Got An AX10, Need Some Help :)

[slowngreen]

If I recall, isnt the rooster a 6v internal bec? If so, then you shouldnt have any trouble running a servo like that. I wouldnt go much bigger though because theres no way it would run a 7.4v servo setup.
That is a bad place for the battery since they weigh so much, it puts all your weight up top....are you good at soldering? Pull that pack apart and make it a saddle pack to sit on each side of the servo....or you can buy a saddle pack too

 

[abadk9420]

Another place you could possibly put it with a less adverse effect on your crawlers performance would be across the back axle, at least there the weight would be a lot lower and it would perform much better. As for going LiPo you could pick up a couple 2 cell lipo batteries and a basic lipo balance charger for probably less then $40 on www.hobbyking.com, but it sounds like you are in need of a new ESC, for that I would look at a Castle Creations Sidewinder and a Castle BEC then you would have a good drag brake and really good control, that would also allow you to run a 3 cell lipo which is what you really want for crawling, gives you great wheel speed and power. Then you could go with a BTA steering set up and place the battey on the front axle which is about the best place for it. take a look at my build and pictures and you will see my rig transform from a stock AX10 ARTR to a full blown comp crawler.

[ame="http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn124/abadk9420/"]Pictures by abadk9420 - Photobucket[/ame]

 

[HPI-Killer]

Wow! Just wow, now I'm jealous, feel like I traded for a sort of pos lol but oh well I will transform it but only at the helping hand of my boys @ RCNT! What does BTA stand for, something to do with the steering arms behind the axle? I have a 7 cell so its too wide to mount across the axle, I guess I have to go lipo to truely be happy which is just fine. Is it needed to put weight in the rear at all because I don't know how or which way to distribute my weight, my front wheels have weights and thats about it other than that plate which is now really top heavy and like to roll backwards lol. Abadk what is the little unit with that servo on top of that?

Sorry for all the questions but I am retarded at this
Thanks guys!

PS- Can anyone reccomend a good shock set front/rear and spring stiffness?

 

[abadk9420]

BTA stands for behind the axle steering, it gives you better approach angles because the steering rods and servo horn are now out of the way and behind the axle, the unit with the servo on top of it is call a dig, it allows me to lock up the rear axle so i can make really sharp turns as well as a lot of other things, but we can get into that later, as for weight in the rear you really don't want any but the battery would be better placed there then up high in the chassis making it very top heavy and more prone to rolling over, what you really want is a forward bias weight distribution with a total weight of around 6 pounds, one of the reasons your rig likes to flip over backwards is because with the weight of your battery up high like it is the weight starts to shift back as you climb up a rock and make the rear wheels dig in so it is pushing the crawler up the hill more then it is pulling it causing the back end to dig and grab more flipping you over, one of the other things that I did to my rig was put under drive gears in the rear so that the rear wheels spin slower then the front which makes it pull going up hill that much more, I also run plastic wheels with no weight in them at all so the rear is really light, another advantage to this is it allows me to get the rear of the crawler to pop up over things and kinda float behind the rig instead of dragging it down. As for shocks i am really liking my Duratrax shocks that i have on it now. But the length of the shocks would be determined by the chassis you are going to run, and just about any chassis would be a huge improvement over stock. There is so many things you can do to make these rigs crawl better it is ridiculous, I hope that helps answer some of your questions, we will be here to help get you up to speed and make good choices on what to buy and what not to buy.

 

[HPI-Killer]

If I recall, isnt the rooster a 6v internal bec? If so, then you shouldnt have any trouble running a servo like that. I wouldnt go much bigger though because theres no way it would run a 7.4v servo setup.
That is a bad place for the battery since they weigh so much, it puts all your weight up top....are you good at soldering? Pull that pack apart and make it a saddle pack to sit on each side of the servo....or you can buy a saddle pack too

Are you talking about the 7-cell being skinned open and re-arranged into a single pack just have the cells re-stacked op top of each other & soldered or is there long enuf "cable?" in the packs skin to split the entire pack into a 3 pack and 4 pack single? Sorry I may be just really confused about what you mean haha

 

[slowngreen]

You would take all the shrink wrap off and then have to re solder them all into two small packs, but you got the right idea. You can just use like speaker (fairly large gauge though) for all your leads.

Heres a picture of a saddle pack.

 

[abadk9420]

The only problem with using that seven cell that you have is it is made up of sub c cells and they are to big to use like in the picture Lloyd linked you too, I tried that thinging the same thing and it turned out that they were 2/3A cells, here is a pic of mine when i ran 8 cell saddle packs on the front axle. http://www.tcscrawlers.com/TCS-Craw...corpion-9.6-volt-Deans-Connector-p-16620.html these are the ones in the picture below.

The only way sub c cell would work is if you had then hanging over the servo and had the body sitting up kinda high. or cut the front of the body off which would make the body not comp legal more then likely. you can almost get 2 3 cell lipo batteries for the same price as one of the saddle packs and will have longer run times with better power, it was the best thing i ever did for my rig.

 

[slowngreen]

Good point Curtis. I have trouble thinking about anything other that lipo any more.

 

[abadk9420]

I tried holding out and not going lipo, but i will never go back to nimh cells, even my radios have lipo packs, LOL!!!!!

 

[hamz9561]

I haven't gone quite that crazy to run LiPo in my radios, but I am looking into LiFe RX packs.

 

[abadk9420]

I haven't gone quite that crazy to run LiPo in my radios, but I am looking into LiFe RX packs.

