Redcat Camo X4 info, mods, tuning thread

[bgredjeep]

I was going to revive one of the old threads already out there on this model, but they are all years old with basically no useful info.

I'm starting this thread to discuss the car, share mods, pics, post/answer questions about it, etc. I've had to figure things out for myself mostly, so maybe this can help other owners have a place to share ideas and upgrades they've done.

I have no idea how many people have these, but if the fact that Redcat is running out of their upgrade parts within about a week every time they are back in stock is any indication, there are at least a few.

Maybe it'll catch on, or maybe it'll just be where I post about my Camo. We'll see. Lol

 

[bgredjeep]

To get things started, here's the start of my Camo. I have done a few more mods, but I'll get to those later..

First thing out of the box I painted the cage (hammered grey to match my Jeep), and made aluminum skins.

Then I picked up a Tamiya Jeep yj body to fit on the front (again to match my yj). It took just a little trimming still needs paint.

A few cuts later

 

[bgredjeep]

On to some performance updates. The car was fast out of the box. It was faster than I really expected for a $300 RTR, but I found the sensorless motor wasn't going to cut it for any slower rock runs I might encounter on wheeling trips.

I picked up a Hobbywing Quicrun bl120 esc and an old stock Novak 3900kv motor. Total cost was around $100.

This lead to the first problem. Once the sensored motor was installed I found the car ran backwards. This was when I discovered that from the factory, Redcat has the motor setup to run clockwise to move forward. Standard rotation for rc motors is counter-clockwise. My esc had no programming capability to reverse the rotation so I could either run sensorless (pointless), or order a new esc (expensive). I didn't like either option, but I ordered the cheapest sensored esc with reversing in the program (Hobbywing max 8 sct) and waited for the backorder to fill.

Thankfully, while I was waiting, I came across a video where a guy was reinstalling his front diff in the camo and mentioned putting it in backwards. I've never had a 4x4 rc where the diffs fit into the housing more than 1 way, but I checked and confirmed that both front and rear diffs in the camo could be flipped to the other side of the pinion. Doing this means I just reversed the rotation of the entire drive-line, and no longer needed to reverse my motor. I called Hobbywing and cancelled the esc order ($100 saved) and now have the sensored motor up and running.

Since that time I have also swapped to a different motor. I picked up a 3100kv HW 3650 motor. The 3900 was a little faster than I really wanted, and I was hoping for a bit more torque on the bottom end. That'll show up in pictures later.

 

[Screwfly]

Nice thread. I really like the Jeep nose on it.
I keep eyeing one of these, nice to see people hoping them up

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

 

[bgredjeep]

Thanks. Hopefully it'll gain some traction and others will add to it.

Next up from me is the battery. The stock mount location has the battery tray between the shocks in the rear. It's up pretty high, and all the way in the back. The stock tray also allows for mounting between the steering brace and spur cover. This moves it lower and forward, but I found it front heavy.

I made an aluminum brace to mount the battery tray about 2" back from the standard forward location. I feel it's a bit more balanced this way.

I also found several instances where users had broken the front of the chassis on their Camo. No idea what they were doing when it broke, but I could see where the front of the chassis could be weak. I used the same material (2"wide 1/8" aluminum) to make a skid plate to better distribute any impacts to the front of the chassis.

Still a few updates to catch up to current.

 

[bgredjeep]

The last post also shows the Traxxas gtr xxl blue springs I'm currently running in front. I'd like something stiffer, or a little longer but I haven't been able to find anything that fits the stock shocks yet.

I went ahead and picked up aluminum rear links from Redcat when I found them available just so I didn't have to worry about them. I'd at least recommend some uppers as they are pretty flimsy.

Next up i picked up some new wheels and tires. Chinese methods and axial treps.

This package was also to match up what I have on my Jeep. Note, I've swapped the Jeep hood off to paint it, but I might need to get another cage to run that. The car is tough to control and I don't really want to break the yj hood in a crash. Lol

 

[bgredjeep]

Next on deck is the rear sway bar. The stock bar is far too soft IMO. I bought a cheap bar from Amazon to try and of course it was crap. It fit fine but wasn't spring steel so if it actually twisted it just stayed there.

I wasn't finding dimensions for the yeti sway bar anywhere so I finally said screw it and ordered the axial bar set to try (AX31058 ).

I was pleased to find they are almost exactly the same dimensions. Also, the light yeti bar is significantly thicker than the stock camo bar. It took some minor fitting, but I was able to install the bar using the original arms and it made a big difference in the torque roll under acceleration. If I want more I can always swap to one of the stiffer bars.

Here's some comparison shots of the camo and the light yeti bar.

Camo

Yeti light

 

[ferp420]

the camo is a cool rig but its timing was alittle off it came out right as people were getting tired of the yeti and its week points the camo being a clone already had a strike against it
when it came out it was almost as much as a axial yeti that wasent selling vary well ether so thats 2 strikes
and the aftermarket never got on board so you have to modify axial parts to fit and cross your fingers that the parts work strike 3

if the price was closer to say the gen7 or gen8 price point they would have sold alot more in my opinion but with used yetis being so cheap now days it makes more sence seing as how aftermarket upgrades bolt on and you know there gona work there realy isent a reason to buy the camo

if i found one at a decent price used i might pick one up but tha5s a big IF

 

[bgredjeep]

the camo is a cool rig but its timing was alittle off

Timing was the reason I did end up with it. At the time both the bomber and yeti were discontinued. I really wanted a bomber, but at $400+ brushed it was hard to stomach (still is, and I still really want one). I also was looking for used and everything I found in the couple weeks I shopped were either clapped out for basically retail price, or fully built for $700 and up. Of course in the couple months since I got the camo I've come across a few nice yeti's, and one bomber. My wife would not be happy if another one shows up at the house. Besides, I've had to drop a few bucks into the real Jeep (new seats) so I'm keeping my rc spending in check.

