Thanks bill... Yeah, there less hassle but, when you factor in electric Motor maintenance the list grows shorter... A finely tuned Nitro engine gives almost no hassle at all... just keep a new glow plug on hand and a spare Glow starter battery and you can run tank after tank of awesome speed and thrills! On the other hand if you are Hamfisted with the tuning needles or just don't completely grasp the concept of Nitro tuning it can be a NIGHTMARE... there is also the break-in of a glow engine that most people hate to do...I'm included as it is a hassle... I do like the plug and go of the electric RC's but I want it to rival the power and speed of Nitro... when you get the power up to par by running very low turn motors, the runtime is very short. Where nitro will give you up to 15-20min of runtime depending on you driving style or environment... Both have there pro's and cons... Electric definitely gets up to top speed quicker than Nitro, where Nitro engines have to build RPM to get into their max powerband...

Ok, loaned my evader to someone else and their little girl ran it into a curb about 4 times at full speed, and broke the front brace,the 2 plastic ball ends on the shocks, the Front Bulkhead and the front shock tower ,and I need to find out the easiest way to get these replaced under the 1 Stress-Tech replacement.

I know it says to send them back, but I don't want the down time.

Thanks,

JR

I got my Evader in October. For a month it ran fine. All of a sudden, it stopped working. I was getting steering, but no motor. I checked it out, and just got some new brushes :). So that was working fine. Well, a few weeks later, it stopped working again :confused: . I was getting neither steering or motor. Luckily a bud of mine let me borrow his ESC just to see what was wrong (or pretty much just to check if the reciever was broken.) Well, it worked fine, so we concluded that because the reciever was working it had to be the ESC. So Dad and I busted out the ol' voltage meter just to double check, and sure enough, we were right. I really didn't want to do the whole warranty thing because I thought I would have cash soon enough. Well, long story short, I kept that same attitude and never shipped it off to Duratrax to fix. Basically I've had some cash flow limitations, so I haven't been able to run up until now (or a few days... whenever the package comes in) so I'm pretty stoaked.

Having said all that, I'm just curious if anyone else has had:
A: The brushes die that quick on them.
B: The stock Sprint ESC just die.

TIM

Hi Guys:

Tim, yes the stock brushes are very soft and they wear out quickly. Get several sets the next time and you'll be ready. I've also noticed that they tend to get sticky and you need to clean the guides.

JR, My first rule is do not let little kids run your car. My only major damage came when I let a young person run my ST and she nailed the only object within 200 yds. The stress tech replacement system is ok, should not take more than a week. I also picked up several extra brakeable parts from Tower so I would not need to wait, just change the part and send the broken one in and use the new one later.

Incipit, Try the Gold Peak 3300, great batteries and 15 min. run times or better.

Hi Guys:

JR, My first rule is do not let little kids run your car. My only major damage came when I let a young person run my ST and she nailed the only object within 200 yds. The stress tech replacement system is ok, should not take more than a week. I also picked up several extra brakeable parts from Tower so I would not need to wait, just change the part and send the broken one in and use the new one later.


Ya, well the st is my beater, I was running my race t3 at the time I heard the bangs, rushed to the scene, and saw what happened, then I hear that his girl liked it and wanted to try, and the outcome is obvious.

This is the first breakage on the evader I have had. I think they are built well, but the handling on my t3 is so much nicer, so I let people use the evader when I'm out and they want to play.

Incipit: Promatch is the only place I buy my batteries, give them a try.

I think it is promatchracing.com... BTW I am in no way affiliated with them, I just like the GP 3300 and they give me the best.

Hi everyone,

I really wish I would have found this site earlier... hehe I would have gotten many questions answered and fewer parts broken.

I hadn't ran my EvST that many times when I already messed up the motor; still not sure why; as i turn it with my fingers, it gets rough at one piont in the turn.

anyways, i decided to buy a new motor; wasn't sure which one so i got a P2K2. I broke it in and installed it but now I have a new problem...

when i pull the trigger, sometimes the motor (and thus the wheels) won't turn, this seems to occur after having just run the truck with the trigger pulled all the way. i get it out of this state by turning the wheels a bit (ie, push the truck forward a bit) and then again it can move but the whole situation soon repeats.

i notice that the ESC's red light comes on when i pull the trigger all the way. i can't find in the manual what the red light is for but i'm guessing it's not good.

