My name is Doozer, and I'm a RC Addict

[Doozer]

That's the one. It works and is super light, but it's that thin brittle plastic, like you'd get in a cheap plastic toy. It has manual pots for trims and dual rates.......    I guess maybe they felt most people interested in the truck would already have a radio. He's getting a flysky, so it wont matter in a few weeks. 

He loves the car. So do I actually, but not enough to order one. He now wants to get into racing, but he knows next to nothing. If he understood how much he didn't know, he might not want to race. He doesn't care about things like set-up or what wheels to run. He doesn't care about gear ratios or roll out.  I know he loves to bash, and really likes to jump. The Savage Flux is perfect for that, but if it starts to seem like work instead of fun, he won't want to do it. He's been that way all his life.  He just doesn't have the cash flow to break stuff then go get a new one. Sometimes you have to fix the one you have....

I drove the Redcat today. I was a bit easy on it. Looking for a way to create a throttle curve. I'm thinking expo on the throttle is about the best way.  So negative expo should open the carb slowly on the front end, and gets faster as you squeeze the trigger? I had to throw a little expo in my steering as well

[r/c basher]

Mar 11, 2015 18:18:54 GMT -6 Doozer said:

He loves the car. So do I actually, but not enough to order one. He now wants to get into racing, but he knows next to nothing. If he understood how much he didn't know, he might not want to race. He doesn't care about things like set-up or what wheels to run. He doesn't care about gear ratios or roll out.  I know he loves to bash, and really likes to jump. The Savage Flux is perfect for that, but if it starts to seem like work instead of fun, he won't want to do it. He's been that way all his life.  He just doesn't have the cash flow to break stuff then go get a new one. Sometimes you have to fix the one you have....

^^That paragraph right there is what keeps several of my buddies from racing or rc in general. They're always interested in rc cars and want to race but they never take the dive for the same exact reasons. Your son can always race in the novice class, at most tracks you can race pretty much anything in the novice. But the major problem is he'll be racing against mostly 10 year olds, which him being around the same age as me and my friends it wouldn't be "cool." That's another reason why I've never brought any of my friends to race, I jumped into the stock class 2 years ago and just practiced a lot at the track before the first race. So I wouldn't feel out of place racing against 10 year olds. I usually get 6th or 7th out of 10 drivers.

I'm not real sure how you would be able to use a throttle curve. I know on the higher end spektrum radios you can do it just like an air tx. As far as expo goes, some radios go negative to have a faster response and some other radios are vice versa. Do you know for sure that your expo is even working? On the earlier versions of the flysky that we have, expo doesn't even work. It was one of the major complaints about the radio, you can do a google search about it. Some people have hacked the gt3b to fix the issue-


www.rctech.net/forum/radio-electronics/538922-flysky-gt3b-hack-tech-thread.html

Upon further reading in that^^ thread I might buy this hack! overkillrc.3dcartstores.com/GT3B-Firmware-Flashing-Kit_p_9.html

[Doozer]

The steering expo seems to work, the throttle expo doesn't :/   I may need another tx.    Gassers that use Walbro carbs need to use a throttle curve to manage the carb. Sure, you can use it as is, and some people do, but if you want the linear feel, that incremental matching of trigger pressure and throttle, you need to slow it way down in the first 40 to 50% of your throttle. Walbro carbs use butterfly valves and you get most of your power in the first 1/3 of you throttle if you don't use a curve. It's a little harder to control speed at "all or nothing."  Unless there's something technically different for cars than for helicopters or planes that I haven't read about, I'm not sure why more people don't ask for this function. I can see the valve open almost all the way at about 1/3 squeeze. 

[r/c basher]

That's really interesting, I never even thought about that on gasser's. I don't really know how you would fix that with the flysky radio. With my nitro's it's a slide carb that's linear. Have you ever thought about trying your air tx with the Redcat? If it's like most nitros it doesn't have reverse. I tried my Dx6i with my stampede once just to see how it would work, it worked alright just no reverse. I much prefer a pistol grip radio though.

[Doozer]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogUCQCTKivg&t=681

This is at the point of my Eeprom walkthrough for my Reactor Biplane where I start talking about my throttle curves. I don't necessarily talk about why, but as you can see, I am still negative well past 50%.  If you skip to the "Live" demonstration, I show you just how the throttle curve works on a running butterfly valve carb engine. FrSky has a surface radio in development, and when that drops, I'm all over it. But really, you can find throttle curves in the most basic of radios. My guess is that the gas community in cars must either be very small or just don't care about how their throttle works because "mmm squeeze make round wheels turn fast." I would think if you are racing, that you'd want more precise control over your throttle.

