That sucks!

Send that driveshaft back...

if i were you, i would at least try to fix the torn tire with some CA glue. i have done that a few times with my flux's tires and it holds up just fine. admittedly, the tears that i fixed weren't quite that large.

Bummer Freeze ... Like said before, send the FLM rear dogbone back to FLM.

Will also do the steering mod on my Flux ... I never felt like doing it, but since my whole truck is apart now anyway.

Hello Freez

Nice project :party:

Are you going to place the esc between the tvp's at the back of the motor
( there should be enough space ) know the esc stands above
the motor ?

After looking at the FLM TVPs I dont think the holes are there for the rear ESC mount.

There should be see: http://www.fastlanemachine.net/prodd...?prod=FLM49900

I'd definetly not bury the ESC between the TVPs... you want to make sure it has adequate airflow for cooling.

Josh9mille and thzero

Than it is a different setup than my TCS xl plates.
on the TCS plates I have space to put the esc behind the motor.

Starting to have second thoughts on the whole "XL" upgrade after actually driving the truck yesterday. I dunno wether its because of the XL chassis, wide axles, stock wheels or the white springs, but I had a helluva time keep that thing under control at high speed in the dirt. It kept wanting to fishtail everytime I tried to correct the steering and then it would just over correct and flip on its side like a retarded turtle.

It was nearly impossible to do a wheelie of any kind, which I do enjoy doing off and on. I knew the XL frame was gonna cut that down but now its nearly impossible to do. I also think the longer frame is preventing me from be able to adjust my trucks flight pattern when I take a jump, its slower to react when I hit the throttle to bring the nose up, let alone do a backflip.

I also found that these GT-2 tires really suck in the dirt, I was sliding all over the place in the dirt and rocks, I looked like a dirt drifter. I don't remember them being that bad on my First flux but on this build, they suck hard. So i'm replacing them with "Frostbyte's" proven GT-S tires with new rims and installing HPI firm foams inside them to reduce sidewall compression

Either i've got my setup wrong or I had the wrong idea with what to experience driving an XL Flux vs the standard. I remember my first Flux actually being more agile and quicker to respond to steering and throttle input. I"ve also had worries from day one with the Xl axles, that im making the truck less "bashable" as a result of the larger angle on the suspension arms which thus will put alot more pressure on parts in the event of the crash.

I'm licking my first bash wounds after breaking the FLM rear dogbone and puncturing a rear tire, so I've got some time to sort this through.

Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I continue the project.



http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ialsetup-1.jpg

It's a monster truck, it is going to roll, etc. Standard Flux does the same thing; I have had fun with my buddies Flux (standard OOB RTR version) and may it rolls, leans, falls over, etc. all the time especially in comparison to my RC8Te. Tons of fun though!!

If you have fishtail issues, you should read the Triple Diff Basics; the tranny is just considered a locked center diff and see if that helps.

Can't imagine why. Are you sure your slipper clutch isn't slipping too much? You have enough punch control for instant application of power? Yes, the XL is about 2.5" longer, so physics does say it'll be a bit harder to do so. However, I can do wheelies with my RC8Te (running 5S, CC2200Kv) which is like ~.5" shorter than the XL, and it has a center diff which makes wheelies a bit more difficult as the power goes to the unloaded from wheels. I'd double check all your settings.

Maybe. Perhaps it is just a case of getting used to it. After all most truggies are about the same wheelbase and racers don't seem to have an issue with it.

As for the tires I really like Badlands. But I do want to try the new Trenchers; they look like they are going to have some good grip.

Shorter wheelbase is generally a bit more agile. Wider should be a bit more stable, but it can also can effect handling characteristics. Every adjustment you make on any vehicle (racing of any short hammers this home, whether it be rc, 1:1, virtual, etc) is always a trade off.

Could be you are using too much throttle when turning? I know when comparing my driving style and my buddy's with his Flux, I tended to roll less and turned sharper because I wasn't always hammering the throttle as much and reduced speed when entering a turn.

Or perhaps your memory is off... :)

You worry too much. Just go out and bash the dumb thing and if it breaks, fix it! Thats a core concept, and enjoyment, of just bashing! Granted you don't want something to break first time you do something stupid, but nonetheless when bashing something will always break.

I will say based on experience with my Savage X Baja 5B conversion, you are more likely to break an axle (where the axle meets with the nut threads is the weakests point I've found) than you will a suspension arm.

And it's "INSIGHT".

