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RC Perspective

I need some input. I want a ridiculously fast, wheelie monster.

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Either the GF, CW or WR will/can be a wheelie monster but I think it is important to consider widening the arms for added stability. 

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2 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

All I will say about the Mad Van is maybe take a look at some Facebook groups etc and get an idea of the kind of issues that regularly crop up.

For the most part, it's pretty robust but there's a few drive line issues that may or may not be an issue, depending how you drive it.

Mine was pretty solid for quite a while, got a decent amount of runs out of it with no issues, although I noticed one of the outer drive cups was getting progressively more chewed up (first common complaint)

The first time I took it to a beach, the cup rounded out completely after less than a pack. Chances are it was nearing the end anyway and I just pushed it over the edge.

That being said, I changed the plastic cup for a new one, and hit the beach again. It started off great so I got a bit bold and started doing some jumps and flips etc that's when the outer cups started quickly getting chewed up again and after approx 20 minutes I had another one rounded out. Again, I suspect if i had just kept on the ground most of the time and avoided stunts, it would have lasted a lot longer. But that's one of the things with these vans, they do big jumps and flips etc really well and have pretty of power for it, so it's hard to resist, especially when they are beating the snot out of one on sand in the promo vid!

I decided having cups give up the ghost after every hard bash was no good, so I bought the pricey hop up CVDs. I noted as soon as I fitted them that they didn't seem to engage with the inner diff cups too well when at full droop or full compression, but told myself off for being paranoid and off I went. FIVE MINUTES later, I stripped out an inner cup. I also broke 2 teeth of the front diff ring gear....(another common complaint)

So currently I'm waiting for a new ring and input gear for the front end. While it was apart, I popped in a set of upgrade metal front cups just to see how they looked. Once again, the pins on the dog bone end of the CVD seem perilously close to popping out of the inner cups. The crazy thing is there's plenty of space for it to go further into the cups.

Obviously on any rig, at full droop, the pins protrude most at the top of the cup and the least at the bottom. And usually there are limits to how far the ball can be inside the cup before the pin will bottom out on the lower slot like in this ridiculously bad drawing:

Screenshot_20220712-142531_Draw.thumb.jpg.19ca4f5bcf1d671a80d19a78bd62a69e.jpg

But on the mad van, the weird thing is there is tons of room, the lower pin isn't close to bottoming out, so the upper pin is needlessly close to the edge. More like this:

Screenshot_20220712-142937_Draw.thumb.jpg.b7400e9ee2cf12b7a7bed14be23d72ff.jpg

It genuinely makes me wonder if the CVDs haven't been made a few mm shorter than nominal. I swear if they were 3-4 mm longer, they would engage better and still not bind up. Either that of if the arms were 3-4mm shorter.

You can't do much to shim the cups outward, because they aren't splined or slot fit like a lot of Tamiyas but instead, a pin inside the diff housing goes through a shaft attarched to the cup, you can't really adjust the distance of the cup from the diff housing. And on the wheel side, you can't really shim the CVD to be closer to the inner cup, because whatever you shim by, recuded how far the wheel adapter engages into the wheels, and they are already only 1/2 the thickness of a traditional hex.

I can't even drive it again until I get new gears, but I already feel like even with the upgrade CVD AND metal cups, that they are going to want to pop out and start chewing the cups up.

I'd honestly prefer to try and switch over to traxxas or Arrma style telescoping CVDs because there's no dog bones to worry about, but it would take a fair bit of experimenting and customisation.

Anyways, sorry if I come across as negative, and for a lot of people they are probably quite durable for every day use. I got a good amount of runs out of mine before I started pushing it harder and suddenly things started to fail.

For example, I got plenty of sessions like this:

The thing is, everyone's situation and usage scenarios are different.  For a long time, I was one of the guys saying "I dunno what the badword you do to yours, but mine has been fine!" But then when my usage changed slightly, I had a sucession of issues in a very short amount of time!

Just some food for thought. 

