El Gecko

That's interesting, my 15t Reedy Radon brushed motor is rated at 4100kv. I wonder if it would actually be close in speed to a 9.5t brushless?

Mad Ax gave a pretty good explanation above, but I will just second his recommendation for the Flysky FS-i6, if you like sticks. I have the i6X version which did come with upgraded firmware and a 10 channel receiver, and it's perfect for me. Tons of switches and knobs to hook up whatever accessories I want, and it can use all kinds of different Flysky receivers (even GR3E which is a different protocol and relatively cheap compared to the newer stuff). I just had to swap the sticks from side to side (very simple to do) so I can have the throttle return spring on the left. I also have an FS-i4, which I would not recommend unless you only have one car, because although you can bind multiple receivers to it, it doesn't retain the trim settings for each, so you have to retrim every time you switch cars. The i6 has a more robust software and can save up to 20 cars with all their own individual settings.

I found that during normal running, glue is almost worse than an untreated servo saver, because it's single use... once the glue breaks (which doesn't take much force), it binds up and won't recenter, so it's back to the garage anyway. This is my preferred method now. Use the smaller plastic spring on the normal servo saver, with a recess dremeled into the outside for an additional metal spring to sit in. This is a single coil cut off an old bicycle brake spring. Works just like an HD saver at a fraction of the cost

I would try Twinfan's original suggestion of checking all connections. Sometimes there's a tiny break in the wire going from ESC to Rx, and therefore no signal between them. So check for breaks in the wire, pinch points, and possibly even the plug itself (the little pins inside sometimes work loose and cause weird issues).

Not sure your exact setup, but possibly a wider wheel hex would help space them out enough?

Slide a few of those white plastic bushings on the axle before the wheels. It'll make for more wheel scrub because it changes the offset, which might help with turn-in, and it'll widen the track without having to resort to the wider GH2 front suspension arms. However, I should recommend the GH2 front suspension arms anyway, to help stability with the monster wheel/tire setup. The tendency of a Grasshopper to roll over is only magnified with larger tires. I tried it once, broke a steering upright, and went right back to normal buggy wheels. And I still manage to roll it at least once nearly every time out (haven't broken anymore uprights since it's been back on buggy wheels either)

Yep, got it secondhand without a bodyshell when I was a kid, and it drives way better now! (after some new electronics and other recent tuning) Still working on giving it the body it's never had, but until then this Frog runs in the nude

Indeed, I saw your fix, nice job! I did try a 1.8mm butted spoke at one point, but found that I actually need something a little beefier, so switched back to 2mm spokes everywhere.

I made the same (Astute) observation about my DG! (need to get an update into that thread soon, I've done a bunch more modifications since the last post!)

My cheap hack is to use stainless steel 2.0mm bicycle spokes as tie rods, cut and bent to the right length. They have the same diameter, but a slightly larger thread size than the original tie rods, and those threads seem to grip into the plastic ends a bit better, having less chance of stripping out.

The only one I even regret a little bit is the Grasshopper 2 I got "for my wife" which, as it turns out, isn't a Jeep (which is what she actually wants). Oops. So it'll be dedicated to road racing, whenever Tamiya decides to release those Pajero 1.9 wheels for TC tires. It's a lovely car and I can't wait to drive it in anger

Same here! Was trying to figure out a nice way to say it, but you've hit the nail on the head. I've sold a few bicycles/parts over the years, but never anything RC. Luckily, even when I was in pretty dire straits a few times, I wasn't forced to sell them. At this point I think they're all with me for life.

Same here, but I only want the wheels! I'm planning to convert a GH2 into a true road car using that new Pajero wheelset and some touring car tires.

Yes to the front. Same axles as a Grasshopper/Hornet with different steering arms, so the front wheels swap right over. Rears are a different story. The DT02 axles are much shorter, and the SS rear wheels and adapters are much thicker, so you'll need to use axle extensions instead of normal axle nuts.

