187LikesTLR SCTE 3.0 Thread
10-23-2016, 08:37 AM
#511
Tech Fanatic
iTrader: (3)
Finally got to race my 3.0 Friday and Saturday at Speed Line Raceway in Clarksville Tn. for the Military appreciation race. This is an outdoor track and not a groomed west coast style track. I started with almost the kit setup. I did the Ryans's setups ,which is shock locations, to start off with just to feel the new truck and try to compare to my 2.0. The 3.0 does rotate corners much better than ,my worked on and tuned for me, 2.0. I forgot and left my +4 spring retainers at home on the work bench; as my kit came with 2 standards and 2 +4's.
So right for the first run I was able to get 26mm ride height. Truck was good but then started falling off handling wise. looked like the back of the truck was slapping the ground on jump faces and landings. When checked after that run my ride height had dropped to 20-21 in the rear w/ the standard spring cups I had installed. I went to a fellow racer to borrow his +4 retainers as he was using the 2.0 shocks. Installed said +4's in the rear and ride height was returned to 25-26 in the rear. Yeah!!!!!!!
Well next round of qualifying the truck started well and ended up with the same finish as the first round did. Rear chassis slap and donkey kicking. checked ride height again and low and behold 21-22 mm in the rear. mind you this is still with the kit red springs. So guess they're totally collapsed. So now what????
Well the racer I borrowed his cups from wants to run the 3.0 shocks on his truck. Now what do we do? one of the +4 fell off on the last run. My mistake as I usually zip tie the spring cup and the spring together at the base to prevent losing retainers. So We researched TLR spring charts and came up with some ST rear springs that are taller with more coils and used the standard spring retainers. Success!!!!! Trucks felt good on the tables and ride heights were where we where looking for; but what would happen on the track?
Slight spring combo's on front and rear for us both, as well as positions. Bottom line I went out with kit fronts and this new ST rear and i was much better no collapsing springs ride height stayed the same from beginning of the run to the end. Just one more position change for the mains and I'm good to go.
Mains went well Started 8th; moved advanced to 2nd for awhile finished 4th at the end. Its all good. I will be doing some more researching on TLR springs to be looking at taller springs both Frt and RR. as I'd like to have the adjustability for more heights without being at the bottom of the shock body.
This is all my .02cts. This and another $1.50 and you've got a good cup of coffee.
So right for the first run I was able to get 26mm ride height. Truck was good but then started falling off handling wise. looked like the back of the truck was slapping the ground on jump faces and landings. When checked after that run my ride height had dropped to 20-21 in the rear w/ the standard spring cups I had installed. I went to a fellow racer to borrow his +4 retainers as he was using the 2.0 shocks. Installed said +4's in the rear and ride height was returned to 25-26 in the rear. Yeah!!!!!!!
Well next round of qualifying the truck started well and ended up with the same finish as the first round did. Rear chassis slap and donkey kicking. checked ride height again and low and behold 21-22 mm in the rear. mind you this is still with the kit red springs. So guess they're totally collapsed. So now what????
Well the racer I borrowed his cups from wants to run the 3.0 shocks on his truck. Now what do we do? one of the +4 fell off on the last run. My mistake as I usually zip tie the spring cup and the spring together at the base to prevent losing retainers. So We researched TLR spring charts and came up with some ST rear springs that are taller with more coils and used the standard spring retainers. Success!!!!! Trucks felt good on the tables and ride heights were where we where looking for; but what would happen on the track?
Slight spring combo's on front and rear for us both, as well as positions. Bottom line I went out with kit fronts and this new ST rear and i was much better no collapsing springs ride height stayed the same from beginning of the run to the end. Just one more position change for the mains and I'm good to go.
Mains went well Started 8th; moved advanced to 2nd for awhile finished 4th at the end. Its all good. I will be doing some more researching on TLR springs to be looking at taller springs both Frt and RR. as I'd like to have the adjustability for more heights without being at the bottom of the shock body.
This is all my .02cts. This and another $1.50 and you've got a good cup of coffee.
Last edited by freebird; 10-23-2016 at 09:36 AM.
