what kinda buggy you got? im thinkin of getting one:)

I am wondering (yeah i know i need to reread this thread) if the alum. rear tranny brace fixes the rear arm mount breakage?:wave:

Originally posted by 2nd Gear
...wondering... if the alum. rear tranny brace fixes the rear arm mount breakage?

2nd G - I believe this brace is the piece that attaches the top of the tranny case to the rear bulkhead. This would NOT help with rear arm mount or rear arm breakage.

Jep

Originally posted by jep_rc
2nd G - I believe this brace is the piece that attaches the top of the tranny case to the rear bulkhead. This would NOT help with rear arm mount or rear arm breakage.

Jep Thanks man I have the rear arm problem solved I have losi arms but I and still wondering about the rear arm mount...Any other fixes you can think of other then your product?I have a frnt brace now (alum) has anyone found a solution to the tranny issues?Sorry for being dum but I am curious and this is my last ? thanks so much for info.

p.n.e I have an Axis. It's great fun, but I just don't have the time to do electric and nitro (too many kids). I'm going to sell the buggy eventually, but 1st I'm going to pirate parts off of it and put them in the Evader. The Futaba coreless S9402 and the 2PEKA radio I have in the Axis are definitely going in the Evader. I'm going to replace it with the radio that came with the RTR Evader, because I think it's the same radio that comes with the RTR Axis. Right now I have an after market head from Crazynut Racing on it and a Traxxas/MIP on-board digitial temp probe which I also plan to part out and sell.

In Evader news, it ran great yesterday. Survived a head-on with a T-Maxx that jumped the berm with no damage. I bought a new pair of Proline bowties and Losi wheels to mount them on. Do I need to make any mods to the Losi wheels, or will they bolt straight on?

cjtamu-thr losi wheels will go straight on. as long as you got front and back rims. when i picked up my street twheels i got two rears and had to exchange them:D
ohh well live and learn. peter

what color losi's???

For all interested in the RPM wheels. If you go on towerhobbies.com and look up the Evader at the bottom of the spec sheet it will show you all the RPM wheels that will fit perfecly. It looks like you have 5 0r 6 styles to choose from. Me I'll stick with Losi rims

Yellow Losis, all they had. What do you mean "as long as I got front and rear rims"? I just bought the back rims and tires, the front's in good shape. Surely they'll work with the Duratrax wheels and tires in the front? Although I was planning to get a set for the front as well They were out).

Evader rims are metric. The Losi rims will go OK on the rear because 3/16 is a little smaller than 5mm, but good luck putting those metric bearings in a Losi front rim.

(What ronbeck means is that he accidentally bought two sets of rears and no fronts. This means he won't be allowed into the Nerd Club any time soon. :D )

ok if the losi front rims do not work, what other choice is there next to duratrax?? or do well just get a 5mm drill bit and make the losi rims fit???

mames

Originally posted by bluelightracer
For all interested in the RPM wheels. If you go on towerhobbies.com and look up the Evader at the bottom of the spec sheet it will show you all the RPM wheels that will fit perfecly. It looks like you have 5 0r 6 styles to choose from. Me I'll stick with Losi rims
Originally posted by Mames
ok if the losi front rims do not work, what other choice is there next to duratrax?? or do well just get a 5mm drill bit and make the losi rims fit???

...sigh

Actually, I take it back. The Evader front rims are US-standard. The kit uses an odd mix of metric and standard parts. How... evil.

How do you go about removing the tires from the rims without damaging either one ? :confused:

EK

Check with Hankster,but I have been racing with Losi front rims for over a year. No problems with fitment. Just ditch the thrust washer and let the lock nut do the work. My only warning is do not overtighten the wheel nuts.

Originally posted by EvaderKiller How do you go about removing the tires from the rims without damaging either one ? EK - usually the reason you want to remove the tires is because they are worn, so you do not worry about damaging them. It is almost impossible to remove a well glued tire from a rim without damaging one or the other. Some tips I have read include boiling the tires and rims to loosen the glue, then peeling off the tires. Use an exacto and dremel to clean up the rims. If you only spot-glue, you can usually just pull off the tires (they will tear) and clean up the rims. I am usually able to re-use rims only two or three times.

Some have suggested using acetone to loosen the glue, but many rims will simply melt to goo when exposed to acetone.

