Pajero Driving Impressions

[markbt73]

About twelve years ago, I bought an Isuzu Mu. I built it, painted it carefully, and was afraid to drive it for fear of damaging it. It sat on the shelf until the starter went out in my real car and I needed money. I sold it for a song, about $100 as I remember. (Yeah, I know. But this was in about 1996.) I've wanted another XC chassis ever since, even if just to play with that fabulous suspension. I didn't want the Touareg, however, because it had a polycarbonate shell. But when the Pajero was reissued, I knew I had to have one.

I now have two. I put one away, built the other, and drove it for the first time yesterday, and again just now. It's even cooler than I thought! It is so much fun to watch it crawling over dirt piles, looking just like a real truck. I love it, and I predict that the other cars on my shelf will sit neglected for a while now. But I have noticed a few things about it, and I know some of them are fixable:

1. It's too fast. Too fast for scale looks, too wide of a range of speed to navigate steep slopes. I had read this, but I didn't believe it. It's the first RC car I've ever had that I want to make slower. It needs finer control, and an overall lower top speed. I have an old 2:1 gear reduction unit, but I don't think there's enough room for it. Guess it's time to go look for a lathe motor...

2. On a full-throttle takeoff, it lifts up one front wheel. I assume this has to do with the longitudinal motor, and the torque from it. I don't think it's really a problem, but I also noticed that it turns tighter under power one way than it does the other, which I think is caused by the same thing.

3. The steering, in general, is terrible. Vague, slow, won't center properly... it's like the steering in my old 1979 Buick. I remember seeing a tutorial about rebuilding the steering column with ball bearings, but I need to look it up again. And maybe the little Futaba S3003 servo I have in there isn't enough "oomph" either. Maybe I need to get a higher-torque servo, especially if I ever lock the front diff (only the rear is locked now). I imagine that will only make the steering problems worse.

4. It needs a lift. The tires rub the fenders all the time. I know a front body lift is easy, but I would rather do a proper suspension lift. I'll have to look into this. I think there's a way...

5. It's much quieter than I thought it would be, quieter than, say, a TL01 or a Hotshot. And the run times are fantastic. They really nailed it with this drivetrain. It's just about perfect. I just wish the front end weren't so integrated with the chassis tub.

Anyway, just wanted to express my pleasure at this marvelous little truck, which has got me more excited about this hobby than I have been in quite a while.

[igbandy]

I love my XC`s, I have a fairly standard re-re Pajero but it has got some solid rear links in place of the super flexible kit plastic ones this one modification transforms the rear end as it lets the suspension move and not the link!. It also has my own version of a ballraced steering shaft and this makes it steer very nicely, I am running a Hitec 605 BB servo and it works very nicely. Also has a very nice front skid bullbar made up by a mate of mine before I got some aluminium welding gear

My Other XC is highly modified, running a Kamtec Land Rover shell. Ballraced steering, proper 4 linked rear axle, front skid guard, rock sliders invisible body mounts and more.

Here are a couple of links to my XC Land Rover in my TC showroom.

Build part 1

Build part 2

In action

I will do a how to on my ballraced steering, its quite easy to do if your willing to make a few modifications to the chassis.

As for motors, I run a Yokomo "Super Scale" 48 turn motor in my Pajero and its very nice, lots of torque and a fair wheel speed. In my Land Rover I am running a Yokomo "Drift" 35 turn motor and it provides great gobs of torque and a wheel speed comparable to a V8 powered LR

[markbt73]

Nice truck you've got there - I love that diamond-plate front skid plate. I'd like to see a photo of your BB steering setup; I have an idea for it, but I'd like to see one that already works so I have something to go by. I'd rather not hack up too many parts if I don't have to. And thanks for the info on motors.

I just figured out a quick way to lift the rear of the body without permanently altering anything; I'll post a photo when I get it done. It occurs to me that a body lift is the fastest and easiest way to gain some clearance for the tires, so I'll just do that for now. I'll work on suspension improvements later. Right now it's too much fun to have any down-time.

[igbandy]

I have just uploaded my steering how to into my showroom. I hope it helps you, I know your over the Atlantic. But it should give you some idea`s

My XC/CC Ballraced Steering Modifications.

[skip665]

My re-introduction to RC was with an XC Touareg - I bashed it hard for about 9 months but then moved onto a 3-speed Hilux and didnt use it after that. This weekend I took my Hilux and my recently acquired XC CR-V and ended up using the CR-V more - I had forgotten what great scale off-road bashers they are! Mine has a slight body lift to clear the BFGs (which have cut treads), rubber sealed bearings throughout, ball raced steering upgrade and a 55t lathe motor. Its great

[Bearhawk_Boy]

Not seen the Honda bodyshell before, looks great.

[Nick83]

I just built my Pajero also, and it is great. It is really capable. I didn't get it stuck once, and it was going through some pretty nasty terrain.

I will agree that it is ridulously fast, and a little too fast for this kind of vehicle, but it is so much fun. I am going to put my new EZrun brushless sytsem into it just for kicks.

I disagree about the steering that everyone complains about. Once I got everything adjusted, it became very responsive and nimble. Handled wonderful. I was impressed actually.

My problem was the suspension. The front shocks were bottoming out and sagging, and the handling wasn't stable at all. I put on Tamiya DF-03 hop up front shocks, and what a difference!!! It handles crisply, and is very responsive.

I have only driven it once for about an hour, but I had a lot of fun with it. It was faster, more stable, and handled obstacles a lot better than my High Lift does. Things that would get my High Lift stuck, or make it flip over, were easy for the Pajero.

I also locked both differentials.

[igbandy]

I disagree about the steering that everyone complains about. Once I got everything adjusted, it became very responsive and nimble. Handled wonderful. I was impressed actually.

Hi Nick, the steering in my re-re Pajero when built was very smooth but after several hours of running thru all sorts of terrain it started to give me grief. As it wears quite quickly eventually clogging up. And you lose steering.

[pedromondo]

I bought one and put it together at the same time I was building my hi-lift. I wasn't that confident that the Pajero would be any good. But then I went and ran it - bog stock other than bearings and locked diffs and it was awesome. I went out with a bunch of scale crawler guys and my Pajero coped with the steep and sticky stuff (no that's not a euphemism !) as well as any. I love it now. Much better than my hilift which I've never run since (too many toys). Yes the steering is a bit poxy but as long as you keep it clean or do the mod it's fine. I would recomend them very highly. I've since put a 55t motor in it (which the standard esc seems to run fine) and some funky alu beadlocks and f-150 tyres on it and it's even better.

Great truck

[markbt73]

Update: Body lifted, front and rear (homemade rear body mount) and electronics waterproofed in balloons. Which is good, because it started raining again today.

Next up: locking the front diff, ball-bearing steering (thanks for the pointers, igbandy) and possibly adapting an old 2:1 reduction unit that I have lying around. Space is tight, but it might fit.

[Henk4Focus]

What is the wheelbase on the Pajero? Pondering to get one and want to know how long it is. Hope it is shorter than the Touareg.

[pantablo]

What is the wheelbase on the Pajero? Pondering to get one and want to know how long it is. Hope it is shorter than the Touareg.

1" shorter than touareg. pajero sits at 9.5".

I'm building a custom chassis pajero currently. Love the body.