Flux owners, weight distribution tip!
 

Hello fellow Flux owners. Like many of you, i've noticed how much more weight the Flux carries on the rear axel and tires then it does in the front. It doesn't take a genius to know that resulting uneven weight distribution will result in the following:

A: More frequent, unwanted wheelies
B: Less forward traction for steering
C: Reduced 4WD offroad ability

Pondering this for some time myself, I struggled to figure out a simple way to get more of the weight forward without having to basically completely tear apart and redo the entire chassis. After looking at the battery trays for awhile and my Lipo's, I came to a simple and great solution to help move your weight forward on your Flux and give you more forward traction!

The stock Flux battery trays have left much to be desired. I've had to cut mine a fair amount just so my SMC 6000mAh could be installed decently. However, this still left a large amount of free room in the trays that needed to be filled up with foam blocks to prevent the Lipo's from shifting around.


EDIT: Keep in mind I ALREADY rotated the trays to allow the lid to swing to the outside rather then inside as it comes outa the box. Doing this allows for easier access to the trays but also moves the front air scoop to the back when they are swapped, this results in the narrow portion of the tray lid to be in the front and thus, the reason for this mod


Then I thought "Why not move the Lipo's forward in the trays?" Well, it would been that simple but HPI decided to make the front part of the tray's lids angle inwards, preventing the batteries from going too far forward. Wether this was an intentional design or flaw, I don't know.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ageFlux/rx.jpg

Well, looks like its time to bring out the old dremel and fix this little "flaw"!


http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ux/weight4.jpg

With the forward top portion of the cover removed, I can now easily slide my Lipo's forward and help balance the weight of the Flux more towards the front.


http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ux/weight3.jpg


With the Lipo's moved forward, I used the included foam blocks and some extra packing foam and slide the Lipo's into the tray where they are kept nice and snug. I still have the remaining portion of the lid to keep the Lipo's from bouncing out as well as my safety velcro straps.


http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ghtforward.jpg

I used some electric tape to help smooth out the edges of the tray cuts to prevent damaging the Lipo wires. Depending on how long your wires are and your battery design, you may have to modify this procedure a bit. But the result will net you a much more evenly balanced and better driving Flux!

Yes, certainly is not rocket science... I experimented quite a bit with battery placement on my converted savage 25 and found the best place for the side mounted trays was as far forward as possible. I did this a year or so before the flux came out, but my layout was almost identical to the flux layout.

Same thing with the lst conversions, FD put the battery in the fuel tank location, but the balance is much better with the battery between the tranny and radio box.

My stretched chassis savage (which I need to finish) places the battery in front of the tranny between the tvps. Not sure what cells I plan to run, most likely something like the g3 hyperion. I used a muggy rear driveshaft to get the extra couple of inches needed to fit the pack between the front bulk and the front of the tranny. Cg is a bit higher as the pack has to sit on top of the steering bellcranks (on a custom tray that also locates the top of the bell cranks) but Monster Trucks have high cg anyways, and the forward battery placement will suit my bashing style better.

I have been putting my batt's in the trays like that also - but I didnt have to cut the cover like you did.

Should we get this moved to the Savage forum????

i used velcro on the sides of the chassis plates on my bl conversion. the batteries are moved as far forward as possible, because of that brake thing that sticks out of the side of one of the TVPs. so, my batteries sit on the sides of the TVPs under the radio box area. i still get mad wheelies, but my steering is pretty good. much better than when i had te batteries mounted behind that brake lever thing.

Yes!

To Freezebyte: many people forget that something so simple can have such large positive effects :great: Thanks for bringing this up.

I just used bigger batteries.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/IMG_2530.jpg

lol, I should post a pic of what is left of my battery trays one of these days. TP 5400mah 3s lipo's are big sucka's!