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Various Upgrade kits worth it? (offroad truck)

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:08 am
by frizzen
I'm trying to build an Evo series Offroad extreme Truck for minimal cash (not truely a budget-build, but wanna do it on the cheap)

I've already dumped in what I considered nessicary Bearings, 4WD, and Offroad Lift. Ow, that doubled truck price. Bearings were optional, but I didn't want to make shims, and it cuts down on friction losses. Later on, some lighting would be a nice addition for offroading.

I was wondering if the Suspension Upgrade would even come close to being worth it. Any softer than stock springs, better dampers?

Also wondering about the Stage 2 Motors how much of an improvement over stock are we looking at? Faster? More torque? Useful gearing?

Any other suggestions about things to consider getting?

Body lighting kit (and maybe a few extra LEDs) just for appearances.

Re: Various Upgrade kits worth it? (offroad truck)

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:25 am
by Maxximum Attack
frizzen wrote:I was wondering if the Suspension Upgrade would even come close to being worth it. Any softer than stock springs, better dampers? Alloy dampers, I find that the stock ones bend.

Also wondering about the Stage 2 Motors how much of an improvement over stock are we looking at? Faster? More torque? Useful gearing? yes, yes, yes.

Any other suggestions about things to consider getting?

Body lighting kit (and maybe a few extra LEDs) just for appearances.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:42 pm
by DarkTari
RS Evo upgrade kits are really cheap now..........

Re: Various Upgrade kits worth it? (offroad truck)

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:32 pm
by crazydave
Maxximum Attack wrote: Also wondering about the Stage 2 Motors how much of an improvement over stock are we looking at? Faster? More torque? Useful gearing? yes, yes, yes.
I disagree on the second yes. the stage 2 motors have very little torque, and I found even with the 8 tooth pinion, and orange idler, it barely has the torque to pull itself over obstacles. I just switched back to the stage 1 motor for offroading


I was wondering if the Suspension Upgrade would even come close to being worth it. Any softer than stock springs, better dampers? Alloy dampers, I find that the stock ones bend.
The ones in the Xmod set are not alloy, they're just grey plastic, or are you saying get alloy dampers instead? I'm confused.
... and what the hell are you doing that you're bending the stock dampers?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:08 am
by frizzen
I guess the better way to phrase the concept I'm building toward on this truck would be money isn't an object, but I don't want to waste money on stupid crap that isn't enough of an improvement to be worth it. (a $900 alloy / CF / Unobtainium truck is stupid crap )

Ok, other than the gearing, I'm not seeing much reason for the Upgrade Motors for an offroad vehicle. Would it be enough to push like a desert racer or pre-runner kinda setup? For trails, I'm thinking that my crawlerbox would more than beat the torque the upgrade can do.

The 'shocks' in the Suspension Upgrade are just a different color of the same crappy ones they have stock? Huh. And what about the springs??? Are any of them SOFTER than stock springs?

-------
I just looked at the site CD sent... um, WTF?
* Lowers truck chassis and reduces the effects of gravity for increased speed
* 4 Dumpers


My X-mod is now actually a hovercraft
Dumpers...more than one way to leave skidmarks! :lol:

Uh, can we get somebody competent to write out descriptions? Or is this part of the "hiaaae doodbz, Aeyy gootz arn Z=mood!" shit they're going for?

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:45 am
by crazydave
frizzen wrote:
Ok, other than the gearing, I'm not seeing much reason for the Upgrade Motors for an offroad vehicle. Would it be enough to push like a desert racer or pre-runner kinda setup? For trails, I'm thinking that my crawlerbox would more than beat the torque the upgrade can do.
Yeah, my Xmod bounced around my outdoor track with the stage 2 pretty good, but found running indoors it had trouble getting over the occasional sock or other obstacle.

You almost need to get it for for the gears though.
The 'shocks' in the Suspension Upgrade are just a different color of the same crappy ones they have stock? Huh. And what about the springs??? Are any of them SOFTER than stock springs?
The gen 1 upgrade shocks had steel shafts and plastic bodies, but from the picture these look all plastic to me. If the springs are like the gen one supsension upgrade, the yellow and red are softer and the blue are extra stiff, but I don't know, I never wasted my money on the truck's suspension upgrade.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:43 am
by Maxximum Attack
GPM ppl, you guys think too much :?
My nephew's f-150 didn't have true up-down shock travel. I think (irony :lol: ) that it was because of the stiffer springs.
So get metal to stop the bending (if you get it)

Dave: I too was skeptical about my 2nd yes, thanks for the correction :-o

Maxx

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:09 am
by frizzen
I was asking more about fast, easy, locally available upgrades. I ment more along the lines of "what of the radiohack stuff is garbage to me, or someone with similar build goals". Non-RS upgrades are welcome to be suggested!

GPM is great and all, but I wasn't really planning to make a truck out of unobtainium. If the 'dampers' really are that much better than stock, I'll consider it.

So, stage 2 is still undecided worth?

Suspension kit seems to only possibly have springs to conder?

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:56 pm
by evoraptor
I really don't think you need anything at all to make for a good running truck.

The stage 2 setup I have really sucks. It barely has enough torque to make it over anything. It would fare better in a car. Just make a neo-magnet motor, and you're set. I got the motor kit for the gears though... those are useful.

I don't have the suspension kit, so I don't know. The truck's suspension probably bends because the shock rods are probably catching on something inside the shock body.

My truck is pretty useful, and it's nearly stock.

Image

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:56 am
by honda_s2000
Man, that's one sick truck.. I just love the whole baja thing with it. I really need a truck now.. hmm. Thanks for the inspiration. and what tires are those ? Legos ?

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:13 am
by frizzen
I like those tires, what are they? Looks a lot more agressive than the 1/28 BFG MTs. Do you have any other pics of that truck?

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:04 am
by evoraptor
Yea, just legos.

Image

Image

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 2:01 pm
by frizzen
Ok, now the bed makes sence. I like the agressive look of something ya just hacked all the interfering parts off of.

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:32 am
by frizzen
Anybody know how many turns the Stage 2 motor has?

I was looking around on another xmod board, found a nice little tutorial on how to adjust Motor Timing and another one on how to Rewind Motors. Hmmm.
So I took a horribly slow 130 out of a HeiPao clone I've got, adjusted timing around 15-18 degrees Advanced, Rewound it to 50 Turns single. At 50 turns per wing, it used less wire total than it previously did on ONE wing.

IT SCREAMS now!!! Looks like an Evo car might be in my future. Heh hehe.

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:37 pm
by x-modsrocks
where was this site?