10-23-2016, 01:47 PM
#512
Tech Regular
More input on the wheel burning up issues at least one other poster has seen. Two of us today ran into this issue with hexes being rounded out and for my buddy his wheel actually came off. On my truck one rear and one front failed leading to some very odd handling but they stayed on the truck. My wheels were Avid and were well used but no hex damage. Nuts were tight as I had just changed wheels. All three of us running the 3.0 today then changed the nuts for aftermarket nuts with a larger nylock area and bigger serrations and did not see the issue again.
10-23-2016, 01:50 PM
#513
Same exact thing happened to me. I went with aftermarket nuts and haven't had the issue again.
10-23-2016, 04:32 PM
#516
Tech Regular
10-23-2016, 04:34 PM
#517
They come from a different factory, and cost a lot more due the more complex machining. This is why they aren't included in the kit, although I've run the stock wheels nuts without issues myself. You just have to tighten them tight, and don't go multiple runs without checking them.
10-23-2016, 05:13 PM
#518
As for the diff screws, you can replace those with a harder 12/9 hardened screw set from protek and stripping them will be a thing of the past.
2.5x12mm high-strength screws 10psc
2.5x12mm high-strength screws 10psc
https://www.amainhobbies.com/hpi-rac...hpiz449/p56197
Looking at the Proteks it appears they have a smaller hex drive socket than the HPIs which take a 2MM driver. I've been using the HPI screws for about 4 years now and never stripped a head.
10-23-2016, 05:40 PM
#519
Tech Regular
They come from a different factory, and cost a lot more due the more complex machining. This is why they aren't included in the kit, although I've run the stock wheels nuts without issues myself. You just have to tighten them tight, and don't go multiple runs without checking them.
In other news I dropped the oil weights to 35/30 which made a massive difference on our very bumpy outdoor astro track. Still some tuning to do but I am back to my Tekno speed and there is lots more to find and my confidence is high!
10-23-2016, 06:12 PM
#520
Welp... Debuted the 3.0 today in my last outdoor race here in Eastern Ohio. The top 3 qualifiers were all Losi 3.0 SCTEs. The 4th was a Durango, and the 5th was also a Losi 3.0.
I qualified 2nd. The truck handled pretty awesome and I was very impressed for the first race.
I am running Brown front springs, with 37.5 oil. Silver rear springs with 40 oil. Stock diff fluids. Im going to mess around with different center diff oils, and sway bars..
I have added clamping hexs, Hot Racing center diff mount, and spindles, TLR top plate on steering, I have a Hobbywing XR8 SCT 140amp ESC, A Hobbystar 4300HD motor and a Savox 1267, and a Hobbystar 8000mah 100c battery. 15 tooth pinion. This truck rips.
Anyway, I started 2nd in the A Main. I crashed on the first lap bad. Was dead last. Came back up to 2nd, followed another SCTE 3.0 for a few laps until he made a mistake and I went right by. I held the lead for the last 7-8 laps of therace and took the Win in my first race with the new truck.
My lap times were a little faster than my Tekno. My overall times were quiteva bit faster. Terrible build.
But it's a good truck. I hope it lasts and doesn't need constant replacement parts.
I qualified 2nd. The truck handled pretty awesome and I was very impressed for the first race.
I am running Brown front springs, with 37.5 oil. Silver rear springs with 40 oil. Stock diff fluids. Im going to mess around with different center diff oils, and sway bars..
I have added clamping hexs, Hot Racing center diff mount, and spindles, TLR top plate on steering, I have a Hobbywing XR8 SCT 140amp ESC, A Hobbystar 4300HD motor and a Savox 1267, and a Hobbystar 8000mah 100c battery. 15 tooth pinion. This truck rips.
Anyway, I started 2nd in the A Main. I crashed on the first lap bad. Was dead last. Came back up to 2nd, followed another SCTE 3.0 for a few laps until he made a mistake and I went right by. I held the lead for the last 7-8 laps of therace and took the Win in my first race with the new truck.
My lap times were a little faster than my Tekno. My overall times were quiteva bit faster. Terrible build.
