panty hose sounds pretty smart cept it would look kinda funny. i think the looser loctite is blue, tighter is red, i would much rather go with the novak brushless than the team orion (just preference) have fun at the beach! im off to bash :lol:

Oh Ya I forgot:

Another trick to use when preparing for a day in the sand is to cover your shock springs with a balloon. This will protect the shock shafts from becoming pitted. The sand coming off your front wheels will hit your aft shafts and it is like they are getting sand plasted.

Put your shock spring into a plastic bottel. Put the balloon opening over the bottle opening, then turn the whole thing over. When the spring is lined up press hard on the bottle and the air inside will inflate the balloon and the shock will fall right inside the balloon. Trim off the ends of the balloon and tuck them inside the spring and reinstall on the shock.

Yeah, that's good. You can also use the fingers of a rubber glove to cover the whole shock. Poke a hole in the fingertip for the ball and retain with a rubber band above the shock collar.

i've heard of that one before, works great and is better than buying shock sox. i find the worm balloons from dollar store work pretty well.you can also use a piece of pvc tubing to blow the balloon by mouth, same idea.

Originally posted by kitty
... Heh. It's kinda funny that I mentioned to Mames about geting a new locknut for his slipper but no one said anything about it until Bill mentioned it. I see how it is :p
Kitty - credit where credit is do. You mentioned it (lock-nut)first. The problem was, it was way at the bottom of your post - I've been reading the post at night before going to bed for the last few nights and just got to the part about the lock-nut. :D

Jep

Thanks for the tips everyone.. i think i'll try some of these in the back yard and test my options before taking it out in the sand. i like the bottle and balloon trick Bill.. not too shabby:thumbsup:

its time to rebuild the shocks anyways so i'll throw some socks on there.

i think i'll have the only BugX on the block with leg warmers:eek:

Q

hey bill, a guy on traxxas forums just offered me a aveox brushless motor and contoller for 260 dollars. the rc7 and L160RC. seemed like a pretty good deal seeing how your friend got his for 250. but then again that would come to around 500 bucks canadian, plus a 3000 matched pack-100 canadian and a peak charger 100 canadian....700 bux. speedgem2 19turn-around 50 bux.:confused: if i get the brushless i wont have any money left over for hopups, ex better tires, replacements for broken parts, etc. what do you think?

have you guys read about the novak system coming out? im keeping my eye on that as well

pne...

The motor and controller that my friend got was $220. new, with a one year warranty. The $250 amount inculded shipping, connectors, and some other minor things.

My concern would be the fact that it is used. These things can get toasted if there set up incorrectly.

I hear you about the cost. But if your looking for a fast motor that requires little or no maintenance then brushless is the way to go.
When your working up your dollor amounts remember to keep in mind all the other work we need to be doing like, comm cutting, new brushes, and changing the caps, and more plus the time you spend doing all the work.

I've not heard very much about the other systems out there, including the Novak, sorry. Also many more systems are turning up these days so waiting awhile may be to your advantage.

Did any of this help?
Bill

thanks Bill, it actually was a big help! the guy actually has only run the motor for about a month. where did your friend find such a good deal? on the aveox site is 325 bux for a new system.

how often do you have to cut your com with a hot motor? ex. a p4? and also, what do you mean by changing the caps? i have never heard of this before, only brush and com cutting. matinence is not a problem with me because one of the reasons i bought a r/c car is that i love tinkering around with this kinda stuff, and i am just a kid anyways, dont got much things to look after. today, i took apart my tranny basically just to see how it worked. :) is the diff's gear teeth supposed to be plastic? i found this odd, i thought it was supposed to be metal i always thought that just the idler was the weak link? still thinkin about the aluminum idler. maybe i will wait awhile before getting a new motor, i've only used this stock one for about a month.
l8er

hey just wanted to let every one know how the slipper is going..

well i put a new lock nut on, also put a thin washer in between the the two. low and behold it work perfect. setting hold perfect. will not let me wheely with the rev slam.. looked at old nut and it was chewed up from the spring, then i looked at spring and it has a pretty good edge on it. smoothed up the edge w/dremil...

and yes i am trying to get me son out of the nasty habit of the rev. slam. he had only done it the first couple times he ran it, probably why the differential went. he now fully understands what will happen if he does this again.. an 8 year old trying to rebuild a diff, amde him see the light. but i am going to set the slipper this way for a while to make sure. and the setting is not that far from where it should be anay ways. slipp's for 2 foot on low shag carpet, my t-3 is very good at the track and it gets about 1 1/2 feet this way.

thank you for all your help

any one know off a set up sheet for the eveader? any one make a custome one or anything..

