cj - After thinking about it more, I really can see the need for a separate thread to address racing issues for the Evader. What gets me is how many new threads pop up in this forum because people are too lazy to read a few pages of existing threads. It's getting really annoying. By the way, didn't you know that if you want your truck to go faster, you have to use yellow LEDs instead of blue? ;)

Good idea on drilling out all of the hinge pin holes. It must be one of those things that occur in parts on some trucks but not others. Mine all have decent slip without the slop, other than when I discovered that I had a bent rear inner hinge pin. I think the front hub carriers on mine are a bit tight on the kingpins so I will try your method.

Dan - by temper, I presume you mean the action/stiffness of the springs (being the scientific kinda guy you are) and not that they got POd at him, right? heh

Jon - what the heck kinda ESC are you running that many cells on? I want one!

With all the trouble a number of us have had with hinge pins and kingpins, maybe someone will give us a group discount on titanium upgrades. Heh. I wish!

As some of you know, I'll be getting an electric Stampede soon. While browsing various aftermarket parts for it, I noticed that RPM makes a wide bumper for the front to help deflect the energy when those nasty things such as stop sign poles, etc, jump out in front of you. Has anyone around here ever tried to see if that part could be retrofitted onto the Evader? I was pondering trying to make something like that on my own a while back. It might help save a suspension arm from time to time. Just a thought.

Hi Gang,

When I first got my EVST I was concerned about the tightness of the hinge points. I contacted a guy who had been into RC for awhile and asked him about my concern. His responce was don't loosen it to much or you will create long term problems. He suggested that I remove the pins, lub with grafite, work the hinge point until loose, clean out the grafite (so it does not continue to wear on the hinge), lub with a grease and reinstall. His point was that if I made the holes to large it would make the car sloppy. He also mentioned that once the holes become enlarged you also run the risk of breaking your hinge points.

My point folks is don't drill to much to fast. I did as he recommended and was able to give me the hinge action I was looking for.

Bill

PS - I posted this on the other EVST thread. We have the same discussion going on in two locations. It would be nice to have everyone on the same page, so to speak.

Bill- I thought about that and actually tried lubing the hinge pins, but still wasn't happy. And I only bored the A-arms and hub carriers themselves so they'd move freely. Left the holes in the tranny brace etc. untouched. Only one way to find out, and since they're $3 apiece parts well worth the try.

cj,

I hear you. I was able to do all this before I had run the ST. The pins were a bear to remove and that was reason I asked the guy about this in the first place. I thought I would mention his points to just to inform the group about the "possible" problems. Just didn't want someone doing the "more is better" concept when they were enlargeing their pins holes.

And by the way very nice looking truck:thumbsup:

Dunno about the Evader specifically, but some of the other brands ship with tolerances that are deliberately very tight. The suspension is a little stiff to start out with, and it gets "worn in" over a couple of weekends.

Of course eventually it gets "worn out"... :cool:

Thanks Bill. It's beauty is on the inside, though. Too bad the photo doesn't show the pink and red springs and purple heat sinks. My 3 year old thinks it's the coolest truck ever. At least until she sees the Microsizer Santa's bringing her for Xmas. I saw a great looking custom body this weekend (by JS Bodies I think), but it's a showpiece and the track owner won't sell.

Dan- I figured that was probably the case, but this truck has had about 50 battery packs through it so I would have expected them to free up by now. I've either made it much better or wrecked it completely, but either way it's only a $10 risk, so what the heck. Not like the time I hooked the pressure washer to the dishwasher and put all my wife's good crystal in it(just kidding, but hey, what an idea).

Do you own a Evader?:confused:

No I don't. But I have a T3, a B3, a XX4WE, a TC3, and in the past I've owned a Kyosho Raider, a Junior T and an LXT. (And a Nikko Turbo Panther, forsooth!) I've had two R/C careers. I raced for a few years in high school. I got back into it again this year, and heavily, as you can see by my collection. Now that I'm in a career, I can afford it. Most of the stuff I respond to in this thread are what I feel are general R/C topics.

