I have an RC truck that I got as a gift a while back and I was never able to get it working. Due to time and money, I haven't touched it for a while, but now I'm back at it.

I had replaced the motor and speed controller after some advice I got from this forums and some other places. I have two issues now.

1: When I power on the truck a light on the speed controller blinks and the front wheels turn jerkily to the right until they can't turn anymore. This happens automatically. The controller is off and has no batteries, so that's not the problem.

2: The controller doesn't work. The reason I know the controller doesn't work is because I took the truck to a hobby shop and they were able to get it running with their controller. I want to buy a new controller and radio crystals (right terms?) for less than $100. So I need some recommendations in this area.

I need advice and help. Thanks.

So you turn the car on with no transmitter (what you call controller)? That's why it freaks out and why the wheels turn. The receiver is getting no signal, so it's sending garbage to the steering servo, etc.

If your transmitter is bad, you need to buy a new one that matches your receiver, OR buy a new transmitter and receiver. "Crystals" were used in the past, though you can still buy some radios that use them. These days the most common (and most reliable) frequency is 2.4 GHz. If you have the cash, I would look for one of those. Plenty of inexpensive options, for instance you could get something like this: http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...SR201-Receiver

Or, if you have some more cash, you can step it up to something like http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...-Surface-Radio

But also look at options from Futaba and Airtronics, those are really good brands.

get this radio. you wont regret it
http://www.hobbypeople.net/index.php...fh2-radio.html

Sweet! I was worried there was something wrong with my speed controller. I'm going to pick up that $60 transmitter, too. That's pretty much the price range I was looking at.

I posted too soon. I live in Wisconsin and we have a literal crap ton of snow right now. Water proof seems a better option. And now that that topic has been breached, how will my motor and speed controller hold up with a little dampness? Ways to avoid it?

no idea what esc and motor your have. And the airtronics is a way better system than either of those spectrums linked. Plus, yes, the esc is water proof.

My speed controller is a Hobbywing EZRun 35a-SL. Motor is a Hobbywing EZ Run Brushless 5.5T 6000KV.

I don't think that esc is waterproof. I know some new castle stuff is though. Not real expensive either.

Did you go through the binding procedure? If you have the book that came with your RC, it should take you through the process.

What's the binding process? My wife bought me the truck and the book was all in chinese and bad english. I've replaced every part in the truck except for the radio, that part that moves the front wheels (name?) and the body/frame.

What brand of controller is it? Model also.

There are fairly generic binding procedures, Spektrum requires a bind plug, some of the RTR systems have a bind button, look on the receiver, you may need a magnifying glass to find it. And we can go from there,
I hope your LHS didn't lead you down the proverbial rabbit hole trying to fix what may be a fairly simple problem. These things can get expensive enough on their own.

We need to know what radio you have. Talking about binding is pointless if you're not even running a 2.4ghz system.

Never mind, of course your absolutely right as usual.
Do I hear another thread dyeing.

Ok. So I ordered a new transmitter and that seems to be working. Kind of. This seems a little odd to me, but basically the Nimh battery still has a charge after not being charged for at least a year, maybe 2. Anyhow, after installing the transmitter (instructions indicated that is is bound at the factor) I power everything on. The transmitter lets me turn the wheels but the car won't go forward. I reset my ESC and reprogrammed and now I can actually use my car. I run it around the house for about 20 minutes until it just stops moving forward anymore. I can still turn the wheels at this point. I assume that the battery is dead. I charged the battery overnight and now I can't get the car to move at all. Wheels still turn but when I pull the trigger on the transmitter, the ESC just clicks and sometimes the car will jerk forward half an inch. Wheels don't spin at all. At a loss, because this is the problem I had with the car when I got it three years ago. Forums told me to replace ESC and motor since I had a brushed motor. Same problem, so I was told to replace battery, and finally the transmitter. The only part in my car that hasn't been replaced is the servo.