[r/c basher]

I remember a while back I was talking to an old timer that flew rc planes back in the 80's, his servos worked exactly how your throttle is working. It was either one direction or the other and to make a good coordinated turn you had to do a zig zag thumpity thump, back and forth movement with the stick. I'm pretty sure the higher end spektrum land tx's have throttle curves. I think, not for sure, but some higher end programmable esc's have throttle curve's built into the programming, but that doesn't help you.. unless you want to go 5th scale brushless

[Doozer]

Woot!
Expo is working on all channels. I took a little time today and played with the radio. I also put in fresh Duracell rechargeables. Now everything works as it should.... was using some old Tenergy AA rechargeables. Not sure if that was it, might just be coincidence.

-40% expo is the magic number.

[Doozer]

I started thinking about it, and decided I was going to do the "simple" task of changing out the fuel line. The fuel line isn't viton, and I'm not sure how long it's been sitting in a crate (they've been making these since 2011), It has a very thick wall, but it's that cheesy black rubbery-plastic feeling line that I don't trust. I have a ton of Tygon that I ordered last year, so I thought I'd put it to good use:


Got this from McMaster-Carr, if I need something hardware related I check here first. They are always very inexpensive.


I tried very hard to avoid this, but the clunk and the zip tie attached to the fuel line fell off in the tank, and I couldn't get it out. Because this car is 4WD, the dogbone to the center differential goes right through a specially designed tank, and the tank can't be removed without removing the tail.

[Doozer]

Belt Drive Arrived!!!!
www.ebay.com/itm/Belt-Drive-V5-1-1-fur-HSP-Himoto-Amewi-Pitbull-X-Redcat-Tuning-HD-Top-Neu-/161517555988









That's the only thing I don't like. The company that made it stamped their web addy in the middle of the clear lexan (which is super thick btw).

It was super easy to install. So easy that I thought for sure that I had missed something. The instructions were in German, but with the images it didn't matter. I had to use the German to English google translator, but it was simple stuff like "don't for the locktite." I installed it in 30 minutes, maybe, and most of that was taking the old gears out. Two grub screws on each of the main pulleys, and you just slide a two piece tensioner on the middle shaft. The belt was not hard to install and is not even close to being loose. The craftwork is phenomenal. Well worth $90. Ton's of torque early in the throttle, and because the rotating mass has been reduced, the car brakes a lot better. After the metal gear plate, this should be on the list of must haves.

[Doozer]

We were driving to a spot my son had seen and thought it would be fun for the XB, when we saw this place (I curse a few times so be warned):




Went through two air filters in one tank of gas so we decided to move on, but it was fun.





Second Stage even caught some dust



Washing the first stages in warm soapy water.

The results:
First Stage




Second stage



That's why you oil the filter!

[r/c basher]

Nice video! It's cool to see the Rampage in it's natural habitat. What would you guess the top speed is? It didn't look very peppy or fast in the video, I'm too spoiled with brushless power to ever go back. It's always a good thing to oil and clean the air filter, I clean and oil mine after every couple tanks running in grass and hard packed dirt. It's amazing how much dirt it traps.

Today was nice and sunny and the snow was melted enough so I took my blitz out and drove it around, I forgot how fun cars could be.

On a side note I bought an Icharger 206b online.. should be here by the end of the week.

[Doozer]

I think it was close to 90 here today :/, but soon you'll have great weather and it will be way too hot for me to play outside unless I get up at the butt crack of dawn. Cars are very fun and I'm really enjoying them! That's probably obvious.

Trey (my son) is already planning to buy a LOSI 8ight gasser. I like it too, and one may find it's way into my fleet. He likes the Truggy, but I like the truck. The drive shaft set screw/pin (a set screw with a pin attached to it) worked it's way loose, on his Savage XS and he's only got one battery. He saw me fill up and start rolling again so now he wants a gasser. By the way, he took a stab at fixing his truck .... disaster. Nothing I couldn't undo, but if he's gonna race, he better get better at wrenchin'.

I'm still pretty much at break-in settings on the needles, and no Its not that peppy yet. I'm going close both the low and the high a tiny bit and try it in the next couple of days. It's just now starting to start on the first pull after I open the choke, but then I'm getting rid of the pull cord this week sometime (as soon as the part arrives from Hong Kong). I don't think either of us gave it full throttle (I asked him to avoid the urge), and you can hear the tires trying to bite but spinning instead. Once we stopped, I felt the tires and they were hot and soft. I'm already thinking about getting a more "street like" tire for those days when I can't get to dirt. I'd like to get something a little more "grabby" for hard packed dirt.

