El Gecko

Hmm, not compact enough, eh? Maybe we can swap the dimensions? So 3m "tall" and 2m on each half of the "horizontal", for a total of 3m x 4m? Would that be small enough with enough runoff space around the outside turns? Or just change the horizontal to 4m total and keep the 2m height? That would be REALLY compact! I was also thinking of mirroring it along the Y axis, so it's not quite as similar to last round's track.

Here's an option for Round 7 (sorry for the crudity of the drawing, this computer is rather limited)

I dig that pinion cover--very cool. I did something similar on mine, but not as clean.

I always set it up with Off toward the front of the car, so I could grab the front bumper and hit the switch almost in the same motion. The days of MSCs aren't over yet, I just had that happen a few weeks ago! Stupid 4AA battery box came unplugged from my wonky wiring setup, so I'm sure I looked like a crazy person chasing the old Grasshopper around in circles in the street in front of my house Managed to grab it pretty quickly, but as I did, the front bumper finally gave out (luckily I flung the car toward the yard so it landed in the grass). At first I was sad, because it's the original bumper, but I went to see my friends Dremel and Drill down in The Basement, and I'm happy to say we've given it new life. Sure, it's 1/2" shorter and missing the side bars in front of the wheels, but I think I actually like it better this way!

Same thing I just went through with my Blackfoot, and the same solution: dialed in a bit of sag on the rear suspension and everything smoothed right out.

I set up the rear suspension springs too hard in the Blackfoot because I was trying to keep it from bottoming out on larger jumps, but it caused 2 months of power gremlins! The ESC was cutting out at full throttle, and the motor got hot and sounded like it was straining, trying too hard. So over that time I've switched motors, wheels, tires, batteries, rebuilt the gearbox twice, thought the ESC was junk, and had basically given up. Until tonight. I just got a strange urge to try tweaking the suspension a little, and lo and behold, once I softened up those springs..... it was like a whole new car!! I'm ok with not jumping as much if it means the car runs better in every other way. I just can't believe it took me this long to figure it out, and that I was the one who caused the whole thing in the first place [[facepalm]]

Are you using the typical stock 540 silvercan? I don't know what the newer motors are like, but I'm still running two of the originals in my Grasshopper and Hornet with no discernable decrease in power. The one in the GH is pretty thrashed too... one of the mounting holes is nearly stripped and the can is all bent up. I'm pretty sure the previous owner raced it like that--it was set up for a lexan body when I got it. But it's hard to say. It could be that your battery has finally given up, or some other issue altogether (wrong ESC profile, dying ESC, something went bad in the driveline or suspension, etc.)

It's a 2wd buggy... run it anywhere you want!

Finally fixed the plug on my old Traxxas battery (hopefully) the right way this time... with solder instead of wire nuts Now it will fit in the Grasshopper chassis!

There's always the venerable 380 as well, what many of us started on in the Grasshoppers, etc. I'm running a newer one in my vintage Brat with a 10T pinion. Not as much top end as a 540, but can still do donuts on dry tarmac in a heavy 1/10 buggy.

Yep, that's it. The purpose is in the name: a "servo saver" is meant to "save your servos" as well as other more expensive parts on the car. The servo saver is meant to be the "wear item" or "disposable part" of the whole assembly. The Tamiya savers are just weak, and a Kimbrough will do just fine. I use one on my Blackfoot for postal racing along with upgraded tie rods, and after shimming the wheels, the only steering slop comes from my suspension pivots. Also, I recently had a wreck that damaged the gears on a brand new servo and broke a servo mounting bracket (first time ever doing so on any of my ORVs). I doubt either one of those would have happened if I hadn't been running the stronger tie rods and Kimbrough saver.

Hello fellow vintage BMXer! Nice rides! And I would say for the "everyday beater".... it depends on what you typically do during those beatings? I still drive my old Grasshopper like I stole it, but I cringe every time I roll it.

You should! I just set up an old HO train layout on my basement floor the other night and used the Aurora track as "streets" with the railroad crossover piece. And I agree, too many ideas and not enough time!

Maybe you've checked already but is the ESC plug in the receiver the right way around?

