New to the ERBE, Christmas came a couple days early!

[2revo1maxx]

Cool carnage! I've never seen a carrier all blown up like that. I just put summit shafts in the rear of my Erbe, should be interesting.
As for jumping, it doesn't get much of that due to my reluctance to learn how. I've had some wicked wrecks trying to jump it on 6s.

 

[olds97_lss]

Cool carnage! I've never seen a carrier all blown up like that. I just put summit shafts in the rear of my Erbe, should be interesting.
As for jumping, it doesn't get much of that due to my reluctance to learn how. I've had some wicked wrecks trying to jump it on 6s.

Guessing that running 4S, I may not need the summits so soon. Then again, the burst of torque you get from 1/4-3/4 throttle is pretty harsh. Especially when driving with gloves on. Don't have a lot of feel for the trigger.

 

[HPIguy]

The Traxxas VDP kit cured most of my rear sagging issues with the one I had. Can't remember what weight oil I ran, I have a thread on here somewhere with the mods I did. The ERBE was hands down one of my all time top 3 rigs, just don't have room to run one anymore where I live. And if I'm loading up RC stuff to go play, it's aircraft these days.

 

[2revo1maxx]

I would rather grind up my skid plates than go too heavy with my shocks. I think I'm using 60w, but I haven't worked on them in a few years so I can't remember now.

 

[olds97_lss]

Well, my last couple of RPM parts should be showing up today, front arm set and front carriers. My true-track and one set of front arms showed up yesterday.

Also a set of Floureon 8000mah 2S packs, had ebay bucks burning a hole in my pocket for a whole 6 hours, so the packs cost me about $30 for the 2 of them shipped.

My dynamite 4x100w (4x10A) charger and all cable connectors showed up a couple days ago as well. I have two of the ports set for 9000mah lipo's and 2 set for 8000mah, will see how that does as well. My packs are already charged, so I haven't been able to really test it. It's weird how you set the thing up. Every output is like setting up a different charger. Even the back light and beeps from button presses. Had to go through all the menus 4 times.

Unfortunately, we are in a cold snap this past week, so not sure if I'll run it this weekend as it's not to even get to 20F this weekend.

Now I have the Traxxas dual ez-peak ID charger back in it's box as well as the 5000mah 3S ID packs that I haven't even opened that I won't be using... that was a waste of $200.

 

[olds97_lss]

Well, the Floureon packs don't fit. The listing has the size wrong.

The listing states: 136*44*27mm
The batteries are: 136*40*34mm

The bay is at most 30mm tall.

Even if I try and jam them in, the bay bows so much that the lid won't even pretend to close. Yay... now I have to deal with trying to return those.

In a fit of rage, I ordered another set of SMC's 9000mah packs. I have anger issues. >

 

[cbaker65]

Well, the Floureon packs don't fit. The listing has the size wrong.

The listing states: 136*44*27mm
The batteries are: 136*40*34mm

The bay is at most 30mm tall.

Even if I try and jam them in, the bay bows so much that the lid won't even pretend to close. Yay... now I have to deal with trying to return those.

In a fit of rage, I ordered another set of SMC's 9000mah packs. I have anger issues. >

OUCH!....

 

[olds97_lss]

Got my RPM arms installed. Truetrack on the rear, arms and carriers on the front.

I'm still running the 17mm hubs as they were. I'll cut them off and use HPI 8mm flange nuts when they start to egg out. Also need to make a rear skid protector plate like my other revos. The Tekno RC protector is already half ground away. Maybe I'll make that later tomorrow... um... today.

 

[olds97_lss]

New T-Bone skids I got from my wife for my b-day. Makes this think look like a tank!

I didn't realize when I asked for them that they eat up about 1/2" of ground clearance on the rear. not 100% sure why T-Bones did that. They made the stand off over the rear skid a little more than 1/4" tall so there's a gap between their plate and the stock plate. Contemplated grinding them down, but then the other holes wouldn't like up right I don't think.

Flattened out my wear plate and put it back on over the skid. Appears it's been wore about half way through already. You can also see the 4-5mm gap between the t-bones skid and the stock skid.

 

[Certified Mike]

Brutal!!! Excellent!

 

[olds97_lss]

Spun a hex in one of the SRC rear rims. Then installed a set of traxxas geode's with chevrons on them and busted 4 HPI 5x8 flanged wheel nuts in one outing. Was going to try a set of 3.2 stablemaxx rims from RPM that have chevrons on them:

Then while at the LHS the other day picking up fuel, I decided to try a set of traxxas split rims with out offset but with the t-maxx 3.3 tires on them since they have a bit more cushion to see how they will do:

The T-Bones skid plates eat up some ground clearance, so it's slapping the rear pretty good with the SRC's and with the 3.8 chevrons. I have some heavier oil on coming in the mail, 70/80 weight. I'm running 60 now with the VDK using the #3 pistons with blue/silver rear/front springs with P2 rockers.