:confused:
does anyone have any ideas? Can it be my ESC or something to do with the new motor? i'm just clueless since i'm new to this hobby. Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance!!

btw, thans to Orbitron and BobT (and all involved) for the page on the differential... that's a big help!!!!
sk

help i'm new to r/cand would like to know what it takes to set up a set of tires for pavement use. I was planning on using RPM'S claws 6 spoke chrome rims, do i need to put another set of bearings in these rims , do they come with bushings? whats the deal?

Sixer- I had that same problem. Eventually, you probably won't get even a red light at all. Basically, you need a new ESC. I can't speak from much experience, but I know that was the case with mine. Maybe that will help you, but it could be a different problem.

TIM

anybody there

peanut31
you can use the bearings out of the stock wheels. if your going to runn alot on pavement get some good road tires. any rim for the losi xxt will run fine on the evader.

sixerkusanagi
the red light comes on to show it's getting a signal.
but it sounds like you have something binding in the tranny.
Have you checked the diff yet?? is there anything in the mesh of your pinion and spur??

peter :)

Sixer - Red light is good. Means you are (driving the truck forward) squeezing the trigger. Green light is when you are reversing. I'm pretty sure about this because I was driving my truck in the dark with a clear body on it.


Peanut - You are going to need to transfer your bearings over to the new rims or buy new ones. If you are going to transfer them, all it takes is a phillips screwdriver through the hole and give it a little twist and shim it out.

I hear all this talk about comm cutting and motor care, but I really don't want to do all that, or spend the cash on a comm lathe. Are there any practical cheap ways to care for a motor?

TIM

I hear all this talk about comm cutting and motor care, but I really don't want to do all that, or spend the cash on a comm lathe. Are there any practical cheap ways to care for a motor?

The best thing you can do is get a comm cleaning pen and use it regularly, like every 2-3 runs. Also take care of the bushings or bearings, and give it new brushes and springs once in a while.

You only need to regularly cut the commutator if you're racing.

Timboroni-
Thanks for the info! If it does turn out to be the ESC... what's a good replacement? (maybe a page in the thread can be pointed out. tried to do a search for ESC but 3 letter words not allowed.)

Ronbeck and/or orbitron-
Just to be more detailed... Yes, I notice the red light comes on when going forward but it only comes on when I've almost squeezed the trigger the whole way and not at low speeds. As for reverse, both my green light and red light are coming on when i almost fully squeeze. Otherwise no light except green only when i let go of the trigger. Does this sound right?

Ronbeck-
Sorry for being ignorant but is the pinion and spur parts 80 and 16, respectively, in the duratrax manual diagram? If so, yes, I think they are fine, i tried to follow the video example for setting them up. also, I looked at the differential and it seemed ok i guess, however, I didn't open it up and check it out. how could i tell if something is binding?

Maybe I'll check the diff later... weekend is almost over. sigh.

Thanks everyone!!
sk

I just started racing this year with An Evader on carpet and soon off road very very good runing vehicle :thumbsup:

sixer, How much have you run that p2k2? It could be the brushes in the motor are getting gummed up. This can happen if you get oil on the brushes or comm when oiling a motor. Or after alot time on the motor. Look at the comm through the holes and see if it's black where the brushes run.

Sixer - It sounds to me like your throttle trim is set up wrong. Often the simplist solution is the right one??? Could be wrong though.

Thanks everyone for suggesting more things to look into...

22Racer-
It's a new motor, I had just broken it in, cleaned it, and oiled the bushings. So the comm _appeared_ clean...
after running it a bit (as i tested it)... it did get slightly grey in the brush path but i'm guessing this is normal; also the comm didn't look oily. I'll try to clean again and oil again. maybe i can get some comm drops to improve it???

Orbitron-
The throttle trim seemed fine (and centered). However, I will try to readjust it when i testrun my car again.

btw, is there any instructions on how to get to and dissassemble the drivetrain. if not, i guess i'll wing it with just the manuel diagram. Thanks everyone.

sk

sixerkusanagi,

Is this what you need? Jep wrote it awhile back.

