08's Slash build up....... (new to electric, thoughts and advise welcome)

[08kgraves]

man...... this drywall tape holds more shoe goo than you would think! lol went heavy around the very back where im getting multiple cracks and breaks. heavy on the very front where i have to big breaks and the front keeps popping over the front bumper (need to shorten front body posts), medium on all the wheel wells where i have some small cracks, medium on the rest of the rear where my slayer pro body was cracking and breaking (for preventative purposes), and then light around the rest of the edges to prevent future cracks. not done yet but looks like it will have a full tube of shoe goo holding the body all together lol

[08kgraves]

Ok so I changed my gearing up to 23/90 which is still a lower gearing than stock.haven't done any testing with my lipo battery but I'm still only going 30mph but I just lost acceleration. Well motor only at 120 deg after full pack, esc at 106 degrees. But my 8.4v 4500mah nimh battery was at 167 degrees!!!! What gives? Think these batteries have just had it? They were given to me for free and they get pretty warm when charging to. I thought maybe it was my chargers fault but my lipo doesn't really get warm at all.

no input on this yet from anyone?

[DBG]

Ok so I changed my gearing up to 23/90 which is still a lower gearing than stock.haven't done any testing with my lipo battery but I'm still only going 30mph but I just lost acceleration. Well motor only at 120 deg after full pack, esc at 106 degrees. But my 8.4v 4500mah nimh battery was at 167 degrees!!!! What gives? Think these batteries have just had it? They were given to me for free and they get pretty warm when charging to. I thought maybe it was my chargers fault but my lipo doesn't really get warm at all.

Some NiMH batteries can't support the amp draw from the ESC, so the batteries can overheat and can cause damage.

What cause the amp draw?

1-The amp draw is cause by the ESC trying to "drink" the battery capacity, thanks to a big motor trying to get the max power.

2-The gearing can cause amp draw too, Why?, Because the motor needs to get all the power to run. Higher gearing like 23/90 can cause more amps draw than 19/90, that is overgeared.

3-The type of battery and the quality of the battery can affect too, due to they internal resistance or lower discharge capacity. I am using 2 stock batteries from Traxxas with a mamba monster and both aren't getting warm, I think is a lot more hotter when is charging.

4- I think there is more causes of amp draw (Like Drive train is binding, ....), but those 3 are the most important, I Think...

Is normal to get a warm battery after running a full pack (and when is charging) , but never a very hot battery when is just starting bashing. It can be dangerous because can melt the plastic from the battery or from the car and all the components inside the battery can leak and damage the battery and/or the car.

The NiMH batteries can't support the amp draw like a Lipo battery, so is more recommendable use a lipo battery when is using a big ESC/motor, higher gearing.... or use a quality NiMH battery.

[08kgraves]

ahhh got ya.......... i just figured since its geared below the stock gearing that i shouldnt have an issue at all. i wasnt even going through grass or anything, just concrete. but again i dont know the condition of the batteries either. yeah as hot as that battery got really concerned me.

i actually bought another 2S lipo today, same as my other one. bought a 21T pinion, and bought the pin i bent when i broke the caster block. so im going to run this gearing on my lipo and see what kind of speed i get, depending on temps i will switch down to the 21/86 instead of the 23/90 im at now.

[08kgraves]

ok, so looks like the shoe goo is all dry now. body seems flexible still but way more ridgid then it was previously. all cracks seem to be solid again as well. so now i just gotta wait on my new caster blocks to get here in the mail and i can be out cruising again

so other than the caster blocks whats the next most common thing to brake in any sort of head on collision? lol

other then obvious control arms.

[08kgraves]

sigh............ my strc caster blocks did not come in today. i ordered them mid tue around 2pm i think. got an email same day saying they were shipped so ill check again tomorrow. im getting anxious lol.

was looking at traxxas batteries and seen they have a 2S 12,800mah 25c lipo! holly cow! i wonder what kind of run times i would get with that sucker? my 5000mah 25c 2S gives me about 25 min. so would that one be like an hour of run time or something? that thing is a monster lol.

debating if the price would be worth it or not though because first you have all the extra weight and then i dont have a charger to charge that very fast so i could get 2 5700mah batteries for the same price or a hair cheaper then i would have a lighter rig and just more batteries that i can charge faster.

[rag6]

I usually put a thin layer of goo on, then the tape. Let it dry, and then put on another thin layer of goo. Did you lightly scuff the paint before applying the repair? Funny that it affected the paint? Never had a problem. Is it paint for lexan?

[08kgraves]

no i didnt scuff the paint im guessing i should have? and the paint was lexan paint. only thing i can think of is that i didnt lightly scuff the body before painting it. i just cleaned it really goo. same thing for the repair. i just cleaned it really good before applying tape. oh well. things to learn and use towards the next body i guess.

