What have you guys done to stabalize the XL - RC-Monster Forums

Gee · 02:13 PM

My god this thing gets squirly. I got a roller of ebay and put in a lrp .28 engine. It's a fun rc my first HPI savage. Had the front 16t bevel gear strip out on me and have gone through two more. Had it shimmed right until I realized the bulkhead where the bearing ride got worn when it first happened. I added some aluminum heat tape to increase the outside size of the bearing and that seemed to do the trick for now. But this think when you get it up to speed is like and elephante on stilts coming toward you. Swaying from side to side, little scary! Seems to pull one way or the other when it shifs so I need to work on the rear camber. I've got the stock tera pins on it right now. Is it something you just learn to drive or what? Is the Flux the same way?

lincpimp · 04.20.2009, 02:14 PM

Most likely the tires flexing. I like the elephant on stilts analogy, almost spit my coke on the monitor!

Have you set the toe, ft and rear? Also you may want to balance the wheels/tires, it will make a world of difference for handling at speed. Not sure if you want to take the tires off and tape them, might be too much work...

Joey · 04.20.2009, 04:11 PM

Those tires are just not meant for speed/handling.. offroad they do a pretty good job but for road/hard dirt handling there is just too much flex in the huge sidewall. Made for eating dirt and bumps mainly.

Finnster · 04.20.2009, 04:23 PM

I have the same thing, its the tires. Elephant on stilts may be a compliment at that. 35mph is fast on those things.

However, if you want to do some serious offroading, they are great. Last fall I had my sav plowing thru 18"-24" weeds and grasses and it wouldn't get stuck. Nice for driving in really rough areas as well.

I put some badlands on to test. Very stable and fast, but not as good as offroad capability. Terrapins are back on until they wear out, then I'll get some 40s. If I want to go fast, I'll pull out the truggy.

Prepare to ditch the diffs, the stockers are terrible. Look into the CEN diff mod. Meaty is all I can say.

what did you pay for it btw?

doo540 · 04.20.2009, 06:50 PM

Lowering your ride height will help too. I took all the shock spacers out of the front shocks and left the tall spacers on the back. My trucks sits with the a-arms level with the ground. Ditch the stock tires, get a set of Losi Super-Bolt-ons and never look back.

brushlessboy16 · 04.20.2009, 07:16 PM

Gyro might actually help with strait line stability and eliminate the swaying.

Gee · 04.21.2009, 12:12 AM

Stopped at the LHS on my way home and walked out with a set of moabs 40's and some 23mm rims. They are around 6.5 inches tall but have a lot less sidewall to them. I'd tell you how much better they worked but never got the fricking savage out of the backward. Was one thing after the other, steering loosing a screw, tie rod popping off the ball joinst. Engine not tuning starting frustrating day. In the end I gently placed it on the shelf and took the strr out for a run.

The rear camber setup sure seem funky. With just the one rod connecting it. You press down and its got duck feet. Seems to have some play with it that way too. I got some beefy camber links on it now. Made some out of left overs from the strr. Kept having the rods pop of the balls on sunday. ANother frustrating day. I'm sure this is going to be one of my favorites once I get all the bugs worked out. I got a pet peeve about sloppy steering. Just bugs the heck out of me. Got a aluminum bellcrank setup at hte LHS today to help out. But something was going on with it when I finally gave up tonight.

Paid 250.00 for the roller finster. No electronics, motor, etc. Needed an engine mount and I bought the LPR .28 and a jp3 pipe for it. I put a HS-5955TG in for the steering and a Traxxas 2070 for the throttle. Both digital so I am trying out the 4pk on it for the first time. The LPR really did great right after breakin. But after that it's gotten tougher to tune and sometimes a real hard engine to start. Just my lack of tuning skills I'm sure.

I agree about the step pin in the rough stuff. They got some good clearance and bounce to them off the jumps. Fun tire but not on the blacktop!

I'll try to lower the ride hieght on it also. I bought a set of triple rate springs for it. My problem is I have been trying to tune everything at once. I think I should step back and take a break. Then just work on one area of it at a time.

Thanks for the input guys.

tonkabilly · 04.21.2009, 12:26 AM

For the tie rods, place a small washer on both sides of the ball joints. Will help. Check the engine for air leaks. Add some atv gasket to the carb and backplate. May help on tuning.

Gee · 04.21.2009, 01:12 AM

Thanks. Will check out the air leaks. I did read about the washer trick last night. Also saw the tip about if you break the dog ear on one of the uprights. You can switch it with the one on the other side. I wish I would of figured that out earlier. I spent about 45 minutes in the park I walk to trying to zip tie the broken one so I wouldn't have to carry it home. It at least a mile back to the house. Got the zip ties to work so I could limp it home but sure would of been easier to swap the two.

Thanks for the tip tonkabilly.