Thanks for the reply I was just wondering.I feel that 90% of your input is very usefull.Considering mine is only 10% ( :thumbsup: )a guy can always ask a question or reply for that matter,I was just curious.;)

I wasnt flaming or anything just for the record.I do find that alot of people in the evader threads can use someone like you.Everyone has experienced different things.Like myself I find many things in these threads not to be accurate but thats why I will not post if some thing is wrong in my mind (most of the time)

Again thanks for helping and stopping in the Evader thread and making it apart of your everyday richual (sp? never had to spell that one B4 lol) to help others
:thumbsup:

Umm...ritual.

but you get bonus points for trying :-)

Jerrit :wave:

Originally posted by jerrit1
Umm...ritual.

but you get bonus points for trying :-)

Jerrit :wave:
You know whats the funny part is I had it like that the first time i did it PUH-HAHAHAHA

Originally posted by Bill
cj,<snippage>
And by the way very nice looking truck
Did I miss a picture somewhere? I must have because I don't remember pink springs and purple heatsinks.:(

kitty,
Hank started a Lets See Your Ride thread and almost everyone but you has showed us their trucks. Get with the program and post one..:)

If it is tight. Then the slop will come. Quicker than you will like.

Oh, Bill :p

I don't see why anyone would want to see pics of my truck. By now everyone knows what an Evader looks like heh Okay, so I put the number "13" on it (my lucky number) and cut heart-shaped vent holes in the side "windows." Big whoop heh The only things that could possibly make it look different would be the HPI wide offset wheels that are all chewed up, with partially-worn Dirt Hawg IIs on them (like who hasn't seen those eh?) or my tidy wiring job (I'm kinda picky about keeping the wiring out of the way). In other words, nothing to write home about. I'm saving the Buggsy body to put on the Pede after I get it tweaked.

One can never have too many zip ties, lemme tell you. When I changed chasses (after breaking the last one) I put the electronics back in order using red zip ties in case I do sell the truck. I didn't think any guys would want baby pink ties on it :D

hey Q, did you ever get those pics of the prowler leds up?

I posted pics of my trucks and buggies and even a pic of me but you have to go to the "Jerrit's Evader FAQ" thread to see em.
Here's the link.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28696&perpage=20&pagenumber=6

Jerrit :wave:

jerrit, Cool post.:thumbsup:

kitty, bull, post a pic:p

:rolleyes:

Thanks!

Jerrit

jerrit,

You said > broke a Lunsford Titanium turnbuckle landing off a big jump...I thought those were supposed to be indestructable?

Me to, did you brake the turnbuckle shaft or the connectors?

Bill dont believe the hype!I broke a Ti-Turnbuckle from Lundsford yesterday.A kid that was marshalling threw my XXX on the track with a slight angle and SNAP! it was over.Someone was kind enough to give me a steel one.
As a matter of fact I know of 2 XXX that broke Ti-turnbuckles yesterday.

It was the shaft, right where the threading stops and it becomes solid.

Hi 2nd,

Ya, everything brakes. Just surprized that a turnbuckel would and you would still have any of your car left to use again.

I've driven my car about once a day for the last four months, even some light racing, and have only broken my ST once to the point that it could not be driven until repaired.

The more I think about it the more I realize that hardcore racing is more like an organized distruction durby.

Originally posted by jerrit1
It was the shaft, right where the threading stops and it becomes solid.

