New X-maxx owner

[Horse]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here. Just getting into RC but jumped in head first. I'll give you a bit of background.

One of my boys had an rc car on his Christmas list. He didn't have anything specific in mind. During my research, I found all kinds of fun toys that I didn't know existed. My background was only my first rc, a radio shack Golden Arrow when I was young, and a 1/16 Torro tank a couple years ago.

I ordered the two youngest some ~$100 brushed cars from amazon. They were a hit. The older boys had fun playing with them too so I decided to get them their own. One took the time to read the battery instructions and safety info on the first cars so I decided he was responsible enough for a better rc.

Pulled the trigger on an Arrma granite for him. I spent a little extra and got him Spektrum batteries and a basic g2 charger. He's responsible but didn't want to make it too complicated for his first experience. Ordered an X-maxx for my self. We ran the granite for the first time last weekend. I was very impressed with it. Only broke a bumper loop after some nasty cartwheels. Another granite is arriving tomorrow for the oldest.

My toy was delivered this week. We're going to run everything on Saturday. I also ordered a few extra parts to have on hand. So far I have a set of rpm arms, steel 50T spur and 18T pinion, and got some duratrax wheels and tires. I do have a few questions to ask.

After I ordered the rpm arms, I saw the Traxxas HD arms. Anyone have experience with both? Which is better? I don't plan on launching in skate parks so either would be fine, I'm sure. Just curious.

For gearing, the gear chart shows 18/50 as being a speed run setup only. I was hoping to use this for normal bashing. Would this cause issues? Seems like a fairly tame upgrade to me.

I plan on running stock on Saturday just to see how it performs. I have three sets of batteries so that should give me a good feel. Maybe I won't need more speed but nice to have the option waiting in the garage.

I'll post back with any damages incurred.

 

[WickedFog]

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you guys jumped in the deep end. I would suggest you grab an infrared temp gun. You'll want to monitor motor and ESC temps any time you play with the final drive ratio, weight, tire tread, or anything else that will put more load on the motor. Changing the gearing or tire diameter can quickly heat the motor up.

And I would test the temps on pavement or flat ground first. Make sure nothing gets too hot. You'll want to keep the motor and ESC below 160°F or so. Driving in grass will increase the temps a bit, so check them there too after you verify things are looking ok on easier terrain.

 

[Horse]

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you guys jumped in the deep end. I would suggest you grab an infrared temp gun. You'll want to monitor motor and ESC temps any time you play with the final drive ratio, weight, tire tread, or anything else that will put more load on the motor. Changing the gearing or tire diameter can quickly heat the motor up.

And I would test the temps on pavement or flat ground first. Make sure nothing gets too hot. You'll want to keep the motor as nd ESC below 160°F or so. Driving in grass will increase the temps a bit, so check them there too after you verify things are looking ok on easier terrain.

Thanks for that info. Our main running area is a large grass field at the local high school. Very wide open and the grass is kept short for sports. It should be the least taxing, as far as grass goes. We're still on the hunt for an area with some jumps. I have to hit up a hardware store this weekend anyway so I'll see what they have for temp guns.

 

[ahr43]

Welcome to the forum. The fun has just begun for you and your sons. Cheers. 'AC'

 

[Tunedfrog]

Welcome in @Horse

 

[Horse]

I'm sure this is only the beginning. Once the warm weather gets here, I think I'll need more batteries. lol

 

[ground_zero298]

Welcome! Gratz on the new maxx. One of the best Rc's made to date.

Traxxas electronics tend to run. hot. If they recommend it as a speed run only, it means it's going to run hot. The motor will shut down if it does to protect it. So if it keeps shutting off, you know its geared to high. You can run higher when its cold out, may have issues in the summer temps. When she stops going but the steering still works you're either to hot or the battery low. Can also add a fan if you're borderline on over heating.

 

[Doom!]

Welcome aboard! You guys are going to have a blast!

 

[Horse]

Got to take the xmaxx out on it's first run yesterday. It drove beautifully.....for about five minutes. Then, due to operator error, hit a fence post. Broke the front arm, drive cup, toe link, wheel, and ripped the tire.

