EMBUE - E-Maxx Brushless Ultimate Edition FLM/RPM build

[bazookamaxx]

put the ues on, its like looking at a naked lady with masking tape on the """ I have a spring set for the ue's but i think robin still sells them


oh ue pic sooooo nice brb need kleenex

[petraeus]

I'm just experimenting - the UE shocks with 40wt and red springs back, white springs front felt to hard. And handling actually didn't feel the best, but sure it did take big jumps better without bottoming out.
I somehow felt handling was better using the Big Bores with stock white progressive springs - just a little too the soft side, noticeable on bigger jumps.
Sure the truck looks better using UE shocks, but my build is not based on looks

And I would need a way to fit the CF shocktower braces if I'm going back UE shocks, since they mount exactly same spot.



I think UE shocks with white springs and 30wt oil all around could be spot on - so I need to find 4x UE white springs....

[minirevobasher]

Nice build. Wish i had as much money as you

[EMAXXBRUSHLESS]

Patreus, Nice job on the lst2 mod. I,m doing the same thing only I made some special washers with a lip to go on axles in front of the 15 x 24 bearings. Now I can also use the rubber boots to keep the dirt out of the cv joints. Still waiting for one pc drive cups to set up and see what I need for spacers. I got some hpi ones and some other ones from ue to see if they will fit. Again, nice job on your build and this post with all the pics..

[petraeus]

Notice some changes you like?




No, it's not the blue body........






Still not seeing it?









Body off might help...







Front:




Rear:





Yep - got the UE Shocks back on. Now retuned with 30wt oil and a spring combo of white UE springs and the included Chrome springs from the UE Supershock set

I'm not sure if your 'allowed' to combine springs like this - but I can assure this just feels very good. Due the incline it feels nice progressive - allowing droop and not bottoming out as easy as with the big bores and white traxxas stock progressive springs. And this way my CF shock tower braces could still be used.
I'm confident this is good.
So far this feels like the best combo so far - don't know why I didn't try this earlier..
It's been raining all day, everything is soaking wet outside, so I wont be able to do any test runs

[minirevobasher]

Do you have the 17mm traxxas addapters? I just got those for my 3903 and i was wondering if there is as much slop as everyone says?

[petraeus]

Do you have the 17mm traxxas addapters?

Not quite! seems you missed a lot of reading
http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...=1#post5196877

[EMAXXBRUSHLESS]

I got some losi 17mm hexes but there a sloppy fit so im having my buddy at machine shop bore out some traxxas ones to fit.I will probably put a screw in the end to hold them tight too.
Also I dont know if you did,but you can put the steel rings from the revo axle carriers on the rpm axle carriers and use the blue retainers. they fit tight but they will go on. Helps keep the pillow balls in.

[petraeus]

Weather cleared up yesterday late afternoon, so I had the EMBUE for a quick test run with the new UE shock setup. Since all offroad was wet and muddy, I only took it onroad, with some small jumps using the sidewalk curbs.
This shock setup so far feels very good. Much better than either the too stiff UE 40wt - red springs back, white springs front or the too soft Traxxas big bores 40wt - stock progressive whites. Some off road bashing and jumping testing is needed.
There are just to many variables how to choose the right shock setup
But the UE shocks surely looks better on the truck, compared to the small 1:10 scale bigbores.

[bazookamaxx]

yeah it does, that is 1 sweet ride

[Suteki]

Losi XXL cvd's arrived today. Looks like I need to go get some bearings to fit these guys up. I have 4 x Tekno Axle carriers so not expecting the trouble you guys had with the RPM tru trac.

[petraeus]

Losi XXL cvd's arrived today. Looks like I need to go get some bearings to fit these guys up. I have 4 x Tekno Axle carriers so not expecting the trouble you guys had with the RPM tru trac.