:eek:

Originally posted by jerrit1
It was the shaft, right where the threading stops and it becomes solid.
You must know this all to well LOLOL :thumbsup: :wave:

Hi fellow Evader Owners :wave:

I have a preview of couple of new Evader Hop-Ups on the Jep-R/C page. These will be available January 10th, 2003. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

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

Jep

Jep-
awsome parts! though i have yet to bust a front or rear bulkhead, i may be looking into getting those; just for security reasons. the bumper on the other hand, i allready have one. mine comes up, so its about 1/4 of an inch away from the body and is about 2in. wide. i was curious on the specs on yours, so if yours is better, i can get all 3 for a discount..

merry christmas and happy racin'
-smojoe

just wanna wish everyone here a merry christmas! enjoy the holidays!:wave:

i too would like to see the specs on the front bumper. i have a wide bumper on mine right now thats more for a street car. it bolted up fine after some simple mods but it acts like a skid plate that covers both A arms. no breakage since i put it on..

other than a new tool box no rc stuff for xmas this year.. but its a very nice tool box :D

Take care,
Q

Hi Everybody,

I'm a new Evader owner getting into RC trucks for the first time. Having read all 67 posts to this thread (plus Jerrit's FAQ - whew!), I must say this is a great forum with great info and a very helpful community. In fact, I'll have to admit one of the reasons I decided on the Evader was I knew I could find help at this forum. The more experienced among you may not realize how important it is for a newbie to be able to find sources of help in a niche hobby like this (esp when all the locals run nitro). So thanks to all who've posted, I've learned a lot from your posts.

Now, onto my question (apologies in advance for the length) ... my Evader is dated 2002 06 10 and has the blue slipper pad. After the first 4 battery packs, I did a check of the diff and slipper tensioning using the procedure described by Bob T back in Sep 02. I tightened the diff a little (the slipper seemed OK and I didn't hit my nose) and also observed the 4 cap screws holding the gearbox housing halves together were noticebly loose - could easily turn them with 2 fingers on the allen wrench. I tightened them down after checking with Tech Support.

My buddy and I have been driving our Evaders pretty convervatively around a baseball diamond just trying to get a feel for the truck, no full-on throttle 4-ft jumps (yet). Today, we used the pitcher's mound to "jump" off - maybe got 4 inches off the ground at full speed! After 5 or 6 jumps, a loud clicking noise started (my 6th pack total). The clicking is very regular and its rate is proportional to the motor's RPM. I wouldn't call it a squeel or grinding or barking noise. Each click is very distinct and you can put your finger on the gearbox/motor and feel a vibration everytime the click happens. I inspected for lodged pebbles, etc, then took the gear cover off to make sure the motor plate and spur gear were solidly attached (they were). I then removed the spur gear and verified the clicking wasn't coming from the motor by applying throttle. I did notice the slipper plates could be rotated back-and-forth clockwise & ccw using my fingers - my Evader had quite a bit more play than my buddy's.

The only conclusion I can reach is that I may have broken a tooth on the diff or idler gear on one of those baby jumps. I noticed Jep posted a list of things to do when inspecting the diff. My problem (ahem) is I'm not sure how to dissassemble the diff. I'm looking at the exploded view and aren't sure what fasteners to undo, and whether I need to remove the entire gearbox and/or motor. I know I'll need to remove the L/R universals, and the 4 cap screws holding gearbox half #20. But what about the two cap screws (#A) coming up from the chassis, and the two vertical cap screws in the transmission brace? Would someone be so kind as to walk me through the rest of the dissassembly? Any and all help is appreciated!

Also, I was wondering if you need to back off the throttle when landing a jump? Would this reduce some of the loading on the gear train and help to avoid diff problems in the future (when I start jumping higher than 4")? I watch the 1/8th nitro racers at our local track and they seem to land their big jumps with little forward momentum, then hit the throttle to take off *after* landing (hmmm, but often they're jumping into a turn entry).

Again, apologies for the length, but I wanted to be thorough. Happy Holidays all,

HG

HG- Welcome to the forum. You're right, there's great info here. Check some of the other general discussions on batteries, motors, etc. there's good stuff there too. Also look at Team Orion's website for their FAQ's. They helped me a ton when I got started. They're updating, so they won't all be back up until Jan. sometime, but keep looking.

