Team Associated MT10 and upgrades

[ronnyc00t]

So had my mt10 for about 12 months now and it’s been awesome. Recently did some upgrades and man it’s made a big difference.
Upgraded the servo to surpass 20kg metal gear, fastrax steering assembly, installed fan and ally heat sink to motor, installed team associated ally shocks all round (huge difference and well worth the upgrade, handles way better under acceleration and cornering, also they look so good ), also bought a new body as the original one has had some damage and looking abit worse for wear haha
After some hints on best way to paint the new body, anyone recommend any other essential upgrades?
Shock towers and body mounts??
I’ll do the rpm arms as they break
I’ve seen alot do motor and esc but it’s one cranky little truck not sure it needs anymore performance but open to suggestions

 

[kennethg089]

I'm sure it has ball bearings but maybe upgrade them, makes the existing drive line more efficient without having to upgrade esc or motor and maybe a spring kit to dial in suspension setup. Both are rather cheap options.

 

[ronnyc00t]

I'm sure it has ball bearings but maybe upgrade them, makes the existing drive line more efficient without having to upgrade esc or motor and maybe a spring kit to dial in suspension setup. Both are rather cheap options.

Awesome thanks good to know

 

[CertifiedMike]

So had my mt10 for about 12 months now and it’s been awesome. Recently did some upgrades and man it’s made a big difference.
Upgraded the servo to surpass 20kg metal gear, fastrax steering assembly, installed fan and ally heat sink to motor, installed team associated ally shocks all round (huge difference and well worth the upgrade, handles way better under acceleration and cornering, also they look so good ), also bought a new body as the original one has had some damage and looking abit worse for wear haha
After some hints on best way to paint the new body, anyone recommend any other essential upgrades?
Shock towers and body mounts??
I’ll do the rpm arms as they break
I’ve seen alot do motor and esc but it’s one cranky little truck not sure it needs anymore performance but open to suggestions

Keep in mind, some parts are meant to be 'sacrificial'. It might be a better idea to stock up on plastic body mounts that break easily instead of super reinforced so now the chassis breaks instead.
Tires are a great way to dial in your performance for a given surface.
Changing the oils in your diffs and shocks will have huge effects as well.
How are your esc and motor temps?
You might be able to step up a tooth or 2 for more speed without much more heat. You'll need to experiment with that.

 

[ronnyc00t]

Keep in mind, some parts are meant to be 'sacrificial'. It might be a better idea to stock up on plastic body mounts that break easily instead of super reinforced so now the chassis breaks instead.
Tires are a great way to dial in your performance for a given surface.
Changing the oils in your diffs and shocks will have huge effects as well.
How are your esc and motor temps?
You might be able to step up a tooth or 2 for more speed without much more heat. You'll need to experiment with that.

To be honest it’s boardline out of control fast as is. Don’t need it any faster, probably like it to track a little more predictable
Stays cool enough to touch here in central qld
But he’s arms, shock mounts and body mounts I’ll stock up on
I’ll replace the rev n motor as needed but don’t feel it needs anymore performance better performance now. For me anyways

 

[CertifiedMike]

Work on dialing in your fluids for better traction, launch control and over all suspension performance. Get some tires to put that power down and go practice!
No such thingas too fast!
I'm kidding. I get what you mean.
Really though, if you get your truck dialed in, speed is much easier to control.
Tires make a huge difference!
You might gain some stability and loose a bit of top end speed with slightly shorter, wider tires too.

 

[RustyUs]

https://www.rctalk.com/forum/search/1775727/?q=MT10&c[container_only]=1&o=relevance

 

[Lumikko]

anyone recommend any other essential upgrades

Doing something about the motor mount is a good upgrade if you do a lot of hard landings. Even a standard washer on the hinge pin of the motor mount, to make the hook fit without excessive play, helps to keep then pinion and spur gear parallel.

The RPM arms are a double-edged sword: virtually indestructible, but also very noodly. I changed back to stock arms because I wanted more precise handling.

The shock towers are another flexible part (=undamped spring) that could be stiffer to let the shocks do their job. The simplest way is to brace them is with a with a horizontal turnbuckle and rod ends. Attach the rod ends to shock tower mounting holes that are not in use. Or with longer shock mounting screws, you can use the same holes for the brace.

My Fastrax bellcranks were lopsided so the Ackermann bar wasn’t square to the chassis. I went back to the stock bellcranks but kept the Ackermann bar. The bellcrank posts have no support at the top -> addressing this with a little heat shrink tubing on the bellcrank screw socket heads made the steering stronger and more precise.