Looking forward to watch your process. Maybe you should start a build thread on this?
And, oh - we didn't have any problems. Well at least I didn't - I've had a fun, experiencing challenge getting all this to work. I really feel my EMBUE is as tough and sturdy as a MT gets. But I need to get it tuned better.
Was out yesterday, off road driving 3 packs of 4s lipo.
After I installed the XXL CVD's, and at same time installed UE Supershocks in a softer setup, the truck felt a little uncontrolable - especially on loose gravel. Now, I'm running 3k in rear diff and 7k in front diff and it caused quite a bit offloading on the loose gravel, which I don't recall were an issue earlier. This made the TrencherX balloon quite some. In grass I didn't notice a big change in driving performance, except the suspension setup felt really good.
Had some big jumps (not huge) but fairly big - would say about 6 feet high, 20 feet long. Some landed good, some landed not so good followed by massive cartwheels, some landed nose direct in ground, some landed on the roof, and some on the rear end. I didn't try to baby it for sure.
Damage report - nothing, except the obvious body wear and tear.
This build is so far a huge success

[bentrocker]

Soon time to try 6s isn't it ?

[petraeus]

Sure is tempting - I didn't even run 5s with it - actually I had a single 3s matched to a 2s, but since I never used it, I swapped it with a friends 2s
Still 4s seems plenty to me

But it could be fun to try what MisterCrash did:

100 consecutive standing back flips! Or attempts I should say, they were not all beautiful to watch...................So what's the verdict on the 8th scale drive train?......................................Everyt hing looks fine! The CVD shafts, the drive cups, the center dogbones, it all held up to this grueling testing I did today. I'm very happy.

http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...=1#post4636669

But I'll have to order 2x3s then

I would like to post a video of my EMBUE bashing - but right now, I simply don't have much spare time..

[Suteki]

Haven't had a chance to look at it just yet; just received my SCX10 today also, so just soldered on the deans and have to break in the brushed motor. Also for NSW / QLD'ers, State of Origin tonight which is kind of a big deal around here so I have to watch that (its a football match for you non-Aussies out there). When I picked up the SCX10 I also stopped by a local store here that are part hobby store but mainly engineering so they sell a lot of really hard to get bits and pieces as far as bearings, shims etc. So got 8 x 15x21x4 bearings (2 per carrier), the outer bearing I can't remember size and 3x nylon washers per corner for the offset so I'll get onto that either tonight or tomorrow.

[EMAXXBRUSHLESS]

like patraus said I didnt have any problems with the lst2 rpm trutrac mod. either. actually I,m having a lot of fun making and modifying parts to fit and work together. I used the one pc drive cups from UE (drive cup 7.5 w/shaft) in my flm uhb. There a little longer than the hpi ones and a lot beefier looking. (But they will need to have the shafts spun ground .015 longer and the end ground back .040 to fit.) I happen to have my own specialty grinding shop downstairs so this was easy for me to do. You will also have to shim diff first then install shims behind cups because the shims wont fit over the UE drive cups like the hpi ones. I then made some special .094 thick spacers with a.030 x lip on one side to hold the traxxas rubber boots on the cvd and used a .065 thick spacer behind the 15x24mm bearing and a .009 thick brass shim to hold it tight. I made some .007 shims but they were a little loose for my liking. .009 shim and bevel one edge on a deburring wheel as a lead in for the bearing and nice tight fit. The rubber boots also fit over the UE drive cups with no rubbing. next up is the front then all thats left is to redrill axles to fit hubs.

[Suteki]

OK I have figured out I have a few problems but worked out where they are.

Firstly I do not have the 1/8 hybrid bulks, rather I have still have the original diffs with output shafts and traxxas drive cups. So I have a few less mm to play with as far as how far the end of the cvd goes into the drive cup because they are extended out of the diff. [Edit] I just noticed how hard this is to understand. But eh, tired and can't think of it right now plus it's kind of a weird thing to explain.

Secondly I had a play around with the bearings. Getting them into the Tekno carriers was brutal. 15 x 21 x 3 is supposed to be the right size, measured then in store and everything but getting them in was near impossible, even tried putting the bearings in the freezer to see if they would slide in then. No dice. So I had to just graze the insides slightly to make the internals of the carrier a little wider to accommodate the bearings. Bearings go in but notice I have 6mm of extension, not 3mm.