Jep

Hi Everyone,

Regarding the discussion about wheels and rims: Any rim spec'd for the Losi XX-T or XXX-T trucks will fit the Evader, including ones made by Losi, RPM, and Pro-line. THis includes both front and rear rims. The bearings fit fine, they are the exact same size. Some of the RPM rims will scrape slightly on the steering knuckle, and either the knuckle or the inside edge of the rim will have to be shaved slightly with a Dremel. I have been using Losi XXT and RPM rims exclusively on my Evaders since I bought them, I have about 10 pairs of tires all mounted on Losi rims and they work great.

Jep

Jep, Thanks for the information, I pretty much expected the answers that you gave. I didn't think there was much chance of removing the tires without damaging or distroying one or the other.

Again, thanks.

EK :cool:

i tried boiling the front wheels on my evader.
didn't go well, melted frint left rim :D
fallowed some directions of a different forum.
i would only recomend doing this with heavy duty wheels.
i colored some hpi stars for my kids rustler by using
rit dye and a low simmer. :)

Hey peter do you have any pics of your dyed rims?

i just bought a Subaru Legacy body for my evader.. still gotta paint it tho.. :D

here are the rims. waiting to pick up some off road tires soon, then will glue and mount them. the color is rit dye navy blue.:dude:

the leds came in the mail today. they are pretty bright for leds, but the guy messed up on my regulator and their not gettin enuff juice. the work is pretty decent tho, everythings neat and coiled. still waiting for the guys reply

p.n.e
post a pic of the leds.:)
wondering how there setup.
i have some from hpi in my micro civic.

What is the scoop on timing ? :confused:

EK

Plenty of threads on timing over on the general forum, or even back upthread...

On the Evader kit motor, or a stock motor, it's fixed and you don't have to worry about it. On other motors you'll find differing opinions as to what you should do. Put it at 15 degrees and you'll be safe.

CJ - for the stock motor you can gear up if you feel the need to. The stock pinion is smaller that what I would run with a 20T, probably to get people to start out slower until they get a good grip on handling.

Jeff - instead of using a Dremel on the stock shock caps, why not use a small file or even a hobby knife?

Bob - The shock mounting method you mentioned sounds good, but have you had any problems with screws bending due to the offset?

Peter - Thanks for answering a question I've had whether HPI wheels are dyeable or not ;) In your picture, does the wheel on the right have some inconsistencies in the plastic where the dye didn't completely "take" or is that dirt?

Q and Jon - do either of you have any pics of the light kits yet? I'm very anxious to see what type of circuit the guy is using. I want to compare what I have been working on with his design.

I'm hoping to get a chance to do some serious soldering very soon because I'm working on a brake light circuit that some of you may find interesting. Q knows what I've been "creating in the lab" hehehe

2nd Gear - What sort of tranny issues are you having? I have been corresponding with a guy at Duratrax who is pretty high up the corporate ladder and I have been asked to get with you guys concerning any tranny issues. I know that some have had idler gear problems and one or two guys with problems stripping diff gears. I think it was Bill who was corresponding with someone from Duratrax not long ago about this issue. Bill, if that was you, can we share notes? The team at Duratrax are really working hard to make improvements to the Evader.

While I'm on the subject, I am bound by honour not to say too much, but I will say that there are some new goodies in the works for the Evader. What I can say is that they are looking into the shock cap issue and I got the full scoop about the new slipper setup. The new pads were developed first, but caused way too much wear in the stock plates and slightly less but still too much wear in the colour-anodised plates. That is why they went with the hard anodised plates. As for the higher cost of the new plates, it is because the hard anodising process incurs costs that are about three times as much as colour anodising. The price they are sold at is not much more than what it costs to produce them.

If anyone has tranny issues, please let me know. The guy I am corresponding with has been very receptive to some suggestions I have made to improve products. He was somewhat surprised to learn that a number of us like putting aftermarket bodies on our trucks. I guess they didn't realise that so many of us would be making modifications to our bashers hehehe

Wow, this forum is busy again. As far as timing, it looks like most of the stock motors (Trinity, Orion, are coming set at 24 deg), so they're ROAR legal. Does changing the timing on a stock motor affect whether it's ROAR legal or not? The track I founf in New Caney looks cool, they just hosted the 2002 ROAR mod champs, so I'm guessing they do everything by the book and I want to be set up before I get there. I'm going with a P2K2 Pro, and they suggest starting with a 21 tooth pinion and going up from there. Hope to have all the goodies in it by the end of the weekend if I can work it around my daughter's softball tournament.