Work is piling up for me, so not sure when I'll get another run in, but hoping I'll have the shocks updated by then. Also noticing heavy wear on some of the pushrod ends already, so will need to replace some of those too.

I also received some 9500 extreme 2S SMC packs. I ran them once so far, but my time on them was messed up because I forgot to shut off the timer when I was replacing wheel nuts and putting the axle carrier back on as I popped that off once too. So, not sure how long they last on a charge yet. I did find that they were a lot more punchy clear up until the LVC kicked in. The 9000mah 2S packs SMC used to sell get a little less snappy for the last 5-10 minutes. They are still pretty good, but not quite as punchy at the end.

Comparison shots for pack sizes, 9500's are a hair longer and about 1mm thinner:

These are the wheel nuts I kept breaking:

The one on the far left is an older one.
Here's a better comparison, left is old, right is newer version:

The lip on the back is half as thick and the dome/disk on type is twice as thick as the newer nuts. The newer ones are the ones I keep breaking. Also, the newer ones don't fit on the revo well, so I spent an hour with a dremel cutting down the shoulder on the back side so the rim makes contact with the flange before the nut bottoms out.

That was an annoying hour...

 

[HPIguy]

Nice progress olds!

 

[olds97_lss]

Got a couple new bashing vids, found here:
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/threads/my-latest-bashing-vids.113919/page-2#post-1113331

I increased the oil weight to 70. The rear pushrods and shock ends had a ridiculous amount of slop in them. I think I'm expecting too much out of the revo's suspension. It slaps the ground pretty hard with 4+ feet of air. After that bash session, I replaced the shock rod ends and used RPM ends for the pushrods on the rear. The fronts aren't bad.

So, now I'm running:
P2 rockers/rods
70 weight oil
VDK disks #2
Silver springs front, blue springs rear

Think I'm going to try to remove a bit of stress from the rear and put silver springs there as well. Not sure what else to try to deal with the hard ground slapping off jumps. I can't run LT rockers since I run RPM arms/carriers all around. They will just cause the pivot balls to pop out constantly. Maybe I'll try P1 rockers. Less progressive, but with a higher oil weight, maybe it will help absorb more of the landing earlier vs building up and trying to absorb it later in the shock position. I'll have to get some P1 rockers to try as all I have are either LT's or P2's. I have P2 alloy's on it now as I broke a few of the plastic ones.

All that said and done... I'm 99% sure I'll be converting my savage-x to electric. Then I can fill the "big air" hole I have in my heart.

I'm really liking the electric, so why not convert another rig. I don't have the shelf space for a new rig and I still have 2 nitro revo's to burn fuel when I feel the need.

 

[olds97_lss]

Check out my latest vids here with it, somewhere in the first vid a the BMX track, I blew the top cap off a shock and lost all the oil. I also snapped 2 rod ends off before that. The entire second set of packs had one rear shock empty:
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/threads/recent-bash-videos-2017-09-01-2017-09-09.114239/

70 weight oil was too much. I busted/wore out a bunch of rod ends/shock ends and the #3 VDK disks in the shocks cracked in half. I also blew the shock caps off the rear twice. I dropped the rear springs down to silver (from blue) and drilled the holes out a bit on the #2 pistons I had. I think I put 50 weight back in them. I'd rather have reliable/low maintenance vs a less slap happy truck.

I replaced the knock off orange spektrum receiver with a spektrum SR210 like I have in my ejato now. The orange one lost range like the one in my ejato did. So, even though it's $8 (+$8 shipping), I'm not sure it's worth the hassle. The SR210 was $30 on ebay, so not too bad. You can notice in the vid when you hear the power stutter when it's not in my line of sight.

I also got a VG cage for it. After the bash at the bmx track, my body nearly split in half at the base of the windshield. Hopefully the cage will prevent that. I used zipties to "sew" the body back together for now. If it doesn't get worse with the cage, then I'll get a new body. I just don't see the point in a new body if this is going to continually happen.

 

[Certified Mike]

The cage should help stiffen the chassis up nicely as well. Its looking GREAT!!!

 

[rock-rod]

I noticed your were having some struggles with the 17mm wheel hubs. I was too until I did this simple mod. I think you are running rpm carriers (which is perfect) and also the stock drive shafts (also good). Go to the tekno rc website and order a set of the revo axle stubs. They are in the clearance section. Also source some 8x16x5 bearings (need 4). The last ingredient is a set of 1/8 scale buggy 17mm wheel hubs (I used Mugen). Using a dremel hog out the outer bearing holes on the rpm carriers so that the bigger bearings fit snug. It's super easy. Then simply assemble all the parts and viola, 1/8 scale hubs with serrated wheel nuts that not come loose and virtually eliminates all wheel slop. I did this on my nitro revo and it's been bomb proof ever since. I suppose the limiting factor is having to run the stock plastic drive shafts but in my experience they are as reliable as any other option and cheap to replace when they break or wear out.