[rag6]

I have had the goo pull away from the paint in some corners. I use one of those green scrubby pads (like they use in pizza shops). It is mild enough not to damage even light paint layers, but have not had any issues with the goo pulling away since.

[kdvanb]

no i didnt scuff the paint im guessing i should have? and the paint was lexan paint. only thing i can think of is that i didnt lightly scuff the body before painting it. i just cleaned it really goo. same thing for the repair. i just cleaned it really good before applying tape. oh well. things to learn and use towards the next body i guess.

Same here I never scuffed mine. It's starting to chip

[08kgraves]

well, i know what to do and not to do on my next body now

[PushRod]

was looking at traxxas batteries and seen they have a 2S 12,800mah 25c lipo! holly cow! i wonder what kind of run times i would get with that sucker? my 5000mah 25c 2S gives me about 25 min. so would that one be like an hour of run time or something? that thing is a monster lol.

debating if the price would be worth it or not though because first you have all the extra weight and then i dont have a charger to charge that very fast so i could get 2 5700mah batteries for the same price or a hair cheaper then i would have a lighter rig and just more batteries that i can charge faster.

I was seriously looking at that, but decided I didn't want to buy the battery expansion gizmo, so I simply went with the largest that would fit (the 7600 mah). Its better than my Onyx 5000 mah by quite a bit. Even though they're both 25c batteries, the Slash is quicker with the Traxxas battery. And the 7600 was only about 20 bucks more, so well worth extra bucks. I'll probably grab another one some day, although we get almost two hours of play time with just 1 lipo and 1 nimh each car.

[08kgraves]

nice, what do you get from just that one lipo alone? and on what gearing? cus i would gladly spend a little extra for a much longer run time. i guess its a price per minute thing for me lol

right now for right around $50 i get 25 min of runtime. and that doesnt seem to bad if you ask me. but that 25 min of hard run time pulling wheelies and everything else ripping down the street full speed.

and as it sits i only can charge at a 5 amp rate so after i upgrade charger which only goes up to 6 amps i think i will be better off buying 6000mah batteries so i can can charge them at full rate possible. then the extra money i save can get me more batteries. plus the lower the mah, the less it weighs. i guess thats my thinking lol. what amp do you charge at? and how long does it take to charge?

[08kgraves]

so just looked on ebay. the cheapest i seen the traxxas 7600mah for with shipping was $90 and for only $11 more i can get 2 5000mah onyx batteries from hobby shop any day of the week. seing as there open sat and sun as well. so i then have 10000mah total between the two, faster charge time and mine weighs 10.2 ounces vs the 13.2 ounces which isnt much but every drop adds up in the end when your dealing with handling and what not

[PushRod]

nice, what do you get from just that one lipo alone? and on what gearing? cus i would gladly spend a little extra for a much longer run time. i guess its a price per minute thing for me lol
<snip>
what amp do you charge at? and how long does it take to charge?

I don't really know because we've never had just the lipos out there, and I don't wear a watch to time. Tonight for example I was using my youngest's Rusty and the 7 Yr old had both lipos. We were out there an hour and 40, and he still had 2000 mah left in the 7600 mah battery. Best comparison I can make for you is that the 7600 mah battery in my Slash will last as long as the combined Onyx 5000 mah and the stock Traxxas 3300 mah NiMH that came with the units in his Slash. Don't know if that helps you or not

So I'd say I'm getting 30 - 40% more run time from the 7600 mah battery, which is about what I'd expect. Buck per minute is better then We're often not running full tilt, but rather bashing around, hitting jumps and goofing off, with the occasional 5 lap race thrown in for good measure.

We're stock 19/90 right now with the 12Ts. I'm really curious what we'll get with the Velineon motors. Bear in mind that we're running entirely in dirt, with nary a chunk of pavement around

My Dtrax charger is a max 5 amp, so I charge the lipos at that rate. When the 7600 is completely empty, it takes around 95 - 100 minutes to completely charge it. Bit of a pain because the Dtrax safety stops at 90 so I have to restart it to completely finish the charge.

[08kgraves]

i never owned a new stock nimh battery so its kind of hard to tell from that reference. but i do know my charge time is like 62 minutes. so that seems faster than yours. but i run mine full on till its dead more or less at only 25 minutes of run time lol. my charger is only a 5 amp as well. by the sounds of it i think im best off with my 2 onyx 5000mah over one traxxas 7600mah lol

[PushRod]

2 onyx 5000mah over one traxxas 7600mah lol

Your two 5000 mah batteries will definitely outlast one 7600 mah, but if I were doing it all over again, I wouldn't buy the Onyx batteries at all, but rather two 7600s. Run time per dollar spent is definitely better on the 7600.

