back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and build

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HirotoR34
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back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and build

Post by HirotoR34 »

Hello all..after a little break from rc stuff, I found myself wanting something new to play around with. With paycheck in hand I took a trip down to my local hobby store with a plan to buy a losi micro crawler..of course upon arrival I discovered that they were out of stock. After looking around, I found this little beauty. The guy at the front counter informed me that this was the newest losi product they just got in, and that I may like it more than the crawler.
Hop ups...nothing, not even a lipo battery. After lightening my wallet to the tune of $160, I rushed home to try it out.
Out of the box I was happy to find a wall charger, instead of the crappy box of batteries shit that came with my microT..as well as four AA's for the transmitter.
The chassis consists of two aluminum frame rails connected by plastic cross bracings, four link suspension with brass ball style joints , cheap plastic shocks with soft springs. The axles themselves are very realistic looking, and perform as good as they look. One thing that surprised me was that this is the only losi I ever bought that came with ball bearings! Very cool..
Transfer case / motor is situated in the center connected to both axles by plastic driveshafts. Above that is where the esc and battery resides. Beadlock wheels are fairly realistic looking, but quite narrow. Tires are fairly tame in regards to tread pattern, but seem to be somewhat soft and sticky.
First charge took about an hour, and according to the instruction "poster" losi calls for an average charge time of two to three hours..gay.
First drive, well to be honest this is my first somewhat "crawler type truck" so I didn't know to what to expect. I did know it would be slow, and I was right..I started out with some small obstacles. It took to the small shit quite well, did notice the suspension articulation was limited due to spacers installed on the shock shafts. After removing them, articulation was much better, and the truck performed nicely. After getting some time under my belt, I moved on to bigger obstacles...this is where I noticed some of the shortcomings. The truck kept flipping over, rolling over, getting Hung up on the suspension links and frame, etc. Another problem is losi's weak servos, so steering was poor at best. Now keep in mind this is supposed to be a trail rig and not a true crawler, but since I am stubborn, and not afraid to chop a brand new rc up, I started off with moving the battery pack to the front placing it in between the frame rails, over the steering servo. I then started trimming the body for better tire clearance, and the front to allow the shell to be lowered on the chassis.
So far so good..it performs quite well now, of course I will be looking for ways to widen the track, and mount bigger, more aggressive crawling tires. A lipo battery is also in order...
So if you're looking for a trail rig with the potential to be an adequate crawler, this is a pretty good truck to go with


Some pics...when I figure out how to do it on my stupid phone.
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Last edited by HirotoR34 on Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:38 pm, edited 4 times in total.
sidewinder
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Re: back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and b

Post by sidewinder »

Hey, welcome back :-o

Looking forward to seeing the pics, it sounds pretty cool. I've been wondering if it's more than a slightly stretched micro crawler. It sounds like they've made some good changes.
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Re: back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and b

Post by HirotoR34 »

Thanks, yeah I lost internet where I lived before, and the new place I'm at is without as well, so I went out and dropped large on a fancy smartphone...sucks I can't seem to get the image links to work. I did put them in my gallery, so there are pics of the truck, chassis etc.
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Re: back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and b

Post by HirotoR34 »

Added some more stuff..winch, gas can, beer cooler, mirrors, off road jack. More to come..

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Re: back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and b

Post by HirotoR34 »

so after ordering a crapload of parts, I started re-building the entire rig from the ground up. I had bought a dp torsion chassis, but was disappointed by the huge reduction in articulation. So I decided to cut the bars off and went back to shocks. I also hacked off the front and rear sections of the frame for more clearance, fabbed side clips to mount the shell, custom links, aluminum roll bar, stinger, and rear bumper. I picked up a losi 2s lipo pack, hitec 82mg metal gear servo, miclaw tires on wide offset wheels (weighted). Aluminum steering hubs, steering link, servo mounts, transmission mount, trans cover...trimmed the new body to clear the huge tires.
The difference in performance is unreal! It was getting Hung up on small stuff, flipping over on steep grades and off camber stuff. Now it just rolls over everything in its path.
Now I am considering upgrading the radio, esc, and rx, so I can add 4ws and possibly a front or rear dig...


Some progress pics..
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Re: back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and b

Post by HirotoR34 »

Got some more stuff ordered and done. Re fabbed my links, added a bunch of aluminum parts. Had to custom fab barrel nuts for the rear wheels to use the the hr racing micro rear axle lockouts. ditched the rear "bed" for some aluminum tubing. Removed the lipo pack for another project. Picked up a set of RC4WD boggers that are just awesome on the rocks and every thing in general. I'm thinking that's pretty much it for now until I finish my other crawler project. Can't think of any other ways to improve this thing other than electronics
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Re: back in the game..losi micro trail trekker review, and b

Post by HirotoR34 »

So after reaching the end of mods on the losi, I started looking for another to mod, so after some searching around, I found the Redcat racing sumo micro crawler...out of the box it's extremely ugly due to small wheel/ tire combo and stupid looking shell that sat way too high on the chassis. Cool stuff includes 3 channel digital transmitter/ receiver, 4WS with four different switchable modes. The stock dual aaa battery holders were the first thing to go, as the power is def lacking. I re- located the esc and added lipo power. For tires, the miclaws, mounted to custom offset losi wheels, with trekker hexes just make it look correct, and perform flawlessly. After trying many times to mount the shocks inboard, I ended up ordering HR "air" shocks that work great as well. Lowered the shell down and trimmed it for clearance. Finally, I fabbed custom aluminum steering links. I also made extended suspension links to lengthen the wheelbase. Just waiting on pivot balls and extra driveshafts (for lengthening the drivetrain), new metal gear high torque Servos, and finally a new trekker body (just need to trim and make custom mounts)
With the lipo, it climbs very well, though it needs the wheelbase longer so it doesn't flip when hitting the steep inclines. I also am discovering the awesomeness of having four wheel steering. Makes objects my losi would struggle with a breeze. I can't say it performs as good out of the box as the losi, but with some mods, it flat out trumps the losi on many levels. It is also great that many of the parts are interchangeable between the two. It also has spool setups in both axles versus the losi worm gear setup, which makes it super quiet and feel faster. I still have much more to do, but would recommend this anyone looking for a very capable crawler that is about $70 cheaper than the trekker.
Some progress pics
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