I have spares of everything but the cup and toe link. Those will be delivered tomorrow. Already replaced the arms with rpm. The rest will be fixed and ready to run tomorrow. I'm not mad about the wreck but wish it would have happened after a bit more drive time. It's been a good experience for learning the construction of my truck. Not nearly as complicated as I expected.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Get used to it my man, the first time out with mine, I smacked a dumpster.
I ran it a couple of days ago and smacked myself.

 

[Horse]

Yeah, it's not really a big deal. Gives me a chance to learn and upgrade at the same time. The set of duratrax hatchets are going to be tested now. The kids had fun with their granites and didn't break a thing. They were running those pretty hard too. Their upgraded parts will wait for another day.

 

[Doom!]

Glad it was a quick fix, it sucks when your itchin' to get back behind the wheel and you have to wait weeks for a part.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Glad it was a quick fix, it sucks when your itchin' to get back behind the wheel and you have to wait weeks for a part.

Probably why I have so many I guess. I don't have to wait...

 

[Horse]

The only others that I have are a trx4 and an scx24. Definitely not the same fun as a fast basher. I'm thinking about getting rid of the trx4 and getting a 1/10 something. Maybe a short course truck.

 

[Tunedfrog]

It all depends on my mood as to which rigs we take out. Usually when I'm bashing, the wife just watches and doesn't drive her Stampede much. When we go out crawling, she stays on the easy trails and I look for rocks to climb.
My favorite of my bashers is my Baja 5b Gas buggy, and my crawler favorites are by far the 1/24s.
Just like my guitars, I really do have too many.

 

[Horse]

The xmaxx is now fixed. I have the orange body and put orange rpm arms on the front. Looks really good. I'm going to put the same on the rear this weekend. The duratrax hatchets look sweet, as well. Time will tell how they perform.

The toe links I put on are blue aluminum. I went with those just because they weren't much more than stock links and they had the fasted shipping. I ordered a blue roof skid plate and hex nuts to match. I think a little blue will accent the body paint nicely. I'll post a pic once it's all together. Now the long wait to finish this work week.

 

[armykyle1]

I wouldn't bother with the rpm arms. The Traxxas HD arms are the way to go. I would upgrade the to the HD hub carries too. I have the rpm and and traxxas upgraded versions. The Traxxas are a little cheaper but both seem durable.

You could definitely run into temp issues running running 20/50. I'm running 20/46 on my basher xmaxx and it seems to be holding up, but it's been pretty cold haha.

Aluminum toe links can cause the steering blocks to break easier as well the bell crank components.

Check the beads on your tires and possibly reglue them as needed. The stock tires are known to blow easily. My lasted a while and blew due to my own stupidity.

With my basher xmaxx, I keep almost everything plastic. My show/speed run truck has a lot of aluminum parts but I'm not sending it off jumps jumps.

Welcome to the forum and happy bashing!

 

[Horse]

I already have the rpm arms. I bought those before I knew about the hd ones. I do have the rpm rear hub carriers but haven't installed them yet. If the stock ones fail, then I'll switch them out.

I'm going to run stock gearing until something breaks or the speed becomes unsatisfying. I'd leave the stock pinion and move to a 50t spur first. It doesn't have to set any records for me to be happy.

I did wonder about going with aluminum links and fearing it would just move the weak point to something more expensive/complicated. I think I'll order stock ones and keep the aluminum as back ups.

I have the duratrax hatchets on the truck now and a set of stock tires in reserve. Everything is new to me so I may just have to try each for a while to see which I like better.

 

[Horse]

Had a good bash session yesterday. Went to a local field with some dirt mounds to get a little air with the granites and xmaxx. All in all, very minor damage. One granite had no broken parts but a little body damage. The other blew a tire but we had spares. The xmaxx broke the front and rear bumper supports, front bumper, and sustained some body damage. The pinion also came loose but that was a quick field fix.

I'm new and learning air control so I didn't expect to get out unscathed. Since everything wasn't drive critical and cheap to fix, I call it a successful day. The duratrax hatchet tires are pretty good. I liked the way they handled and the truck was very responsive in the air.

I was using one set of Zeee 4s 8000mah 80c batteries and another 7200mah set. I was pleasantly surprised with the run time. The set of 8000mah lasted through the each of the granites three 5000mah packs and still had juice to drive home. Same with the 7200mah batteries.

 

[Doom!]

Always good when ya come home smiling!