Old man with some new toys here.
This is my 1st post so I'll offer a little background as to how I arrive here;
While visiting the LHS roughly 10-12 months ago, in the market for some fun ways to spend time with my grandsons, almost on impulse, I decided to give rc trucks a try.
My typical purchase protocol involves hours or days or more of research & reading, but since these weren't just extremely expensive or vital investments and the LHS's service tech gave the nod, I rolled the dice and picked up a Sledge for myself and two TRX-4's for the boys.
I get that passions for brands / models can run high, and I expect many, if not most that have years of rc truck experience will think me a fool for choosing these over xyz ect, and I respect those opinions and in time may come to regret having selected the ones I have, but with nothing else to compare, I was amazed by the performance of the Sledge and the amount of abuse it ate, especially before I honed my driving chops a bit.
The TRX's seem to suit the boys need just fine for now as well.
So, at least for a starting point I'm more than happy with these choices.
Finally after over a month of crash abuse and having failed to keep a check on screw tightness, I stripped a spur gear so my 1st upgrade was to replace the gears with machined steel gears and those custom, gear-set specific motor mount spacers that fill the adjustment slots.
Also added a cooling fan for the motor, really just because they make it ridiculously simple to do & figure it couldn't hurt.
This got me about 6 more months of trouble free fun until I got a bit squirrelly at full speed & hit a Crepe Myrtle breaking a shock cap so the 2nd upgrade was a full set of all metal replacement shocks so that at least next time I break those Ill have spares to finish the day.
With the unbelievable abuse this thing eats, I have begun to suspect that all of the polymer or plastic parts are as much for crash absorption as any production savings and I will probably regret some of the aluminum "upgrades" I am undertaking but what the heck.
As much for the enjoyment of doing it as for any performance enhancements, I am replacing some of these polymer / plastic parts in the Sledge and have a concern.
I am replacing the Aarms, steering blocks and axle carriers with the anodized aluminum options.
Doing so one at a time just to be safe and now that the first side is done, I notice two things that are concerning,
1. On the original plastic steering block, there is a molded in "fork" that secures the end of the steering link from the bell crank,
but the aluminum steering block has only a single arm to secure the steering link to and with no washers even provided with the upgrade hardware, it seems the screw head must pass thru, and tighten down on the steering link eye and thread into the single arm of the steering block?
2. there's a few thousands play between the axle carrier and steering block, at the bottom where it is secured with the thru pin, but there is no play at all with the same stock parts and apparently no means to tighten, shim or otherwise remove this play.
Compared to the fitment of the bushings / pins throughout the rest of these aluminum parts, this doesn't feel right to me so I'd be grateful for any feedback from anyone who has experienced this situation before.
Thanks a bunch.
This is my 1st post so I'll offer a little background as to how I arrive here;
While visiting the LHS roughly 10-12 months ago, in the market for some fun ways to spend time with my grandsons, almost on impulse, I decided to give rc trucks a try.
My typical purchase protocol involves hours or days or more of research & reading, but since these weren't just extremely expensive or vital investments and the LHS's service tech gave the nod, I rolled the dice and picked up a Sledge for myself and two TRX-4's for the boys.
I get that passions for brands / models can run high, and I expect many, if not most that have years of rc truck experience will think me a fool for choosing these over xyz ect, and I respect those opinions and in time may come to regret having selected the ones I have, but with nothing else to compare, I was amazed by the performance of the Sledge and the amount of abuse it ate, especially before I honed my driving chops a bit.
The TRX's seem to suit the boys need just fine for now as well.
So, at least for a starting point I'm more than happy with these choices.
Finally after over a month of crash abuse and having failed to keep a check on screw tightness, I stripped a spur gear so my 1st upgrade was to replace the gears with machined steel gears and those custom, gear-set specific motor mount spacers that fill the adjustment slots.
Also added a cooling fan for the motor, really just because they make it ridiculously simple to do & figure it couldn't hurt.
This got me about 6 more months of trouble free fun until I got a bit squirrelly at full speed & hit a Crepe Myrtle breaking a shock cap so the 2nd upgrade was a full set of all metal replacement shocks so that at least next time I break those Ill have spares to finish the day.
With the unbelievable abuse this thing eats, I have begun to suspect that all of the polymer or plastic parts are as much for crash absorption as any production savings and I will probably regret some of the aluminum "upgrades" I am undertaking but what the heck.
As much for the enjoyment of doing it as for any performance enhancements, I am replacing some of these polymer / plastic parts in the Sledge and have a concern.
I am replacing the Aarms, steering blocks and axle carriers with the anodized aluminum options.
Doing so one at a time just to be safe and now that the first side is done, I notice two things that are concerning,
1. On the original plastic steering block, there is a molded in "fork" that secures the end of the steering link from the bell crank,
but the aluminum steering block has only a single arm to secure the steering link to and with no washers even provided with the upgrade hardware, it seems the screw head must pass thru, and tighten down on the steering link eye and thread into the single arm of the steering block?
2. there's a few thousands play between the axle carrier and steering block, at the bottom where it is secured with the thru pin, but there is no play at all with the same stock parts and apparently no means to tighten, shim or otherwise remove this play.
Compared to the fitment of the bushings / pins throughout the rest of these aluminum parts, this doesn't feel right to me so I'd be grateful for any feedback from anyone who has experienced this situation before.
Thanks a bunch.
