Cheap offroad bits

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 5:54 pm

Went to Walgreens today, and they had quite the variety of Charg N Go dome clones today. They had some of the standard bit bodies, twister cars, 2-wheels stunt cars, the semis, and then they had these that really caught my eye.

An off road bit, and cheap too, at $5.99 a piece or 3 for for $11.98. (Mix and match styles)

The bodies aren't the the greatest, as they don't really look like any particular brand of truck, but they aren't too bad looking. These were the only 2 styles I saw.

Beside the fairly cool wheels, and oversized tires, what really grabbed my attention the most was how they raised up the center of the chassis. I've been meaning to make a chassis almost just like this.

They have the stupid screw mount for when its dispayed, sticking out. That's easily removed though.

The rear end is pretty much standard bit, but it looks like its running a really tall gear, possibly higher than 12:1, though I haven't calculated yet. One car, the gears mesh up good, the other is sloppy and could benefit from Hog's JB Weld technique.

The front end is standard bit, so the steering already seems as though it will be weak. I still have to give a go, to see how it actually does though. I'm already thinking 2 or 3 steering springs, dual cell, FETs, and maybe an upgrade to a Motorworks motor, and this'll be screaming.

Since the 3rd was basically free, my kid picked one for himself, and he picked this.

Not bad taste for picking out his first micro himself.

I'd be more excited about it, if the 57s I just got weren't so much nicer, but its cool, I see some potential in it.

He was driving it, and the hard wired motor that these cars now come with is blue endbelled, and on par with the similar colored endbelled 2.6s that come with Cannonballs. Which is to say they have decent mediocre speed, with great torque.

Camshaft · Post by **Camshaft** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 7:26 pm

Damn, I might have to go score one of those trucks for myself. Thanks Dave!

Tuner1989 · Post by **Tuner1989** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 7:39 pm

Heading off to walgreens as we speak!

DarkTari · Post by **DarkTari** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 9:15 pm

Tuner1989 wrote:Heading off to walgreens as we speak!

Tomorrow for me

frizzen · Post by **frizzen** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 6:31 pm

Just got home from Walgreens. 1 truck, 1 tall stationwagon, 1 shoebox chevy. My walgreens had 3 trays of ChargNGo (hidden on the top shelf so little kids couldn't get them!). Trucks only in Yellow, Tall stationwagon only in Blue. Shoebox chevy in 2 colors, 2 types of stuntcar.

Nice agressive stance. Single cell. Magnet steer. Hardwired motor. Standard bit-type gearing, 7 tooth idler. Straight rib tires, rather hard compound. Chrome rims. Swaybar front end. Kinda open battery tub. Minimalist pcb cover. Steering spring seems kinda weak for that size tire. Charges through a standard DC connector instead of the Bit base we're all used to. I think the rear axle slop is actually supposed to be Articulation.

Body too narrow for a ZZ-m. Chassis too short for a ZZ body. Looks to be a great base for a DirtyBit! And 3 for $12

betty.k · Post by **betty.k** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 7:01 pm

they look like a really good start for a great offroader!

i'd either swap the tyres or trim those paddles into blocks with a hobby knife. definately trim the excess plastic from the bottom.

frizzen · Post by **frizzen** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 10:12 pm

Charged 'em up. Initail impression: Torque is pretty weak. Steering pretty weak. Tires have almost no lateral grip. Too much "articulation" slop, the axle gear can break mesh with the idler. So far, my mostly stock bullet clone Subaru can rally across my keyboard better than these trucks.

Checked out the structure a bit more, we can shave quite a bit more plastic off the chassis bottom. Seems like taller gearing or a ZZ-M motor would be a HUGE difference **Edit: Comes with 9.xx:1 gearing.** Though, it may take some thought on how to cram more cells into one under the truck body without loosing charging thing. I doubled up the steering return spring, it does very slightly better with those tires, but needs another battery to steer well. There seem to be a few pads on the board that didn't get soldered like they should have.

