Recomendations for a new Maximum MT Pro

[bigben]

I just purchased a new MT Pro and I have never used an RC car in my life (except for one of those litle 9.6v that you buy at a Toys-R-Us). Is this a good truck to purchase for a first timer? (I am not looking for a this brand is better than that brind argument, just an honest opinion for an RC Newbie). I have been reading as much as I can and alot about different fuels. I am planning to run a 10% Red line fuel. Is that a good one or should I go with a higher nitro content? Are there any parts I should buy now cause I will break them quickly? I do not plan on beating this much (At least I hope I don't beat on it, but since I am new to RC what I may do thinking it is easy may be very rough)

In general I am just looking for peoples opinions and recomendations. I don't want to end up with a 300 dollar dust collecter cause I did not use it right or something like that.

I thank you all for your time. Take care!
Ben

 

[x_789]

Hey Bigb,
I don't know of anyone here who runs this truck but that is not that big a deal. I took at look at my newest Tower catalog and looked at what hopup parts they offer for this truck.. the only things that I saw were some aluminum upgrades.. And honestly for what you are saying you want to do there is not reason to invest in aluminum a-arms and aluminum hb carries.. My understading is that the Pro is full ball bearing so that is cool that saves you an upgrade right there. Pretty much the pro seems to have every upgrade they offer for that sepcific truck minus the aluminum and remember it adds weight doesn't always look pretty and makes other plastic parts more prone to breakage. I am in no way saying don't get aluminum if you want It. I just don't think you need it.. You will want to make sure and install a fuel filter and make sure you have a good airfilter installed.. Lastly the only thing I see you needing to upgrade is the Steering servo. This is a must on any R/C truck you will break it soon enough don't worry. Also get a good servo saver.. Lastly you may want to pick up some body posts those are also common breakage parts and a spur gear or two is not bad to have around These are common breakage items other than that I think you are just gonna have to play till it breaks and learn from trial and error. Hopefully though someone here has that truck or knows someone that does.. Almost forgot if your tires aren't glued..glue them dudes on before you roll one off a rim.... Good luck X

 

[bigben]

Thank you for the advice, I will get one of thos fuel filters as soon as possible. I am glad to hear that this comes with good parts to start because I am sure I will be lost if something breaks.. er when it brakes. I do have a couple of more questions now.
1) How are some air filters in rc better than others? (I am sure that is a supper nwbie question)
2) What is a servo saver? What does it do and why?
3) Is there an advantage to running 10% or 20% and why?
4) What is the stinger on the exhaust and is covering this a good way of stopping the engine without leaning it out or causing damage?
5)Am I annoying everyone already?
That is all I am going to ask for now. I thank you all for your time again.
Ben

 

[El Pirata]

1. Generally th air filters that have mesh screens tend to last longer since the screen keeps most of the dirt particles off the filter element and does not break down the filter element. I mean, let's face it, most filter elements are only a low density sponge.

2. A servo saver is something you attatch to your radio receiver in case your signal is disrupted the servos automatically shut the carb and you don't lose your toy because you ran out of range. They do not, however, detect if your battereis in your receiver pack are going bad. Bottom line here is that you mostly eliminated one thing that could be the end of your toy.

3. Whichever fuel you decide to run keep it consistant. Some people will only run one brand and % of nitro/oil for everything they own never changing. While there are others who don't really care what brand they run as long as the % is the same. Unless you are really into your RC stuff a great deal you will probably not notice the difference between 10% and 20%. Whatever you use make sure you use at least the recomended oil % that your owners manual recommends.

4. The stinger on the exhaust it the outlet tip, where the exhaust leaves the pipe. Plugging the stinger with your finger is really the least harmful way to stop your engine. Waiting until your engine runs out of fuel will allow your engine to get hotter than normal, the fuel is part of the cooling system of the engine.

5. No, you are not annoying anyone. Everyone has to start somewhere and good luck with your project. Come back again and again if you hit any brick walls and need an answer, for those that know me I was not meaning this hit the brick wall literally it was merely a figure of speech.

 

[x_789]

Originally posted by El Pirata

2. A servo saver is something you attatch to your radio receiver in case your signal is disrupted the servos automatically shut the carb and you don't lose your toy because you ran out of range. They do not, however, detect if your battereis in your receiver pack are going bad. Bottom line here is that you mostly eliminated one thing that could be the end of your toy.

I think EL misunderstood what I was talking about he is talking about a Failsafe have a look at that link.. A failsafe put in between the servo for your Engine throttle control will cause the motor to go back to idle if it looses contact with your radio transmitter this keeps it from driving away from you and crashing into something and destroying it..

A servo Saver is what goes on the end of your servo.. When you invest around 40 bucks for a good hightourqe metal gear servo then you want to spend another few dollars on a qaulity servo saver like these from kimbrough These go on the end of your servo and they are spring loaded they are made to take the shock when you kit something instead of the servo gears taking the shock...

