Scalers/crawlers suitable for quiet areas

[GooneyBird 938]

So I own a CC01. Love the thing, and I take it just about anywhere with me on walks. We have the fortune of living near a large forested national park, with many trails open to mountain bikers and hikers. My wife and me often go on 2+ hour walks through the woods and I, being me, bring the CC01 along for the ride. I have a 55t motor in there, and in those 2 hours I usually go through 1 complete 3300 mAh NiMH battery pack, and part of the second one I brought in my backpack (Read: we usually run out of juice before the RC car does )

However, there's two things that annoy me with the CC01. First, while it does fine on the walking trails it tends to get high-centered and/or stuck on the mountain bike paths quickly. It's a little low-slung for some areas, and lacks approach and departure angle for other situations. Also, it's a little on the loud side. When we're out hiking we're used to hearing nothing but our own footsteps and the birds around us, and the Pajero is definitely louder than that. I've changed out a gear set, which helps, but I can't seem to get the mesh of the pinion right. I've looked at a few Youtube clips of CC01s, and they all have that distinctive 'wiiiiwiiiiiwiiiiwiiiiwiiiii...'-sound to them. Almost as if the spur gear isn't completely round and pulls itself in and out of alignment.

So I've been looking over the fence at other scalers/trailers/crawlers, and pretty much everything seems to be more capable than a mostly-stock CC01 it seems, so in that regard I can't really do wrong. But what I cannot find out is how loud some cars are. I've seen some clips of custom-built cars with belt drives instead of spur and pinion gears, along with different electronics to be as quiet as possible, but those are $1000+ projects and are more testbeds than functional vehicles. There are some people who rebuild their cars and shim the heck out of the transmissions, which seems to help with the sound a bit.

I've been looking at the TRX4 (Specifically the Blazer because *drooling sounds*), but the Redcat Gen8 has caught my attention too. Looking at videos they seem like they're about as loud as the CC01, but I realize that a lot of it is down to how it's being shot. IE: in some videos they sound like drills and in others you can barely hear them. What are your experiences with really quiet RC cars? How loud are your crawlers/scalers?

Also, the first one to suggest a nitro car will get a stern talking-to at the end of this session.

[taffer 948]

Ear plugs? 🤣

Or more seriously driving with the vehicle out in front of you, say 18ft or so it would be quieter......

Or insulate the chassis somehow to make it quieter? Or play bird sounds on a phone app loudly!?!

[87lc2 2666]

I do a lot of trail running and I must say the two quietest I own are the MST CFX & Redcat Gen8.  I'm not as much concerned with them being quiet (I can understand your situation however), but every time I have either one of those out I always think about how quiet and smooth they are.  The TRX-4 is noticeably louder than my Gen8, so if that is your deciding factor I would go with the Redcat.  I've been very impressed with mine, never thought much of Redcat in the past but it's a very nice rig.  Only changes I've made to mine are new foams in the tires (the stock foams get absolutely rock hard when it's cold out, very odd), and a new steering servo.  Other than that it's totally stock and has held up very well and is still super smooth.  

[GooneyBird 938]

1 hour ago, taffer said:

Ear plugs? 🤣

Or more seriously driving with the vehicle out in front of you, say 18ft or so it would be quieter......

Or insulate the chassis somehow to make it quieter? Or play bird sounds on a phone app loudly!?!

Well, the ear plugs would work, but then I wouldn't hear anything anymore. xD Plus, I can tell my wife's a bit miffed at the sound of the CC01 too, and ear plugs for the both of us...well... no.

I've played with foam insulation inside the body, but found it made little difference. The chassis plate itself seems to resonate the most with the drive train. The insulation did help with the motor sounds a bit, and I'll be repeating that on any other car I might (well...will) purchase for trail running.

20 minutes ago, 87lc2 said:

I do a lot of trail running and I must say the two quietest I own are the MST CFX & Redcat Gen8.  I'm not as much concerned with them being quiet (I can understand your situation however), but every time I have either one of those out I always think about how quiet and smooth they are.  The TRX-4 is noticeably louder than my Gen8, so if that is your deciding factor I would go with the Redcat.  I've been very impressed with mine, never thought much of Redcat in the past but it's a very nice rig.  Only changes I've made to mine are new foams in the tires (the stock foams get absolutely rock hard when it's cold out, very odd), and a new steering servo.  Other than that it's totally stock and has held up very well and is still super smooth.  

Nice, thx. Like I said, I've been hearing reports both ways. Some say the Gen8 is the quieter of the two, others say the TRX4. Did you get yours RTR or is it a kit?

[87lc2 2666]

25 minutes ago, GooneyBird said:

Nice, thx. Like I said, I've been hearing reports both ways. Some say the Gen8 is the quieter of the two, others say the TRX4. Did you get yours RTR or is it a kit?

I bought my Gen8 second hand, it was the RTR version.  I'm sure it does vary a bit by individual model based on the manufacturers build tolerances, so you are correct in taking what you hear with a grain of salt.  My TRX is quite loud (compared to my Gen8), but my fathers TRX Defender is louder for some reason (both stock).   Who knows, you may have to just end up dissasembling and shimming whatever you get to make it work for you.  We both have the MST CFX  as well and that thing is dead quiet, but it's quite a bit smaller than the TRX/Gen8 style of truck.  I wonder if the 1/8 scale MST crawlers are quiet?  If they are anything like the CFX that's what you want, can barely hear the thing, so smooth. 

[davidwj95 152]

I would also recommend the MST CFX.  It's very quiet and very capable off road.  It's a nice build and I'd say better quality than a lot of Tamita kits. Also, its smaller than a lot of other crawlers so easier to carry around.   I run mine with a Tamiya Ford Ranger body which is a perfect fit.

[taffer 948]

Cc-02 is quieter than the cc-01 and this also allows you to stay with tamiya rather than rival manufacturers! 😉

[Badcrumble 4204]

I remember reading on another forum, someone saying their Komodo was quiet. Here it is - 

Komodo

Don't know what it is like at walking pace though.

Have also read that helical gears make a difference - aftermarket add one for Axial?

[Blista 1519]

The Element RC Enduro chassis is supposed to be quiet.  I haven't any personal experience but it's swaying me towards an Enduro over a TRX4.

[GooneyBird 938]

Those CMX and CMF chassis seem cool too, and I could mount the Pajero body to it as it's the same size as a CC01. (Just a boatload more capable) Interesting... 

I'e seen a couple of people go for 64dp gears, which I know from experience really cut down on the noise. (My TRF is eerily quiet as it thunders by) But then you'd need an enclosed drivetrain. The CC's drivetrain is supposed to be fairly closed-in, but I've found that small grains of sand can (and will) work their way in. Any experience with that on other cars?