Could be so wickedly AMAZING if I hadn't already been spoiled by owning 3 ZZ-M. Good basis for a Dirty Bit, and it is some decent truck bodies.

Still, even with as much as I'm complaining; you can buy like 6 of these for the price of 1 ZZ-M, and they should be wicked with a little custom work. Lot of car for $6. For what it is, I don't think you can go wrong!

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:04 am

Pretty much same impression here. My kid's 57 he got scoots across the carpet better than this. Don't know what's up with that, should be same motor. The rear wheels flop around horribly. Steering is weak, but better than I thought it'd be.

I rebuilt the rear axle on a Zip Zap 12:1 axle. I got the wheels pretty straight, but one just has an off center hole. It did eliminate the gears pulling away from each other, though there is still some slop.

So far I've shaved a bunch off the bottom of the chassis. Doubled the steering springs, and stuck some Zip Zap srings in the front end, but I think I might go back to the sway bar, because I think these are creating some resistance. I've got a Motorworks motor soldered in. I've pulled out the charging jack to clear room for dual cells. At this point I broke a steering wire. So now I need to set it aside, and reapproach it with a clear head, because steering wires are a frustration on their own.

frizzen · Post by **frizzen** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:17 pm

Solved the axle slop in my wagon. ZZ 12:1 axle, pried/chopped off hubcap holders, snugged endplay down to under 1/16" to chassis, slapped on some new rims and tires, used the 9:1 ratio idler truck came with. Not Bit CharG quality lack of slop, but MUCH better and it won't break mesh! Downside is I've got to calculate new ratio.

Chopped some of the chassis up on my truck, removed the pin that held it in package, and hacked off some of the front-end bracing.

frizzen · Post by **frizzen** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:24 pm

I did some math, my axle slop fix worked, but I accidently gave it higher speed gearing so need MUCH more torque to push it right.

But nobody cares, so let's just do a size comparison!

Motorworks, Charge-n-go, ZZ-m.

betty.k · Post by **betty.k** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:40 am

rule 1......

sat4life27 · Post by **sat4life27** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:22 am

Yeah got two of those the other day as well. Out the bullet they wasn't very fun. I duel celled and put in a MT sized motor in one, and that brought it to life. If you are out and need some cheap dual cells and 2 MT sized motors (pcb as well), wallys has these stupid monster garage cars on sale for 3 bucks. That is what I used in mine.

frizzen, Looks like you used the same wheels I used on mine. I got them off of a cheap ATV from walmart. Great minds think alike....

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:30 am

sat4life27 wrote:frizzen, Looks like you used the same wheels I used on mine. I got them off of a cheap ATV from walmart. Great minds think alike....

How ironic, I had one of those ATVs in my hand the same day I got these offroad bits, and I put it back.

Looks like I'll be heading back to wally world for one of them, since the sloppy ass wheels is what's got me hung up on my project with mine.

How's the grip on the tires? Are they soft rubber? How's the weight compared to the stock wheels, any improvement to the steering, or not?

sat4life27 · Post by **sat4life27** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:01 pm

The tires are hard as shit man. They do work good on carpet and in dirt but on the kitchen floor they suck. They are a little lighter then stock which helps with the steering.

frizzen · Post by **frizzen** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:38 pm

Yep, totally a poofter car. It was painted that way stock, I thought it was just too funny so I hadn't messed with it yet. I was trying to show off the extremes with these trucks going from small to large, and also Poof to Uber-compensator!

I'm working on dropping in ZZ-M motors, trying to figure out dual cell placement without loosing a charging port (must work body-on), going to articulate the rear, springs, longer travel up front, and maybe some other stuff.

Stock paddles are hard as hell, if you cut them into Pin Knobbies, they're higher grip and a little softer, but it takes so bloody long I haven't finished an axle worth yet.

My tires were off a $3 'Yamaha Warrior' ATV I picked up at the gas station. (the rest of it is gonna be used in a 1/24 scale model eventually). Higher grip than the paddles, narrower, cool tread, much nicer rims...