Finnster · 04.21.2009, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gee

Thanks. Will check out the air leaks. I did read about the washer trick last night. Also saw the tip about if you break the dog ear on one of the uprights. You can switch it with the one on the other side. I wish I would of figured that out earlier. I spent about 45 minutes in the park I walk to trying to zip tie the broken one so I wouldn't have to carry it home. It at least a mile back to the house. Got the zip ties to work so I could limp it home but sure would of been easier to swap the two.

Thanks for the tip tonkabilly.

lol. Everythign on mine has stayed together, but i've broken 2 "dog ears" now. They are making the rotation around the truck. I think I'll get some alu uprights eventually, I hate R camber links.

I may have air leaks in my lrp.28, but mostly I've got it to a good place and leave it as is, usually a rich for safety. BTW the savage is plagued by a half tank lean due to the stupid tank design. Tuning really changes. Don't let that catch you out. Google it for fixes.

Gee · 04.21.2009, 11:43 PM

Man I hope I didn't get one of those lemons that always has something going wrong with it. Another frustrating afternoon with my buddy Savage XL. Got home and tore it apart, took the engine out and we blew bubbles together. Happy little duck bubbles is now. No leaks on the motor. Put it back in and set the camber (or is it toe in) got it looking good. Put 40wt in all the shocks and removed the spacers except a 1/4" to take the slack out of hte springs. Put washer on all the balls and went out back to give it a go. I've been having problem getting this engine up to a decent temp. Read umpteen thousand ways to tune an engine over the last 5 days. Got myself going in every direction and confussed at which one I was trying to do. Haven't hit 200 since break in. Well I messed with it too much turning this and changing that, reseting it again, starting over, going back where it was good the other day, finally got it going fairly decent (not sure how) and it was starting to get dark so figured hell with it. Going to go for a walk with it running rich like it is. Then the one ball that I didn't wash came of of the steering link to the servo horn. Aaaarrrrghhhhhhh! Oh yeah, blown the front 16t bevel gear again. It was working fine until I adjusted the breaks and gave it a test stop on the lawn. Wasn't hard but heard the dreaded clicking coming from it. Damn! Searched for the cen diffs last night on ebay. Found one that was already up to 86.00 dollars. Going to have to get a new bulkhead for it. My aluminum tape around the ball bearings doesn't work once you get it off the stand.

Wanna trade Finnster?

What do you have your lrp set at right now? Maybe that will atleast give me a base to start from. I've tried the 3.75 HSN and 3.75 LSN that is in the lrp manual and can't even get it to start. Might be the gallon of sweat that was dripping off my forehead that got into the fuel or something.

tonkabilly · 04.22.2009, 12:25 AM

First off, do you have a pull start on the engine? If so might want to look into a roto starter. Way easier to start the engine. Means an extra battery to charge but less blisters. Second, by the sounds of it, the engine is definitely too rich. Should have a little bit of smoke coming from the pipe. Also, my guess is that you do have an air leak. I know exactly what you are going through. Spent a week trying to get mine to run right when I first got it. Didn't think I had one but after I sealed evrything it got much easier to start and run. As for the diffs, when you put them back together, take your time and shim them really good. If you do it right you shouldn't go through gears with that engine. At least I didn't.
Just some thoughts.

Gee · 12:56 AM

Thanks. Your right. After I blew it I conteplated sealing it anyways. Well impatient as I was I wouldn't get to try it out it I did. I'll pull the engine and seal it anyways. Will not hurt anyways to do it.

I need a new bulk head. The place the bearings ride got worn out when a bearing blew. It may of even came with the blown bearing. I tried to patch it and got the bearing to fit nice and tight in the spot they ride. But it didn't hold. I knew it wouldn't but gave it a try. I did get the diff shimmed real nice though. Took me better part of an hour to get it shimmed the way it should. Would probably been less time if I didn't have to open up a bunch of other differentials looking for shims to use. No side to side play and meshed with the bevel gear perferct. My best shim job to date. I am sure if the bulk wasn't messed up it would of lasted a long time. My aluminum tape didn't hold out that I used to increase the bearing size to fit in the worn out bulkhead. Patience is tough when you got a new toy and no one in town has the parts. I got a bulk head ordered and will do it again. This time it will hold up for a lot longer. I hope.

Any recommendation on where to start off with on the settings. Should I leave the lsn at the factory 3.75 and lean out the hsn or vice versa?

JERRY2KONE · **Upgrade. -** 04.22.2009, 12:57 AM

Hey Gee just put a brushless motor in her and have some fun instead of fighting with that stinky old nitro smoker.

Just pokin fun at ya.

Sounds like it may be time to put it on the shelf for a spell and play with something else before you smash it.

Good luck with that Gee.

lincpimp · 04.22.2009, 01:08 AM

Whats up Guy!?!

Sounds like you are having fun with the smoker. Best to set the carb factory and get it to start and idle. Then run it a bit to get it up to temp, and if it refuses to rev you will need to lean it out. Always adjust the hsn first, as it dictates total fuel flow. Then you can play with the lsn if it is bogging off the line. Generally the stock settings will make it run, you may need to tweak the idle screw to get it to idle... Sealing the engine is a good idea, I have never done it, but never had a leaky engine either.