[08kgraves]

so you would spend $180 on 2 batteries vs. $200 on 4 which would in turn give you longer run time overall?

[PushRod]

Up here there wasn't quite that much difference in the pricing (I think I mentioned the difference earlier, but sometimes things get lost between my brain and my fingers, lol). The 7600 mah battery was 85 bucks and the Onyx battery was 68 bucks. So it cost me ~25% more, but I got 30 - 40% longer run times. In your case it sounds like the Traxxas battery is doggoned near twice the dollars, so it certainly isn't worth it.

[08kgraves]

yeah lol, i pick up the onyx 5000 for $47.99 plus tax so its like $51 after tax roughly. cant remember if its 6% 6.5% or 7% tax. then i didnt price the traxxas battery out where i got onyx at lhs but from ebay shipped the cheapest i found it was for $90. so yeah almost twice the price lol

[rag6]

Check out the spc 2s 8200's for 65$. Shipping will be around 5-7$ to Ohio. will take about 1.4 hrs at 5 amps, and will run for 45-hr or so.

Ken, will send those scraps to you in the am. On the road till about 4 am today/tonight/tommorrow lol. Forgot them at home.

[08kgraves]

i might have to check em out.

and no biggie, like i said im not in a rush

[PushRod]

Check out the spc 2s 8200's for 65$. Shipping will be around 5-7$ to Ohio. will take about 1.4 hrs at 5 amps, and will run for 45-hr or so.

Thanks for this. The SPC looks like its about 3mm taller than my Traxxas 7600 mah, so what would one use to hold the battery down? Is there a different hold down available, other than the expansion kit for the really large batteries?

[rag6]

The expansion kit is needed...

[08kgraves]

so today was a good day, i finally have someone else to drive my rc with and hes only right down the rode which is awesome. was down there today at his house. i litterly bashed so hard that my battery came out lol. and my lower piece of my shock tower apparently decided to back out and my tower came loose as well lol. going to try and get it back together to take with me in the morning to a family reunion

[08kgraves]

So it wasnt that the screws just backed off in my shock tower. very first run the screw holes stripped out! what the heck gives! why didnt you just make it one piece like a stock tower? nothing to strip then! or put a little bit longer bolt through there with a locknut on the backside to help hold it as well! yeah i am beyond mad right now for sure! i hope they have good customer service because right now they have a pretty ticked off customer! second time i ran the tower and this happens!

so there also goes my plans for finishing it up to take to my family reunion with me as well. thats awesome, not.

[DiggerPede]

For a quick fix you can put some ca glue in the hole on the bulk then tighten it up. Another choice is you can use a little bit fatter screw to bite into the plastic. You need to remember though that when you fasten your screws that you don't want to put to much on them as plastic strips very easily. This is where an aluminum bulkhead comes into play and becomes a plus. Using this you can put a dab of blue threadlock when you fasten it down.

Hope this helps man!

[08kgraves]

no, the aluminum shock tower stripped out somehow. i dont know if your familiar with the design but its not all one piece like a stock rear tower. there a flat plate where four screws go into the plastic which normally is all that holds the rear tower down. but on the strc tower and maybe the flm tower as well that plate is seperate from the rest of the tower. there is then two screws that go up through this flat plate and hold on the rest of the tower. its these screws that stripped out. and the way its designed you can put a longer screw through it with a nut on the end. which i can still do for now, but tower is already stripped so then it would just be the nut and bolt holding my tower together.

look here to see the two piece design im talking about. the two holes in center of the flat plate are screws im talking about. they stripped out in the tower.

http://www.teamstrc.com/index.php?ro...roduct_id=1083

[DiggerPede]

Oooops my bad! I thought you were talking about the front shock Tower. Guess I should have asked. I'm not much of a big fan for Aluminum shock towers. Even though I have an EMBE that is 80% aluminum. LOL

So, do you have nubbs that are sticking out or are they broke off in the Tower part itself. Have a pic? I run a bunch of STRC stuff just not those towers. I never knew they were 2 piece.

[08kgraves]

well what happend was the hole just stripped and wont hold the screw in tight now. i can take them out but i just cant get it tight like it should. i could get a longer screw with a little nylock nut if nothing else to keep it tight though. i hope they replace it cus i like the adjustability of it and all. and if they do it will get a longer screw with a nut next time. if they dont well, im getting an rpm tower then. just wish i didnt have to lose the adjustability lol

nothing really to take a picture of though

[DiggerPede]

well what happend was the hole just stripped and wont hold the screw in tight now. i can take them out but i just cant get it tight like it should. i could get a longer screw with a little nylock nut if nothing else to keep it tight though. i hope they replace it cus i like the adjustability of it and all. and if they do it will get a longer screw with a nut next time. if they dont well, im getting an rpm tower then. just wish i didnt have to lose the adjustability lol

nothing really to take a picture of though

I gotcha now man. I see no reason why you couldnt put a nylock nut on top if you could. If you have enough room i'd put a small SS washer before the nut, because the nut will probably cut into the aluminum when you hunker it down. I did go look at the FLM design and it is the same with the 2 piece. Not a bad design but I feel anytime you break away from a single piece into 2 you are losing some ridgity. I don't think STRC has a warranty on their products like FLM and REM does. The REM shock tower is a one piece design. FLM & REM offer a warranty if they break, bend or a screw gets stuck in there they will replace.



