FS Racing from E-Bay

[cancruiser]

Just thought I'd put a message for those who picked up a 1/10th scale Nitro Truck from Ebay. They are labeled as FS Racing Team GT-4. They also have a road version of the same truck labeled as GX-4 Toyota Supra. They also sell a Monster Truck under the same name.

I have searched the internet for information on this truck with very little luck so I figured I'd start a thread here for those soles like myself looking for help and answers.

These things can eat spur gears faster then fuel. Engine alignment is critical on Nitros, and true for this truck as well. Set the gap between the spur gear and the clutch bell. Use a piece of paper between them to set the gap. Make sure you check out the engine mounting plate regularly. When the set screws let go the pressure on the engine had bent the mounting plate a couple of times which throws off the horizontal alignment of the clutch bell and the spur gear. I have had to take the mounting plate off twice and flatten it back out. The universal joints are also prone to coming apart on a big hit. Curbs, Trees, and other solid objects and these trucks really do not like each other. The universals can be put back together with a little persuasion but are weakened from that point on and will continue to come apart on big hits. Replacements are available in sets of 4.

Make sure you loctite the set screws on the drive shaft receivers. I have had the set screw on the rear loosen slightly and I figure the power transfer to the front helped spin spur gear down. When this happens, the power transfer to the front wheels also spins the universals apart. It takes a little time they can be put back together.

You will not find parts in any LHS for this truck but parts are available from HIRODA.I stocked up on parts from this sight and the prices are good and shipping was really fast!! (and no, I do not have any affiliation to them). I did manage to get a Kyosho AG5 Spur gear to work with a little modification and it lasted quite a while until the rear drive shaft set screw came loose again.....

I managed to find a couple of other parts suppliers in California but I never heard from them once I emailed them. They have an online store that takes Paypal but when I asked them to validate who they are before I paid...no response.

The .15 engine runs well on good 20% fuel. To initially break in the engine, this is the recommended procedure:

1. Set the truck on a stand that keeps the 4 wheels off the ground.
2. Set the main needle screw out 3 complete revolutions.
3. Run the truck at low speed for 15 minutes never reaching more thean 1/2 throttle.
4. Allow engine to completely cool and set the engine at BDC.
5. Start leaning out the mixture by turning in the main needle screw(Clockwise) 1/8 of a turn at a time until the optimal running is reached.

I have yet to glue the tires to the rims but I need to. I have already spun the tires off a few times.

Now these machines are cheap and you will go through parts so stock up if you get one of these.

These FS racing machines seem to be more readily available in Europe but seem to be relatively new to North America. They are not as good as the majority of the machines the folks around this board have but as an entry truck to the world of Nitro they are fine. For a basic RTR around the $200 mark they are easy on the bank.

Hope this helps someone. I have had to stumble through all of this to get the truck to run stable for any length of time. The folks here have been a great help so far so don't be afraid to ask questions!!

 

[xnaron]

Thanks for the great info. I bought one of these from ebay last week. Should be here tomorrow. I fly RC helicopters and planes and thought this would be a fun distraction. Thanks for posting the link to the parts. Out of curiosity how many tanks do you have through the truck (1:10)? How long does it take before the gears go? Are the problems caused by poor assembly at the factory or poor design? Just hoping if I take your setup suggestions I can keep it alive for awhile without eating spur gears.

Brendin

 

[cancruiser]

We've run about 15-20 tanks of fuel through it so far. I have added 2 additional bolts through the engine mounting plate and chassis to help keep the engine aligned. So far it has worked out well, I haven't spun a spur gear since then. Another weak spot it the universal connections on the drive shafts. They have separated several times due to abuse on our part. Meaning hard hits with solid objects.

We are now having an issue with the throttle servo. It keeps going erratic and we loose control of the throttle. Of course this makes the car go to WOT and eventually hit a nearby tree....

I thing the assembly of the cars is the primary issue with these. Make sure you check the car over entirely not overlooking:

Shock caps. Make sure they are screwed on properly or you will leak out all the oil.
Brake adjustment. tighten it up a bit. Factory shipped with little bing applied.
Engine Mounts. Add two more if you want. 10 minutes work saves Spur gears.
All screws...The ones holding the front bumper and lower control arms keep vibrating loose. Loctite all screws going into metal and I ended up crazy gluing the ones going into the plastic in the front.

The car is basically good to go now. It took some work but the fun is worth it. I know more about this car then I though I ever would. LOL

 

[xnaron]

Thanks...I was actually thinking of replacing the radio right away. I have a 27mhz fm radio that is *I think* of better quality then the one that will come with the buggy. I just need to pick up a receiver for it at the LHS.

I'll reinforce the motor mount with two more screws like you suggest. Where did you put yours? I'll also go over all of the other things you mentioned and loctite all the screws that should be.

I'll probably take the car partially apart and reassemble it properly if it looks pretty bad. Thanks for your help. I'll post some pictures of my car after I do your mods.

Brendin

 

[xnaron]

Got mine...Here are some pics

 

[xnaron]

Some more...

 

[xnaron]

Fuel tank removed...

 

[xnaron]

Where did you put those extra two bolts through the mount? Here is a pic of my mount with the engine off.

thanks,

Brendin

 

[cancruiser]

The red circles are where I put my extra bolts. Again, I haven't burned a spur gear since.