There should be 4 of those little rods in the final assembly of the gearbox... 3 for the 3 small gears and 1 to go through the center of the big gear. (This is the "exploded" view)

This will be my first full year back into the hobby, and there's lots of things to do on my trio of trios (maybe more than 1 years worth!) - The first trio of Grasshopper, Grasshornet "Link", and Hornet are all up and running again except a steering servo on the Hornet. So I would just like to get those all working and runnable, and I would also like to repaint the GH body this year but I'm still planning out the livery. - the ORV trio of bRat, Blackfoot, and Frog need a lot of work. Just recently blew up a driveshaft in the bRat, so I'm stealing the BF shafts for it, which means the BF needs a new rear end setup. But at least while the bRat chassis is down, I will have some time to do the long-awaited repairs on its body. Neither the BF or Frog have bodies, so that's something I'd like to remedy eventually as well. The Frog is mostly built but needs quite a bit still. - I didn't think it would happen, seeing as I've stolen nearly all the bolts from them to build the Tamiyas (and considering their cutthroat business practices), but I got the itch to build up my old Traxxas junk again the other night too. The first thing I want to do is to turn the Sledgehammer into a snowplow/snowblower and then use leftover bits from the Tamiyas to cobble the two Hawks together for some fun, guilt-free bashers. Basically just trying to get everything running, then making them mechanically sound. I really like the "driving" part of RC, which I never got to do much of in my younger years, so that's my priority. And along the way, I'm also thinking about how to make them look better. I still don't have much extra money for RC, so I'm sure I'll still tinker and fabricate and do my bush repairs the same as I've always done. This is the first year I've actually had more than one car running at a time, so I'm really excited for what the future holds!

Got some runs in today on some smooth, dry tarmac and they went significantly better than when I tried to bounce around the wet grass of my back yard. Made it to a personal best for both the Blackfoot and "Link" the Grasshornet, although I've got a lot of practice ahead of me if I expect to ever crack the top 10 on this esteemed leaderboard. Threw the knobbies on afterwards and went for some sunset donuts around the ball fields to run the batteries out

Did you set the steering trim on the transmitter?

I have no direct experience with them, but I've read that the Sport Tuned motors are built with softer brushes, which are not replaceable. Have you had any issues with their reliability? Other than Mabuchi 540s, I've always run stock or mod motors with replaceable brushes, so I'm curious how the Sport Tuned compares.

Finally got the bRat set up with a reliable, rebuilt and tuned up MSC mated to a peppy little 380 boat motor (and its homemade pinion sleeve), gave it full bearings throughout, and a new receiver to pair up with my Flysky Tx, so I thought I had solved all the problems and was carelessly drifting it around the basement last night until... ....one of the hex shafts rounded out inside the stub axle

A brushed 27t stock motor is a nice balance, almost too much but just enough

It is the ESC that controls the fwd/brake/reverse setup, yes. I have the same troubles with my Traxxas XL-5 ESC, except I have to return the stick to neutral after hitting the brakes, and then reverse is the normal reverse direction on the stick. But it's the same "fiddlyness" where the ESC thinks you still want to brake, so it doesn't kick into reverse on the first try, and it's even worse if the steering is turned. I basically have to wait for it to come to a dead stop with the brakes on until I can return to neutral and then reverse. My Hobbywing 1060 is the same procedure as the Traxxas (fwd-fwd/rev-brake/double tap rev for reverse), but in yet another difference, it seems to want to kick into reverse more often than the brakes.

Well I've finally done it. Apparently the 380 boat motor was too much power for the old Brat (all the drifting lately probably didn't help either). The motor side hex shaft will no longer transfer power to the wheel, and is spinning in the stub axle on the gearbox. I want to keep the original locked diff in the Brat, which means I'll steal the hex shaft setup from my Blackfoot. This leaves the possibility of upgrading the Blackfoot shafts instead of getting direct replacements (although if anyone has spare hex shafts that aren't completely worn out please let me know). I'd love a Thorp telescoping setup but they're hard to find (which means super expensive), and it doesn't seem like MIP's version made it past the market research stage. The rere Frog universal kit seems to be available, but I've read some horror stories about the dogbones falling out when using bigger tires? Is there a way to space out the stub axles so the dogbones stay in? (and don't bind midway through the travel?) I'm thinking of trying to piece together a custom telescoping slider shaft setup using Thorp stub axles from Ebay and whatever slider shafts I can find that will fit the Thorp universal joints. Maybe some shortened Traxxas (shudder) shafts could work unless there are other brands that fit better with less modification? Not sure why I can't find Thorp slider shafts, because the stub axles seem to be available. What setup is everyone using on their ORVs these days that actually works? The diff hasn't totally blown up yet, so I'm just looking for driveshafts.

Yep, well we at least eliminated some variables from the equation. It's not the Tx/Rx, it's not the motor, and the ESC thinks fwd/rev are the correct directions. I don't actually have this ESC but I finally just looked up the manual. I think what you described in your first post is just how it's supposed to work? https://www.tamiyausa.com/media/files/45057ml-801-efb9.pdf