:eek:

If thats the case, there will be a chorus about how this is AE's Strike :(

Real shame.

Little behind in my post. Sorry about that. You guys are quick.

By location you don't mean by it being in the rear versus say, the front do you?

Speaking of which, someone asked me this and I thought I would run it by you, how do you think the vehicle would perform if the motor was in the front versus the rear?

would the other two chassis components in aluminum be helpful at all? :confused:

You know, I don't know. Some people swear by the Exotek chassis, I have not tried it though. I run the Reflex Racing saddle pack conversion which adds about 3 oz of weight to the truck and makes the chassis much stiffer. This made the truck better.

For example, my Losi, the lighter I make it, the better it runs. With the AE, my take is that the extra weight might give extra grip under acceleration, but it also won't switch directions as easily and it won't jump as far, so it ends up being kind of a wash. It's sort of like picking your own poison...

I will have more answers tomorrow, maybe tonight! i can make a better assumption once i see how this idler gear works out.

Also would like to know if anyone from AE can support any of these theories. Seems the leaders of improving the truck are here on this thread. Look at the FT truck. Maybe a little insight from AE and whatever crazy innovative idea Mantis comes up with we should be able to figure it out.

i would say shoot Rick a pm. He has been very responsive to questions I have had and helped me out with any parts issues I have had with other AE vehicles.

only AE rep we have is Heavyjeff and i am glad he keeps up with the thread.

I didn't find my Losi jumped all that much better than my SC10.

What I have noticed is that the local/regional fast guys here that drive Losi pretty much all have 8th scale shocks on their cars (losi or kyosho) as the stock losi scte shocks suck. They have made their cars closer to 8th scale conversions now which is where this class is headed.

One very fast local with an sc10 has no problem jumping his over 8th scale jumps. he can pitch it and control it just like his 8th scale. I think the issue is that many folks just don't have their cars setup properly in the shock department. Granted he spends about 50 hours a week at the track so his cars are absolutely dialed - to the point where I instantly shave like .3-.5 off my lap times just by driving his car over mine.

there is a good video of Ryan Lutz driving his Durango at one of the big tracks with his and he had no problem launching 30 foot doubles and step ups.

The issue with SC is that the motors don't have the torque like an 8th scale to allow you to correct with ease in the air so being able to take off and fly true is even more critical which is where the shocks and weight play a role.

Anyway you can get some info from him on his setup?

Jeff's a great guy and a good friend, but he's probably a musician first, IT guy second and a AE sponsored driver third (with many more hobbies thrown in to make him a well rounded guy). To the best of my knowledge...not an AE employee.

But he does hang with a fast crowd.

I've obscured his face to protect the innocent.

I'll ask for the specifics. he is using saddle pack setup (B44 one), chassis brace, and Mantis' center diff conversion. I don't recall the springs, shock oil, and diff oils though.

Shocks have nothing to do with in air adjustments which this truck lacks. you cannot get the nose up or bring the nose down at high speeds in the air, the Losi and the Durango do not have this problem. Its been proven by more than a few as well as at least two Factory AE drivers that claim the same thing. I happen to be pretty decent at shock adjustments and spend more than 5 hours at tracks during the week. I dont know everything but I know alot, my truck is better at it than before but still not near good enough.

Low speed approach 30' triples are not a problem its the 40mph 36' jumps that are an issue and not everyone has access to these types of tracks and I didnt until recently.

I actually didnt mean rep in that sense! I meant the only person on this thread that is sponsored by AE.

Actually, Chris Jaroz nailed it in an earlier post:

And before I go any further, let me say this, loudly, so nobody misunderstands.

I REALLY LIKE MY SC10 4x4.
But it's not perfect.

As I posted earlier, I have been doing some fairly exhaustive research into wheel weights, wheel spring rates (that's where you measure it at the wheel, not the spring), and their spring frequency (where you calculate the springs natural rate in hz) on competitive trucks. I can identify three reasons, all of them kind of intertwined:

1. Mismatched springs (rear springs are way too soft relative to the fronts).
2. Weight bias to the back axle.
3. #1 and 2 assume a 540 motor, add a 550 (that you might need to clear the quad) and they get substantially worse.

Lets talk about springs first. The coils per inch are about the same on front and rear springs.

Yellow front springs are:

*2.450" long
*.060 diameter wire
*on the end of truck with about 45% of the weight

Yellow rear springs are:

*2.900" long (about 20% longer, or 20% softer than the front)
*.054 diameter wire (about 10% smaller, which is also softer)
*On the end of the truck with about 55% of the weight (lowers wheel frequency, acts like a softer spring)

Unknown to me, Cameron started running green front springs in the rear a couple of weeks ago while I was doing something similar by running yellow fronts all around. If the 540 motor is enough power at your track, it's not so bad, but if you need a 550 to jump the quad, I calculate you'll need a spring somewhere in the AE standard of rating of 7(!) to get the wheel frequencies equal front to rear.

Users who participated at Motorama commented that the AE truck would get "stuck" in the big holes. I had the same problem last year in the summer when our track would start to break up. You'd hit a hole, and the truck would literally spin out. The shaft drive trucks would go right through it no problem, I had to drive around it.

The current truck to beat at my local track is the Hyper. It is lighter than the SC10, has about 51% of it's weight on the front axle, and it's rear springs are about 5% softer. And with a 550 in it, it can jump the quad no sweat. And it weighs in right at the ROAR legal minimum weight (lighter than the AE). When I started racing with these guys, he was beating me by a lap over seven minutes. I have it whittled down to a straightaway now. I'm hoping going from a 6.5 to a 5.5 closes the rest of the gap, but at that point, I'm just going to have to outwheel and outluck him because his truck is a half second a lap faster per lap than mine (controlling for the pilot) and he does not suck.

Just adding weight to the front of the truck is no real solution - that weight is substantial, costs horsepower to haul around on a chassis that is already horsepower limited, and makes the polar moment of inertia worse which makes the truck more difficult to control in the air. That makes the takeoff even more critical. If I got to race indoor (like, ever), or on something that was consistently blue grooved, I'd likely not care a whit. The rear bias helps you there.