Another poster on another forum said they did it with only one bearing inside the carrier, I was using 2 and couldn't figure out how he was only using one. So I took another Tekno carrier off to experiment with how he did it and I now see how he did it, but the way he did it was a bit eh for me. The bearing sits on the outside lip of the carrier rather than inside it. It also means that it pushes the CVD further in toward the diffs, so the cvd would bind up against the drive cup inside. Decided that wasn't going to work for me.

So in the end I have just decided on doing it the way I originally found; slightly dremel out the inside of the carrier to fit the bearings, put 6 nylon washers between hex and outer bearing (offset of .245 inches per side) and go from there unless / until I get 1/8 hybrid diffs then I will alter it to fit that. For the time being, this works, spins freely and does not bind under full movement of the suspension. If I get sick of the off set I can easily drill another hole for the hex 4 or 5 mm back and use 1 or 2 washers to shim from that, I'm not terribly concerned about it at this point in time though.

Will have to get some pics later, it's getting a bit late here and I've only done one corner.

Plus car and parts arr covered in dirt / dust from my last run.


Interestingly I have found these Losi XXL vcd's aren't as smooth in action as the traxxas cvd's. Maybe I just need to give them a better greasing though.

[petraeus]

Had the EMBUE out shortly on 6s yesterday
Since I currently don't own any 3s lipos, I simply connected an additional ******* Nanotec 2s 6600mah in series to the 2 exisiting lipo's and quickly strapped it on top of one of the other lipo's.

Wanted to try some backflips "mistercrash style". First thing that had to be adjusted was slipperclutch. It was already on the loose side, since I didn't had it adjusted since I used stock plastic axle sliders.

Nearly tightend all the way, it was ready for some testing.

Verdict - all too much power to me
Truck felt very uncontrollable, just the slightest trigger action an it would be on the roof. TrencherX did balloon like crazy too.

And I did try backflips out - for real
On 6s it's simply done. Full trigger for a split second, then release. But the truck was all over the place. This could be due the truck was out of balance, having 2 batteries in one side. Some flips landed fine, some didn't. Think I made about 30-40 flips, then I got tired of it. This was all done on rough tarmac, and for sure the black body don't look good any more

And the damage report..

Like always (dare I say) - no damage to drive train at all.
Hopefully I will be able to shoot some video this coming weekend. Stay tuned..

[Suteki]

Verdict - all too much power to me
Truck felt very uncontrollable, just the slightest trigger action an it would be on the roof. TrencherX did balloon like crazy too

Trigger finger control :P

I rarely ever use full throttle, and even then when you think it is full throttle, you squeeze a little more and it still has this last little bit in reserve. 6S + heavy trigger finger only on big open spaces and even then when it's nearly at top speed it can try and lift it's nose if you give it that last bit of throttle.

I don't really use 'all' of the power available on 6S and have things like punch etc turned down in the ESC. However it's nice to know it's there, which is why I use it.

Like always (dare I say) - no damage to drive train at all.

That's what I like to hear

So anyway; took my crawler out today. Wasn't really into them when I bought an RC, wanted speed as most people do when they first get in and that's what I use the Emaxx for as the other 2 cars I have are designed to fit into race classes so can only run 2S. So I use my Emaxx as the general 'OMG' shock value vehicle and all round basher; but I will say if you have a chance to get a crawler, do it! So much fun. Kind of relaxing too.

In other travels today I found I destroyed to of the bearings trying to force them into the carriers last night. So I bought two more and set about doing the rest. Each axle carrier now has 2 of the 15x21x4mm bearings in them. I had to use a barrel sander on my dremel to get them to fit, basically just had to shave the inside a bit. I think maybe 15x20x4mm may have worked, but anyway I had what I had so I made it work and it shouldn't be a problem in the future. So all carriers are done, bearings in etc. I decided however I didn't want the 6mm offset so I stopped into where I used to work to put a new hole for the hex pin in. I practised on the opposite side of where I need the hole but the drill press wasn't straight so I couldn't get a nice clean hole cut through so I left there and stopped at a mates pipe fab business. As is the way though, all the guys forget to take things back so finding a small 3mm drill piece turned out to be impossible. Hopefully the drill press is in good condition though, I'll just take a 3mm drill in there with me tomorrow and have another crack at it. Couldn't find a piece of metal though, so might have to use wood.