Kitty, a fount of info as always. Please tell Duratrax Deepthroat to come up with some graphite parts. As far as diff problems go, I still have to wonder if some of those don't come from the vague language they use when they tell you how to adjust it. I adjust mine the way I posted earlier, and I've had zero diff problems.

Hi Kitty,

Jeff?, who's Jeff? :thumbsup: Yes, the Dremel is probably over-kill to slot the shock cap, hobby knife would work fine and give better control.

Re: The Tranny - I have been monitoring these forums for a long time, so I will try and summarize what I have learned either first hand or via the grapevine....

1) Some (not all) seem to have chronic idler gear failure. The idler will either pop off a tooth, or crack between two teeth. Those that have this problem seem to experience it repeatedly even after replacing the idler (and/or other gears). Speculation as to the cause has been; poorly machined top-shaft gears, poor quality (soft) plastic in the idler and diff gears, gear teeth not engaging deeply enough, and/or tranny case out of tolerance.

2) My direct observation comparing my Evader tranny with my Losi XXT tranny is that all of the above apply. The gear and tranny housing materials are *much* harder. The gears mesh much tighter and deeper with one another. Also the Evader top-shaft has thin, mis-shapen, and sharp-edged teeth in comparison.

3) The other issue with the Evader tranny is the ball diff in general. Most of the initial problems were with improperly adjusted diffs and slippers. The diff does seem to be higher maintenace than Losi or AE diffs, and requires carefull attention, especially during break-in. Once the diff is broken in, and once I learned how to properly adjust and maintain, I personally have not had problems with it. The improvements to the slipper will probably actually help reduce diff problems, because the slipper adjustment will hold better. Again, the diff gear does seem "softer" than others I have seen, and popping a tooth, or splitting the gear is a common forum complaint.

I have a lot of respect for the improvements Duratrax has made already to the Evader and if they can beef up the tranny a notch they will have a truly un-beatable valued truck for the money.

Keep us posted.

Jep
Jep-R/C Products

no there is no disscoloration on the wheels. was very hard to see the color in the pics so had to use High flash. the blue is so dark when you look at them in almost any light(other then sun light) they look black.:D

peter,
the rims look really good. thanks for the pic

pne,
what setup did you get? headlights and tail lights, the wheel kit? or both?

curious to hear what you think of the setup. i have 3 full kits on the way.

Originally posted by cjtamu
Does changing the timing on a stock motor affect whether it's ROAR legal or not?
Changing the timing on a stock motor is blatantly illegal.

Originally posted by jep_rc
2) My direct observation comparing my Evader tranny with my Losi XXT tranny is that all of the above apply. The gear and tranny housing materials are *much* harder. The gears mesh much tighter and deeper with one another. Also the Evader top-shaft has thin, mis-shapen, and sharp-edged teeth in comparison.
Did you compare fit when the truck was new, or later?

Transmission parts get "run in" - especially if you are racing and spend little or no time in reverse. (This is even more true of bevel gears like some of the onroad cars have.) When you take the transmission apart it's a good idea to put it back together so the gears are facing the same way. Put a mark or a notch or something on them for reference. Otherwise the surfaces are not meshing like they used to and it can quickly grind down the teeth. Teeth ground down by incorrect mesh are usually rounded off, but teeth ground down by poor fit or friction with the other gear wind up pointy.

Originally posted by Dan the Man
Did you compare fit when the truck was new, or later? Hi Dan,

I am very familiar with tranny run-in. This was actually a new Evader tranny being compared to a broken-in Losi tranny. I was totally frustrated with having replaced three idlers in as many weekends so I bought a new Evader tranny housing, top-shaft, idler, and diff gear for a complete rebuild. I happened to have my XXT tranny apart at the same time to rebuild the diff. The difference was night and day. The brand new top-shaft was disappointing right out of the package. The teeth are machined quite short with a much wider flat edge. The teeth were not at all consistent - one was thin and came to a sharp point, while others were flat and wide, one had a gouge along its edge. Overall, the top-shaft was rough and had burred edges. The idler did not mesh tightly with the top-shaft and diff gear compared to the XXT tranny. There was more backlash and "loosness" to the fit.

