Rens custom crt .5
 

Thought I would post for your enjoyment. Suggestions, comments, and questions are welcome.
The rundown:
-custom cf batt tray and front top plate (I wanted to move the front brace out of the way of the driveline.
-custom fabricated 1/8in 7075-T6 aluminum chassis milled to reduce weight (I used the on campus shop at Utah State University where I attend school). The chassis was extended 14mm longer than the standard rc-monster chassis because I wanted to get closer to 1/10th scale hopefully Mike will soon get the extended a-arms done. I am also having Mike make me a custom extended bone for the rear.
-Jato body, this was my 1st attempt at doing multi colored scheme with the help of XXX masking (I know it bled in some spots. Now I know what to do better next time)
-And of course the neu 1509/1Y
Ren

Are you tires Pro Line Gladiators?

Your CRT.5 looks great. Nice work on the chassis. When you get it running let us know how you like the 1509 1Y. Are you going to run it 2S or 3S? I'm thinking about a 1506 1Y for my RCM CRT.5 and 2S batts.

I've got a major shock upgrade I'm working on today. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pics later.

I'm in SLC, UT. Is there track you drive at near Logan? I'm looking for a place to race my CRT.5.

Yup, gladiators.
Yea we have a outdoor dirt track we try to keep up (its a little wet still). If the owner of the land decides he doesn't like having us around any more we could get shut down though. Do you ever go to Intermountain RC raceway in Magna? Its still around isn't it?

IRCR out in Magna is going strong. It got a new owner about 1 1/2 years ago and he's doing a great job with racing and building new tracks about every 6 weeks. They only race electric 1/10th classes these days, so there's no class for the crt.5. Their big April Fools race is coming up.

Is the track in Logan open to the public? Is it 1/8 or 1/10 scale?

That has to be the nicest CRT.5 yet!

Thats what I want! A jato-ish size .5, runs normal bodys and look right, then Mikes EXT arms

Could you please take some more pics of it?

Nice to see a couple of Utah guys here. I'm in Mapleton, just south of Provo.

I've got an ext CRT.5 too. (Thanks again BOR) Let me know if you guys get together to do some racing or what-not. Nobody around here is into this kind of thing that I'm aware of.

If you want something that big wouldn't it be easier to start with an LS10 or the new Kyosho DBX/DST? Certainly a lot cheaper.

+1 for me

There's Black Sheep Raceway in Spanish Fork, but from looking at last years results they don't get much of a turnout. www.blacksheepraceway.com I'm still hoping to go there and race the crt.5 and hopefully get my 8ight converted before they start racing.

The IRCR.com track in Magna, UT (10min West of downtown SLC) is really nice. Your truck will work best with some sort of "clay" track tire like Panther Switch tires or Losi Taper Pins. But I've driven it with the stock tires too and had fun. Basically really small tread works best there. We could meet on a Sat at noon and they have open electric practice till 6pm when racing starts. From about noon till 4pm its not too busy. On Sundays its nitro from noon till 6pm, but during the summer nitro is pretty slow. It can still be a bit dangerous with less than an 1/8 scale as you weave between truggies and MTs on a tight track.

Later

That would be fun to get together for some racing. The track we have is 1/8 scale. With the ext crt .5 I think we would be fine. It usually gets pretty dusty though. I am down with taking a road trip down to magna sometime or meeting you guys up here, either way.
I am running 3s 3500mah lipos in it, on a 15t pinion geared for 45 (I know, a little high). I am also using the full sized crt origional wing (dyed black). I also made a custom rear body post.
I am stoked to run this thing.
I am including a few more pics as well, and will get video when it is up and running.

No

The CRT.5 quality is MUCH better (IMO), has a center diff, diffs are super nice.... And im sure the .5 handles much better then either of those cars....
Plus the CRT.5 with all the custom parts is more unique

I dont really care about the price... If price was a huge factor, I wouldnt be into rc:tongue::lol: It is, but to have fun, you have to pay


Thanks for the pics!