Now to your problem. I suspect your diagnosis is correct, and the gearbox will have to come out. The motor doesn't have to come out, but you'll have to re-adjust anyway, so you might as well. Also a good time to clean. Look in the motor section of this site for how-to's. Remove the motor (2 hexbolts, right hand side). Remove the slipper clutch. Remove the 3 hexbolts (left side of tranny) holding it to the aluminum motor mount, the 2 in the transmmission brace, and the 2 coming up through the chassis. Tranny will slide right out. Gently pry the 2 halves apart and look inside to find your problem. Once you've finished, put everything back. Be careful with the gear mesh if you're using the stock pinion, because it's finicky. You don't want it to squeal.

As far as adjusting your diff, go to the Evader ST Racers post for the method I use. It's been the best for me, and I've had zero diff problems. It's helped some other people, too. Be sure your slipper clutch is set properly, because this saves wear and tear on the diff. It's a good idea to back off the gas when landing, but I don't always do it. Have fun and much patience, because there's a learning curve. You might ask for help from the guys at the track or another experienced person. BTW, the Evader can be raced successfully. If you're going to try, put a stock motor in it and start in Novice or Stock class.

Welcome to the board! A quick reminder: when unscrewing the tranny screws, there are 3 long, easily seen screws and 1 small screw in the far end of the tranny (from the motor.) The first time I tried to take the tranny apart, I didn't know that one screw was there and had no clue why the tranny wouldn't open. I just thought it was extra tight.
If you do have to remove a diff gear, you'll need to do the following (I advise you do this on a towl you don't mind getting dirty. There are lots of small parts):
after the tranny is opened, remove the diff from the tranny case (But leave the two bearings in). Insert and allen wrench into the end of diff that has the head of screw going through it. Unscrew the screw, making sure you're holdinlg on the center of the diff. If you turn the diff upside down, a thin metal ring and a small plastic ring with very small steel balls in it . Seperate the two halves of the diff now. You'll find two rings and the gear, which is also full of little steel balls. Simply remove the balls from the gear, put them in a new one, sandwich it betweent the two washers and diff halves, put the small disc with the smaller balls in, plus the ring, and screw it all together.
If the gears aren't stripped, just clean the tranny well. I also had a clicking problem a while back. Best as I can tell, it was dirt or sand or something in the gears. Good Luck with your evader and have fun!

don't forget to check the diff washers for groves, or exesive wear. you can turn them over and use them. or i trick i got from my lhs use 100grit sand paper on them to buff out wear makes.



specs on jeps new parts are listed under the pic button. order the match set and he said he was trying to have a vacation :confused: go

:hat: happy holidays:hat:

smojoe - if you haven't broken a bulkhead yet, you aren't doing it right! Seriously, either you are one heck of a driver or you haven't had it up to full speed yet hehehe

Q - what type of bumper/skid are you using now? I mean, what vehicle was it originally intended to be used on?

hydro_gin - welcome to the Evader gang! Don't apologise for message length. I doubt anyone will ever post any that are longer than some of mine ;)

Now, about that clicking noise.. I concur with what CJ, JB and Ronbeck have mentioned about removing and checking out the diff gear. It appears that people at the factory can be sloppy at times when doing the initial assembly. If I were to buy an Evader RTR now, the first thing I would do is to check all the screws, nuts, and bolts for tightness, the slipper adjustment and the diff gear adjustment. Then after a few runs, check everything again. It seems to me that the most common problem is the diff setting from the factory and I'm thinking that maybe that clicking noise could be coming from one of the larger bearings that ride inside the diff gear.

