So I bought a used nitro from a kid.

[Alan81]

Found my shock tower on amazon by mistake. Turns out it's fiberglass anyway, so I didn't ruin something particularly expensive by overdrilling the holes.

http://www.amazon.com/4440-Shock-to...87785&sr=8-139&keywords=traxxas+nitro+rustler

 

[Alan81]

The saga continues....

When I was working on sealing the new carb to the engine, I was trying to tighten up one of the screws holding the camber links to the rear bulkhead and I realized it was badly stripped and not going anywhere. Ugh. So after a trip to the hardware store where I found two 3x20mm stainless screws with matching washers, I got the rear end suspension put back together with tires that actually have tread on them. I took it out for a little test run tonight. I set the carb LSN for factory settings initially, and then had to richen it about 1/2 turn to get it to "pass the pinch test" It started running a lot better at that point. :whhooo:

At that point, I noticed that both servos were starting to glitch on me, so I cued in that the batteries were probably too low to continue for the night (I probably (definitely) left them on once by mistake. )

This got me thinking.... Can I get rechargeable battery packs for this thing?

Does it make sense to do that if a radio upgrade is in the future? Would the type of packs I have make a difference on the radio I can get?

 

[Rolex]

Absolutely you should get a 5 cell rechargeable hump pack for the car. Several types of radios can use the same pack, but I'd advise holding off on that so it won't influence the decision on which radio you get.
It's the rx and servos that eat power. The Transmitter will run for many, many hours on one set of alkaline batteries.
Get the big packs at Home Depot or Lowes. Lots of batteries at a good price.

 

[SchrodeMode]

+1 I'm assuming that you are currently using the 4x AA power pack. If that's the case, you can use rechargeable batteries in it, but remember that it'l drop the power going to your servos. A normal AA has 1.5v while a rechargeable one has 1.2v, 1.5x 4=6v while 1.2x 4=4.8v. Depending on the servos, you may or may not notice the difference.

 

[Alan81]

Any recommendations on brand of hump pack?

I'd like to get at least two so I always have a backup, but I also don't want to break the bank. Hopefully it will be cheaper in the long run.

 

[Rolex]

4 AA batts at 1.5V give you 6V. 5 rechargeable batts at 1.2V give you 6V.
That's why the hump pack has 5 and the batt pack has 4.

 

[Alan81]

We buy our bulk pack of batteries at costco.

It ran great tonight. I have a crappy video i took with my phone leaning up against a block of wood, it only died once for some unknown reason after I ran it under the cattle gate. When i tried to start it back up it seemed to be running real rich (grumbly when I give it low throttle) so i leaned the LSN, and it ran fine after that until the fuel tank went empty. After I refilled the tank, it was difficult to start at first, so I reprimed the engine, and had to open the throttle a hair with the TX, then it fired right up.

I also tested the STRC bumper against my split rail fence at probably 10mph or so (accidentally), and it held up great. I'm not going to try it at 40+

I'll post the video for fun soon, but i've got to do some battery pack research.

Next purchase is a body.

It feels like Christmas. :wheee:

P.S. Speaking of Christmas, the neighbor kids are so jealous. "We ask for one of these every year and they just get us the crappy wal mart ones and they just break."

LOL.