Ren,

Your crt.5 looks great. Definitely want to see how it runs with a 1509. That will be very fast. A few 1/8 buggy guys are considering 1509s (on 4S) for a motor that will be very competitive with a good .21 nitro.

If you ever need another wing check out the Hot Bodies LS10 wing. It is between a crt.5 and x1 cr wing at 170mm wide. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXPRZ6&P=7

Let me know when your track dries out and I'll try to get a few guys to come up to drive.

Scott

Having owned a RCM crt.5 for a while now I will tell you that the overall quality is good and definitely better than the LS10. However, from what I've seen as you bump up in scale (weight, wheels, width) the crt.5 gets a bit fragile in the steering rack/servo saver, front arms, and bearings. I break other things too like c-hubs and steering knuckles that are both beefier on the LS10. And, there's no way I'd run wider arms with the stock front shocks. They are already over leveraged with the stock arms and the added weight of e-conversion.

If you really want 10th scale then maybe a LS10 with a crt.5 center diff and RCM motor mount?

Don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but pass on my experiences with my e-crt.5.

¥ou know I had a CRT.5 BL, with the RCM stuff..... I beat the heck out of mine, I always landed wrong and all, and all I ever did was bend the upper turnbuckle, which were supposed to be replaced with the re call ones in the kit...

.5 is the best in my book!

Have you owned a ls10? If not your argument is not valid. I have both. The .5 with the rcm ext chassis is a better racer. The center diff helps turning, and the chassis setup is better. The ls10 is much stronger, and has a plastic mod 1 spur with a slipper. It is a great basher, and much better to jump. I have not broken anything on mine, and it was used when I got it. I prefer the .5, but it is not as strong.

Can't wait till the mini hyper st comes out. I have a feeling that it will be much better than the .5.

My buddy has one.... So no, I dont own one, but I know enough about both to know what I personally would have

Like I said, I never broke the parts you guys break, so I guess I dont crash as much as you guys do or something... Because IMO it was a real tough car, the rod ends were a lil skimpy, but that about it... The shocks arent bad, big bored would be nice, but they werent bad

I do agree if you going for a all out basher, then the LS10, But thats not what im after, and im not baised from HB's, I race a Moore Speed Cyclone, HB's is MY brand:mdr:

But I dont want to hi jak this thread...

My biggest peeve is the steering rack/servo saver. I broke the left side today just doing test runs in the grass. The car caught a hole in the grass, flipped over, and the steering was broke. :cry: I certainly wouldn't consider that beating on it. However, I do run truck tires and think the extra leverage they create breaks a lot more stuff than the stock buggy tires.

I've been studying the Hobao Mini ST pics and it looks like they are using some sort of sway bar to two act as a steering link. I'm guessing this allows for some cushion when the front wheels hit something and the steering is at max turn.

The hyper 9 uses the same sort of wire tie bar between the bellcranks. They include a few different lengths to be used in differnt hoes to alter the ackerman. It may deflect, or even bend, which would be better than a broken bellcrank.

Thanks, I'll look into it.

Post it here. I may come up for the weekend if your getting together.:yipi:

I might not be able to, but I will try to rework the schedule. Hopefully the track is dry by then, as it has a tendency to hold standing water for a while. My dogbone for the .5 probably won't be in by then but I can always break out the 8T.

With all the rain expected this week, looks like scheduling for another weekend would be better. The weekend of the 12/13 I'm down south in the desert for 3 days of desert MX. I love the smell of 2 stroke in the morning. :great:

2-stroke? Is that a new dual-BL setup or something? I KNOW you can't mean nitro... :wink:

lol imagine that a twin brushless dirt bike :P I guess even one running on nitro would be pretty cool.