XL chassis really shouldn't handle worse than the stock. You might need to play with different suspension settings, diff fluids, camber, tires etc to tweak the handling to your liking. I'd suggest playing with shock spacers and springs first as thats the easiest. For example, if you watch my truck you can see its way too hard and on loose surface it makes it rather hard to control.

Wheelies, shouldn't be a prob. No probs with my build and that has a slipperential. Either not getting enough traction or slipper too loose, something like that.

The stock tires are rather crap, especially on loose surface. I just wish there was something in that size that had decent grip but didn't weigh too much. Not sure if i will stick with them on my build yet.

So far my truck seems to be a bit more ..graceful? in the air. I've only done a little jumping so far. Doesn't seem to get itself bent out of shape as easy and corrections can be made nps but maybe not quite as sharp as a stock length truck.

An alternative to XL axles would be to simply use offset wheels.

My truck still seems quite agile to drive. I know it's not the standard XL build but there should be some similarities. Best of luck getting your handling sorted, just dive in, change stuff and find out what works.

What were your shock settings in that vid dv?

I gotta say Freeze that truck is pretty stellar looking. I am sad to hear that it is not performing to your likings. I imagine that will take some tweaking. Even when I put a new truck together I still have to do some tweaking after the first few runs to get it dialed in. This is just the way it is.

As for tires I know it has been beaten dead, but Badlands are the best. They perform very well, even in places that you would not expect, such as a groomed track. They may not be of the aesthetic nature you like but they work.



Edit: Cough, cough....look down!

I would ditch the axle extenders and run a wheel with more offset, just casue axle extenders are no replacement for longer arms... The higher offset wheel will put more load on the bearings, but you will loose a little bit of width and likely gain some steering and agility back. Stock flux is pretty short/narrow, so it should be agile and turn well. Trade off is that the longer chassis should be more stable.

+1; I decided on 1/2" offset wheels rather than the axle entenders for the same reason plus the weak point is whjere the pin goes thru the axle. Why create even more stress there IMO ?

You have that same weak point whether you use the axle extenders or 1/2" offset wheels.

We just need a better axle for these things. Would be great to have hubs that can support a 24mm bearing, then have 6mm axle so we could use the 24mm hubs from the 5B/5T.

NOT argueing but I dissagree, on the extended axles the pin is out further from the protection and support of the bearing. It'll have a chance of flexing more. That POS alum collar is useless.

I have ben able to make LST2 axles work in my Lightning Stadium Pro2, when I have time I'll bet I can make them work in the Savy also.

You may want to look into getting fixed rear hubs, like integy makes. Then you will not have any possible camber issues in the rear making it less stable in the back. Even with my setup board, it was always had to get the rear perfectly aligned as there is quite a bit of slop in the stock setup. The ballends are soft and tend to bend and stretch easy, making the whole rear sloppy.

The longer length should make the truck easier to control in the air, and less sensitive to thr input. EG. my crt.5 is very short WB, corrects very quickly in the air, but v easy to overcorrect or get thrown off balance. Much more difficult to control the car.

If you have more power or heavier tires, you will get more responsiveness to thr corrections in the air. Can be a matter of thr control off the jumps as well.

Personally I have not had any probs w/ the ext axles in my XL. I have 40 series offset wheels as well. My bearings are still the orig bearings that came on the truck and roll smoothly after 2+ yrs of use and good care. I would not trade off the stability and looks you get from the wide stance for any small increase in durability or turning radius.
As mentioned, the threaded portion seems the most common breakage, and is still there on the narrow axles. Its not the way I would have designed the truck, much prefer a wider arm and a trug style axle, but it is what it is.

I would say stick with it for a while and work on the setup and technique before you rip the whole thing apart. I never liked the tire choice tho. Most OEM tires are crap anyway. I would always recc some Proline tire instead.

Yeah definetly that "collar" is worthless.

I'll have to go look at the LST2 axles then and see what they are doing. Only issue is 24mm hub adapters (for me at least :)

Speaking of... I remember seeing someone end up tossing on some suspension arms onto a Savage from a Mugen truggy I think.

Take some aluminumm tape around 23mm hubs and viola' 24mm hub ?
A bunch of guys have doen it with success.

Nope, it doesn't work. The ProLine 23mm are crap, at least the ones for the Savage are, because how they are designed. I've blown through at least 3 of them... I have pictures of the results in my 5T thread.

You can also change your lipo location a little more to the rear of the boxes or all the way back. The forward CoG hurts wheelies and air corrections.