But it's a good truck. I hope it lasts and doesn't need constant replacement parts.
10-24-2016, 05:10 AM
#522
Tech Regular
10-24-2016, 08:49 AM
#523
Tech Initiate
ah, i was racing cutting as his wheels came loose, cant complain as it meant I beat him 
i specifically checked mine were nice and tight before the next heat and one of mine fell off during that race.
im not sure tightening them before each race is a guarantee to the wheels not coming loose, not losing any sleep over it, have replaced them anyway now.
btw the truck is great, had a first run with it on sunday and apart from the problem with my nuts it was great fun to run. even after only one meeting with it i much prefer it to my old tekno!
i specifically checked mine were nice and tight before the next heat and one of mine fell off during that race. im not sure tightening them before each race is a guarantee to the wheels not coming loose, not losing any sleep over it, have replaced them anyway now.
btw the truck is great, had a first run with it on sunday and apart from the problem with my nuts
it was great fun to run. even after only one meeting with it i much prefer it to my old tekno!They come from a different factory, and cost a lot more due the more complex machining. This is why they aren't included in the kit, although I've run the stock wheels nuts without issues myself. You just have to tighten them tight, and don't go multiple runs without checking them.
10-24-2016, 10:05 PM
#525
I think the difference is what you drive on more than anything. The tekno is a heavier truck that has a forward weight bias more so than the SCTE. Many people have had problems with the Tekno nose diving over jumps and not wanting to turn as sharply as the SCTE. But these problems are easy to fix, but if you don't frequent the forums there is a lot of misconception about the platform and it's vices.
The Tekno was obviously based off the 1/8 scale buggy chassis and has 16mm shocks.
The original chassis tested was done so with a 5000 mah pack with a 540 motor running an RX8 ESC along with a low profile light weight steering servo.
Unlike the Losi, you can not move the battery placement forward or back due to there being a permanent battery tray in the molding.
All this has caused a setback in setting these trucks up with the more typical "heavier" electronics such as batteries 7200 mah and up, 550 4 pole motors and heavier ESC's and servos.
This causes an unreasonable front weight bias that needs to be addressed by modding the battery tray to move the pack back 10mm and or by modifying the rear side plastic behind the battery to seat the ESC there.
Another option is to just buy the newer M2C chassis that automatically moves the battery back 10mm.
By doing these things you end up with a really balanced truck that no longer nose dives or has such a side to side offset bias.
The Tekno is much better suited in my opinion to true off road tracks that aren't groomed on a constant basis like indoor or high bite blue groove. The extra weight makes it faster to settle down into a track instead of riding on top of it like the lighter SCTE is more likely to do unless tuned perfectly.
In the hands of a good driver who has the right knowledge to setup one up right, the Tekno does hold it's own on most tracks and is every bit as fast as the others in my opinion.
It takes larger jumps a load better than any other SCT and doesn't get tossed around as much due to lower frequency of the large bore shocks.
The SCTE on the other hand tends to be a nimble beast right out of the box without needing much done to achieve that light on it's toe's sort of feeling.
However this is offset considering the number of upgrades that that had to be done to the 2.0 to be reliable and significantly lower the maintenance.
Tekno wins the consistency and durability race hands down as far as out of the box goes.
Its worthy to mention that the tekno has a three position ackerman drag link plate so there is no need to swap any parts, and the drive line is straight in and out to both the front and rear diffs without bind which makes parts last longer, bearings, drive cups and drive shafts, etc. I get the same amount of battery draw on both trucks even though the Losi is much lighter.
The diffs are super strong as stock builds and the shocks simply don't leak and need very little maintenance to stay tuned.
As far as immediate upgrades go, you will only "need" clamping wheel hexes, and the alloy A block
The rest are just "here and there things" that you can do to for slight improvements, such as alloy shock tops and bottom caps, alloy center diff mount and carbon shock towers.
But honestly it is by far the least needy chassis I have ever owned as far as what you must do.
I did however have to learn a lot to get the chassis setup to handle as good as the SCTE does and this is it's Achilles heel in my opinion that caused some to dislike the SCT vs what felt more familiar from other brands, such as losi in this case.