 

[Certified Mike]

Wow! I have to say, even though I don't know anyone who gets as much air time as you seem to, I don't know ANYONE who has had so much trouble with the shocks as you seem to. I am really curious to know how changing the oil weight works for you. I am Def thinking that in your case, maybe changing the number and size of the holes in the shocks' plungers would be a big help! Just a thought but that may be a good fix for this.

 

[olds97_lss]

Got a few vids in my latest video thread since these changes.
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/threads/latest-bashing-videos-09-17-2017-10-30-2017.114334/

It still doesn't do nearly as well as the savage x or flux on landings, but it's livable now. The cage has kept the body alive. I've added a new body for it and my flux to my Christmas list. I wasn't able to find a stock body to replace the one on the flux. Hoping a t-maxx 3.3 body will work without too much fuss, since that's what I gave my wife a link for.

 

[2revo1maxx]

I bought a pair of summit axles for mine, love 'em

 

[olds97_lss]

Been a while. Have since removed the cage as it was breaking the body mount/towers frequently and made a roll bar instead.

Then late this summer, I picked up a 2.0 roller so I could run 6S and not worry about stuff breaking. I transplanted what I could from my v1:
Motor
Esc
Servo
Alloy Rockers
Shocks/vg dual rate springs/rear shock limiters
Body mount towers
Roll bar I made
Rear chassis support tie-rod
T-Maxx 3.3 wheels/tires (wrapped with kevlar cord now since they will see higher rpm's)
T-bone skids/wheelie bar
Alloy servo saver mount

Kind of bummed I couldn't use the RPM arms/carriers/true track, but so far, the stock v2 are holding up really well. Been running it hard since July 2019. The MXL-6S died on me on my second or 3rd bash. Lasted 3 years on 4S and only a few weeks on 6S. Replaced it with an old HPI F360C (MMv1) esc that I conformal coated. It had a nasty tip in and after updating the firmware, it was better, but punch wasn't adjustable. I had to adjust the throttle/brake curve to make it less aggressive. I also started running a set of 3.8" trencher's wrapped with kevlar cord. I just really like those tires and now run them on all 3 of my 6S trucks and 2.8 trenchers on my 3S trucks.

The F360C was a bit chattery off the line and would glitch/hiccup randomly. The motor really howled at WOT. Not sure if I had/have a dry bearing or if that's what a 2200kv just sounds like on 6S. It ran pretty hot as well. Either way, the blx2050 in my outcast performs well, so figured I'd put one in the ERBEv2 and gear it up a couple teeth to compensate for the lower kv. I bumped it up to 18/54 from 16/54. I had added a motor fan to it and noticed when I steered that the pitch of the fans would change quite a bit, so I put in a castle 10A BEC.

I added a 6x1800uf cap pack to take some of the load off the esc internal caps:

I busted the tie-rod/rear chassis brace thing I made and decided to try the traxxas alloy brace. After a few hard landings, it was bent pretty bad, so I ordered a hot racing one as in the photo, it appeared to have a bubble stamped into it, so I thought it would be stiffer... wow, was I wrong. Pretty sure it's made out of tin. I never even installed it after receiving it. I made my own again out of some 1/4" 6061 bar stock:

Also changed all my 6S trucks over to xt90's vs the TRX plugs. They tended to pop apart on lawn dart landings still, so I made some little clips out of delrin stock to lock the plugs together:

Then I noticed over black Friday that the hobbywing max6 was on sale... so just finished installing one of those. My wife ordered me a max6 for my outcast for Christmas, hoping I can gear it up a tooth without overheating like the BLX185 currently does. Also figured for the price... I had to upgrade the ERBEv2 with one as well. Was a pain installing it. My roll bar had issues as the footprint was too small, so I made little attachments to make it about 1" wider to spread the load a bit more since it rests on top of the battery bay areas which is thin. The max6 is quite a bit larger than the MMv1/MMv2/MMX esc's:

I had to make an adapter plate so I could install it securely. All I had on hand was some 1/2" TPR, which double sided tape does not stick to. Since I couldn't mount the esc to it directly via the screws, I screwed the plate to the chassis, then cut channels in the plate and used cap head screws in the bottom of the esc to key into 4 holes I made in the plate. Should hold well on horizontal impacts and the large zips should keep it from popping off.

Just finished getting it all installed and setup. I also replaced the fan motor button heads with cap heads to help the zipties stay in place. I left the gearing at 18/54 for now, I haven't run it since I put the arrma motor in it, so figured I'd see how it does with that before I change it.

As it stands now:

Hoping to get out and run it Sunday, supposed to be up near 50F.

This was my latest video running it as a 2.0 with the F360C/2200kv system in it: