teekv1

thanks. to be fair this is my first a) SC truck b) 4x4 and c) outdoor vehicle. I am very pleased with how it's held up thus far and agree about the "maintenance" parts thing. I guess I'm just used to stuff not really breaking as my indoor buggy is pretty decked and has held up amazingly well over a lot of run time.

that said I don't have what I'd consider a ton of hours on the truck, I'd say 12 max, although I do run her pretty hard out there....for this to be the first thing to break again I am pleased overall. it could definitely have been a rock, a bad landing, or just wear and tear.

all helpful comments and good questions here....thanks for that!

Casper

iTrader: (34)

You need to get the compound right as well to what Thunder said.

Positrons are directional and as such can be more aggressive one way than the other. Something you will need to play with a little to see what you like and your track has traction for.

Electrons are a good stable tire for smooth clay or blue groove conditions (again dirt and compound need to be correct).

tvih

Finally got around to starting cleaning the car for indoor use, as it had clay all over it. What a mess, the clay is sooooo tricky to remove - brush, toothbrush then detergent and a proper shower. Even so, still not entirely clean.

Alas, also noticed that apparently both front and rear diffs have bee leaking some at some point, as there's some oily grime around the outdrives (and those didn't come off with the cleaning procedures, at least not all). Damn it. I reeeaaallly don't like taking apart cars to do diff maintenance. At least the center diff - which leaked after the initial build - is much faster to remove than the other two.

Anyway, all this in preparation to try the car indoors, hopefully before the end the of the month - waiting for the indoor tires to arrive first. Also trying to go for a race on the 9th of December if I can sort out the logistics. The only 4WD I've driven indoors so far is my 1/16 Traxxas, so it should be interesting.

Thunder Trail

iTrader: (66)

Take your time and the work will go by faster than you think. Get on a schedule. Take that rig apart for a good cleaning in the kitchen sink part by part when needed. Clean tires and inspect everything between rounds. Then keep track of the number of lipos you have run. Insert your own numbers here for nasty outdoor dirt tracks:

Every 25 lipos - Inspect, clean or replace wheel bearings.
Every 50 Lipos - Inspect, clean or replace Shock oil
Every 75 Lipos - Replace rear diff fluid, clean or replace diff bearings
Every 100 Lipos - Replace front and center diff fluid, Clean or replace bearings, Clean motor and replace bearings
Every 150 Lipos replace CV pins and or drive shafts and outdrives as needed

If you know you need diff work, do one each week to spread the work out over time.. Same for front or rear shocks, bearings or anything. By working on one thing every week you can always have a rig performing near 100 percent all the time. You can't buy the confidence that doing frequent maintenance will give you. So enjoy it if you can.

Kethpaul

amazing i must say.

Maxxingout

iTrader: (17)

So I got this truck and decided right off the bat to do the shock mod using the 2.0 tuning springs. Was reading to get the longer rear shock bodies and shafts, then move the stock rear to the front and the new bodies go on back. Did all that and when it came time to get ride height I can't. When pushing the truck front and rear by hand down, I can't even get the chassis to hit. The shocks bottom out 1st. How are people getting this setup to even work? I believe if I put the fronts back on the rear and the original stock fronts back on while still using the 2.0 springs I should be able to get the chassis to hit. I'm confused as to how this setup worked?

New rear bodies- TLR 233016 these are for the sct22 (not sure how they compare to TLR5076 in length? These are for the 22t)
New rear shafts- TLR 233015

tvih

I reckon while not 100% clean it's mostly good enough, as in what there is won't come loose to dirty up the track, since it won't even come off with a brush. Exceptions being the oil grime - well not that it'd come off either but underfilled, leaking diffs isn't optimal. Not that I ever notice the difference
Also probably gotta take apart the hub assemblies to clean the parts separately, as the axles turning sounds a bit gritty.

I've actually never replaced any bearings on any car other than one exploded motor bearing, or even particularly cleaned them much. But that does remind me that my B5M's front hub bearings might need a looking at, it seems to stop free-spinning properly sometimes. I should probably have a bunch of spare bearings at least for the more imporant race cars, but alas don't. Not so many good cheap sources. RCbearings UK would have complete spare sets for a decent price, but I'm underbudgeted as usual.

tvih

Oh, and as an experiment I finally got around to trying a SC10 4x4's shock on the SCTE, and it fits. A bit of a tight squeeze getting the bottom mounting inside the a-arm, though. Still, I'm wondering if I should keep the extra set of shocks I have for the SC10 even if I sell the car itself. If I have a shock emergency, I'd have a new usable set, even if one that requires different settings due to being slightly longer, 13mm spring size and all that.

Thunder Trail

iTrader: (66)

I'll send you a PM. Anytime you venture away from stock parts there are unique problems to work through.

I see. I think you are doing great getting the most life possible from your parts. You are happy with that level of performance and there is nothing wrong with that.
I have done this myself. It was a painful process for me and made selling the truck later a challenge.

Always good to have spare parts, but best to use parts that fit your truck properly. Consider selling the other truck complete and buy the Losi/TLR spare parts you think you need. That's a sure bet you will have the correct part when needed and it fits correctly without mods or causing additional work.

Only you can decide.

tvih

Shocks are one thing I won't buy unless I need them right away - they just cost way too much for the likelihood of needing them as spares. I haven't even gotten around to buying threaded shocks for my SC10 2WD because they just cost too much. Yet at the same time the lightly used AE 4x4 shocks don't have much resale value at all - basically a "better than nothing" contingency. I don't see process as particularly painful as they fit right on, but yeah, if I tried to sell the SCTE with AE shocks that might be a problem - an unlikely scenario however, both in actually needing the shocks as well as selling the truck. I'll most likely drive the car to its grave Kept the SC10 2WD too even though I upgraded to SC5M for racing - the reason I might sell the 4x4 is because I got it used so I'm not as "attached" to it.

Oh, and as for the bearing thing... yeah, I generally only replace things when broken or clearly malfunctioning. I figure, since the offroad classes are all "mod" here, the only thing they'd really affect is absolute top speed (and even that not significantly), since at lower speeds more throttle would overcome any minor bearing (or other) resistance. Unless bearings are actually seizing so that you end up with one side dragging or something, but that goes to the "clearly malfunctioning" category. And of course, I haven't driven any insane amounts with any single car yet, though it's hard to guesstimate how many packs through each at this point. It's a mixed bag - having many cars means affording limited spare parts, yet at the same time no one car wears down all that fast, so usually only breakages are a problem.

I just wish my city still had an indoor track so I could actually drive... /

Thunder Trail

iTrader: (66)

I understand. I agree with some of that. However, if you raced the same track every week and threw in some new bearings often, changed shock oil and or diff fluid often verses not doing maintenance at all you would see a difference. It could be proven with lap times and noticed with better handling.

After my truck gets sloppy I can't drive with the same precision as a fresh truck. It doesn't allow me to hug the pipe lap after lap with perfection because its kinda worn out. A fresh truck only stays fresh if you maintain it and keep it working as new. That is my goal so I can keep racking up wins. Clean diving, fresh fluids and frequent maintenance keeps me on the podium using the same truck for years with a low parts bill. Its a proven plan, but it's not for everyone. Your goals might be to just make laps and have fun and there is nothing wrong with that.

djgrom

iTrader: (1)

Speaking of shocks I am almost done assembling my kit and am building the shocks but even after watching several youtube videos I think I am doing something wrong. When I build the shocks and bleed them everything seems to be okay until I have the shock at full length and it starts getting sucked back up in. If I bleed them so it doesn't suck back up and in then there is a lot of rebound. Anyone have anytips for what I am doing wrong? I can upload a video if necessary. It makes it feel like when the shocks are mounted on the chassis that they are making it so the car doesn't sit quite right.

Thunder Trail

iTrader: (66)

Nothing wrong with them. Emulsion style, after they are on the truck overnight they will have some air in them and normalize after a few laps. Normal to see them do that after you bleed them.

djgrom

iTrader: (1)

Alright thank you. I knew it could be difficult to get the right balance. Perhaps watching too many tutorials had me second guessing because the shocks do feel like they are built really well. They operate so smoothly and there is no hint of extra air in the shock.

How do you guys set the droop on an off road car? Is it the same as doing it on road? The one thing I have questions about is with as much down travel as there is in the suspension do I measure the droop from where it is fully extended down or do I start measuring it when the Arm is flat relative to the chassis. Sorry for all the questions this is my first off road kit. I love your guys help though.

Thunder Trail

iTrader: (66)

Shocks built emulsion are easy to repeat. Do it the same every time. I like them dead, no rebound.

Droop is measured with calipers. Center of top shock bolt to bottom shock bolt with shock installed on the truck with suspension hanging freely.