I got two 3 cell lipo that are about the same size as 8AA batteries and fit perfect for $7.95 each on http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...nigy_1450mAh_3S_11.1v_Transmitter_Lipoly_Pack

and these are the packs i use in my crawler
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9493

 

[HPI-Killer]

Ill be ordering a bunch of stuff thursday, I am compiling a list of the items I'm getting, I will post up to make sure its all legit

So far I have:

Castle Creations Sidewinder ESC
Hobbico CS-170 Servo
Team EEM Sportsman's Package
SNG Chassis
(Abadk, you mentioned a lipo charger balancer w/ packs deal on hobbyking.com?)

And can someone throw a good shock set part # or link to crawler shock setups?

Anything anyone else can think of please let me know

 

[slowngreen]

I can't link right now but a 90mm is good for a sprung setup on these chassis. Also, make sure you buy a castle BEC.

 

[slowngreen]

Ok. I run these with a rod end mod done to them.

http://www.rcplanet.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=TRA4760&click=3

Although when me and EEM were desinging the og SNG, we were using 1/4" limited Losi crawler shocks.

http://www.rpphobby.com/product_p/losa5082.htm


But since you will have all the weight of the trans and motor, Id suggest sticking with a shorter setup like the first ones I linked to or some other 90mm shocks. Duratrax has some. If you really broke, I think the rear shocks off a slash (plastic) are 90mm also.


Make sure that if you are going lipo now, go 3s, dont waste your time on 2s. Also remember that even though you might find a higher MAH pack for just alittle more than what we link you too, dont get it, it will more than likely be too big to fit in a good place.

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...Product_Name=Turnigy_1000mAh_3S_25C_Lipo_Pack

Remember that shipping from hobbyking sucks, its either kinda pricey and holy crap slow or really pricey and faily quick. I just splurge when I order and make sure to order plenty of stuff and then get the fast shipping.

 

[abadk9420]

These are the lipos I am running and they are a higher discharge rate
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...rnigy_1300mAh_3S_30C_Lipo_Pack_(DE_Warehouse)
I can easily run 5 6 minute 10 gate comp courses with just the 2 packs.

This one of the chargers that i have and it will charge the batteries just fine, I am sure they have something similar at hobby king but have know idea if it will come with a a/c adapter.
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product...2/n/Venom-Power-LiPo-Balance-Charger-2-3-Cell

The shocks I run with the SNG chassis are the Duratrax I believe these are the ones i am running with the rod end mod done to them
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAMK1&P=7

 

[HPI-Killer]

Whats the rod mod?

These are the lipos I am running and they are a higher discharge rate
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...rnigy_1300mAh_3S_30C_Lipo_Pack_(DE_Warehouse)
I can easily run 5 6 minute 10 gate comp courses with just the 2 packs.

This one of the chargers that i have and it will charge the batteries just fine, I am sure they have something similar at hobby king but have know idea if it will come with a a/c adapter.
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product...2/n/Venom-Power-LiPo-Balance-Charger-2-3-Cell

The shocks I run with the SNG chassis are the Duratrax I believe these are the ones i am running with the rod end mod done to them
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAMK1&P=7

Jeez I love this forum! More help than I could ever imagine haha thank you all for your greatness & help!:sign_thankyou:

 

[abadk9420]

Whats the rod mod?



Jeez I love this forum! More help than I could ever imagine haha thank you all for your greatness & help!:sign_thankyou:

We are all glad to help out, thatt is why we are here, to have fun and help each other out, If you look at the picture below you will notice that I have rod ends on both ends of my shocks.

This pic is before the mod

Basically what you are doing is cutting the fixed loop off the end of the shock body or cap, when doing this you want to leave as much material as possible while still leaving a flat surface, you will then want to take and drill a hole in the end of the shock body or cap, I drill (not sure of the bit size at the moment but any good hardware store should be able to sale you the tap and bit that goes with it) from the inside of the shock body out because there is usually a dimple on the inside of the shock body from when it was machined so it will be easy to start the drill bit in the center of the shock body, you will then want to run a 3mm tap through the hole, next I take a counter sunk head screw and test fit it to make sure i have one that is going to give me as much thread as possible going into a rod end with out being to long, i then remove the screw and put some hobby grade super glue usually the thicker stuff towards the bottom of the screws threads that will be in the shock body, this does 2 things, it locks the screw in place really well and seals the threads so it does not leak, all that is left is to screw on the rod end, I keep the hex wrench in the screw to make this easier and make sure the screw does not back out, after that it is just a matter of reassembling the shock, the major advantage to doing this is you will have shocks that work much smother as the rigs suspension articulates and will not be as prone to binding, if you have any other questions just let us know.

 

[HPI-Killer]

Okay, I am looking into 2 things now, well 3 but 1 is already known. I'm looking into a whole new shock set but not sure what spring rating I should use, soft/soft stiff/soft stiff/stiff? Also looking for a nice rear dig package (will I need a new transmitter for it?)
Looking into the EEM sportsman;s package with the sng chassis but thanks guys for all of your help.

Oh also how do I know how soft or hard I need my tires to be? Can someone reccomend a good foam insert?

Thanks

 

[HPI-Killer]

Ok today I am going to purchase the Team EEM AX10 Retroit kit or what have ya, is there anything else I need that is essential with this hunk of change I'm throwing down?
http://www.eastendmachining.com/axrepa.html

OT - I have been away for so long due to moving out, my wedding & no real set-up computer yet, miss you guys and thanks again!

 

[slowngreen]

No I'm pretty sure thats kit is complete and wont require anything extra.