Be sure to read through the thread "Jerrits Evader ST FAQ" - most of the info you will need is there.

You might as well get the whole tranny apart and check things out.

Examine all the teeth on all the gears carefully for damage. Replace any you are not sure of.

Disassemble the diff completely, noting which outdrive half is on which side relative to the diff bolt and diff nut. If you get the halves switched around upon reassembly, then the nut will be too close to the end of the outdrive, and the axle will hit it. I believe the Evader manual diagrams are wrong in this respect.

Clean everything completely out (I use Lysol tub and tile cleaner). When you rebuild the diff, you actually want to roughen the rings slightly with a very fine emery cloth. You want the diff balls to roll on the rings, not slide. put the cloth on a hard flat surface and rub the ring around on it a few times - you can sand both sides of the rings to make sure they don't slip in the gears as well.

Examine the ball races on the inside of the diff gear - if any of them are worn or melted, get a new diff gear too.

Re-lube the *inside* of the diff gear where the balls are with a pure silicon diff lube only (like AE diff lube).

Clean the thrust bearings really well before re-assembly. Re-lube the thrust bearing with a little bit of Associated (AE) black grease.

You can leave the inside of the tranny dry, or use a *very small* amount of White Lightning gear lube, or Losi Thick Hydra fluid to barely wet the gear teeth - be *very* conservative.

You can put a drop of bearing lube on each bearing if you wish.

Good luck, let us know if you have any trouble.

Jep
Jep-R/C Products

Sixer... it's funny, my sons Evader is doing the exact same thing... we were out yesterday...me with my Nitro RC10GT and him with his evader... We'll, he kept saying his batteries are dead, but when I would tap it forward while he squeezed the trigger, it would bolt off until he brought it to a stop again, and in reverse it chugs a couple times and then stops until you tap it again... I'm going to do a service to the motor and check it out...

Sixer... it's funny, my sons Evader is doing the exact same thing... ... I'm going to do a service to the motor and check it out...

Good Morning Guys,

The servicing should do it. I just wanted to mention that you should check out the brushes for wear and slide-a-bility. The Photon has a tendency to build up a gray goo in the brush sliding areas. Clean that up and thing should work much better. A worn brush will give you the same trouble, look for the wire lead showing through were brush and com make contact.

When you have the motor apart look very closely for any metal stuck to the magnets. That will stall the motor completely or until you give it a little push.

Good luck.

Well, I did the service to no AvaiL... I think it's just worn brushes because, if I squeeze the trigger when it's held up and tap the brush with a small allen key the engine begins to run but when I stop it's the same junk all over again... my brushes are about 1/4 inch in length...I only have about 10-12 packs through the motor... do they wear out that quickly?

Thanks everyone!

Jep-
Thanks alot for the thread ref and the diff tips!

Bill-
Good ideas! I never would of thought of something (metal) stuck to the magnets. Thanks!

Incipit-
Thanks and I hope you can get your son's Evader working.

I'll look into all these. But I won't be able to get to it till the weekend most likely. Here's hopefully to a quick workweek. :)

... do they wear out that quickly?

The brushes are soft compared to others I used. Try cleaning the tips with a com brush about every third run, just a light brushing, that will help them last a little longer.

If your springs are to tight that would cause them to wear faster on the other hand if the springs are to loose then you might have that starting problem. You may want to play with them a bit and see if it helps.

Hello all. I've had pretty good luck so far with the Evader but I have found one other problem with the transmission. When I had it apart to clean and check it I found that the input shaft from the spur gear was bent!! Explains the bind I feel when i turned the shaft so it might be another thing you all want to check on. Also has anyone had any better luck with the losi graphite front shock tower? My stock one seems to break every time you look at it wrong. Least it's spring time and we can all start running again :thumbsup:

Also has anyone had any better luck with the losi graphite front shock tower? My stock one seems to break every time you look at it wrong.

Evader Blue - That front shock tower was evil. I upgraded to the Graphite one and ran about 6 packs through it since. I haven't had any breakage, but I've learned to slow down around solid objects as well. i did catch good air a few times and ran into a few things...good so far.

I too have already gone through a shock tower... I thought stress-tech plastic parts were supposed to be durable..

Which losi graphite tower fits the evader?

