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Budget Rock Crawler

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Finnally got a Maverick Scout. First impressions are...

The build quality seems to be very good, though I have not taken it appart yet it does seem to be a pretty solid truck.

We set up a course made of old 1:1 off road truck tyres & concrete blocks & the Scout was pretty capable. Run time was about an hour & I have no idea how well charged the kit battery was.

In terms of improvement I think the battery would be better placed over the front axle, this would also lower the COG.

We are going to run one of them minus the tyre foams to see if the grip level improves.

Overall for £125 RTR delivered its very good value, the radio set seems pretty good & has trims to adjust the amount of foward & reverse speed. I was also suprised at the inclusion of a 3000mh battery, thought the supplied one would have been much lower amps.

We'll see how thing progress I guess, I think I now have the crawling bug.

Pics & maybe a video to follow.

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Thanks for the update. Tyres are apparently one of the best upgrades you can make. I'm on the lookout for a second hand Axial AX10 but a brand new Scout is about the same price, and virtually the same machine.

Let the modifications begin...

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We set up a course made of old 1:1 off road truck tyres & concrete blocks & the Scout was pretty capable. Run time was about an hour & I have no idea how well charged the kit battery was.

In terms of improvement I think the battery would be better placed over the front axle, this would also lower the COG.

We are going to run one of them minus the tyre foams to see if the grip level improves.

Running the tyres without foam will cause a lot of sideways 'slop' as the foam keeps the tyre's shape

If you're taking the wheels apart anyway, try adding a little weight inside them - easy way is a load of solder wrapped around the wheel, or stick-on wheel weights from a 1:1 car

Another thing to try is star-cutting the foam - this 'softens' the tyre, kinda like running lower air pressure

Also, check your wheels have breather holes - if the tyre is airtight, then it can't deform much anyway - If it doesn't have breathers, try a 3mm hole in each wheel

Placing the battery over the front axle also adds weight in the right place, try that too.

There's loads of tinkering you can do, and most of it's relatively cheap!

Changing tyres can also solve a lot of problems, but try all the free mods first :o

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Running the tyres without foam will cause a lot of sideways 'slop' as the foam keeps the tyre's shape

If you're taking the wheels apart anyway, try adding a little weight inside them - easy way is a load of solder wrapped around the wheel, or stick-on wheel weights from a 1:1 car

Another thing to try is star-cutting the foam - this 'softens' the tyre, kinda like running lower air pressure

Also, check your wheels have breather holes - if the tyre is airtight, then it can't deform much anyway - If it doesn't have breathers, try a 3mm hole in each wheel

Placing the battery over the front axle also adds weight in the right place, try that too.

There's loads of tinkering you can do, and most of it's relatively cheap!

Changing tyres can also solve a lot of problems, but try all the free mods first :o

Thanks for the tips. I didnt remove the tyre foams from mine, a mate did it on his. I thought it would be best to compare before I took mine out.

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I've just been looking around on google and it looks very easy to convert an ordinary 6cell 7.2v stick pack into a saddle pack so that you can place 3 cells on either end of the front axle. All you need is some old bits of wire and a soldering iron and if you want to be swish, you could use some shrink wrap to hold the cells together.

It would certainly lower your C of G.

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Yup, saddle-packing the battery gives you more options - the Axial axle-case mould has two holes moulded in out near the knuckles, which can be used to mount plates to - not sure if the Maverick has them, but worth a play

img169_08122008211907_1.jpg

Also, try strapping the battery to the servo;

img169_23042006170714_5.jpg

img169_23042006170714_3.jpg

Depending on how similar the Mav. axle housing is to the Axial, you might even be able to use an Axial servo/battery plate; CLICK

Here's the knuckle plates; CLICK

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The Mav axle looks like a clone of the Axial. The option in the second pics looks best for me as I wont have to buy new cells or butcher my stick packs.

I understand how the battery pack is attached at the axle end but how's it fixed at the top end?

I appreciate the help.

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I understand how the battery pack is attached at the axle end but how's it fixed at the top end?

On that one I used two cable ties to form a loop that the battery sat in and on the one below, a loop of fuel tube - that gives a slightly more flexible 'grip'

img169_02082006211411_2.jpg

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Thanks alot. I have been racking my brains as how to carry out that mod, you have saved me alot of time.

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You could also try mini/micro batteries too - my 1400mah give a good 20 mins playing

img169_26012008225212_6.jpg

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It looks like the knuckle plate boss is there on the maverick, so it may be the same axle as the AX10. I wonder how many common components they share?