Really? That would be sweet to have real wide arms and good axles.

I have some FLM alu bulks. It would be cool if they designed some that enables use of other types of arms. Wouldn't be that hard to change the milling pattern even for the lower arms even, as long as you can find a pair that are in alignment with the upper arm mounting area.
hmmmm....

Badlands are nice, but I like driving on concrete and badlands don't last long that way

Truggified Savage or http://s550.photobucket.com/albums/ii427/badasssavage/

He's using Jammin X2 suspension pieces.

Cool thanks. I'll have to read thru. I had to go look at a pic of teh FLM bulkhead, and its a bit diff than I remembered. Have to see how he mounts the arms

I was looking around in the meantime, and most truggy r arms are flat. Seems like an easy way to replace arms and use truggy axles, provided you figured out how to put steering hubs in.

Kershaw even makes thier own ext Sav arms. Way too $$$, but basically they cut longer arms out of nylon plate. :o

Yeah, they look like crap and I can't imagine they are all that great. FLM has some extended arms, but they are aluminum, ugh. If they would offer them machined out of some delrin or something that'd be cool.

Yeah, your probably right, i've just been spending so much time AND money on building and moding this thing, I haven't been able to enjoy itfor whats its intended for. Fall is almost here in my area and soon it will be too cold to go drive at all. I hate it when time goes so fast.....

And look down where?

Too cold! never. Waterproof that MMM and get your ass out in that snow. I know I will. I love it, and you never have to worry about the temp of anything.

Uh yeah the prob is that lipo's don't like cold weather. And no way in hell im taking a chance with $400 worth of non waterproof electronics.

I took my stuff out for several winters. As long as its 30+ I think its ok. If the lipos start off @ room temp and then you drive hard, they keep themselves warm. Keep the radio.dry ans dont soak the mmm and you are gtg.

The only thing ive killed was a hpi servo. Good excuse to upgrade your stocker.

Any colder than that, the plastic got brittle and lots of stuff liked to break.

Between that pic and your idea of racing your CAR against a boat on the water, you officially classified as insane Reno.

Freeze: shock settings in the vid were
- 500 centistoke (50 wt) HPI oil
- stock piston
- single white spring (no short spring)
- tube but no other spacers

That was with the shock tower supports as well. They make a diff to how stiff settings feel.
http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0405.jpg

Update: Went out for quick drive after work. Tried replacing the white springs with pink + the smallest spacer on top of the tube. Instantly much better, removed the small spacer, little better again. Less skatey on loose surface and less bouncey on bumps. Could still see that the dampening was too harsh. Will try 400 cst oil next time.

Racing a boat over water with a car? Clearly insane. Like Willy Wonka nuts.

Driving a revo in snow? Not so much.

Seriously, this Feb when we had all that snow in the NE (4ft?) I was out with my Revo jumping into snow banks, etc.

It was awesome. You can build huge jumps easy with the snow, and I had soft drifts to land in. I had to pull the revo out from under the snow. I just had a regular Neu lipo and a totally unprotected v2 MMM.
No problems. Now I would do more with the MMM to be safe, but still.

When I was done, I'd knock most of the snow off, leave it upside down the garage to melt the rest (so an water drained out of the elecs), I dried everything off well w/ an air compressor and sprayed wd-40 over all the metal bits for rust protection.

I'll take that as a complement. Thank you sir.

I just enjoy Radio control, when I get bored of a certain style of bashing, racing, I am always thinking of the "what next" and that just happens to be racing a boat on it's own turf.

Allright, there has been a last minute change of plans. I'm heading out town for labor day weekend for some R&R with my girl, so there will no final completion of "Frostbyte II" . I got the second to last shipment of parts needed to complete last minute changes and repairs from the trial run. After getting the body at long last, im totally excited on getting this baby finished and bashing in style!


I leave you with a bit of a "teaser" pic to you give you a hint of where I'm going with this. Enjoy the long weekend and see you all next week!



http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...te2/teaser.jpg

http://prolineracing.com/bodies/dese...and-slash-4x4/
???

+1, secrets out. Good lookin' bod, have one myself on a Slashy.
SHould look nice sitting on the XL Flux, curious to see it painted.

Be interesting to see, but I still say IMO its gonna be too short! It'd probably look nice on a standard Flux or X!

SC8 body sitting on the Savage XL. Only real issue here is the short front bumper of the Savage.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_dcy74CG15Qk/S1...0/IMG_4626.JPG