Truggy Decision
 

Hey guys i am lookin inot the truggy market and am debating which truck to get. I am not new to racing by anymeans so i know how all this works. I dont really want a definitive answer on on any of these truggys unless you would like to give one. The truggys on the top of my mind right now are the Xray XT8, Mugen MBX5T and the Jammin X1CRT. i have posed this question before and all i heard was "driver preferance". Well its not like i can fork out a few grand to buy all of them or go to a dealership and take emm for a test drive. So if i could just get some pros and cons and maybe some personal experiance. I plan on running at Barnstormers so that tells you the size of the track. (pics on there site). I also plan on doing an electric conversion. So thoes are my plans. I want to hear your thoughts on which is best. Thanks, Trever

Well everyone seems to like the jammin here. I like the look of it to. My vote is for the jammin.

I recently bought a Jammin CRT to convert to brushless. I expect to have it complete sometime this month. It's a really well built truck IMO.

I'd vote for the CRT or go for the LOSI 8T.

Trevor,

forgot........

Welcome to the forums. Enjoy and feel free to ask questions. The members here at RC-Monster are great at providing inciteful, useful, and accurate info.

oh im not new belive me i have been around. I was on the temporary fourms for a long time. I have also been into rc for about 10-11 years. I dont know if i have as much money into as some of you guys do but i do have alot. I have into the overly competitive touring car racing for a long time racing both road course and oval. so to be competitive on the oval you might know its all speed and that comes down to who has the largest and deepest pocket. needless to say i am a consistent 2nd and 3rd A-main finisher. I also have raced a Revo and dominated any track i went to with it (in stock fourm) also my first race RC which i picked up 10 years ago was an RC10GT with an OS.12TZ and yet again at the age of 8-9 i dominated all tracks (cept for the few pros i raced lol) but i have never raced a truggy and want to get into that. I also love the speed reliability and tourqe of the electric TC i have so thats why i am here. To learn all the info i can about truggys and buggys and electric conversions. I already have learned alot here in the 2 months i have been here!!! Thanks Guys, Trever

Just the same Trevor, Welcome. Glad your here and glad to hear you've been into the sport for a while. Thanks to my father I've been into RC almost as long as I can remember. I started driving with his help at age 5 and started driving solo around age 7. I've been hooked ever since. After 30+ years of RC I've flown planes, driven boats (yacht & hydro), touring cars, truggies, monster trucks, stadium trucks, buggies, dragsters, and tanks among others.

I currently own one boat (1:12 scale 48' Chris Craft Yacht), a Revo3.3, Brushless Supermaxx E-Maxx, Brushless Jammin CRT, and a Traxxas Stampede. The Touring car, T-Maxx, E-maxx, and Hydro and a few others have been sold.

I think one thing to think about is what's supported in your local area - how easy you can get parts. If that's no concern to you, then I would go with either the Mugen or Ofna. I had the same decision to make and went with the Ofna and I love it.

For me it came down to getting more of a "known quantity" - I had no first hand experience with the Mugen and knew it would be harder to get parts. Plus the Ofna is very durable and has tons of aftermarket support. Since converting my CRT pro to brushless - I have yet to break a single part and it's been flawless. The only thing I wish they had done better is bigger shocks like the Losi 8ight T.

But now with the new CRT Sower... your problem with small shocks are solved. :) Well, as long as they are compatible. lol

Trevor, I for one love the jammin - And if your track is barnstormers - be sure to make it for the RC-monster bash at Barnstormers on the 15th of this month (sept).. Sure to be a blast - Dafni - (from switzerland) and Serum ( Rene - from the Netherlands ) are up and will be attending the bash as well - I for one cannot wait for the bash - and also to meet Rene... If your at the bash - feel free to check out the truggies - i have the jammin - monster mike has the losi8 - Its sure to be a great day... Take care..

Glance at this CRT conversion pic and you will see I spent considerable time planning out my dream conversion. I chose the CRT at the time soley for two reasons.......at the time Mike suggested it, and I was able to find more parts more easily, including my local track. Bout the same time I finished it, the 8T released and Mike wnt off and converted the Losi 8T rather than a CRT (well, it is his job to be familiar with all trucks after all). I spent so much time on the computer planning and calculating the best layout that I can now look at any truck and picture in my head wether or not it would be optimum for a conversion.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...RTFinal006.jpg

And at this point, I still would have gone with the CRT. But only because I wasn't worried with obstacles lilke keeping existing locations of the center diff, braces, servo's. I also wanted a single battery layout. I suspect you would preffer a more straight forward conversion. Given this assumption, I think the 8t is the best candidate (Mike's 8T conversion pictured below). The offset center diff and gearcase diffs already allow you to mount a single battery closer to the centerline of the chassis without having to relocate everything and create a need for more custom parts like the drive shafts (the dominoe effect WILL enter the project somewhere. I call it "scope creep"). A closer to center mounting of the pack gives better handling, generally. However, I feel the CRT is a bit tougher.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...t_naked2-1.jpg

If you want to go with high voltage/high capacity batteries and long runtimes (which means more battery weight), I think the split battery (side by side mounting) is more convenient and the only way to get left to right balance on the chassis.
For a split battery option, I'd prefer the CRT as it has a bit more of a canvas to work on.