Keep in mind that with nothing to compare to, I may not have made the same statements about fit and finish, but having a reference really made seeing differences easy. I also do not know if these observed differences had anything to do with my or anyone elses tranny failures. I do know by this time that I was quite skilled at keeping slipper and diff correctly adjusted, and do not feel these were factors, as a matter of fact I ran only on dirt, and kept the slipper fairly loose because our track is dry and dusty anyways.

Jep
Jep-R/C

Jep,

From reading this posting, my only question is, would you then recommend switching to the XXT tranny?

EK :cool:

This is open,

What are some good sources for parts, both for cost and choice?

EK

i usually just go to my lhs because i'm really impatient when it comes to replacement parts. tho i have purchased some parts from towerhobbies.com and was pleased each time.

shipping charges were very resonably priced and got here quicker than i expected

Q

Jep - There's no excuse for machined metal parts to be that poor. The one shown here
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p.pgm?&I=LXAMM7&P=7
appears to be filthy with grease, which would hide any imperfections... Anyone out there have a new one that's better? I can't think of any good solution, but I can think of some 1/2-@$$ed ones involving 5mm rod and a drilled out pinion... Any other shafts I've found have either the wrong number of teeth, or 3/16 shafts. Maybe the gas Ultima ST shaft? I can't tell how many teeth it's got, but the truck has a low ratio. It might be worth the ten bucks to find out. The one for the Ultima electric definitely has too many teeth.



Putting an XX transmission of any vintage into an Evader would be... problematic. And probably more like impossible. None of the mounting holes match and the bearings are standard, not metric.

Your best source for Evader parts is Tower. They're both subsidiaries of Hobbico.

I've had my Evader for 4-5 months now and i've lost count how many packs i've been thru. but one thing i DO know is that i havent had a single problem with my idler gear OR my tranny. we used to talk alot about tranny problems, slipper and Diff setup but its seems to have tapered of over the last couple months which is a good sign that we've set our trucks up right. for those of you that are new to the thread i'd read back thru this thread, or check out Jerrits Evader Faq's thread for a setup thats worked well for me and i would assume others as well.

Good luck
Q

When it comes to the topshaft I remember being the first to post about that.Noone seemed to think I was right..:rolleyes: But the idler gear is a issue.I still have the stocker in but it is on its last limb...I have a new one for back up,Other then the sorry craftsmanship of the topshaft and breakage I'd say this is a nice kit.:D ...But I have one of the first ones that came in at my local hobby shop.The chassis flexes to much.(original) rear trans brace is pooh and so is the rear arm mount.

wow, i've been setting up the lights and boy this forum has been busy! i got the lights working, stupid me wired them in series instead of parallel :( . but let me tell you, these look AWESOME! they are extremely bright, just like real car lights, you actually see the terrain you run in, not just some dinky light for looks. they really light the place up, and i dont even have them aligned yet. i will try to get my webcam working so i can so you guys how sweet my evader looks right now :cool: :D :dude:
the guy i delt with was extremely friendly and helpful and answered all my questions on the same day, and the workmanship on these are excellent. when i opened the box i was impressed. like i said in the last post, everything was neat and looked like it was professionally done. i really recommend these to everyone, they are brighter than two flashlights ducttaped to the body ;) if anyone is interested in them PM me and i will give you the guys email!

for that wiring question, he has them all wired in parallel, all leading to a small regulator box about the size of the reciever. it has an on off switch and plug. they lasted for more than 10 hours on my 2400 pack. right now i have 4 headlights and 2 neon blues that i use to create a ground effect

CJ - From what I have read, graphite parts are mostly used by racers due to the lighter weight, but are less flexible and thus break easier. I could have mis-read, so perhaps one of the more experienced around here can address this.

Jeff - Thank you very much for the invaluable observations on the Evader tranny. My source at Duratrax mentioned that he had been in contact with another Evader owner (I think it was one of the guys from either this or another forum). None of the problems people were having, such as fragile diff and idler gears and poorly constructed/machined top shafts, were able to be duplicated at the Duratrax test facility.

They are very determined to find out if there is a problem with the parts themselves or something else causing gear problems. This is why I was asked to put the word out on the two BBSs that I visit to see if anyone who has had problems with their trannies to give me as much detail as possible about their rigs and what types of surfaces they drive on.

I just read your second post regarding the diff. I definitely will pass on to him what you wrote. That is exactly the kind of information they are looking for. Thank you again!