Not going to aim for a flush fit, as at least if I am a mm off at least I can shim the difference.

So once that's done, all the axles will be good, UE shocks were sent from the states the other day so just waiting on them also. Then one day I will get the 1/8 diffs and chasis. Not made of money right now though and what I did have spare went into the crawler :P

[reyesjhs765]

It looks like a shelf queen.. I would hate to get it dirty

[petraeus]

It looks like a shelf queen.. I would hate to get it dirty

I can assure it's not a shelf queen - only the red body is used for posing pics ;-).
Blue body are starting to show wear, black body has cracked several places...
I'll snap some pics later today to show.

This is an earlier posted video, before I did the XXL cvds but running 8x UE Supershocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg3tiup2MJs



As earlier stated, hopefully time will permit me to shoot a new video this coming weekend.

[Suteki]

Sandy shelf you have there.

[MaxxSlash]

Wow that's a cool project!

[petraeus]

Sad news

Had the truck out yesterday to do some 6s running.
Didn't use the stock wheels for quite some time, and since the TrencherX balloon a lot on 6s, I then modded the original wheels 17mm Traxxas style starnut hex to fit the standard 17 mm type hex - easy done.
Truck looks kind of weird, when used to look at it with the TrencherX on.
Took the truck to a large open soccer field (just next door, really). There's a grass, and fine gravel field.
It was just so fun, truck was really, really fast and actually handled a lot better than on the TrencherX.

But then.......


Truck stopped....


No steering.... and a smell.....


Carried the truck home, and had it for inspection. The Savöx servo had a bad smell, and the receiver had a red light only.
Connected one of my old Traxxas servos, that i don't use, for a test. Nope, wasn't working. OK, so I suspected the receiver was blown. Took a receiver from my Slash 4x4, connected it - bingo, green light. Then connected the Traxxas servo and all seemed fine. Then connected the Savöx servo - dead.

OK - so a damaged receiver and servo at the same time

Since the truck probably wouldn't handle very well on a single Traxxas servo, I installed a Savöx SC-1256TG from my dusty ThunderTiger MT4 G3 (which I rarely ever run)

All seemed fine. Took the truck out on 4s for a 3 min drive - and then........

No steering, again

This time, receiver was fine, but servo dead. That's 2 (not cheap) servo's and a receiver in 10 min.

I do run a CC BEC (it's connected correct) http://www.castlecreations.com/produ...ec_wiring.html
- I had countless run, and no issues what so ever.

I think the BEC is the sinner. I'm gonna send both Savöx servo's to the hobbyshop - maybe I'm lucky if they'll replace them.

I'm on the hunt for a cheap receiver then (hint, hint)

So, sorry - probably no running this weekend.

Good news - drive train still seems rock solid

[Suteki]

Bugger.

I went out to drill the holes in the axles today, no luck. Then my car got a flat tyre so I had to repair that instead.

I need to find an engineering store or something to get these axles drilled. It's just annoying now.

[petraeus]

I'm probably going to order this combo from my favorite US based chop shop:



http://traxxas.com/gallery/Accessori...Ch-6509-TQi-Do


@ Suteki.
To drill pin holes you'll need a jig like the one I used, and a drill press. The axle's are somewhat hard to drill though.

[Suteki]

Yeh problem is finding a chunk of steel to use.....

[petraeus]

Think you could use a metal tube in same manner....

[Suteki]

Maybe. Problem is the piping they use is massive (think LNG gas lines etc). I dunno I will find something somewhere.