One thing you could do before removing your tranny is to disconnect the pinion gear from the motor and turn the rear wheels. If you turn one wheel and the opposite wheel turns in the opposite direction, listen then for that clicking noise. Do it again by turning both rear wheels in the same direction (moving it forward on the floor or a table will do okay) and listen for the clicking then as well. If it's quiet enough in the house, you may be able to better pinpoint where the clicking is coming from. I had a clicking noise one time and it turned out that it was coming from a rock that had become lodged between an axle outdrive and the bottom plate. Things like rocks, sticks, and grass/sod bits like to get stuck down in there.

A few other possibilities could be something such as a spring pin (those annoying hollow pins that are like a small tube with a slit down the side) that is loose in an outdrive, or in the u-joint of the axle. Another possibility, though doubtful, could be a wheel bearing. Just do what I mention above and see if you can better locate the source of the clicking, but my bet is that either a gear somewhere is missing a tooth or two or a ball or two in the diff gear came loose. That's why I mentioned that if I were to buy an RTR right now, I'd check the diff adjustment for sure. If it was too loose, any number of the bearing balls could have popped out of their respective hole in the diff gear.

Whatever it comes to be, I wish you the best on your first repair or minor fix. It can be frustrating at times, especially when you get bitten by the bug that causes you to want it to go even faster and you roll your truck a few times, breaking a front arm or bulkhead, but it's all part of the game. Even the most costly vehicles have parts that break! Good luck to you and again, welcome to the Evader gang! :thumbsup:

Bill - I went back over to the "Let's see your rides" thread and only saw two pictures posted by CJ and neither showed a purple heatsink(s) that I could see. I saw the pic of the Evader and one of his son's B2. Was there another that I missed?

Still scratching my head over this one..

Cjtamu, JB, and Ronbeck

First, I want to thank you all for all the great tips on tearing down and rebulding the diff. The info was exactly what I needed to start the job. I was a little intimidated at first, but kept telling myself to be patient and use the force. Its actually pretty satisfying now that the tear down is complete - I had always wondered why the rear wheels spin in opposite directions when unloaded. Sort of like one of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe, until now that is :)

Ok, here's what I found ... No foreign objects were found in the gearbox, all looked pretty clean and lubed. The teeth on the diff and idler gears looked good, none broken or deformed. The rotating action of the outdrives against the diff balls was smooth. One thing I noticed was that the meshing of the top shaft's steel gear against the plastic idler gear was not as smooth as I would expect, but unfortunately I don't have any reference to compare. It seemed there was a consistent rough section on the idler, but I doubted it would create the loud clicking noise I had heard.

Not seeing anything obvious, I decided to retighten the diff (using a screwdriver blade and allen wrench) to see if I could tell when the diff spring was fully compressed (per Jep's suggestion). While tightening and loosening the diff, I noticed there's a thrust bearing near the head end of the diff adjustment bolt - and guess what? The washer that forms the outboard side of the thrust bearing was cracked cleanly into two "C"-shaped pieces! I also noticed that the thrust ball holder (#19) has one indentation, or crater, between the ball holes and on the broken washer side, as if a ball had become unseated and then pressed into the holder when the diff was tightened. I can visualize how the thrust washer might crack if a ball was unseated because the washer would no longer have a flat surface to press against as the diff was tightened.

The big question is, did the thrust washer crack while the diff was still in the truck, or after I had torn down the gearbox? I'll have to assume the former and go from there since I haven't found anything else. Anybody have any other thoughts or suggestions?

ps. I wish RC cars came with torque spec's. Sure would make things easier. Hmmm, but does Sears sell torque wrenches in pico-meter ranges! :lol:

kitty-
running my p-94 12 turn, at full speed i smacked into a basketball pole. the only thing that happened was i got a pretty good sized dent in the front a-arm. i guess im just lucky...
oh, i wont be having any "evader news" for a while, i finally got an e-maxx and my evader is torn apart for science olypiad. oh well..

it probably happened int he truck. had this happen to my cusins truck.
good luck. and trust me if i can take my evader apart and have it go back toegther anyone can.:dude:

i was lucky too, full speed on my speed gems 9 turn on the street when it suddenly made a huge crack sound and flew 2 feet into the air! it turns out it hit a fair sized rock about the size of half my first, it smacked the bumper head on and no breakage! the thing is i've done it four or five times since and still no broken bulkhead, with the -10 celcius temps too, i must say im impressed

Kitty- The purple heatsinks are on the Novak speed control and they're a little hard to see. I don't have the pretty purple heatsink motor mount if that's what you're looking for.