I still love my van, its just a bittersweet experience as it's incredibly eager to be bashed but seems to have a couple of flaws that make it difficult to get it reliable when you're taking full advantage of it's power and agility.

I said I would make a thread about it and I probably still will. 

I don't think I caught this the first time. 

Highly informative, negative or not I appreciate you posting some issues as well as some pros!

That really does look like exactly what I'm looking for. The issues you listed aren't a deal breaker, But means I'll just have to do some research and choose some alternatives for the issues you have described.

Anything will suffer heavy wear with hard bashing, so I'm no stranger to that.

Unfortunately I lost my patience with FB long ago, and deactivated my account.

-RC Perspective

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28 minutes ago, burakol said:

Either the GF, CW or WR will/can be a wheelie monster but I think it is important to consider widening the arms for added stability. 

Yea I think that's why I'm leaning towards the MV; less top heavy. 

-RC Perspective

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5 hours ago, RC Perspective said:

Yea I think that's why I'm leaning towards the MV; less top heavy. 

-RC Perspective

Yes, the GF01 I posed earlier with the Van body has widened track width. Partly for stability but partly to get the look I wanted with the body very low.

It’s great fun but it’s heavy. Like I said it will wheelie forever with a decent wheelie bar but it’s not a jumping machine like the Mad Van. That thing with brushless is really fun. Interesting reading about the issues. I would still think it’s a more robust kit for your needs than any Tamiya if you are really going to chuck it about. 

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15 hours ago, Tamiyastef said:

I have the 4x4 vxl stampede and it wheelies on demand on 3s. It does pull wheelies on 2s when geared correctly. The 2wd will be more bonkers. These stampedes are build very tough and do take a lot of abuse.

The more I read this thread 2 things become apparent:

  1. The Traxxas Stampede 2WD with it's wide track and robustness would suit you perfectly, and
  2. @RC Perspective wants a Mad Van... so I think he should just get one!

Congrats on the new job and pay rise - enjoy your Mad Van :D

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2 hours ago, GeeWings said:

Interesting reading about the issues. I would still think it’s a more robust kit for your needs than any Tamiya if you are really going to chuck it about. 

I'm inclined to agree. The thing is it's a lot more dynamically capable, despite originating from an on-road chassis. It just encourages you to do bigger jumps an flips etc, so you're already driving at much greater limits than the Tamiya before you start getting the reliability issues IMO.

That being said, I have taken my Heavy Dump truck to the skate park a few times lol. And now that it has wide arms, it's better still. But it's still not as a "chuckable" as the mad van and doesn't land as well etc.

I'll be having a go at switching the mad van over to Traxxas CVDs soon. They are tough, affordable, and because they are telescoping, no dog bones and cups to worry about popping out. Early days but hopefully it works out. Needs a bit of A team style customisation so wish me luck lol.

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3 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

I'll be having a go at switching the mad van over to Traxxas CVDs soon. They are tough, affordable, and because they are telescoping, no dog bones and cups to worry about popping out. Early days but hopefully it works out. Needs a bit of A team style customisation so wish me luck lol.

Really keen to see the progress on this. Please do post updates.

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1 hour ago, nowinaminute said:

I'm inclined to agree. The thing is it's a lot more dynamically capable, despite originating from an on-road chassis. It just encourages you to do bigger jumps an flips etc, so you're already driving at much greater limits than the Tamiya before you start getting the reliability issues IMO.

That being said, I have taken my Heavy Dump truck to the skate park a few times lol. And now that it has wide arms, it's better still. But it's still not as a "chuckable" as the mad van and doesn't land as well etc.

I'll be having a go at switching the mad van over to Traxxas CVDs soon. They are tough, affordable, and because they are telescoping, no dog bones and cups to worry about popping out. Early days but hopefully it works out. Needs a bit of A team style customisation so wish me luck lol.

This is from a local scale truck event here in Florida. The Heavy Dump makes its first appearance at 3:14. He does jump it, but you gotta watch the finale! Being there was NUTS!