Yes that 0.1A would be a trickle charge. Something like 1.0A or more would be a "quick charge" and most chargers max out around 4A for their quick charge output. Since 0.1A = 100mAh, you'd want to charge your 1200mAh battery for roughly 12 hours to get it topped off. And there's no need for any fancy discharging equipment, just stick it in the car or hook a motor up to it and let it run until the motor slows down. Then trickle charge again, and repeat the whole process a few times. You should start to see a bit more power and a bit longer runtime after a few charges.

It depends on what has gone on in the life and history of that particular battery, but I think you're on the right track. Just stick to trickle charging at first to balance the cells. It might take a few charge/discharge cycles before it's back to full power, but I've got some old Tamiya Ni-Cd batteries (and other brands) that still charge up the same as they did 20-30 years ago. And worst case if the NiCds don't work, just get some loose NiMH cells and solder yourself a new pack.

Common enough, there's at least 1 stripped or broken screw hole on each of my Grasshopper-based gearboxes. This one has a few that are stripped, mainly the lower rear one just under the brace is cracked all the way through on both sides, so the brace is actually necessary to keep it from spreading under load. I think that was a contributing factor both times I destroyed the diff gears.

Exactly! It just needs to work first, then you can figure out aesthetics. I used a section of plastic coat hanger as my top brace, with the holes drilled slightly angled to fit the angle of the bolts. The fake engine there also helps stiffen everything up a bit. I added the same kind of brace in between the lower shock mounts, to help keep the gearbox from splitting in the middle. Originally the braces were both white because that's the color of the broken coat hangers I had, but I decided to sacrifice a black one so they could blend in with the chassis even better.

Sounds about right. I would inspect every mm of the wire from ESC to receiver, as well as the plug in close detail, looking for breaks in the wire, pinch points, etc. Also check the little metal ends inside the plug, which are a friction fit with the pins in the receiver. The plug should fit tightly with good contact. It is also a possibility, since everything was loose and flopping around, that the wires have broken free from the circuit board inside the ESC. So the ESC would still get power from the normal battery wires (unbroken) but the wires to the receiver may have a small break in one (or all).

In my case, I don't race so bashing always has a purpose unless I'm out driving around with someone else. Usually I'm doing figure 8s by myself testing suspension tweaks or changes to radio settings or a different motor or gearing or something. Sometimes if it's a good change, I do tend to get caught up and find myself exhausting a pack just having fun (but to answer the original question of the thread, no I don't do RC stuff nearly as often as I'd like, however even a little bit every now and then is good enough for me!)

On the topic of receivers, perhaps another remote possibility is that one of the pins inside the receiver has broken off? Is the red flashing light on the ESC or the receiver?

Definitely. Any extra bracing adds strength, especially cross-bracing. Those arms that the shocks and body mounts attach to aren't very strong in the lateral direction. It also seems like a relatively easy thing to make at home, especially after seeing pics of the 3D model.

Game changer! It's about time we got some different kinds of bearing front wheels! (Hopefully the fronts are sold separately.) I could see using a set for tarmac driving on various cars, as well as a set with the CC01 tires for another ORV idea I've got cooking

I was "just driving along" *not really... The top one was from a front-flip wreck, it landed on both rear wheels equally but I still had a bit of throttle on, and the force had nowhere to go but kablooey. The screwdriver is just there to push it apart for the pic, I was surprised that the one gear cracked in 3 different places! It was cold out which probably didn't help. The second time, I had some grippy-ish tires installed for tarmac, and while I was hooning around it nearly went into a traction roll, but as I brought it down, I had too much throttle on (again!) and it split the side gear. Luckily I had that gear left over from the new gearset to fix the first incident. But, they've been flawless since then, and I wouldn't hesitate to get another set of plastic gears down the line if I should happen to destroy these, but so far so good. My original Grasshopper and Hornet are still on their original gearsets (as far as I know) and they've never shown any signs of weakness. That spool looks pretty cool though. I would definitely consider something like that if I had a Lunchbox or Pumpkin that I wanted to drive on the trails or the beach.

I'll just leave these here....