[petraeus]

Somewhat positive news - the CC BEC was the sinner, well sort of. Somehow it didn't like my 6s configuration, adding an additional 2s lipo to the current 2x2S lipo. The BEC fried, and outputted 22v on 6s ad 14v on 4s - the receiver and servo sure didn't like that - boom.
Took both fried servo's directly to LHS. He swapped the Savox 1256TG right on the spot - no questions asked.
The fried Savox 1283SG had some minor scratches he didn't like, and I needed to contact the importer to swap that.
Then I ordered the above Traxxas TQI combo from US - If lucky, it'll be here end next week.

But since I wanted to run the EMBUE and shoot some video, I temporarily installed the RX from my Slash 4x4.
I installed the new Savox 1256TG, and it worked like a charm, so no need for a new BEC so far.

So took the truck out for some bashing with new parts installed, on 6s and stock wheels. That lasted for about 1 min, then one tyre blew. Switched to Trenchers and then no issues. After some gravel run, I changed back to 4s to do some jumps.
RX, Servo, Drivetrain all good. I've read about it, but it never happened to me earlier, ever. Twice the front RPM knuckels came off - an easy fix but annoying. If it continues, maybe Tekno carriers will be ordered. I also noticed after the days runs, that a RPM lower front A-arm was cracked at the suspension pin. It was replaced in both sides by stock lower A-arms. It actually turned the front suspension a little stiffer. Those RPM A-arms are really a litlle to flexible. Else than that - no damage.
Hopefully I'm back in luck.

Oh - and finally....

A video is just about to get uploaded

[petraeus]

As promised - new video of the shelf queen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EsrVkXA2Cg

[Suteki]

Its looks more like its bottoming out and bouncing on the bulks heads, only thing i can think of is to raise the height and use heavier weight shock oil. Also, trying standing the shocks more vertically so they have more travel.

[EMAXXBRUSHLESS]

Patraus, You can put the steel rings from the revo knuckles on the rpm kuuckles. They go on tight, but they will fit. I couldnt find them separate so I had to buy a couple pair of to get the rings. I will look back to see wher i got them and post back. they were under 7.00 a pair + s+h

[EMAXXBRUSHLESS]

If you dont already know Heres the number for the Traxxas revo axle carriers with steel retainer rings #5334R I got mine on ebay from" hop me up" 6.97 a pair + 2.85 s+h Hope this helps.

[petraeus]

@Suteki.
Thanks, actually I only ment the coment in a rhetorical manner. It's to my belief, that to keep the truck handling nice under various conditions, I'm pretty sure this rebounce is not to get rid off.

@ EMAXXBRUSHLESS
Thanks, really nice info. I might try that out.

I have this idea, that the issue of the RPM knuckles getting loose, are caused that in the current shock setup, when truck is pressed all the way down, the shocks are also nearly fully compressed. Then, if the truck lands to much on one side, it will cause the shock to bottom out, and this force will make the knuckle pop off - tried to explain as good as I can

In my earlier setup the shocks had somewhat more travel - BigBores

[EMAXXBRUSHLESS]

11-12 pounds, flying through the air, nose first into sand bank, somethings gotta give. lol The rpm stuff is a softer nylon type material. Great for flexing and not breaking. But not so good for pillow ball retaining. I havent had one pull out yet with the steel rings. But, I also havent bashed it very hard either. Cool video! I will have to try to get some pics of my currant upgraded EMBE and my FLM chassis ,uhb, lst2 axle, project I am building. I Got the chassis and bulks and driveshafts and axles and suspension all set up so far. Need more money and more parts

[petraeus]

Need more money and more parts

You're not alone
Looking forward to your video

[Suteki]

Petraeus, I have to give it to you, whatever you did to drill those new holes through the losi xxl axles, I can't replicate it. It's doing my head in. I had a few signs today that told me it's just not meant to happen.

Firstly, because of the trouble I had, I stopped in at a machine shop to see what it would take. Apparently $50AUD and a week. I was like 'errr....lemme think about that one.' Went off and got another drill bit (first one I got broke) and went back to mates place where they do piping. Found a nice solid little block of steel; drilled the 8mm bore out and slotted the axle in. Now the tricky part, the 3mm hole. First though, I found the drill press would not accommodate a 3mm drill piece, it just wouldn't clamp in far enough so I had to run off to the hardware store to find another one that had a hex on it, grabbed that, went back down.

