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I Need A New Truck

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my dogs never showed any intrest in chasing my r/c cars before. but the older dog (golden retriever) recently passed away and the younger dog (black lab/golden mix, son of the old golden) has been less active now that his dad is gone.

last night i had the urge to do some bashing. so i charged up some old 1900's and got my dirt thrasher ready. a few minutes into the first pack my wife let the dog out and he was very interested in the car. so he chased it, it chased him and three batteries later he was tired out.

the problem is the df01 chassis isn't well suited for the lawn unless i cut the grass really low. that got me thinking of a monster truck or stadium truck.

the last tamiya truck i had was an original blackfoot and i want something a little "sportier" than that.

so what would you gents suggest is a good basher truck with decent speed and suspension to handle being chased by a dog on the lawn?

i was looking at the twin detonator/dual hunter trucks. 4wd would help move it through the grass better than 2wd, but are the run times really short due to the dual motors?

anything else i should look at? (must be tamiya)

thanks! :blink:

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How about a Blackfoot Extreme ?

Perhaps not the prettiest monster around, but it should be fast enough on grass & easy on the batteries.

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The Twin Detonator / Dual Hunters go well through that grass and with stock or sport tuned motors the run times are quite respectable. They are very durable. The only problem I've seen is the front dogbones like to pop out occasionally. An ESC for two motors can be a bit pricey though, especially if you want to go with hotter motors. Bearings and shocks are a must have upgrade.

A Stadium Blitzer/Thunder would be good too as Singapore_959 suggested. Rock solid trucks and can be quite fast with a good motor. They go well on short grass, even though only 2wd. They can still be had dirt cheap too. I bought a NIB several months ago for $39 minus the body [easily found a lightly used body on ebay for a good price] and have two others in pretty good nick that I paid $38 each for in RTR form.

And ... somebody's got to say it ... LUNCHBOX! :blink: I can't imagine a more perfect fun machine for chasing the dog around the yard than a VLB. I think that is actually what they were originally designed for.

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Pumpkin/Lunchbox. They travel across the lawn well even only being 2WD. And they are cheap enough so that if the dog does catch it... it's a cheap fix. My Lab loves to chase mine.

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And ... somebody's got to say it ... LUNCHBOX! :blink: I can't imagine a more perfect fun machine for chasing the dog around the yard than a VLB. I think that is actually what they were originally designed for.

LOL!! :D:lol: :lol:

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the lunchbox is on my mind, but i'd like to have a truck that will "stay on it's feet" most of the time and VLB's seem to spend more time on thier roofs more than on thier feet. lol

the other thing is i'd like NIB as kit building is the most fun part of r/c for me.

thanks for the replies fella's.

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I bought my lunchbox for this purpose.

Most dogs catch it easy as its on its roof a lot, but on the flatter stuff I can give it full 4300kv and it flies.

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as much as i'd love a new VLB i do need something that can actually out run the pup, he's a tall lean lab and he's pretty fast.

he's not fast enough to catch my ball raced dirt thrasher with a 19t trinity monster hp motor though.

i most likely will get a VLB sometime in the future because i love them, but i think a more stable truck is in order for the pup to chase.

i'm really leaning towards a dual motor truck.

thanks agian for the replies.

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The only problem with going dual motor is your runtime, or lack of it.

If you only have 1900mAh packs a dual motor truck is going to eat them in under 5 minutes.

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i plan on getting a new charger and new batteries, but as a former 4 minute racer if a car runs for 4+ minutes i'm happy. lol

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I'd go with a twin motor truck like you've suggested. My Wild Dagger is loads of fun as standard - drives over pretty much anything at any speed and is plenty fast enough. I never noticed run times to be short. My take on the twin motors is that they are each working half as hard as if you had a single motor trying to shift the same truck. Run times always seemed good to me. Stick with the standard mechanical speed controller and be happy with it - they work well enough for a basher so why bother with the expense of getting a twin motor ESC? Go with your instincts - go Twin!

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i think the dual hunter comes with the dual motor esc.

thanks, i think my mind is made up, well i was pretty sure before but wanted to make sure the dual motor trucks weren't junk.

now, how to sneak another box by the wife? :blink:

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My DF-03 has a slight ride-height jack to cope with grass, and my mate's collie (who is MENTAL) can't catch it on full chat. It's far more stable than a truck, and can turn tighter...

King cab or hilux come to mind, but the melting diff might drive you nuts.

Yeah, any solution for that diff? I want to get rid of the ball diff in my King Cab for a gear one.

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thats a good point hbm, my dog was all over my df01 in the grass but as soon as i hit the pavement the car was gone.

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i think the dual hunter comes with the dual motor esc.

thanks, i think my mind is made up, well i was pretty sure before but wanted to make sure the dual motor trucks weren't junk.

now, how to sneak another box by the wife? :blink:

Just looked it up and you're right - the Dual Hunter does come with a twin motor ESC - that's sorted then - HAVE IT!!

Good to see GoldStarStockists have the same views as me on these.....to quote from their website.....

"This chassis design is by far the best offroader in Tamiya's range - they can handle grass, mud, earth and tarmac in virtually equal quantities - if in any doubt about which model to go for, we recommend going for this - it has power and driveability meaning that you can run it virtually anywhere!"

Sneaking stuff past the wife though is more difficult - good luck!

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the lunchbox is on my mind, but i'd like to have a truck that will "stay on it's feet" most of the time and VLB's seem to spend more time on thier roofs more than on thier feet...

You could always train the puppy to flip it back over for you.

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I would reckon I get about 20-30 minutes from my Twin Det w/ a 4200mah stick pack - silver cans w/ esc and full bearings. Comparable run times when it had sport tuned motors - I just swapped them out for silver cans when I needed a sport tuned to replace a burned out motor in my Blitzer, and never got around to putting them back in the Det. It was a very noticeable difference in power above the silver cans and I kinda miss that. It's about time to spruce up the Det anyway, its gotten a bit tatty from use. Great truck! Lots of fun in the back yard and alley.

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Best. Excuse. Ever.

;)

:lol:

Perhaps that should be the title of a new thread: "Most Creative Excuse You've Made To Buy A New RC"

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LUNCH BOX!!!, my little pug loves chasing it on the beach. Its big, chunky, and robust. Also you don't want something too fast and heavy that can hurt your dog. You could easily cut or break your dogs leg if it's too fast.

Also who cares if you flip it, i slam mine into reverse hit forward and make it backflip back on its wheels :P you also want to have fun too and what better way to do it than pulling a long wheelie :lol:

Some mods and the VLB handles quite well with practice i've pulled a few two wheels side wheelies and kept it back on all fours again. I have good battery connectors (4mm bullet type) 3300 VP packs and a modified (added bearings) GT TUNED motor with stock ESC fully ball raced and it flys and lasts about an hour. It could go a lot quicker but for me & my dog it's just right.

Its always fun modding a VLB and the body offers great custom painting fun too and people like the look of it in the park. Mine flipped over and a passer by ran to flip it over for me.

;)

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I would recomend and associated 18T. It's smaller than 1/10 so the dog will not be scared of it. To really make him go ape ******* for it, strap a stuffed animal to it. I once ran an HPI micro with a raccoon puppet on top. I had all the dogs in the neighborhood going nuts for it.

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I would recomend and associated 18T. It's smaller than 1/10 so the dog will not be scared of it. To really make him go ape ******* for it, strap a stuffed animal to it. I once ran an HPI micro with a raccoon puppet on top. I had all the dogs in the neighborhood going nuts for it.

Or just put a steak in the back of a clod buster...

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well the dog wasn't afraid of a modified dirt thrasher so i don't think a truck will scare him, my main concern is being able to keep up some speed on the grass. the df01 slows wayyy down on the grass due to the smaller tires.

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This is the reason I bought this Blackfoot extreme of mine, for the dogs to chase at camp lol.

They love it, but the two Mini Dachshunds are getting very keen and tactic wise at intercepting the Blackfoot lol...It's hilarious

In the proccess "dreaming" of installing a sport tuned motor, oil shocks and higher torque servo out front for this coming camping season.

This is fast enough(and safe) for all around bashing and dog chasing...errrr being chased.

Have fun with your new rig and being chased by the dog....lol.

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