mad truck

[slowngreen]

hey all, i have a heng long "mad truck", wich broke about 5 minutes after i got it, and now i have a tmaxx for serious jumping so i was thinking of turning the mad truck into a crawler. just wondering whats a good cheap way to start? gearing? and on something like the mad truck where parts are really hard to find what will work on it if anybody knows, id really appreciate it. what about suspension too?

thanks

 

[alpinehyperlite]

You'd probably be better off turning that thing into a scaler.

 

[slowngreen]

yeah? I'm sorry but whats a scaler? i know its a crappy truck, and was a big waste of money but it dont really want it to just sit here collecting dust lol.

 

[Cupooterluvr]

You should attach 5 bottle rockets to the back, twist the fuses together, light 'er up and watch the show! For that extra bang put some nitro in the tank! About all one of those generic brands is good for.

Seriously though if you want to make a crawler you'll need an electric conversion if it's nitro, and then a high-turn (55 or so should do) motor, and an ESC.

 

[slowngreen]

it is electic, i know what u mean though, it sucks!!!

 

[alpinehyperlite]

No independent suspension, solid axle, 55+ turn motor with esc to handle it.....



Scaler is a vehicle that is made to look like a 1:1 car.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

As far as building a true scaler, I don't think there's anything on the truck that you would reuse except maybe the motor and ESC, because you would have to build a chassis, buy axles, suspension, find a new body, etc...

Now for rock crawling, I would highly reccomend cleaning the truck up and selling it for what you can get. Then buy yourself an Axial AX-10 Scorpion kit. Joe offers a discount for RCNT members and has free shipping. So you'd have around $200 in the kit. Then you could buy a RTR radio for $25, a nice ESC and motor for $100, and you would be WELL on your way to a comp worthy rig. If you don't want to spend that much, consider the axial AX-10 Scorpion RTR. It's cheaper because you don't have to worry about buying any of the electronics, all you need is a battery and it's ready to crawl.

http://eastendmachining.com/axscaxra.html

http://eastendmachining.com/axscrtrax.html

If you really want to do a lot of custom engineering and make this into a crawler, there are some options. But you need to understand that you're going to spend 2 or 3 times more money, and still only have half of the crawling capability, so this would make more sense if money was indespensible and you weren't planning on really using it, just wanted to prove to yourself and the rest of us that it could be done. If that's what you want to do, head over to rccrawler.com and go to the E-Maxx section and check out the straight axle conversions and things like that.

 

[slowngreen]

ok, thanks guys for being straight forward, i appreciate it. Maybe i will clean her up and try to sell her then go from there.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I would highly reccomend it.

 

[slowngreen]

is that AX-10 Scorpion RTR the only ready to run truck available?

edit:well i keep looking at the ax-10 rtr and i like it alot, but I'm wondering if it has enuff travel suspension wise to be bad ass outta the box?

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Yeap it's got PLENTY of suspension travel. If has 70 degrees of articulation, and if you get any more than that the truck just binds itself up and ends up on its lid way too much. The RTR has a lot of plastic on it, and the Axial Kit has A LOT of aluminum upgrades. On the RTR, all of the links and things like that are plastic. However, you're going to want to swap them out for 30 degree bent links for more ground clearance anyway.
http://eastendmachining.com/axhiclliaxsc.html

One thing that I really like is that hop ups for these trucks are really cheap. If you can, I would definitely go with the Axial kit. The biggest problems with the RTR are the electronics. The servo is weak, and the motor that is in it is more of a rock racer motor than a crawler motor. If you get the kit, you can put better electronics in it from the start, and you will already have all of those aluminum upgrades. Feel free to PM me with any questions that you have. Joe, the owner of east end machining, is a wonderful guy. He will give you a better price than what's listed just to help you get started, along with giving a special discount to RCNT members. If you want something that isn't listed on the page, he can order it and get it really fast too. I can't say enough good things about the way that he goes out of his way for our members. Here's some good sites to look at crawlers and parts for sale.

www.eastendmachining.com
http://www.tcscrawlers.com/
http://www.ckrccrawlers.com/shop

John Robert Holmes owns Holmes Hobbies. He is one of the foremost authorities when it comes to crawler motors and motor/ESC setups and things like that. His site has a ton if information, and his specialty is helping people who are just getting into the hobby, so email him or give him a call if you have any questions. In fact, he's having his own specialty designed motors built just for his crawlers.
http://holmeshobbies.com/home.php

There are a few other RTR trucks besides the axial, but they don't have anywhere close to the product and aftermarket support that the axials have. Axial parts can be found anywhere for dirt cheap, but the others are often VERY expensive when you have to replace parts.

I don't know if you've been to rccrawlers.com yet, but you need to get over there. If I was going to buy a rig, I would go over there and check out the for sale section. Every day there are more crawlers that go up for sale that are completely RTR. They have them for the same price as the new RTR stuff, but these are serious comp rigs that have been built with the best parts out there, and all of the adjustments have been made to get this thing dialed in. I mean for $300 there are rigs on there that already have dig setups, brushless motors and LiPo, and all the necessary hop-ups, and even spektrum radio systems. You will need to register at rccrawler.com and buy a $20 star to support the site, and then you're free to buy and sell.

Sorry for such a long post, but I was really trying to be helpful and answer your questions to the best of my ability. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM. If you're going to buy new, I would HIGHLY reccomend the axial kit.