Nah, nitro burns my eyes and makes my throat sore. 2-stroke smells like summer and cut grass. Make that bikini girls laying out on cut grass....yah. :tongue:

Someday I'll have a brushless dirt bike. Right now they just don't have the range for the big desert/mountain loops I like to ride.

After trying a number of mods to my servo saver:
1. Moving the drag link to the ball stud mounts = too much drag, not enough clearance.
2. Making a custom wire drag link = too much play, but would probably work with some time.
3. Playing with a rack style ball stud mount = not enough steering.
I gave up and spent the $100 on the aluminum version. If this breaks you can bet I'll be calling up Jammin Jay and telling him were he can jam it. :slap: Or better yet, I'll just start making better aluminum ones and selling them for $50. Do I have any takers? :whistle:

lmao, we're not all pimps like you linc, we can't just get hoes to adjust our cars, we actually have to use the fronts of our hands not the backs to get things done! :rofl:

Man, I was waiting for somebody to notice that! I like to slip in a little hoe every now and then, good for a laugh. You guys really need to practice the back hand, and the open fingered slap. That is really demeaning if you can slap a guy to the ground, especially with the non dominat hand. I have a dummy that I practice on.

:lol: You never cease to amaze me linc, you are one funny pimp!

Thanks, most of it comes naturally.

Just fyi - I ended up doing the same thing. This time instead of breaking the servo-saver arm, the 4mm ball end screw sheered right off during a cartwheel (Also snapped the front upper arm turnbuckle). I agree with all that running the larger wheels and tires may be a bit too much for the buggy - I think that is why my current draw went through the roof too. Well the spare parts bag has 10 ball end screws in it, so if I break too many more I may go back to the smalle wheels - Not like there is really a downside to it - lower CofG and still just as fast with a small gearing change.

(Sorry - not trying to hijack thread)

One other thought - with the RCM extended chassis I installed Mike's Al drag link - I wonder if it might be smart to put the plastic one back there to have something plastic to absord some of the stress.

I also loosened the servo saver spring screw a little bit.

My CRT.5 came with the new turnbuckles and a softer ssaver spring. Had a note saying the original was way too hard. I thought it was because those peskly little mid size servos were stripping easily on impacts, but I'm running a 130oz full metal gear twin bb servo with an alloy arm so I thought itd be sweet.

After reading all this though, maybe I should use that softer spring? are any of you who are having problems runnning the soft replacement spring?

I always thought the saver was a little tight. Before the extended chassis I was running a Hitec HS-5245MG servo, but never had a stripping problem. After the conversion I threw in a Hitec HS-5625MG servo (which looks to be the same as yours on 6v). To be honest though - i've never stripped a servo in my life except for on a crappy Losi mLST.

I think we're just pushing the limit by sticking the truck and 30 series wheels and tires on there instead of the much lighter buggy tires.

Oh well - my amainhobbies order came in today and I have 1- ball-end screws to destroy :wink: before making the next decision on what to try.

I've been running the plastic drag link with the alum servo saver for the same reason you are thinking. However, I've been having the problem with the plastic link working loose after just a few minutes of driving. I think I'll try the aluminum one with some loctite. I've had one really hard crash with the alum servo saver and it broke a plastic ball cap on a steering link instead of any of the servo saver parts.

I don't think the softer saver springs helps with servo saver parts. It only protects the servo. The saver parts break when the steering reachs max turn, but is still under heavy load (crash while turning). At this point the spring won't even be activated instead the saver will break. The negative to running the softer spring is bump steer problems. The soft spring is so soft that the servo can't hold the wheels in the arc you choose when the ground is bumpy.

Guess this guy left RCM?

I wonder if Mike would make me a chassis like his? That would be perfect!

Nope, just been busy job hunting. I'm sure with a little prodding Mike would make these. Its simply 14mm longer in the rear than his chassis. I am just waiting for the extended a-arms to come out then it will be perfect.

What do I do about the rear dog bone? Is there a car drive shaft that fits, or does it have to be custom made?