In any case, the saddle pack looks easy enough if you ever wanted to go that route. My concern with the stick pack mounted between the servo and the chassis would be getting it to be flexible enough so it didn't hamper the articulation at the same time as getting it secure enough so that it won't fall off.

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For fixing, also try some 3M SJ3540 - it's like velcro but it's actually thousands of interlocking 'mushroom' shaped mouldings - there's only one 'side' to it so you never get left with more of one side than the other and it's so strong I can lift my Losi crawler up by the battery!

Search eBay for 'heavy velcro' or SJ3540

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I'm going to have a look at doing the stick pack mod tonight. To alow proper articulation of the front axle I will have to move the top of front dampers from inside to outside of the chassis. I dont think this will have much effect if any on the suspension travel.

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One thing you could try which no one has suggested yet, is putting lead shot in the tyres. A small amount of lead shot (enough that it can still roll around inside the tyre) will add weight that will always stay at the bottom of the wheel minimsing the CoG. I think the idea comes from where people used to put water in the inner tube of tractor tyres to give better traction and lower CoG when working in extreme conditions.

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Lead shot's ok for lowering the COG, but does little to improve grip unless the traction issue is COG specific - for that you need weight added to influence the tyre, either on the axle or on the wheel.

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I know this is outwith the criteria for budget rock crawlers, but with reference to the stalling problem on MOA rock crawlers that TWINSET raised earlier, they seem to have solved it with the new Axial XR10. I've been watching some youtube footage of it and it's incredible what it can get over. No evidence of stalling either.

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XR10s do still stall with brushed motors - it's just the way the motors work although they don't stall as easily mainly due to smaller tyres/gearing and lighter trucks.

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Ok guys, things have been going great but today I broke the rear prop shaft. Any recomendations on uprated props?

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Ok guys, things have been going great but today I broke the rear prop shaft. Any recomendations on uprated props?

Did it break or pop apart?

Axial prop shafts are pretty good, especially if you also go for the alu collars to stop them popping apart.

Junfac make steel universal shafts, although if you bind up using them, you're likely to snap something else in the drivetrain, so don't be too aggressive with the throttle :D .

Junfac shafts are available from Fusion Hobbies, the Axial ones should be available from eBay and larger model shops

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It broke, sheared off the plastic side of the uiniversal joint. Thanks for the link.

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There a great budget crawler, std with 9kg steering servo , 2,4 ghz radio / battery & charger included, ive had two of these since they came out my bro bashes the 1st one std with no mods & i built the other in to a scale truck with our own made chasis rails, you must have had a faulty one to brake a rear prop joint there better than the honcho std props,

have fun with it once you get the part, maybe worth giving hpi & call or email see if you can get the bit free as it must have been @ fault to pop so soon.

regards

chop shop

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After taking the prop off & having a proper look I found that the pin in the UJ had slipped right over to one side. This placed all of the load on one side of the prop, I have orderd a stock prop for now as they are £12 for a pair. If I break another one then I'll go for the jufac props.

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I think that's what the aluminium collars that TWINSET mentioned are designed to prevent.

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I picked one of these Maverick Scout crawlers up form another TC member (cheers Ben) and I'm rather impressed with the rig iteslf, and looking forward to chucking a battery in it at the weekend and see what it can do. For the price you can't go wrong.

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Do yourselves all a favor, if you want a crawler get a decent one. Something like an Axial brand crawler or a Berg, will outlast any of the options in this thread. If you do break a part however, replacements are generally easy enough to come by. The Enroute/Newage Bergs might be a bit hard to get spares, but with a few upgrades it is definitely one of the stronger and more reliable crawlers out there. Well in my opinion anyway. Another thing when looking at a crawler, chances are if it's RTR, it will be hopeless. Axial is improving their electronics slowing, but the rest have a long way to come.

Also to those wondering about stall in MOA rigs. If you've got stall you need better motors. Get yourself some nice handwound brushed motors from someone who actually knows about crawling such as Homes Hobbies or Team Br00d and you will have power on tap! Also make sure your ESC has decent drag brake or you will have some trouble staying where you want to be when your off the throttle. Twin ESC is really a fine tuning tool for stall, and is probably not necessary unless your entering competitions fairly seriously.

Just as a note my opinions may be a little biased considering probably half my RCs are crawlers, and two of which are worth $1500+. But if you want to do something, do it right and you won't have to spend your money twice.

Have fun crawling with whatever you've got though, it's definitely a fun part of RC :)

Kieren

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