Lastly dude ask all the questions you want that is what we are really here for is to help other like people before helped us.. This is a cool little community and we hang out and BS a lot but the thing that brought all of us here is that we love R/C cars and and what to share our hobby with other who like this as much as us..or you just came here because the TRX FORUMS SUCK so bad becasue a few select mods are dictators anyway.. if you got any more questions ask away and join in, in the other forums and have a laugh...X

 

[El Pirata]

Aww same difference. I hate it when that happens!

 

[bigben]

Thank you both for all of this input. I take it that a throttle return spring is not and will not do the same as the fail safe switch. I am starting to get together my shopping list of parts that I should order.
Thank you again.
Ben

 

[SkyMaxx]

A throttle return spring is a mechanical failsafe. It literally returns the throttle to an idle position.

The failsafe in question is actually an electronic gadget that senses signal strength and battery strength. When one or the other falls below the programmed minimums (ie you lose the signal or batteries go dead), the failsafe inputs via the receiver servo controls to return the throttle servo to idle or apply braking action and or steering servo to a neutral position. Depending on which one you buy, you can get several features or the bare minimum.

I run with a throttle return spring and it functions quite well. If there is a loss of a signaled input to the servo, the throttle return spring forces the servo and throttle back to idle. That means you can stop your runaway rc buy shutting off the transmitter.

 

[bigben]

That all made sense. Thank you all. I have a couple more things yet again:
1) Does the body post height matter much or can I adjust them as long as the engine head does not touch the body?
2) The back end of my car (since it arrived last night) seems to sag abit should I just increse the tension (I think that is the right term). Or should I change the oil, however from what I read it already comes with 40wt oil in all the shocks.
3) Does the antena have to go out the top of the rc (Though a hole I would have to make) Or is it o.k. for it to just lay under the body? (the small flexible antena fits inside this firm but flexable 1/8 plastic fuel line. I have no trouble beding this fuel line (with antena inside) back and resting it under the rear body mount post. Is this safe or should I do something else?

Those are all the questions I have now. I thank you all once again for taking the time in helping me get into nitro Rc.
Ben

P.s. I took everyones advice and order all the parts everyone recomended.

 

[El Pirata]

1. The body post height does not matter too much so you can more or less set the height where you want. One word of caution, make sure you don't go too low that you engine does not get too hot as a result of less air flow through the body.

2. If the back end seems to sag then you would increase the tensoin not the oil in the shocks. The shocks are there for absorbing shocks not how high your car rides. I would wait in increase tension until you get everything together before trying to adjust your shocks.

3. No, the antenna does not have to go out the top of your car. Just make sure that the antenna does not rest on something hot and melt. Another thing is that your range will be decreased by keeping the antenna inside the body and not out the top like it was designed for.

 

[x_789]

1. Ditto what EL said What I would also recommend is cut a hole in the body about the head if there is not already one say about 3/8 of and inch wider all the way around this way air is coming in and out some vechiles are made this way and part of the head sticks out through this hole this would let you lower body if you wanted to.. Next some one will tell you the correct size for racing legal I can't remember.. But you can cut a circular hole in your windshiled so that air is coming in that way also. What ever the size is like say 2 inches get a pen then a piece of string and tie to an Xacto knife so that there is one inch from the pin to the exacto nife then cut a circle holding the center still and turning the xacto on the outside radius. IF you use one inch of string you will get a perfect 2 inch circle.. Just know the hole size is double the string length..

2. You would want to adjust the amount of spacers on rear shocks this will infact raise the vehicle. There are diffrent opions on whether or not you should do this to adjust spring tension check this out its my take on basic shock and spring theory maybe that will help answer your questions a little better also 40 is a good weight to start with lots of us TRX owners go strait from the standard 30 to 40..

3. No the antena can be inside the body you should still get a pretty good range as long as you dont have the antena touching metal. Here is an example of how I ran my internall on a truck. I took a peice of lexan cut holes in it and ran the antena through it then mounted in betwween my front body posts. This worked great till I installed a Carbon Fiber chasis then I had to run the antenna strait towards the sky and keep it away from chasis..

 

[SkyMaxx]

Per ROAR the amount of window cut out is dependent on the class of car/truck and the class of the race.

For the antenna, do not cut the antenna and do not coil the antenna. The antenna length is specifically designed for the frequency band that your receiver and transmitter are calibrated for. If you do this either intentionally or by accident, expect there to be losses in not only range but proper reception of the signal independent of range. As both Pirata and X have mentioned laying out the antenna inside the vehicle or flattening its angle out the rear of the vehicle will change the reception charateristics of that antenna and will impact the range of your receiver.

As for the Carbon Fiber chassis, Carbon Fiber is a known electronic inhibitor. It can create all kinds of problems for electronics from simple interference to total meltdown. Give careful thought to thorough insulation of all electronics against contact with the chassis.

 

[El Pirata]

Originally posted by SkyMaxx
simple interference to total meltdown

Now that sounds cool to see. Can you try that on Sunday?

 

[SkyMaxx]

Don't have a carbon fiber chassis, but you may be familiar with it from OSW or Desert Storm...carbon fiber that is...