Later
Mames:wave:

Duratrax's web site has a section that will let you down load a parts list and a exploded view of the evader. Also under jjerits evader FAQ's thread there is a great list of evader how to's.

Originally posted by p.n.e.
how often do you have to cut your com with a hot motor? ex. a p4?
How often really depends on the motor. Generally the lower the wind the faster it wears. In onroad some people are running 8-turn motors and cutting after every run. My 14x2 I've been cutting after every 2 race nights, which is 8-12 packs, but I'm thinking of letting it go longer because it hasn't needed it too bad. Backyard bashing, just keep it shiny with a comm stick after every 3-4 packs and get it cut if you have the chance.

Bill, I want to know where your friend got the motor too. I thought they were only available direct from Aveox at retail. That said, I'm planning on waiting to see how the new systems prove out before I get anything.

Hi Dan,

He found it on ebay. I will know more details in the morning.

I understand what you mean about waiting. So much is happening in brushless motors right now.

Bill

pne,

Sorry I missed reading your post on my first pass.

"Caps" I've heard it used to discribe capasitors (sp), thoes little tabs on your motor, usally 2 or 3 of them. They reduce radio interferance. Anyway, when your work on your motor you may need to remove them. Not hard but it does require soldering which takes tools and your motor maintenance cost go up some more.

The trans gears have a small amount of grease on them so what wear that does occure will stick to the gear grease and turn it black. I think Jep was saying that most gearing systems use plastic gears and medal gears, plastic, and so on, against each other to reduce radio interferance.

sorry, can't spell tonight.:o

Good morning all. Bill Hartley has changed his screen name to just Bill for several reasons, nothing serious.

Later
Bill

Hey Mames, i've heard that rev slamming isnt a good idea.. probably hard on your truck. i would discourage doing that as a common practice. (haha.. just kidding:devil: ) good to hear the new nut worked.

Q

with the stock Sprint ESC it says it can handle down to a 17T motor. what happens exactly if you go less than that? like a 15T-16T.

does it just not work, does it get too hot, is it inconsistant?

fyi, i'm looking for an unlimited ESC with reverse if anyone has one for sale.

Q

The limiting factor is heat. Cheap ESCs like the Sprint have a high internal resistance because they use fewer and/or cheaper transistors to switch the power.

The ESC doesn't "know" what the motor is, it just feeds it the voltage you tell it to. If the motor is faster then it will take more current. Heat produced is resistance times current squared, so a little change can make a big difference. A 16 turn motor isn't guaranteed to overtax it but it's not wise to tempt fate.

What happens if it gets too hot? It depends on whether the ESC has thermal shutdown protection. (I suspect it doesn't...) If it doesn't it'll just keep getting hotter until it stops working permanently. If it does, once it gets to a certain temp it will refuse to work until it cools down again.

Gotcha.

Thanks Dan, i wont test fate then.

Q

Q

Are you testing or changing your pinion gear tooth number when you make these motor modifications? For example you can make your current motor run differently by using different pinions, more top end or more torque. You know.

yes i've put a larger pinion in and the BugX is running real strong. just curious what actually happens when you push an ESC past its recomended size motor..

i'm using a 20 or 21 tooth pinion with the stock spur and i've got both the low end torque and top end i was looking for. at least on the Evader.. the Pede needs some "UMPH!" yet.. going to try the 17T in it tonight and see how she likes it.. :D


Q

Cool. Have a nice flight. Let us know how it goes. B

After last race season my Evader was hurting. Brought it home from racing (broken) and set it on a shelf for 6 months. Rebuilt diff, carbide balls, new idler, replaced ball cups, cut comm, rebuilt shocks, and new antenne mast and about 2 hours later whalla. I can't wait for the winter race season to start. I know it's a bit off topic, but it felt great to get up and running again. BLR:)

the set up sheet i was refering is to document all ths chassis set up. camber settings, shock mount locations, ect....

i was hoping maybe one of the fellow racers had made one up or are using a similar one of some sort..