Dan - excellent example about the top shaft. When I first saw that pic a while back, I couldn't believe that Tower would put such a poor picture on their site. I don't know if they come packed in grease, but the one in that pic looks just plain dirty to me. The gunk in the gear teeth looks like it has dirt buried underneath. Not exactly what I call a great selling point. Your observation/mention also will be included in my next message to my contact at Duratrax.

I need to pull the tranny out of my truck again soon, hopefully this weekend to inspect the gears and probably do a diff rebuild. While I have it apart, I will make a much closer inspection of the top shaft as well as the gears.

Jon - Have you had a chance yet to open the wiring (circuit) box and get some pics? I'm really anxious to see what type of design he uses so I can compare it to what I'm working on. When I finish my light circuit (and that's if I can make a decision which brake light circuit I'm going to do heh), I will make a schematic available to those of you who are handy with a soldering iron and can solder IC chip mounts.

kitty, he glued the box shut, i tried already ;) i dont wanna force it off and snap something inside. sorry i cant be of much help. the leds need a minimum of 5.5volts and a max of 24 volts. the whites are 10 000mcds and the blues are 5000mcds.

Kitty,
I had many problems with the Evader tranny. You may or maynot have read my post's before. I fixed my tranny back in may or june after taking out 4 idlers. I used 2 29 tooth aluminum pinion gears, joined them together and bored them out to the stock bearing size. I got a half a battery out of that and it took out the diff gear. I reworked an asc. diff gear (bored out the center bearing hole) I have had the tranny apart once since then, no problems. We have a 80x40 offroad track in our backyard so it get's lots of abuse. The hardest thing on the gears is landing from a jump on the gas, or small ruts that jar it when on the gas. I broke all my gears with a p2k or p2k2. I believe stock motors are hard on the tranny's because they have so much torque and you use a taller gear. I am a machinist and most of the problems with the tranny have already been brought up. The gears do not mesh tight enough, POOR MATERIAL, I also found the center bearing hole on the diff gear was off center causing more engagement on one side and less on the other. I have e-mailed duratrax, talked to hobby services, sent a couple gears in with a note explaining my problems. They have only told me they are unaware of any problems. I was going to make some idler gears and diff gears and sell them but i never really knew how many people wanted them.

The tranny problems seem to all be either one way or the other (either you've had a ton of problems or like me, no problems). Wonder if it could be a bad batch of parts? Supposedly that's what happened with all the early breakage problems. Might also explain why Duratrax can't isolate the problem at the factory. 22Racer go for it. I think you'd find a market. BTW, where is Manamingo MN. Is that up on the iron range?

I think some people have more tranny problems because of the way they drive them and the surface( ex. some people just bash around or drive on road). And the motor, I think it would be hard to break gears with the stock motor. I'm pretty confident it's not that some tranny's are better than other's just the way you drive them, that's why some people seem to have more trouble than others. Wanamingo is between Rochester and the twin cities, it only has around 900 people in it, I lived in Rochester most my life.

22racer...If you made the tranny gears and a rear arm mount I think youll be surprised on how many of those you would sell.Just as long as you wouldnt be trying to retire on the project :D

I've seen some posts from people who switched to a Hitec servo. The servo arm for the stock servo has kind of a uniquue bend to it, and I thought the splines on the Hitec and Futaba (which I assume is who makes the Duratrax servo) are different. Did you just use the regular Hitec servo horn and adjust accordingly, or were you able to use the stock servo arm?

22Racer, if you get some prototypes I bet you can find some willing beta testers. Right now I have a 19 turn Trinity double in the truck, and still no tranny problems. It's been to several races and numerous practice sessions at the track.

I dont get why people have slipper issues?I relube mine b4 every race and it works as good as a Losi or Assoc.I take out the bushings and washers clean them and relube them with grease.With this you can fine tune the slipper.That might be why my original idler is still in there.But then again the stock topshaft is a total let down.:rolleyes:

22Racer, As 2ndGear said, if you don't try to retire on the project, I know I would be interested in the better gears. I have had my Evader for about six or seven months but only recently have started running it harder because I have found a BMX track to run it on. I haven't had any tranny problems thus far, but reading these threads has me concerned, so please keep me posted on how much you want for these gears.

EK :cool:

The ARR kit comes with a selection of servo horns. You could also use the Associated horn kit, and put the ballstud on the front instead of the back.

Kitty

I was not the one talking with Duratrax awhile back. I remember the comments but not the person. Sorry.

Bill