El Gecko

I think the TRX-4 versions are crawler tires, so they'd be too tall and soft for the Blitzer which needs more of a stadium truck tire, wide and low profile. I use part #7270 "Canyon AT tires with foam inserts" which are a direct replacement for Blitzer rears, although they are a little meatier overall, with taller/deeper and wider tread. They're the stock tires for the 1/16 Summit chassis.

Not sure about GF01s, but the Hornet/Grasshopper and DT02 seem about the same to me, both nice and smooth and relatively quiet. However, a properly built ORV gearbox is on a different level, nearly a whisper. Which seems to be because of the smaller, thicker gearbox casing with less room to echo. In contrast to the old Traxxas cars from the 90s, where you can hear the gear whine from half a mile away, but in fact everything's tuned properly and running normally (all 32 pitch gears)

I haven't got a set (yet), but yes I think the Anacondas are for buggy rear wheels, so they should fit the front of the Blitzer/Aqroshot. I'd like to get a set for tarmac running on the rear of my DT02 and others. I don't know how soft they are, but if they're anything like the Traxxas Canyon tires I got for another car, then you might not need glue. The tires are fairly soft, but the bead is nice and tight. I put a few small drops of superglue on there just to keep the wheels from spinning in the tires under hard acceleration, but just like the tiniest dots of glue so I can still swap them easily in the future, nothing like the full bead of glue you would typically need. FYI those Traxxas Canyons will fit the larger rear wheels of the Blitzer, as well as Blackfoot etc. They're nice and meaty for offroad grip, and I was surprised at the level of grip onroad as well. I even ran them without the foams in the snow and they held up (and held on the wheels) just fine. They're also cheap and easily available, and while I hate giving money to Traxxas, they're a good deal for a basher, especially since they include foams. I think the Anacondas do, too.

That's what I was wondering, too. The Madvan looks like a TT02B with Lunchbox wheels and tires.

Sounds just like my charger, except I've always gotten yellow occasionally when the battery is really depleted. However I too have been making the mistake of charging my NiMHs at too low of a setting. Whereas NiCds love trickle charging, and quick charging degrades them faster, it seems that NiMHs are the opposite, up to a point. So I've started charging all NiMHs at 0.5-1C, basically as close to 1C as I can get, since my charger only goes up to 4A like yours (maybe my 5000mAh's don't get quite as full, but it's still within the range). I only go up to 1C because I don't like how hot the cells get if they're over that (I don't charge a 2000mAh at 4A, for example, and I would charge a 3800mAh at 3A). I can't tell if it makes much of a difference for power or runtime, although I haven't been very scientific about it. The weather here is all over the place lately, and NiMHs are really sensitive to cold weather. A pack that did well on a warm day a few weeks ago didn't work as well on a colder day a week later, and it was charged the same and used in the same car.

I really liked how my DT02 drove with stadium truck wheels, but unfortunately for brushed motors I found that the bigger wheels were too heavy as well, especially if they had foams inside. Probably fine with brushless, but it would be nice if there was a larger spur gear for the DT so we could run smaller pinions if we chose.

I had the same thought once! Have not made it back to that particular build yet, though. Spending too much time driving my vintage rides to have any lust for anything new. But IMHO the concept is sound, assuming you could free up the suspension a bit. As @Frog Jumper mentioned, you can put a truck (or van!) body on any chassis with the roughly right wheelbase.

Traxxas lawyers are probably salivating at the mere suggestion

Mine was used to within an inch of its life and mostly unsalvageable. The motor is blown and the gears are all worn down from dirt getting in there. So I thought it best to try to graft a new gearbox and suspension on if I'm going to actually make it run again. Just haven't decided which gearbox to use yet! I don't want anything too expensive, just something simple and strong. Was considering a Grasshopper/Lunchbox axle as a 4-link setup, but I really want fully independent. I have an "extra" old Traxxas box, but I'm concerned I might need it for spares at some point, if one of my other gearboxes is unrepairable. +1 to all of that. I would replace "cool" with "rich" and it would be a smidge more accurate! It was a special day that we got to go to a hobby shop, even more special if we could afford to buy something there! Oh man I had the maroon Turbo Hopper slot car for awhile too! Whereas with RC we were all Nikko until I got my hobby-grades, we were always all in on TYCO slot cars, particularly because TYCO track sets (occasionally with cars) were a dime a dozen at garage sales back then. I don't have that Hopper anymore, but compared to other normal slot cars it was frustrating to drive, because instead of drifting through the turns it would just tip over