Later
Mames

I haven't seen one. You could make one I suppose, or adapt the XXT one from Losi's site.

Dan & pne.

The contact for the brushless system on e-bay is csr@castlenet.com

Sorry for the delay.

Bill

thanks bill. i'm going to the lhs tommorow for some extra battery packs and some motor cleanin fluid, so i'll check out some mod motors while im there.

according to this spec sheet, chameleon 2 pro has more rpm and power than GM3 and P2K and a Speedgems 17T. it is comparable to a 15 turn double pro. any thoughts on this? anyone have it?


i dont think i will save up for a brushless system. i might just get a nitro instead.

mames, isnt that info all on the last two pages of the intruction manual? or do you want a sheet to record your setup? :confused:

pne,

The only motor that I have personel experiance with is the Speed Gem 2 19T. I like it. I've heard the the Seed Gem Pro's are also good motors. Wish I had more info for you, sorry.

Mames,

If you end up making your own spec. sheet Xtreme RC Cars (Nov. isssue)has a artical on the subject. It list all the why, when, and whats as well as all the things you should keep track of.

I just remembered that in the past I have made a setup sheet for my evader. Let me see if I stll have it.....
Found it. I made this when I was still new to RC, so there may be some mistakes.

thank you JB, i was going to do the same thing. i wanted this to documnet the current set up as a baseline, so if i make some bad adjustment choices i can go bgack to this...what a life saver..

PNE i had heard that the chameleon 2 pro was a good motor, but need alot more maintince then a speedgem motor would need, that is what the hobby store guty had told me, i was looking at a 17t speedgem pro.


later
Mames

Bill - Welcome back! In regards to the locknut comment, I was only pointing out that when I mentioned it, no one else responded, but when you did, that changed. I'm only jealous of your popularity ;)

What jep said on the subject makes sense. I think it's more attibuted to the length of my posts hehehe

Mames - if you have reverse lockout on your ESC that'll stop the kiddo from the reverse-forward slam thing. Re: the hobby store guy's opinion on the motors. I bet he'd probably say just about anything to make a sale. That's why I like the guys at a certain LHS. They don't BS me just to sell stuff.

Q2k2 - how do you like your Stampede? Is it electric or nitro? With the problems I'm having with my Evader lately, instead of saving up for an E-Maxx, I'm seriously considering an E-Pede.

how much do you guys think a used superrooster would be? i got offered one for 60 bucks usd. also, would an aluminum idler for a traxxas rusty fit in the evader? thx

p.n.e. I doubt the idler would work. Most Traxxas stuff is 64 pitch. Plus, I wouldn't recommend a metal idler gear. The stock top gear is metal and from what I've read, it's best to use metal - plastic - metal or similar, ie, no metal-to-metal gearing because it can cause radio interference.

On the Super Rooster, I guess it depends on if you know the guy or not. I'm really leery of buying used stuff from someone I know nothing about. Call me jaded, but I don't trust just anyone. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Right now I'm not feeling too good about Duratrax products and the Evader in particular. Some of you may remember that a mere two weeks ago, I put in a new front bulkhead and shock tower, mostly due to stripped threads. Then last week, I had that encounter with a driveway post and ripped a front suspension arm to pieces.

This week's outing was even worse. I had just replaced worn ball cups with a set of long RPM purple ones, swapped out a kingpin and camber link that I bought with the ball cups and did a bit of cleaning and readjusting. On my first battery pack, my Evader had a minor collision with baby bro's E-Maxx. By minor I mean the combined speed of both trucks wasn't even enough that if one of them was going the total speed and I stopped it with my foot, it wouldn't have hurt in the least. That's how slow we were going.