HG- Good job, sounds like you found the problem.

Raced the Evader yesterday, ran well, no breakage. B2 broke one rear A-arm mount. Score: Evader- 1, B2- 0.

Originally posted by cjtamu
Kitty- The purple heatsinks are on the Novak speed control and they're a little hard to see. I don't have the pretty purple heatsink motor mount if that's what you're looking for.

HG- Good job, sounds like you found the problem.

Raced the Evader yesterday, ran well, no breakage. B2 broke one rear A-arm mount. Score: Evader- 1, B2- 0.
Man dont waist your money on stock arm mounts get the RPM pieces they will last forever.I never seen one break :thumbsup:

Finally! My evader's back in action. My esc strangely stopped working, but it turned out being my transmitter. If I use my tq3 radio system that was on my e-maxx, it works fine.
Another question: Losi xxxt wheels work without problems (rear wheels only, without any rubbing or binding or anything), right?

JB- The XXXT wheels work great. I just mounted tires on a cool set of Adam Drake XXX-NT wheels and used them this weekend. The fronts will work as well, but you have to get the Losi bearing spacer.

2nd-Thanks for the tip. We got what they had at the track, but we'll look for some RPM ones.

Kitty- And now, just for you, two pics. The first shows the orange Novak ESC with the cool purple heat sinks, but the colors are washed out on averything else. The second shows the Evader with all it's true colors. Pink springs in the rear, red in front, bright orange ESC w/purple heat sinks, and you can even kinda tell that the antenna tube is green to match the yellow body with its blue and green decals.

http://users3.ev1.net/~cthayer/evader-3.jpg
http://users3.ev1.net/~cthayer/evader-5.jpg

Hi Everyone,

I've been gone for a while. There were a couple of questions about my bumper. I will try to get some pics up on the site tomorrow. It is exactly the same dimensions as the stock bumper, except that it extends out 1/4" farther and the bent up section is another 1/4" longer. I wanted to initially get something out that would hold up well, but was still light enough for racing. I have also had a lot of requests for a really wide bumper like they use on the touring cars - I am still thinking about this one.

Jep

I cant believe you still have the "old" chassis.It must be nice and warm where you live :thumbsup:


<<try's to hide>> duh 2nd Gear he is from Texas!

Yeah, I still have the original chassis and it's warm here (68 deg and raining right now). It got down to the mid 40's when we were racing Saturday, but probably not nearly as cold as y'all are. And I'm racing stock, so it's not crashing and burning as hard as it would with a low turn mod.

what watt soldering iron would you guys(abd gals) suggest for doing deans plugs on batteries and esc's?? thanks.
peter:confused:

RB- I'm using a 60 watt iron and it works fine, just a little slower. I borrowed a 100 watt at the track a couple of weeks ago and it was great, just barely had to touch the plugs. Be sure to tin the iron, the wires, and the plugs, and I always use soldering flux. Be careful with the Deans that you get the solder flowing and then get the heat off ASAP, because the plastic will melt if you don't. Also, you'll need something to hold the plugs with, like visegrips. Be sure to follow the instructions on the package as far as wiring male and female connectors (motor male/ESC female, battery female/ESC male). That way you don't end up with exposed metal that might accidentally short your battery.

yeah have had anuff of that shorting c@#p. my tamiya connectors have gotten way old. not carefull and metal leads in plug come out. and when they do they like to touch. had the ark out on finger already. nice blister. but bad smell. :D never claime dtoo be very smart..:o