So, I don't know how fast it is. It's not 40 for sure, but evidently that's a benchmark. Yeah, my RC18 is much faster

Also, I cut the parts of the video out where the radio glitched. It happened about 4 times and we were relatively close. I didn't want to mention that in the video because were were about 200 ft from a radio broadcasting tower. I haven't experienced that in any other place other than right there so my assumption was it was the tower causing the interference. Why I decided to mention it now is because it made me realize how important it is to have a kill switch installed. I had my fail-safe set to full brake, and it worked, but if the servo quit that could have been a real issue. I have one made by RamTech, but it's basic. I think I'm going to order a Killer Bee.

[r/c basher]

Dang 90*F?! We won't be seeing that until the end of June. I forgot about the break in, good idea to not push it too much.

The funny thing with electric though is you can buy 3 or 4 batteries that can take a 5C charge rate and be able to run non stop, except to let the motor and esc cool down.

The HS65MG came for my RC18T the other day and I got it all fixed and took it for a test spin tonight. MAN, I forgot how much power this little sucker had. Anything above 1/2 throttle and I would lose control in my bumpy, dirt driveway.

Funny thing you mention the GT3b radio interference, my RC18T had it's first run away tonight. I had flipped it and the battery popped out of the tray. I put it back in and took off again, but then all of a sudden I lost all control and it went straight toward a snow pile and flipped belly up and stopped. The only thing I can think of is that the on/off switch hit the battery wire and briefly turned off and on again. I have no idea though, I ran it for 5 minutes afterwards and it ran fine.

The past two years of owning the radio I've never had a glitch or a runaway. That's including racing with it, with up to 15 other drivers using there radios at the same time.

[Doozer]

yeah I'm not so sure it was a GTB3 issue as much as the radio broadcasting tower. You can see a building in the background in the video. We are at a huge church/community that has its own radio station, also grocery store, school and zip code. That building is the radio tower that is conveniently placed where we want to play

The i-charger is awesome. Great choice. If I needed one that's the way I would go. I know Bert Kammerer (pro heli pilot from Florida) used to sell them out of Ready Heli, but I guess that went belly up.

I decided I wanted change the diff oil and clean and re-grease the bearings on the rear diff of the XB. Couple of things. As it turns out my re-greasing was a greasing. There was no grease in these bearings. I would suggest they were never oiled either. So I packed them full of Tri-flow and resealed them. I'm currently in the process of pulling each bearing and cleaning and greasing. I contemplated buying new bearings, but I think if I clean and pack the current ones, I should be ok.

The big story though was missing shims from the rear differential. Not only was there a huge amount of lateral play in the diff, but inside the diff case there was a missing shim the rides between the outdrive retaining pin and the rubber o-ring that keeps the diff oil from escaping via the outdrive shaft. Redcat a.k.a. Namero doesn't build these here. They are built in China (like most things R/C), but the QC for the product they sell sucks. That shim is essential, and without it, the o-ring will fail prematurely.


This is a picture of parts for the crown gear that rides on top of the diff case. The red arrow points to the shim I'm talking about.


These are the parts that came out of the diff case. Notice there is no shim, and there should be. The little rubber o-ring rides on the shaft of the outdrive and sits in a groove near the root. Without the shim, the o-ring is exposed to the underside of the gear you see flipped upside down. Once that o-ring is destroyed. Oil can escape and dirt can get in. No oil is not as bad as dirt getting in, and I can tell you after cleaning the bearings, dirt amasses exactly at that location. It's $22 dollars, and time, to replace the gears, and that doesn't include whatever damage a seized diff may cause.

According to many owners, these shims are missing in their differentials as well. Shims are so freaking cheap, I don't understand the oversight or the lack of quality control. However, when I contacted Redcat via e-mail, the only question asked of me was "What is your shipping information," and an entire differential rebuild kit was sent to me under warranty, and on their dime. I'm displeased because if I hadn't pulled the differential to clean the bearings, I would have never known, and this OEM issue could have been portrayed as an end user issue. Guess who pays that bill? But... I am happy they took care of me no questions asked.

EDIT::: I forgot to add, that I went to ACE and bought a washer. It was way too thick, but I ground it down to almost exactly the same thickness as the OEM part, and I am using that temporarily until the shim arrives from Redcat. Also, regarding the lateral play in the differential, this is nothing to ignore either. The play is rather significant and the diff needs to be shimmed at the bearing mount. It requires that you remove the differential and remove the out-drives. I picked up flat washers at ACE as well, and I ground those down too. I only needed one shim on the crown side (forces it toward the center gear), but that was because it was thicker than the OEM shims.

[Doozer]

Got a little Jumpy



I must have smudged the camera lens when I put it on my head. Sorry. Got the car dirty again.... Broke the clear plastic belt guard, but I think I can fix it. Might have to go back to gears until I get another cover. I don't think the original will work with the belt drive. Everything else survived. I just have to clean it up. Doing that in the morning.

Fun Day!