She is a front heavy fat girl and needs some extra plastics removed and or revised for the best reconfiguration in order to get the most out of it.
With a movable battery tray and ability to seat the ESC where you want it, it would be a hard competitor for any SCT class for anyone driving it.
Now that the 3.0 is out, I will give it to LOSI for highly improving the kit parts list by supplying both ackerman links stock, improving on the ball link slop and equaling out the center drive line set. The addition of adding the newer dog bones and improving on the shocks and caster blocks really does a lot for it as well.
The only things that I would tell a person to get with the it immediately this go round is the alloy rear bearing carriers, clamping wheel hexes and Xray diff washers.
The must have list has drastically decreased from the 2.0 chassis.
The Tekno was obviously based off the 1/8 scale buggy chassis and has 16mm shocks.
The original chassis tested was done so with a 5000 mah pack with a 540 motor running an RX8 ESC along with a low profile light weight steering servo.
Unlike the Losi, you can not move the battery placement forward or back due to there being a permanent battery tray in the molding.
All this has caused a setback in setting these trucks up with the more typical "heavier" electronics such as batteries 7200 mah and up, 550 4 pole motors and heavier ESC's and servos.
This causes an unreasonable front weight bias that needs to be addressed by modding the battery tray to move the pack back 10mm and or by modifying the rear side plastic behind the battery to seat the ESC there.
Another option is to just buy the newer M2C chassis that automatically moves the battery back 10mm.
By doing these things you end up with a really balanced truck that no longer nose dives or has such a side to side offset bias.
The Tekno is much better suited in my opinion to true off road tracks that aren't groomed on a constant basis like indoor or high bite blue groove. The extra weight makes it faster to settle down into a track instead of riding on top of it like the lighter SCTE is more likely to do unless tuned perfectly.
In the hands of a good driver who has the right knowledge to setup one up right, the Tekno does hold it's own on most tracks and is every bit as fast as the others in my opinion.
It takes larger jumps a load better than any other SCT and doesn't get tossed around as much due to lower frequency of the large bore shocks.
The SCTE on the other hand tends to be a nimble beast right out of the box without needing much done to achieve that light on it's toe's sort of feeling.
However this is offset considering the number of upgrades that that had to be done to the 2.0 to be reliable and significantly lower the maintenance.
Tekno wins the consistency and durability race hands down as far as out of the box goes.
Its worthy to mention that the tekno has a three position ackerman drag link plate so there is no need to swap any parts, and the drive line is straight in and out to both the front and rear diffs without bind which makes parts last longer, bearings, drive cups and drive shafts, etc. I get the same amount of battery draw on both trucks even though the Losi is much lighter.
The diffs are super strong as stock builds and the shocks simply don't leak and need very little maintenance to stay tuned.
As far as immediate upgrades go, you will only "need" clamping wheel hexes, and the alloy A block
The rest are just "here and there things" that you can do to for slight improvements, such as alloy shock tops and bottom caps, alloy center diff mount and carbon shock towers.
But honestly it is by far the least needy chassis I have ever owned as far as what you must do.
I did however have to learn a lot to get the chassis setup to handle as good as the SCTE does and this is it's Achilles heel in my opinion that caused some to dislike the SCT vs what felt more familiar from other brands, such as losi in this case.
She is a front heavy fat girl and needs some extra plastics removed and or revised for the best reconfiguration in order to get the most out of it.
With a movable battery tray and ability to seat the ESC where you want it, it would be a hard competitor for any SCT class for anyone driving it.
Now that the 3.0 is out, I will give it to LOSI for highly improving the kit parts list by supplying both ackerman links stock, improving on the ball link slop and equaling out the center drive line set. The addition of adding the newer dog bones and improving on the shocks and caster blocks really does a lot for it as well.
The only things that I would tell a person to get with the it immediately this go round is the alloy rear bearing carriers, clamping wheel hexes and Xray diff washers.
The must have list has drastically decreased from the 2.0 chassis.
Last edited by Josh L; 10-25-2016 at 02:07 AM.