Same! It's funny and a little crazy how many of us started with or had one of those trucks (or one like it). Eventually hoping to resurrect mine as a hobby-grade with half-decent suspension/gearbox/etc. but it's a bit of a pipe dream at the moment. Monster trucks have always been my go-to, but my heart is really with buggies because I love how they drive. Of course, all RWD for simplicity and fun

Hmm TA02T? Is the blue/white truck #805 on a SRB chassis?

Unfortunately as I mentioned it was just lucky that I found those little standoff screws from my "random screws, nuts, bolts, and detritus" bin, probably from some electronic gadget that died years ago. The springs were attached to the standoff screws (you can see one still assembled in the pic, next to the white spacers). The white spacers were actually from a transformer board from something else--they came off the screws that held the power transistors to the heatsink. The inner diameter of the springs is 4mm, and the length is around 8mm per the caliper in the pic, but they're closer to 10mm with the white spacers, and around 17mm with the Hornet spacers underneath, same as the previous setup. But these springs are much stronger so they don't need to be as long. Not sure if they're available in your area, but Amazon has a few I was thinking of trying: Amazon springs 1mmX6mmX10mm Amazon springs 0.6mmX5mmX10mm The first one should be a stronger spring like the ones I have. The second would fit the shock shaft better I think, but wouldn't be as strong due to the thinner wire gauge. Maybe not perfect for your application, but possibly a starting point. I was also thinking of trying slightly longer springs and taking out the Hornet spacers.

I've found various recommended charge rates for NiMH over the years, from 0.1C to 1C (C = the capacity of your battery) I just charge mine at 1A no matter the capacity, with no apparent adverse effects even with 5000mAh batteries (which would be 0.2C at 1A charge rate), it just takes longer to fully charge the higher capacity ones. You're probably good anywhere from 1A to 4A charging your 4000mAh battery (0.25C-1C), although at 4 it would get quite warm, but it would be done more quickly.

Even cheaper (free) I jammed a scrap piece of aluminum rain gutter inside the diff as a shim. I figure the soft aluminum would get destroyed long before the steel side plates and gears. I need to test it still, but it's way tighter than ever before. Might even put another piece on the other side to stiffen it up further.

Thanks, you just saved me from making a big mess of mine! It sounds like roughly the same behavior as the thick grease I've got in there. A couple runs in, the effect disappears. Guess I need to start researching putty or clay, I think it's gotta be much stronger and longer-lasting than anything I've tried so far.

Well after a year with this car, fighting all kinds of electrical gremlins and steering gremlins and everything else, I decided that the gearing is just too tall for stadium truck tires... so it's come full circle back to buggy wheels! And it's running great at the moment. Solid and powerful, and although it understeers like crazy, it's just unpredictable enough to be fun. The high wing mounts make it look a bit Astute-ish, which I love, but it's hard to say if that position helps or hurts the aerodynamics @BuggyDad I also switched up the rear secondaries recently, and the jump compliance is improved. Way more control as it doesn't get bounced funny unless it's a really rough takeoff. The springs are harder and shorter, and they're still sitting on the little black Hornet spacers like before, so the shocks bottom out before the skidplate. As you can see in the pic, they were attached to these standoff-type screws out of an old computer or something. I used the little white spacer things to keep the springs centered on the shock shafts, as the spring inner diameter is about 4mm vs. the 3mm of the shock shafts.

An ORV gearbox is very sensitive and some of them need more finesse than others to get running properly. I definitely have to rebuild my gearboxes 3 or 4 times each time I take them apart. The side plates can be tweaked in a way to help the diff stay together without shims or braces. The only shims really needed are bumpstops to keep the trailing arms from drooping too much. The severe driveshaft angle destroys the driveshafts and pulls the side plates apart, so limiting the droop can fix a lot of the problems.