1 hour ago, GeeWings said:

Really keen to see the progress on this. Please do post updates.

For sure! I always add a little twist to everything I have so I'm pretty excited.

-RC Perspective

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@RC Perspectivethat's hilarious. Love the first Dump Truck attempt and then the vindication at the end :D

Looks like an expensive afternoon for most of the owners!

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19 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

The thing is, everyone's situation and usage scenarios are different.  For a long time, I was one of the guys saying "I dunno what the badword you do to yours, but mine has been fine!" But then when my usage changed slightly, I had a sucession of issues in a very short amount of time!

Well said! There had been a few people (both here and in the real world) will will insist their way of doing things are the best as they are "expert" local/regional/national/international/universal race winners without considering the usage case of the person on the receiving end.

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8 hours ago, RC Perspective said:

This is from a local scale truck event here in Florida. The Heavy Dump makes its first appearance at 3:14. He does jump it, but you gotta watch the finale! Being there was NUTS!

For sure! I always add a little twist to everything I have so I'm pretty excited.

-RC Perspective

Love it! That looks like awesome fun.

Don't get anything like that round here, sadly.

I actually managed to backflip my dump truck at the skate park but my daughter who was filming just completely missed it. You can even hear me whining about it. The parent/child dynamic temporarily switched 🤣

I tried to do it again later but the battery was getting low and it inevitably faceplanted I to the tarmac 🤦‍♂️

It does jump fairly well on proper ramps.

Not so much "in the wild" where you try to use the scenery as improvised ramps, that's when the Mad Van begins to show it's strengths.

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2 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

Well said! There had been a few people (both here and in the real world) will will insist their way of doing things are the best as they are "expert" local/regional/national/international/universal race winners without considering the usage case of the person on the receiving end.

It's true. So subjective. One person could drive an RC very harshly for years with no issues and another person be relatively gentle but happens to do something that highlights a flaw in the RC.

A lot of people think their own experiences are universal.

Like I say, mine was OK for a fair amount of time then I started driving it differently and problems started.

I guess it's applicable to driving RCs in general. All too easy to let a first impression of an RC taint your feelings about it but they can be like a totally different vehicle in other situations. I hated my Blackfoot when I drove it around a rough car park and it kept tipping over. Once I drove it on dirt though, I suddenly loved it.

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1 hour ago, nowinaminute said:

It's true. So subjective. One person could drive an RC very harshly for years with no issues and another person be relatively gentle but happens to do something that highlights a flaw in the RC.

A lot of people think their own experiences are universal.

Like I say, mine was OK for a fair amount of time then I started driving it differently and problems started.

I guess it's applicable to driving RCs in general. All too easy to let a first impression of an RC taint your feelings about it but they can be like a totally different vehicle in other situations. I hated my Blackfoot when I drove it around a rough car park and it kept tipping over. Once I drove it on dirt though, I suddenly loved it.

Yea, that's like my experience with my TT02R and 4000kv brushless. I've absolutely dogged on it with no big issues (other than a few bodies acting as "parachutes" at high speed and veering the car off the road), But on the same token its got metal pinions on both driveshaft cups, and its shimmed plus supporting mods to eliminate slop in the suspension/steering.

For me, the things a tank. But I've learned how to drive/control it properly over the last year and a half. Someone else could get the exact setup, crash it cause they can't handle that kind of power/Inexperienced, and blame it on the flaws of the platform.

I know about the flaws in the platform, but I feel a lot of the bad rep for some of the Tamiya chassis just come from inexperience.

Also, that Heavy Dump looks awesome. The one in the video I posted IIRC had a 10,000+ kv brushless in it :lol:

-RC Perspective

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you fellas seen the Traxxas Sledge in the flesh yet?

Stick a proline Van shell on it if you really have to, but geez the Sledge looks like the perfect basher :) 

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18 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

I'm inclined to agree. The thing is it's a lot more dynamically capable, despite originating from an on-road chassis. It just encourages you to do bigger jumps an flips etc, so you're already driving at much greater limits than the Tamiya before you start getting the reliability issues IMO.