When I swapped to the second pack, I noticed that my steering kept going out of adjustment. I was thinking that maybe last week's big crash had tweaked my steering servo. I kept readjusting the trim on my Tx but it kept changing. Well, I did a run down the street and back and brought it on on the driveway at nearly full speed, hit the brakes and the steering in a powerslide to bring it back in to check the steering adjustment and next thing I knew, the left front wheel as up under the body.

What happened was the steering arm broke off at the bulkhead. The steering arm is fine, but the bulkhead is totally trashed, as well as yet another lower shock mount. That's TWO bulkheads in two weeks.

I called the number listed on the sheet that came with my truck only to find that you can't exactly call Duratrax. Apparently they are tied in with Hobby Services, Hobbico and Tower Hobbies. The guy I talked to even told me they were all the same now. Oy freakin' vey. I was honest and told the guy that Tower said it wasn't covered by any warranty because I bought it on their Scratch n' Dent sale, but he said don't sweat it. I was pretty unhappy with Duratrax products and he could tell. I was calm and didn't use any bad language. In fact, I was about to cry I was so upset even the day after my truck falling apart once again.

I'm still really upset over all this, but I'm trying to get it together enough to take my truck apart again and place yet another order with Tower to replace the bulkhead. Oh yeah, I was even using an aluminum front bulkhead brace! I looked at the broken bulkhead and it was cracked right down the middle. Well, I should say the remainder of it. The entire left side was attached to my suspension arm. Interestingly enough, it didn't even bend a link pin.

Right now the ratio of time spent bashing (brings on a different meaning in this case) to the amount of time spent repairing and replacing parts is about 1:15. I've probably run through maybe a total of 15 battery packs since I bought the damned thing over two months ago.

Sorry this was so long, guys. I really needed to vent.

Coupla thoughts on breakage and quality:

- One of the nice things about the midrange Losi and Associated cars is that they are largely made of reinforced plastic. This is normal plastic with some tougher fibers embedded in it. Associated just calls it "composite", which makes me think of my 7th grade Egnlish teacher, whose favorite criticism was, "Could you be more vague?" Losi calls theirs "Stiffezell" (tm). But whatever you call it, it's a lot tougher than just plastic.

- You may be tempted to try the graphite XXT parts. I'd recommend against it. Graphite is stiffer so it gives more consistent handling. But (be honest) you won't be able to tell the difference, and it doesn't absorb impacts as well.

- People who put aluminum parts or braces on their cars often find that it protects the part it was designed to protect, but causes more breakage in the other plastic parts around it. This is because the "springiness" of the assembly has been moved. The aluminum doesn't deflect much, so the plastic has to deflect more, and may get permanently bent or broken. Most cars now come with braces like the one JB makes. The suspension arm is a better shape to take the bending, and the "tearing" load on the bulkhead is mostly eliminated.

- If something is clearly wrong STOP THE CAR and figure it out before you make it worse.

- Duratrax is indeed part of Great Planes Heavy Industrie (that's a joke, sort of). Some of the companies existed prior to becoming part of it - Kyosho, Futaba, OS Engines, TopFlite, and Great Planes all have their own heritage and culture. But Duratrax was spawned fully formed by the conglomerate. The trucks are made of mystery southeast Asian plastic and built by mystery southeast Asians in a southeast Asian factory somewhere. God only knows who designed them. Call for tech support and you get random wage slave in the complaints department.

By comparison, Associated started in the late 60s making slot car parts and is still privately owned by some of the founders. The cars are designed by Cliff Lett. Call them for tech support and you will probably get Don Natale. The situation at Losi is similar. They've been bought by Horizon but they retain their corporate identity.

There are reasons that the Evader costs a third less than similar products from other companies. The other companies' cars are not overpriced.

sorry to see you having so many problems with ur evader kitty..nothings gone wrong with mines yet. I am really considering dropping a cheap speedworks caliber 12 turn or 10 turn in it and driving it like mad until i have enough saved for a xxxnt. as previously suggested by...umm...sorry, i cant member ur name at the moment(gimme a break its 2am in the morn). but thanks tho!:D hope this superrooster turns out good. they guy is giving it to me with a sanyo 2400 pack for 70 bucks us. if he does rip me off, he is in driving distance :devil:

Hey Kitty I also had many breakage issues with my Evader. In my first race ever I snapped the chassis. I broke 2 bulk heads 1 a arm 2 chassis anyway more parts than I care to remember. Duratrax replaced it all even a broken shock (not a stresstech part) Keep in mind you as like the rest of us bought a $170 rtr truck. If you hit stuff other stuff breaks. In all MY accidents I hit something or vica-versa If you want something more durable try a T3 Associated you could buy the base truck for $200 and swap out all you radio gear from your Evader. I will keep racing mine and if I break stuff, "it is the cost of doing business" I hope you stick with it.

dude i have a winner i loaded a Reedy TI Modified 12 Turn Motor with a Novak Reactor made an Awesome silver and purple anodized racin body with the new carbon fiber Chassis and made everything else aluminum and it only cost me about 300 dollars i imported most of the stuff so it was real cheap:D mail me back and ill send you a picture

well, my super roosters in the mail. 85 bux shipped with a sanyo 2400 pack and a spare set of deans connectors. can't wait!! :) send me a pic of that body major, sounds sweet. pneboyrulez@hotmail.com

Well, I have decided to stop sinking so much money into my Evader and definitely save up for another truck, and just use the Evader when we're on dirt. I've been checking out the specs on the Traxxas Stampede electric. We bash a lot after dark so nitro is out of the question for now because I don't want to disturb the neighbours. Some of them already are disturbed enough :eek:

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, or remarks from you guys who have been in this hobby/sport for a while now? The reason I've been eyeing the E-Pede is because it shares a number of parts with the E-Maxx, which I consider pretty darned durable and with a few hop-ups and tweaks, it can do wheelies.

Thanks for the help and moral support, guys :)

Good morning:

Kitty,

My son has an epede and as the mechanic I can say it is durable. The only up grades, due to breakage, was a servo and saver. With the heavy stock wheels I was waisting a set of servo gears per run. Went to medal gears and the Kimbrough saver and have not had any problems.

The tires are OK but could use vent holes and foam inserts.

Under the Monster Truck thread several people are involved in a epede discussions.

Bill

Hey Kitty,
if you make it over to the monster truck "Electric Stampede" Thread you'll see some posts i just started putting up last week. just got an epede last thursday and it got an over haul this weekend. More on the other thread.

Q

not to offend anyone with spamming but i've got some stuff for sale if anyone is interested

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31993

L8'er
Q

I was at a hobbyshop last weekend, they changed alot of things on the Evader since it came out. The frame is alot stiffer and the top brace is alot thicker. Does anyone have any feedback on this.

Hey 22Racer,
if you read back in past posts within this thread theres some info on the original release of the Evader. i bought mine 2-3 months ago and i was told then that i was safe to get the newer chassis. i havent had any problems with mine other than steering arms and a hub carrier breaking..

i'd plow thru the earlier posts and paste the information but no time right now.. happy hunting..:wave:

Q

hey kitty, have u looked around the traxxas forums? You might be able to get a pede for cheap, there is one guy offering a rolling one for 60 bucks. unless you dont want a used one.a lot of people are selling their r/c's right now, mainly old tmaxx's, to get a new 2.5.

Good Evening Everyone:

Concerning the Evader brakage problem Kitty is having. First, I'm sorry your truck is not giving you pleasure right now. I know the frustration of not being able to run when you feel like it. Many good comments have been offered and I hope your feeling better.

It appears to me that Durtrax is trying to make the Evader a better truck. Reading through this thread you can see a problem being discussed and then it disappears. Is the company correcting the problems, yes, in some cases. Are we the operaters find solutions, yes. But the fact remains the truck will always have its limits and when exceeded the thing breaks.

Speaking of exceeding it's limits. The brushless Evader is increadible. Just flies. Still working on the truck set up, something that should have been done a long time ago. New tires, shock redo, and weight relocation and it will be doing a lot better. Eva, my little sweet heart, will not take the loss well.

What Mark puts his transmission through is a testament to it's durability. Full speed forward reverses, backward moving full forward take offs, 360's off of jumps. He has no reguard for breakage, he wants to know the limits, and is putting it to the test. Good news for us, we'll let him spend the money.:p

Later All
Bill

Hey Bill!
Thanks for the info on the E-Pede. If only a servo and saver has broken, that's positive news to me. I'd probably go with a stronger servo in the first place, possibly a metal-gear unit and definitely a Kimbrough saver.