For the time being I'll keep messing with the camo and share info with others who have, or are thinking about getting one.

 

[bgredjeep]

So I think this post gets to the current state of my Camo.

I decided to build another skid plate with a few changes this time.

I was looking over the rig and realized the front "bumper" that bolts to the front of the chassis doesn't really do anything besides hold the hinge pins in place. Well that and give more leverage to break the front of the chassis as I've seen a few people post.

The plan was set. I removed the bumper. I swapped in some titanium hinge pins I had from an old slash that are a little longer. This let me run e clips on both ends so the bumper wasn't needed any more. Next, I trimmed ~1cm from the front of the chassis before starting the new skid.

I made this skid from the same material (1/8" aluminum). I extended it about an inch further down the chassis and tied into the steering bolts.

 

[coffeeaddict17]

I have a camo x4, and rarely run it due to constantly losing driveshafts. The pinions just have a flat milled on them, and no through hole. The driveshafts also set the gear mesh on the ring and pinion. So as the drive shaft loosens up, the gears get sloppy. I've used lock tite, and it doesn't seem to make the difference. The next step, I'm going to try to drill the pinion.

 

[ferp420]

I have a camo x4, and rarely run it due to constantly losing driveshafts. The pinions just have a flat milled on them, and no through hole. The driveshafts also set the gear mesh on the ring and pinion. So as the drive shaft loosens up, the gears get sloppy. I've used lock tite, and it doesn't seem to make the difference. The next step, I'm going to try to drill the pinion.

i wounder if there is anyway you could get a axial gear set in there

if not ive had good luck using red lock tight on the shaft aswell as the set screw i have one shaft on a redcat i did that to and now i cant get it off with out melting the transmission case they have been mated together so long now its time to replace bothe the shafts and the trans
drilling hardend steel isent alot of fun but i can be done with the right tools and alot of patience and some good cutting oil but even just making a divit it the flat will help alot and thats not that hard to do

 

[bgredjeep]

i wounder if there is anyway you could get a axial gear set in there

if not ive had good luck using red lock tight on the shaft aswell as the set screw i have one shaft on a redcat i did that to and now i cant get it off with out melting the transmission case

Try sticking a soldering iron on the set screw for a few seconds. Should be safe for the trans and melt the red.

 

[ferp420]

Try sticking a soldering iron on the set screw for a few seconds. Should be safe for the trans and melt the red.

the entire shaft is soked in red lock tight a soldering iron dosent get hot enuff and the only time i take the shafts off is to replace the transmission it self at $12 for the complete set up it just makes sence to replace the entire unit when i do remove them i use a blow torch works great lol
point being the shaft wont come off on its own

 

[Hammerhead_75]

Can I play? �� First post, and my forum-fu may not be what it used to be, but I hope I’m not outta line posting up stuff in this thread.

I’ve go a Camo X4 that I picked up used for a screaming deal, and I really like it so far. The bumper was smoked when I got it, so I ordered up some T-Bone Racing stuff; the bumper, link skids and diff skid. I’ve had some of their stuff on other rigs, and love it. Modified the bumper to use the stock brace.

 

[Hammerhead_75]

Next, I moved the battery tray, but thought the rear frame members were a bit too flexy, so I made some quick aluminum braces to stiffen it up. I’ll make some that fit into the pockets on the frame proper sometime; these just bolt into the existing battery tray mounts. The tires were also punched, so I picked up some Hyraxes.

 

[bgredjeep]

I hope I’m not outta line posting up stuff in this thread.

Not at all. I made the thread to share info since I really didn't find much elsewhere when I started messing with my camo. Hopefully others will contribute as well.

 

[Hammerhead_75]

Not at all. I made the thread to share info since I really didn't find much elsewhere when I started messing with my camo. Hopefully others will contribute as well.

Cool. I really dig the chassis / battery tray brace you made that relocates the battery. Mind if I steal that?

I was also wondering what you needed to do for fitment of the Yeti sway bar. I also would like something a bit stiffer.

I ordered up the Force RC Hammerjaw rear axles and spool I read about in another thread as a bit of an experiment. The axles are here, just waiting on the diff parts. I’ll be sure to post up the results here.

 

[bgredjeep]

Cool. I really dig the chassis / battery tray brace you made that relocates the battery. Mind if I steal that?

I was also wondering what you needed to do for fitment of the Yeti sway bar. I also would like something a bit stiffer.

I ordered up the Force RC Hammerjaw rear axles and spool I read about in another thread as a bit of an experiment. The axles are here, just waiting on the diff parts. I’ll be sure to post up the results here.

Use anything you like. Mine is a variation of a 3d printed tray I saw another guy make. I don't have a printer to make a custom tray so I made it the way I was able.

I'll get some pictures and post details on the sway bar soon, but it really just a matter of opening up the mount holes and arms enough to fit the thicker bar. I am going to try the medium bar so I'll get pics when I get into that.

 

[Hammerhead_75]

Use anything you like. Mine is a variation of a 3d printed tray I saw another guy make. I don't have a printer to make a custom tray so I made it the way I was able.

I'll get some pictures and post details on the sway bar soon, but it really just a matter of opening up the mount holes and arms enough to fit the thicker bar. I am going to try the medium bar so I'll get pics when I get into that.

Thanks.