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Hi all, noobe First post I scored my first zzmt today, stroledinto RS and there sitting on the discount table was a Monster Patrol MT for $19.95 WOW What a deal. All the parts are intact but no instruction sheet. Anyway I put it together ,no problem. The problem I'm havingis it keeps stopping then starts and stops, also runs jerky I tried another motor abd tightened the contacts but no improvment. any help you can give me will be appreceated: ( ZZSAVAGE.....

it could be something to do with the radio reception, check that the aerial is connected properly on the mt and controller. make sure the aerial wire on the mt is extended properly and standing up straight.

Hi noob.

Have you tried brand spankin new batteries in the controller?
Have you tried going to a different part of the house?
Have you tried holding the controller over your head?
Have you tried charging the truck on the controller while they both are upside down?
Have you tried loosening the wheels just a tad?
Have you tried taking all the wheels off and seeing if it stutters still?
Have you tried smoking a cigarette while driving it?
Have you tried licking the gears while pushing the foward button on the controller?

If all these things have been attempted.....

....you take the clear PCB cover off, then unscrew the 2 screws holding the PCB board to the main chassis part, then lift it up- carefully-. You will see 2 wires attached to the bottom of the board, going toward the bottom of the truck. Cut those wires. I promise it will not be "jerky" any longer.

Ok, tried all of the above,still the same. took the whole thing apart to see if anything was binding, so now I have a box of parts. after I get this #*^ stupid thing together,i'll see if I still have my sainity.

Lick the gears while pushing the forward button? If you had added "while farting on a cake and deep-throating a banana" I'd guess you were hanging out with Sezziz too much.

A monster patrol for $20? Wow, that's a toy discontinued nearly 2 years ago that was still that close to original price? By now that truck should have been marked down to like $0.97.

Was the glitching on its own, or when you tried to drive?

Before we get into troubleshooting again, how far apart did you take it?

The glitching happens when I'm driving it. I'm thinking it might be in the controler because when it stops, I move the controler to a different position or I wiggle the antena with my finger. I opened the controler and made sure everything was tight and had good contact. I might try some contact cleaner and see if that works. As far as taking it apart, thats where I had the most trouble. I removed th 2 screws that hold the steering assembly and everything fell out, What a mess. It took me nearly 2 hrs. to get it back together. I also took out the board to see if all the wires were ok. It's running a little better now but still glitches a little.

Your just getting poor reception. If you've confirmed anything that might cause interference has been eliminated (Anything with an electric motor, fans ACs, etc, or anything with a computer in it.), and the batteries in the controller are new, then you could look into putting a longer antenna on the controller, or adding a fourth cell to it. Either mod will require a little soldering skill.

Yup, got new batteries. What do you mean by adding a fourth cell?

I thought antenna lengths were "tuned" at the factory and it was a bad idea to change them?

sidewinder wrote:I thought antenna lengths were "tuned" at the factory and it was a bad idea to change them?

That may be true of hobby grade RCs, but I have my doubts how well they bother to "tune" the toy ones. I've found adding a longer antenna helps. Zip Zaps have really short ones on the transmitters, adding a longer antenna was a common mod back in the day.


Adding a 5th cell: Go to RS buy a single cell battery holder. Disconnect the ground from the Tx batteries, wire it to the holder's positive, and wire the holder ground to where the original ground went. Might want to disconnect the extra cell when charging, but at any rate more voltage means more powerful signal. Back in the day it was common to add a third cell, but the MT controller uses 4 AAAs, so I suggested adding a fifth cell, though I'm not sure if it'll make a difference with this controller. (I think it uses four cells to charge the 2-cell pack, but regulates the voltage down for the radio part of the controller)

Thanks Dave, I'll give that a try.