Just a quick question. Did you have threadlocker on the fastener when you bolted it down? It had to have been tightened to much or they gawled when installed. It happens they are so soft, and you have to be very cautios when tightening up.

The RPM shock towers are nice to if you want to go back to plastic with flexiblity. Something I don't mind if you land on your lid. LOL

[08kgraves]

well i went with strc because i kept hearing such good things. and i like the green color lol.

but rem? never heard of them yet, link it up for me man. ill have to check them out. and if it would have been a one piece design it never would have happend. i always use thread locker with metal on metal screws. i ran it down till it was snug and then just a hair more to tighten it up.

[DiggerPede]

REM-1020

They are a very good company. "thedreadedend" has put them to work. He ran an all REM Pede sometime back. He sent the parts in, they'd send him new back.

You did good on the threadlocker, that's the way its supposed to work. It could have landed just right on the towers and they stripped. For a basher i'm just not sure i'd go aluminum there. Unless you have a replacement if something like this happens.

[DiggerPede]

Here is a little bit of info on the REM-1020 Shock tower.

REM Rear Shock Tower
*Machined out of Billet 6061-T6 Aluminum.

*One Piece Design to maximize Strength

*Works with bandit spoiler support allowing the
use of the bandit or other similar spoiler.

*Will work with any shock up to 1" thick which
allows the use of T-Maxx shocks.

*.200" (5mm) Thick to handle Extreme Abuse.

*Designed to work with stock or after-market
Transmissions and Chassis.

*20 shock mount locations and 4 camber link
mount locations for the ultimate in tuning your
suspension.

*Billet Aluminum shock standoffs.

*All mounting hardware included

*Uses Roll-Form Taps making threads 60%
stronger than standard threads.

*Allows the XL-5 ESC to mount directly to the
tower for optimum cooling

[08kgraves]

yeah i dont know, i went with an aluminum tower because the very bottom of my stock one broke the first time i hit a jump ptractically. it broke down where the camber link attaches to. i like to keep aluminum in the center for structure with aluminum towers so that you can get less deflection. stock towers just move around way to much for my liking. ill see whats going on, may pick up another one if not warrantied and put longer screw with locknut or switch to another company or something not sure yet. pretty much just waiting to get a response from strc to see what they have to say about it. if nothing else i think i may end up getting an rpm tower as a backup if not full time. the movement amount i get up front on that tower really concerns me, but it aint broke yet so im not going to fix it lol.

[08kgraves]

i wish there was a company that made all 7075 aluminum parts. and had a good warranty as well. dont care what color options, i would run it if the parts were hot pink! lol

[DiggerPede]

Another good option if you are having problem with the back of the chassis where the shock tower bolts up. A Proline Chassis brace might help ya. I use this on my DiggerPede & Sl2sh.

Proline 6062-08

•Makes breaking the rear shock tower mounting ears off your chassis virtually impossible.
•CNC Machined from 7075 Aircraft Aluminum
•Hard Anodized Black Finish
•Simple installation

[08kgraves]

i seen that, wich i may do as well for strength but the chassis, how the tower mounts all that design is great so far. just the holes in the tower that are not even there if its one piece stripped out on me. so if they warranty it i will get longer screw and put a loc nut on other end to keep it from pulling threads out, also do this with any other 2 piece tower i may get. or ill just switch to an rpm tower.


pretty stoked i just found out i finally talked one of my friends into getting an rc. he just went and dropped like $600 he said for his new slash 4x4 base model with a 3S lip battery and a charger. only wish he lived closer. he used to live like 15 min away and we would hang out almost every day. well now he lives about an hour away so hes only up once in a while on the weekend. but he stays at my house 99.9% of the time when he is in town. so ill have someone to bash with there. and a buddy down the road i found out has a slash 4x4 and a rustler. thats who i was bashing with when my tower took a dump on me lol.


and what are the different holes on tower for the camber link? what do you get by using the other hole ore holes? depending on what tower you have.

[rag6]

It changes the roll center of the suspension. It will change the amount of negative camber gain as the suspension is compressed. The lower one will give more

[08kgraves]

ahhh, so how do i know which one i want to use? lol