Sorry, could babble on about this one. I'm sure there's other valid pro's and con's for either one. Just my opinion.

Your CRT conversion looks great!

Cadima, very nice looking conversion. Any chance for some more pics from different angles. And maybe a short description of what you did/modified.

The thing I REALLY like is that integrated CD and slipper!

Here is the thread for cadima's amazing CRT:
http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5371

CADIMA

When is your slipper diff going to be avalible ?.

good question hippie. The design is complete and tested. It's up to Mike to produce them. I think he is having so much success with motor mount adapters the slipper diff has slipped.

I know that the slipper diff will be tested again at the RC-Monster Bash on the 15th of this month - I know this because its in my Jammin Truggy as I type this reply.....

If Mike starts selling these slipper diffs that would be awesome. I have had too much trouble stripping spurs. My mesh is set perfect and everything. It mainly happens though when I start breaking too hard before a turn and the plastic just gives way for the pinion...

I know that that is definately in the plans - but as everyone who has ever dealt with RC-Monster knows - Mike wont release anything that he has not thoroughly tested and approved... Trust me - the wait will be worth it.......

It will be very marketable, there are so many nitro and electric vehicles that could use it. The more vehicles it fits the more you will sell Cah-Ching $$$$$

If it works well and fits my diff, I will probably get one.

We will surely beat the tar out of it this upcoming weekend - i have done a bit of that precise thing already and have had no issues at all.....

I've been pounding on my original protoype for well over 3 months without a single spur issue. You do need to have the right slip dialed in though. Too much slip and it simply will get too hot.

Exactly how many of these prototype Slipper-Diffs are there? I *really* want one...I can't want to see them in race conditions on Saturday...

DM

Don't know if it's possible with the current design, but is it possible to integrate some type of cooling vanes to help if the slip is a wee bit too loose? I'm thinking something like the Revo slipper design...

I believe there are 2 as of now...

I touched one once...Mike C handed it off to Kevin H from RCCA...I kept thinking about how much dust that thing was going to collect in his hands...shame really. Oh well, I've told Mike I'd like to buy the first one to roll off the production line...can't come soon enough.

Cooling is critical. No doubt about it. Very important for long races in the summer when your ambient temps are already 97-100 deg F and everything's covered in dust! The final revision, of which I can't remeber how many there are (3 total including mine?) has every bit of vaning and cooling I could dream up in such a small space. You'd have to see it in person to see the details. It even has tiny heat wick tips at the perimeter of the diff cap. And it works pretty well. If I run with no slip at all, it actually cools the diff off below and a standard diff's temps, if that makes sense. I don't believe there's a clutch out there I can't fry with a truggy this powerful if I don't have the slip within reason. :cry: I'd guess the same for the Revo clutch design which this slipper diff has borrowed from. But the Revo clutch is much more ventilated.

All slipperential users out there with heavy trucks and high voltage, ever had a meltdown from too much slip?

I usually pretty much disable the slipper by tightening it down almost all the way. What's the point of having all that BL power if it's just gonna be wasted on a slipper? lol.

Seriously, a slipper would be nice for those times where I'm a little overzealous and land from a jump on throttle. Other than that, I don't miss not having a functional slipper.

I'm with you...I don't want a slipper, all I want is something to protect the drivetrain from too much shock. Set it ultra-tight so it only slips at extreme pressure and that's all I'd need.

DM

it can handle drivetrain protection easily. that's its original intent. but some folks out there will run it in slip no doubt, be it accident or intentional. so it was almost prudent to try and design in the ability to handle power trimming slip. But that is what makes it so tricky.
I'm telling you though, one time while searching for the over-slip failure point in a destructive test, i dialed in such a perfect slip the truggy became so controllable it was surreal. Haven't taken the time to find it again lately but it's there to be found.

Can you post a picture of the slipper/diff your have or at least the link to it.

Thanks!

You can see a little of it in the picture below:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...RTFinal006.jpg

The dark blue is the spur, the light blue is the tension adjuster. IIRC, the diff casing is threaded so the adjuster screws in/out tightening/loosening the slipper.

Thanks Brian,

I was sketching out some ideas for a CRT slipper when I realized several other have been working on this as well.

Duh!:oh:

here is a little bigger of a pic of the slippery differy

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/P1010689.jpg

THANK YOU!

That's a great looking set-up! Is there a "differy" hidden there too or just the "slippery"? LOL!

That's a nice wide spur there too! I see there is a grub screw, presumably to prevent the tensioner adjustment from self-adjusting?

Correct - and the oily residue is from wd-40 on the chassis - not the slippery differy leakerly... LOL

I just figured the oiliness was from the exhaust of other stinky nitro vehicles that were on the track previously. :smile:

Is adding "er" to BL terms going to be the next "thing"? :na:

Brian,

It's from the exhaust of all the nitros you pass each and every lap!