So I tried my first drill though, I did it down the end again to see how it would go. Looked good, went to test the pin through the hex and shaft....it couldn't have been out more than a pair of bee's genitals in width, it was so close to being perfect. So I made another test hole. This time, the drill piece gave out and broke again.

So after 2 broken drill pieces, never once successfully making a hole that fits, I think I am done with trying to get rid of the offset. I am going to either pay $50 to a machinist (though I am kind of against this because these axles, with the bearings etc is starting to look like a $130 job...) or just leaving it with 6mm of offset. For now, I think I will leave the offset.

How you and the lad from the other forum managed to rig it up for a perfect hole I'll never know because so far it's been a real pain in my side.

The only way I can think to tackle it right now, is to slide the hex over it, and use the hole in the hex as a guide, do one side, put the pin in, rotate it and do the other hole. Right now, that seems the acceptable method.....

[petraeus]

That's a real shame you are not having success - especially since I had absolutely no issues getting it done. Could be pure luck at my side.

I think it's all in the jig - got to be very, very accurate when measuring that up.



I'll try to explain as good as I can - English is not my mother language

First I drew a right angled line around the jig (you can see it it the pic) Then the jig was placed in the drill press and fixed in a permanent on the side, upright position.
Then drilled a 4mm hole at the side of the jig (on the line i drew) all the way through, then drilled it up to 8mm.
Then drilled the 8mm hole up to 15.5 mm about 2 cm deep. This way the XXL axle simply slided into the jig.
Then I measured how far in I needed to drill the 3 mm hole on the side of the jig. This hole would be for the pin. I needed to move the pin holes exactly 3 mm.

Then it was just to do the calculations exactly where to drill the 3 mm hole. If i remember correct, the stock 3 mm hole is 30,3 mm from the edge of the "fat" part on the XXL axle. So the new hole should be drilled 27.3 mm from the edge of the jig. I cheated, and drilled it 27 mm from the edge, this gave me the option to use shims when mounting the axle in the jig for correct fitment.
I used some ordinary 8mm threaded bolt for testing - no shims were needed.
Then it was just to place it in the drill press, and slowly, ever so slowly drill, using oil to cool and lube.

When the hexes was installed I the used a 3 mm drill bit, just to correct any slightly difference between hole in the hex to hole in the axle.

When done, I was a bit surprised how well it did fit.

[Suteki]

I can already mostly see why you had no problems looking at the equipment you used. Nicely squared off block of steel, a lip in the vice to rest the block in, proper tool bit etc, that's why I couldn't get it done. Unfortunately it doesn't seem feasible given the equipment I had to use.

I was going to set everything up tomorrow but it's my Birthday tomorrow so if I do anything RC, it's not going to want to be sitting around putting the Emaxx back together. I enjoy working on my RC's but the Emaxx has frustrated me so I haven't gotten back to a state where I enjoy working on it, especially when it comes to working with knuckles / pillow balls, so annoying.

Anyway car is all back together, XXL CVD's are installed, no binding or play, wheels are moving freely and I have shimmed / spaced it with 5 to 6 nylon washers of 1mm width, so 6mm per side offset, works out roughly half inch total offset front and back. To be honest now it's all installed, I can't notice much difference. I think a large part of that is the width of the Big Joes, the fact the wheels sit outside the rim makes them look really big. If I put the standard wheels back on it it would definitely look a little weird, but with wider tires (and higher stance when my UE shocks arrive) I don't anticipate that offset to be any problems so I think I will stick with that.

Also received 2x Traxxas spare drive shafts from (the metal cvd kind) and RPM pillow ball set today anyways so I have an alternative should this not work out. It is night here (10pm) so tomorrow hopefully I'll get out and test how good these axles are. If they survive their first run on 6S, they'll have already beaten the traxxas steel cvds :P I imagine they will though as they are a high tensile steel.