Are you saying that the Pede doesn't come with foam inserts in the tires? That's too strange. I noted that they use 2.2 wheels so that's a big plus for me and I always vent rims if they don't already have holes. I definitely am planning on visiting the Pede threads on various forums.


Back to the Evader, though. "First, I'm sorry your truck is not giving you pleasure right now." That made me giggle. Maybe it's the massive headache and allergies I'm having right now, or perhaps my mind is in the gutter again. Oy vey.

What you said about Mark putting his tranny through the wringer was pretty funny. Apparently that new brushless system doesn't have a delay from forward to reverse and vice versa.

About breakage... I admit that my crash nearly two weeks ago was my fault. I hit a PVC pipe with a thick piece of rebar inside it at full speed. Though the PVC has a little give before it smacks the rebar inside it, I was going way too fast for something not to break and I hit it directly on - it barely brushed the body. But last week's outing was quite different. Neither of us were going very fast at all when we hit head-on. I'd say maybe 10mph total between the two (like 5mph each). I talked to a guy at Duratrax/Hobby Services/Hobbico/Tower Hobbies (all the same - his words) and he said that it's likely that the bulkhead probably had a bubble in it from the pouring process and that's why it broke so easily.

Hiya p.n.e.!
Thanks for the mention about checking the Traxxas forums. I may consider a used truck if I feel the person is honest about how much abuse it's had, how long they've had it, etc. I wouldn't mind a used Maxx, but I'm kinda fond of trucks that use 540 sized motors. One of the internal fans in baby bro's Maxx (cheap plastic crap in my opinion) broke not long after he got his, but the motor still runs fine, though a bit warmer than the other. Well, that was until that heat sink I bought was slapped on it and now it runs cooler than the other. The other factor that will be considered in whatever else I buy is availability of replacement parts. Sure, there are tons of aftermarket parts for the Maxx, a lot of which also fit the Pede, but it's kinda weird that for the past few months just about everything for either of those trucks is back-ordered. Ah well, I have a lot of thinking and reading to do before I make a decision.

G'night, guys!

ps - I just remembered about the heat sink. I was supposed to post either here or on that other Evader forum which one I bought. Unfortunately, it now is back ordered too. It's the one that is made for the Traxxas Blast (boat). Looks like just about everything Traxxas is back ordered right now. Weird.

Originally posted by 22Racer
I was at a hobbyshop last weekend, they changed alot of things on the Evader since it came out. The frame is alot stiffer and the top brace is alot thicker. Does anyone have any feedback on this.
22Racer -
I noticed the same thing when I went to my LHS to get some replacement parts (luckily my LHS keeps a complete stock of Evader parts on-hand, including hop-ups). The top brace has an added "x" member across it, and the material is thicker and wider. The chassis has been beefed up, especially near the rear bulkhead where there was a weak spot. The servo brace has also been beefed up - there is more plastic around the "nib" that holds on the battery strap.

I think Duratrax altered their molds based on the number of replacements they were doing under the stress-tech warranty. I would like to think they did this for us dedicated customers, but I am sure there was financial motivation on their part as well. I think they have improved the formulation and hydrating process of the material as well, but this is just a hunch, I have no validation on this rumor.

(Warning, shameless plug). Lucky for me, it looks like the front bulkhead is the same, so everyone still needs a Jep-R/C Pin Brace Set.

Jep
Jep-R/C Products (http://www.geocities.com/jep_rc/)

Good Morning:

Jep & 22, thanks for the input. My conclusions were based completly on this thread and the occurances of problems being asked about. Knowing that there have been physical changes to the Evader confirms that Duratrax is trying to put a good truck together.

Kitty, Yep the epede has no vent holes or foam in the tires/wheels. I belive that their goal was to make it a good basher and rock climber. With the stock set up it did this very well. As I have tried to increase speed the handeling problems have become more noticable.

The stock servo was OK but the plastic gears kept striping. I went to a Hitec servo (which required some modifications to install) and Kimbrough servo saver. No problems now.