That being said, I have taken my Heavy Dump truck to the skate park a few times lol. And now that it has wide arms, it's better still. But it's still not as a "chuckable" as the mad van and doesn't land as well etc.

I'll be having a go at switching the mad van over to Traxxas CVDs soon. They are tough, affordable, and because they are telescoping, no dog bones and cups to worry about popping out. Early days but hopefully it works out. Needs a bit of A team style customisation so wish me luck lol.

What motor have you got in your dump?  I am debating a mild brushless motor that would work with the TBLE04 to give a little more bite but nothing crazy.

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1 hour ago, WillyChang said:

you fellas seen the Traxxas Sledge in the flesh yet?

Stick a proline Van shell on it if you really have to, but geez the Sledge looks like the perfect basher :) 

I've seen a couple of them, and oddly was actually sort of underwhelmed.  I was toying with the idea of picking one up when it came out (despite my general distaste of Traxxas's business strategy), but after seeing it.....nope. 

Now don't get me wrong... the thing is a MONSTER, and looks like it... but somehow with all the hype, I was expecting more.  The X-Maxx is visually very stunning... huge, beefy..... it leaves an impression. The Sledge is just....... flat.  REALLY FLAT.  It's not big as I expected it to be, and it is much lower.  It looks like it got stepped on 1000x by something escaping Jurassic Park.

Would a different body make it better?  Quite feasibly yes to some extent, but sadly I don't think the Proline RockVan would fit (plus it's been discontinued).  The wheelbase is 3" shorter on the van so......???

I mean don't get me wrong, I have a NIB RockVan body in the basement if anyone wants to send me a Sledge to build up and test... :lol:
 

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On 7/13/2022 at 3:40 PM, bRIBEGuy said:

I've seen a couple of them, and oddly was actually sort of underwhelmed.  I was toying with the idea of picking one up when it came out (despite my general distaste of Traxxas's business strategy), but after seeing it.....nope. 

Now don't get me wrong... the thing is a MONSTER, and looks like it... but somehow with all the hype, I was expecting more.  The X-Maxx is visually very stunning... huge, beefy..... it leaves an impression. The Sledge is just....... flat.  REALLY FLAT.  It's not big as I expected it to be, and it is much lower.  It looks like it got stepped on 1000x by something escaping Jurassic Park.

Would a different body make it better?  Quite feasibly yes to some extent, but sadly I don't think the Proline RockVan would fit (plus it's been discontinued).  The wheelbase is 3" shorter on the van so......???

I mean don't get me wrong, I have a NIB RockVan body in the basement if anyone wants to send me a Sledge to build up and test... :lol:
 

I have a friend who has both.  We bashed his X-Maxx until we blew a shock.  It was a lot of fun.  Than we bashed the sledge.  It wasn't as fast, couldn't do as much.  Than it threw a rear bone and could only go like 2/3 speed.  It also ripped up it rear wing and wing tower. 

I would get the X-Maxx, but I'd pass on a sledge. 

I mean, ignorance is bliss, if you never drive a X-Maxx, you might be very happy with a sledge. 

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2 hours ago, DTSCB said:

I would get the X-Maxx, but I'd pass on a sledge.

Sledge only just arrived at oz LHS last week, haven’t gotten to take one out yet. Sizewise think it’s same as T/Emaxx of olde... but yeah, it does look like a squished c0kcroach hey. :ph34r:

Xmaxx is impractically huge for most cityslickers; the stock shop basher often just rips a tyre. Needs a huge space to have fun imho (I let a 3yo kid try it as a rideon @LHS the other day :P heehee)

There’s a proline RockVan hanging on the bodies rack, been there ages looks like. 
 

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That was the funny thing about the sledge, the hobby shop sold him on it because it can go 70mph when geared right.  That is a lot of space.  He didn’t gear it that way yet though.

i think on post bash inspection, he might have found a torn tire on the X maxx too.

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