I went down to a friends place tonight who has been in the hobby for quite a while.Check the tightness of the caps on the shocks. I lost quite a bit of oil from them. So tonight we took them apart and he replaced the oil with 40 weight. It helped with the reaction of them. The plan is to improve the ground contact. He also put springs with less resistance on to also help.

 

[cancruiser]

I also replaced the drive shafts tonight. There is quite a bit of torque transfered through them. Several times now the universals have come apart.

The attached picture shows the power. The top shaft is the old one and the bottom is the new. You can see the center of the upper one has twisted. All four of them are like this.

 

[xnaron]

I also replaced the drive shafts tonight. There is quite a bit of torque transfered through them. Several times now the universals have come apart.

The attached picture shows the power. The top shaft is the old one and the bottom is the new. You can see the center of the upper one has twisted. All four of them are like this.

Ouch...looks like the twisting shorted them. Did your truck come with the same body as mine?

 

[cancruiser]

Ouch...looks like the twisting shorted them. Did your truck come with the same body as mine?

The shafts are expandable, I just did not extend one out to match the other in length.

Yes I have the same body, just with not such a fancy paint scheme. I have the plain black body as seen in my second pic of the first post.

I also only have a single speed setup. I see you have the 2 speed....nice!

 

[xnaron]

The shafts are expandable, I just did not extend one out to match the other in length.

Yes I have the same body, just with not such a fancy paint scheme. I have the plain black body as seen in my second pic of the first post.

I also only have a single speed setup. I see you have the 2 speed....nice!

I put one screw in to reinforce the mount at the back. I wonder how fast the top end will be with the 2 speed. Looking at the price of parts online your almost better off buying a second one off ebay if you can get it cheap enough

Brendin

 

[xnaron]

Did some more breakin and playing today. One of my tires kept coming off the rim. So I glued it on. Was going to glue the other three on too but they already are glued on. My Gear mesh is good because the spur gears are in good shape still. I used a piece of paper to set the mesh. One problem Area I noticed is at the back of the car the sprigs toch the drive shafts ever so slightly and wear away the plastic. It creates a big mess with dust. I'll figure out something to give them some clearance. The car runs well so far but I haven't opened it up yet. Still need to put through another 2 tanks to get to magic number 5. So far so good. One other fix I made was on the throttle servo horn. I replaced the screw that holds the throttle mechanism to the arm with a longer servo mounting screw. The srew they had in there was too short and a little stripped. It would have fallen out for sure. Glad I found that first or my car might have taken of somewhere at full throttle!

Brendin

Also...in the bag that the manual came in ther ae about 12 horseshoe shape plastic parts of varying thickness. What are these for?

thanks,
Brendin

 

[cancruiser]

Sorry for the lack of posts. Been busy bashin...LOL

No idea what the extra parts are for but they sound like spacers for something.

I took apart the old throttle servo and examined the circuit board on the bottom. What I found was soldering skills equivalent to that of a 1st grader. More cold solder joints than I've ever seen on one board. Not to mention once solder joint that was joined to another causing a mild short. I re flowed the solder on every connection and cleaned up the one bad one and the servo is amazingly smooth now. So I took apart the other one and redid it as well.

It's been running great for the last few weeks (with daily use by my son) until yesterday when he lost drive in the rear wheels. It turned out that he lost the retaining clip on the main gear and the gear ended up stripping off chunks off the Bevel gear.

You might want to inspect that periodically. It's located inside the gearbox in the back. I also took apart the differential case and inspected the gears in there as well. They all checked out fine.

 

[miketroll357]

This sounds like the truck NOT to get...........

 

[neobart]

They are shock spacers to raise ground clearance.

 

[cancruiser]

This sounds like the truck NOT to get...........

This all goes back to do I spend $500-$900 on a RC truck? My son got this one from Ebay for $128.00. Add an additional $100 in parts since then and he's got a good machine that he is enjoying. He is only 9 BTW. They are built in China and I highly recommend that if anyone was to buy one, strip it down and put it back together carefully. Most of the problems we have had is with poor assembly. It might say RTR but it isn't.

The last problem was a C-Clip fell off and ended up chewing up the Bevel gear. Loosing a clip can happen to anyone.

Would I recommend this to anyone?

Depends on their intended use. Just for bashing around it is fine. For racing....nope. That is not what this truck is meant for.

 

[miketroll357]

Didn't mean to rain on your truck Cancruiser, just sounded like a lot of broken parts and labor to keep that truck working. I know where you are comming from, got 3 kids myself. If they are happy, life is good......

 

[cancruiser]

Didn't mean to rain on your truck Cancruiser, just sounded like a lot of broken parts and labor to keep that truck working. I know where you are comming from, got 3 kids myself. If they are happy, life is good......

No rain here .

The whole purpose of this thread is to inform others as to what to expect if they purchase one of these off E bay. I don't think any of these issues would have surfaced if I did a complete rebuild of the truck before I ran it because of the poor assembly at the factory.

There are no Hop Ups available for this but the replacement parts seem to be better then then the initially installed ones. Either that or it's because I reassembled them in myself.


RTR it isn't.....