start with a 14 or 15 pinion / 62 spur

Those are needed - the only parts I ever broke on this chassis is the spring bucket. But I only broke one. I guess I broke a sway bar end link once too.

Thinking back on this chassis, if I was to start over again I think I'd only change a couple of things right off the bat and really nothing else:

Slipper - the VTS is a huge upgrade over stock, but IMO it isn't as good as the OG Mac The Knife basket. It is good enough, particularly when combined with the garolite pads. I am a big fan of the Exotech front hub/inner slipper eliminator/whatever it is, but it does cost the truck some rotation getting into the corner. And because it doesn't slip the front but does allow the rear some, it takes the load off the rear idler.

Springs - IMO throw the long rears away right out of the box. My sedan uses the same springs on all four corners, there isn't a good reason to do otherwise on this chassis.

Motor selection - WAY MORE IMPORTANT on this chassis than on any other 4x because you need to balance weight against how much power you need in your local conditions. The Reedy 550 is a safe choice because its like 40 grams lighter than the next lightest 550 motor. I'm a big fan of my Hobbywing 4000kv four pole (same weight). The Tekin might be the best one.

So, in retrospect, were talking about $30 in parts and picking the right motor.

They are supposed to plant my 800 walnut trees this afternoon, hopefully I can start racing again here soon.

Shoot now I have to buy the Exotek spring perch set to complete my shocks. I got the tops and collars already. Why do they keep doing this to me? Lol! Im a sucker for pretty blue items!

Im just curious why none of the AE team drivers are listing front springs being used on the rear. Are you doing this to lower the ride height or just for more adjustment. I just put blue fronts and blue rears on my truck and it felt pretty dialed for indoor, my FT truck is as light as possible, I bought a extra 100 pack of AE aluminim screws and titanium top shock mounts etc....

I'll try yellow fronts and blue fronts on the rear just to check it out. Now im curious.

Craig if I recall posted a great breakdown as to why to use them.

Me personally I found the higher rate springs to work better overall outdoors and indoors carpet. The rear yellows I was using felt too soft, causing the rear to dive into bumps more and a lazy feel to the rear end.

For outdoors, I believe I settled on green fronts on the rear for the loose bumpy stuff, but white would work well too, indoors blue fronts on the rear worked excellent.

I don't recall anyone using Yellow fronts on the rear however.

When you try this, remember that you need to use the c-clips inside the spring perch to raise it up.

The team drivers already know theres no need for a stiffer spring on the rear ..

I have tried though and the results were disappointing even with good traction...

Truck becomes too responsive & rolled over with out warning .
Traction was ok , just the forgiveness was all gone ...


Even if I were on carpet would stick with yellow ...

Thanks guys, I'll check it out. With blue fronts on the front and blue rears on the rear my truck was lifting the inside tire at the end of the a sweeper. So I moved to 6mm of spacers (from 4mm) on the exotek rear hubs with 12mm studs and zero spacers on inside and that seemed to settle it down.

I'm building my new FT 4x4 today. Got a question though, just dot done building the diffs/outdrives.

My outdrives do not turn freely at all. I had a very hard time getting the gear pins through the hole in the outdrive, not enough room. Finally got it through, but now I get little to no turn on the outdrives.

Assembly from outside in goes - outdrive > small o-ring> outdrive washer > diff case > big o-ring > sun gear washer > gear pin > sun gear

Any ideas?? I'm really not looking forward to taking this thing apart and getting diff fluid everywhere

If you did assemble correctly they should just need a little break end and they will become smoother ....

I do not use the shim on the out drive shaft , instead I use it under the sun gear with the other included shim...

I would run yellow in the front.

Not sure Ive ever shared this, but about a year and a half ago I went to a lot of trouble to calculate wheel frequency on my SC10 2w so I could convert to big bores springs and have the setup be the same. It was a lot of work - lots of tedious measuring and testing and calculations, about 20 hours worth - and i was successful. However, as a result, it occurred to me I could do the same thing and extrapolate the wheel frequencies to the SC10 4x4. The goal was to have the 4w and the 2w not be night and day different to drive (which they were, the 2w was dialed, the 4w I called the ex wife). This is how real race car engineers do it with a brand new and unknown chassis with zero setup data.

So, with Maifields kind of base SC10 2w setup (one that I think is pretty strapped), the wheel frequencies were like 1.1hz front and .8hz rear. - pretty close F/R. When I calculated the same thing for yellows all around for the 4w, it was like 1.6hz front and .45hz rear - not even close! As soon as I put the same wheel frequency on both chassis, the 4w truck came alive and handled (IMO) properly.

Well, at least it handled like my 2w.

Anyway, that's why I went to front springs in the rear. The stiffest rear spring (in the rear) is too soft relative to the softest front (in the front) and if you are running a Novak 550 motor which is heavier it's even worse.

Thanks for the info and all that hard work Craig, explains a lot. I only use front springs and go back and forth between yellow/blue combo and blue/white combo front to rear. If track is rutted and bumpy softer springs and slightly lighter oils go on. Smooth and well groomed the stiffer setup is used. Works very well with my stick pack and 540 4-pole motor. People that use the saddle packs may find they like something different.

I am assuming you have the thicker shims? If so, you will want to not put the washer that goes between the outdrive and the outdrive case. That is the instructions my shims came with.

If you are running the thinner shim under the sun gear, then it should free up after usage as mentioned by others.

The other remote possibility is you mated the gear teeth on top of each other. I have seen this once in the SC10 4x4 but in general his wouldn't move. Its a long shot though.

Lol, works well with the saddles too! that is basically where I was outdoors, though rear went green but I could see going white too.

Anyone here got the coupled setup they want to sell? basically top shaft and associated slipper assembly part?

Have not got the copperhead system yet, but I will soon.
Gonna be pretty powerful with a 70c Trakpower Lipo I just hope I can control it.:lol:

I was watching George drive his truck on Sunday and it looked so fun and so fast! Sooo..
I'm going to pick up a new factory team again this week. I sold my last ft truck back in December because I was "over it" and just drove 2w buggy and 4w buggy for the last 4 months. But sc4x4 is so fun, and it dosnt break!
So I guess after a good break I'm back into it!
Reedy motor, viper vtx10r, airtornics servo and mt4. And protek saddles.
This was my most successful class to race in, hope I can pick it back up!