XXT shock tower should fit. You'll find you can swap a lot of the parts w/ XXT parts.

any one breaking front control arms, my son has broken 2 the last 2 times out and of course they were the same side. i have bought losi arms now, but i am having problems finding a 2.5mm drill bit to drill the outter hindge pins out on these arms.

hey i am going to let him race soon, what should i stock up on?my track has no hobbie store on site.

thank you
matt :roll:

Front shock tower, A-arms (I haven't broken an XXT one yet), front bulkhead and steering bell crank assembly. Also a good idea to have a spare spur gear with you and spare shock ends. If you don't have Jep R/C's braces, get them. My daughter's racing the Evader now. The day I put his braces on she hit the wall at the end of the straight hard enough to bend the hub carrier kingpin and it did zero front end damage. Replied to your other post also.

Mames, get a number drill set. There only a few thousanths difference between drills and you can always find one that works. If you use the losi outer pin you can use a american drill on the inner piece ( I can't remember what it's called) all the duatrax pins are too soft anyway.

Incipit -

Glad to see you made it over here from nitrorc :thumbsup:

I've been spending most of my time getting my Ebay GT running. Nice to see lots of traffic here.

On your intermittent problem, others and I have had problems with the stock Duratrax brush springs. My experience is they don't last long and typically break in half. If the break is near where the brush's braid is stuffed into the brush hood, you can get an intermittent connection. So tap the motor and it will all of a sudden run, then the connection opens again after running a little. So just check for a broken spring.

Someone here turned me onto Trinity's medium green springs. Been using them w. no problems. Here they are:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJV93&P=7

You can buy them by the bagfull too.

Peanut31 -

I also have the RPM Claws, I agree they're cool-looking. To make them fit, you'll need to do a little work on them, its not too bad. The inside rim won't clear the front knuckles and will rub on them. The hard way to fix this is to try to find some washers to offset the rim outwards. The easiest fix, IMHO, is to sand/grind off a little of the inside rim.

The way I did this was to mount the wheel in a buddy's drill press, and while it was spinning, I used my Dremel with a sanding drum to grind off a little of the rim. JEP (where is that guy?) did a similar thing but used a hand drill instead of the press. It doesn't take much. If you don't have access to all these tools, you can probably get away with some hand-sanding, but go easy.

Oh, I mounted the wheel on a spare axle stub I had lying around. You could also use a cheapo 50 cent bolt+nut of the proper size from the hardware store.

This may need to be done w. other RPM wheels, but I've only used the Claws.

On the RPM wheels you can also take a little off the front knuckle end also. I shaved off a little bit from each side and they have'nt broken yet when I've killed the shock tower 3 times lol. Just make sure if you take any off the wheel not to get it out of balance. And Orb I know you don't like the anodized stuff but I gotta tell you to pick up the heat sink for the motor. I've run a 24 pinion with the stock spur and the motor only got warm on a 70f day while my buddies rustler got so hot you could'nt touch it

Blue - HUH? I wasn't asking about heat but hey I apreciate you remembering my preferences. Here's a tease... my Willy's is mounted and painted just no pics yet.

wher can i get hopups for my evader,,,all i come across is stock replacments

Was 15 minutes enough? Actually the links were screwed up on this page. (http://www.ucalgary.ca/~rjfrankl/Willys.html) There are more pics there. But here is a sample anyway
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~rjfrankl/Sand%20front.JPG

:cool: looking sweet! :dude:

Thanks Now it's time to get it dirty!

Sorry Orb what I ment was that I ran a 24 tooth pinion gear with the stock spur and it did'nt heat up near as bad as the same in my friends Rustler Truck is looking great now all you need is some flames and the fuzzy dice in the mirror :jest:

Got my "box o' goodies" in! I've got to solder all the stuff and the new connectors on. I'll give you an update later tonight on how he runs!

Blue - OIC... I wanted to do ghost flames on it but I think the chrome body line and flames would have looked stupid together...

Also, I think I just stripped the gears inside the servo. Is that possible? I haven't taken it out yet but the arm knd of moves and the servo makes a grating noise that is different in each direction. If your conclusion is the same as mine, should I get new gears for my servo, or a new servo all together? Which kind should I get (waterproof I think)?

