spin slowly on steep climbs when the front doesn't under low/moderate power. This is because of the extra torque needed to pull the higher gear ratio and the weighted front wheels I believe. I can still jam the throttle to get both axles spinning and the front seems to pull me up without the rear end dancing.

Anyway, it is fun to play with. Not sure what stock pinions everyone gets but mine were 8t and the steel gear set I ordered was 10t so its not too crazy to play with.

I want more wheel speed and battery performance. Thinking about really trying to catch some electronics on fire and getting a 3s lipo. Couple posts on here about it with the factory ESC so what the heck eh?

 

[riskyjedi]

There's also a an immotoement the turnhandle3sus. Novak makes dual motor esc's that can handle 3s for when you let the smoke out of the stocker

 

[cabron]

holmes hobbies still has some of the sidewinder2 escs left
for 40.00 each you cannot do better
these escs will do brushed or brushless and 3s lipos as well

look for 'clod stall' there should be numerous entries on this, if you use two escs then you can use mixing
in your radio to bias one of the escs to compensate instead of using different pinions
and another benefit of using two escs is that you have 'dig' too

 

[jsowens]

One misconception that people have is that you have to have a "dual motor ESC" for the RS10. Not true...a single motor ESC will work just fine. I second the above recommendation for a Sidewinder.

 

[MarvTowel]

I found the Sidewinder V2 on their site and looks pretty good. I sent in a request for more info on batteries and connectors to match. There are lots of posts about it but was curious to get their input if I order.

The mixing on the radio sounds really interesting in other posts but it requires a hefty investment into a better controller right? As it stands right now, the clod stall isn't that bad. Stock was terrible but I have it somewhat sorted with weights/gears/tires. I really need some burst power which the NiMH kills me on.

Thanks for the advice, still learning!

 

[riskyjedi]

Yeah a better tx is going to be necessary for mixing. I have a spektrum dx3c that is capable of that. It ran me around $100 new. There's also a guy on this forum that does a fly sky gt3 hack that will do the same thing for less $$$