@nowinaminute It's funny that you brought this post back, I was just searching for some info about AW grease and this popped up in Google! And it turns out this was the thread I was looking for. Slide, did you try the AW grease in your DT, and what did you think of the effect? I'm trying to find something for my big heavy trail truck and I'm not sure if the AW grease will lock it up enough. I'll probably still try it, though.

This. Soap and water is surprisingly effective. I usually just grab some dish soap because it's made to fight grease (and we always have it in the house). Haven't tried any type of polish on wheels, but I've used Blue Magic metal polish to polish all kinds of things including plastic and paint. Just don't use it on chromed plastic parts or it will remove the chrome!

I don't think it's a kit motor, but it does look like a racing stock motor, sold aftermarket. I would think it's early 90s by the color combo, pretty sure the early ones were more metallic, or chrome with metallic labels--those are also the ones with the orange or green endbells. Can't remember exactly but I think green cans were usually ROAR-legal which maxed out the timing at like 24 degrees, whereas orange or pink were typically NORRCA which had looser rules, and those were timed up to the mid 40s which is crazy. Timed brushes and super stiff springs and all kinds of tricks to get them running faster than the competitors. Is there a ROAR91 stamp (or anything else) on the end of the motor can near the mounting screws? If you find it a bit slow, it could be that it needs a refresh, as many old brushed motors were beaten to within an inch of their life. Probably the comm is hourglass-shaped and the springs are too stiff so the brushes are toast. A comm cut, new brushes, de-tension the springs a bit (bend them or get new softer ones), and replace the brass bushings for ball bearings, and I think you'll have a peppy little motor there. Assuming the magnets haven't totally de-magnetized over the years, but I've found that's pretty rare.

Absolutely! In my case, beauty is in the eye of the fabricator, inasmuch as: if I made it, and it works, it's beautiful to me

Erm, I might end up in that situation unless I decide to rescue a crusty Ebay stray

Ouch As a Frog owner (albeit an owner of one which has never had a body) I would have to say the opposite

All of that factors into slot cars as well, and in the case of magnet cars, the varying strengths and orientations and layouts of magnets in different chassis can make or break the handling on certain tracks. So you are still planning tires and gearing and motors and magnets based on the track you're running on. I can't run the same setup on the same cars on my crap plastic sectional track at home that I can on the smooth routed tracks of an actual racetrack. The big difference, as I mentioned, is the interactivity. Once you build and release the mini 4WD onto the track, you have no control over your creation. Whereas with slot cars, R/C, video games, etc. you have various ways to control your creation in motion. And that immediate, instant interactivity is the key to their popularity.

Another year, another sludgy update. Lately I've been noticing the crack on the lower suspension mount starting to separate a bit more, so finally I decided to do something about it. No, not fix it directly, because there's not really a good way to do so. Instead, I decided to add some links to stabilize the fore/aft slop of the rear axle carriers. I just fabricated some more aluminum adapter pieces for the carriers the same way I made the original adapters, and they bolt right on to the same spot, as well as the top of the axle carrier for strength. Then I made some pieces for the front, which fit right over the skid plate and use the stock mounting holes. Some washers/spacers and ball links, cut some threaded rod to fit, and Bob's your uncle! Managed to clear all the rims/tires/shocks/skidplates/chassis tub/etc. and still leave ALL the suspension travel intact, because the front mounts are on roughly the same plane or axis as the lower suspension pins in the gearbox. And already, I haven't driven it yet but I can tell they're going to be a huge improvement! The whole system is stronger and more triangulated, and now there'll be much less slop in the axle carriers and rear wheels, which will hopefully make the fwd/brake/rev transitions much more precise when out on the trail crawling. I'll have to keep an eye on the ground clearance, but I'm not doing a lot of belly-dragging with this truck so I don't think it will be an issue. Also mounted up some different wheels for a change of pace, although I need to glue the rear tires for traction before I head out