Dss - The most important hop up ever is the Jep-R/C combo pack. The bulkhead and hinge pin brace are weak. Here (http://www.geocities.com/jep_rc/home.html) There are not very many aftermarket hop-ups around but there are ti hinge pins, turnbuckles, and such on the duratrax website (http://duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxc6182.html). Also get Losi stuff that fits on Jerritts Evader FAQ thread on this system. Losi XXX-T truck bodies, rims, etc.
Look around there is a lot of info on this internet thingy.

I hunted for the gear set for the stock Evader servo futaba (SX-100) and found nothing. Has anyone purchased gears?These ones (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXD55&P=7) look right but they are for another servo. Does anyone know for sure?

Orbitron,

I have replaced my servo gears twice before. The new gears are only $5.00 @ the LHS, but they are a test of patience each time you have to install a new set. (Big Fingers vs. tiny little gears!!!!!) This week I replaced my servo with a Hitec model 625 that has metal gears and ball bearings. It is a big improvement over the wimpy stock servo, and should be bullet-proof. I think the metal geared servos are $35 - $50 depending on the model.

I posted a question on the FAQ thread about my slipper spring. If anyone can help, I would appreciate it...
:thumbsup:

I hunted for the gear set for the stock Evader servo futaba (SX-100) and found nothing. Has anyone purchased gears?These ones (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXD55&P=7) look right but they are for another servo. Does anyone know for sure?

I believe the one you need is FUTM3416 which is for the Futaba S3003 servo. That is the one my LHS recommended. Try here :
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0095p?FVPROFIL=++&FVSEARCH=futm3416&FVPROFIL=++&search=Go

Orb- I think Mrfixit is right, it's actually a Fu S3003 servo. And BB metal gear servos are much better. No servo is bulletproof though, so be sure you do regular maintenance on your servo saver. You can actually by a kit to convert your 3003 to a 3004 (ball bearings for like 3 servos), but I think the gears are separate.

I got two votes for the Hi-tech 625, here and another forum, does anyone know how to decipher the stats?
FUTM0031S3003 Standard
Torq/Speed 4.8V 44oz/.23sec
Torq/speed 6.0V 57oz/.19sec
1.6X.8X1.41.30

Ok so I can read, but where is the upper and lower limit to the power required for the Evader? And don't we run 7.2V?
Wait does the power convert to oz/inch and the speed to time/60degrees?
I think I might want to get HUGE TIRES someday and not have to get another servo to replace the one I'm going to buy this week (heard of too many problems with the stock one).
The high tech one is 93oz/.13sec in 6V
Wait if I divide 6v by 4.8v I can find the ratio of the two and apply it to the weight measures and the time as well, non? (that's french for am I right) Gotta bust out the calculator...

So the calculator tells me that at 7.2V the stock servo is putting out 71.25oz/.15sec does that sound right to anyone?

Orb -

I agree the Hi-Tec HS-625MG is a great fit for the Evader, metal gears to-boot. Everyone always lists the torque numbers as oz/in, but it really should be oz-in, you know, like foot-pounds and newton-meters on a torque wrench. Anyways, here's a site with some recommended servo torque ratings for electric, nitro, monsters, etc:

http://www.gj.net/~geerhed/Electronics.htm

Jodie Grein is a really experienced racer, so I believe what he posts.

I believe the BEC (Battery Eliminator Circuit) in the ESC works like a regulated DC-DC convertor supply, so it takes the 7.2V input from our packs and converts that to a different voltage to run our receiver and servo's. Every BEC spec (that rhymes! :jest: ) I've seen shows a 5V output. So assuming 5V BEC output and servo torque is linear with voltage, then the torque you'd get is 5/6th that of the torque at 6V. Nitro guys/gals run a separate battery pack, usually 5 cells for 6V and 4 cells for 4.8V, that's probably why servo's are always spec'd at those input voltages.

BTW, I happen to have a brand new unused 625 I'd be willing to sell for $40 plus shipping costs, if you're interested (I live on the west coast like you). I've had it for a week and was about to return it. It was for my nitro truck, but I ended up getting a stronger/slower servo. No biggie either way. Oops, wait, you have a Futaba RX with J connectors. This one has a Z connector. Ah, you probably don't want to hassle with that. Good luck.