The manual calls for a 0.8 mm gap in the servo link. I found 1.3 mm to provide more symmetric steering on mine. To fix the inherently asymmetric steering, the best course of action is to get a radio that allows you to set the endpoints separately.

These may be a little boring and non-blingy upgrades, but I found these to be helpful. If you really get into it, there’s a ton of tinkering you can do with this chassis.

 

[ronnyc00t]

Doing something about the motor mount is a good upgrade if you do a lot of hard landings. Even a standard washer on the hinge pin of the motor mount, to make the hook fit without excessive play, helps to keep then pinion and spur gear parallel.

The RPM arms are a double-edged sword: virtually indestructible, but also very noodly. I changed back to stock arms because I wanted more precise handling.

The shock towers are another flexible part (=undamped spring) that could be stiffer to let the shocks do their job. The simplest way is to brace them is with a with a horizontal turnbuckle and rod ends. Attach the rod ends to shock tower mounting holes that are not in use. Or with longer shock mounting screws, you can use the same holes for the brace.

My Fastrax bellcranks were lopsided so the Ackermann bar wasn’t square to the chassis. I went back to the stock bellcranks but kept the Ackermann bar. The bellcrank posts have no support at the top -> addressing this with a little heat shrink tubing on the bellcrank screw socket heads made the steering stronger and more precise.

The manual calls for a 0.8 mm gap in the servo link. I found 1.3 mm to provide more symmetric steering on mine. To fix the inherently asymmetric steering, the best course of action is to get a radio that allows you to set the endpoints separately.

These may be a little boring and non-blingy upgrades, but I found these to be helpful. If you really get into it, there’s a ton of tinkering you can do with this chassis.

Cheers for the info

 

[ronnyc00t]

Doing something about the motor mount is a good upgrade if you do a lot of hard landings. Even a standard washer on the hinge pin of the motor mount, to make the hook fit without excessive play, helps to keep then pinion and spur gear parallel.

The RPM arms are a double-edged sword: virtually indestructible, but also very noodly. I changed back to stock arms because I wanted more precise handling.

The shock towers are another flexible part (=undamped spring) that could be stiffer to let the shocks do their job. The simplest way is to brace them is with a with a horizontal turnbuckle and rod ends. Attach the rod ends to shock tower mounting holes that are not in use. Or with longer shock mounting screws, you can use the same holes for the brace.

My Fastrax bellcranks were lopsided so the Ackermann bar wasn’t square to the chassis. I went back to the stock bellcranks but kept the Ackermann bar. The bellcrank posts have no support at the top -> addressing this with a little heat shrink tubing on the bellcrank screw socket heads made the steering stronger and more precise.

The manual calls for a 0.8 mm gap in the servo link. I found 1.3 mm to provide more symmetric steering on mine. To fix the inherently asymmetric steering, the best course of action is to get a radio that allows you to set the endpoints separately.

These may be a little boring and non-blingy upgrades, but I found these to be helpful. If you really get into it, there’s a ton of tinkering you can do with this chassis.

I’ve got a new transmitter, gt6 just haven’t hooked it up yet

The fratrax assembly seems to be much better than the stock, for some reason mine had so much play or flex in it. It was awful. Nothing broken I could see

I do see tyres and ballooning being an issue but it tracks way better with the new steering assembly. Wouldn’t mind trying some tyre maybe a little harder. Also the shocks seems to have made a significant difference too, huge in cornering, acceleration and braking. Steering is on another level with the new servo. I see now why so many recommend it

I do what to look more into diff oils to give it more of a limited slip affect. It’s seems to just spin one wheel when the weight lifts one side but a lot better now with the shocks

I am still learning and getting better with a car of this speed etc I also just had a kagama 4 rock up and man that thing is on another level level straight out of the box. That thing is amazing, build quality, weight is crazy and not much more than the mt10. Really looking forward to getting that thing out more

Any tips on painting the body?

 

[CertifiedMike]

There are a bunch of posts about painting lexan bodies here. Search out a few but def watch some yourube vids too.
Seeing it done is WAY easier than hacing someone try to explain it.
Go slow, work in a clean area and keep EVERYTHING 'warm'. Painting in the cold, trying to spray cold paint... asking for poor results.

 

[ronnyc00t]

Can anyone help with this and why I’ve got a tiny bit of play in my steering. I’ve checked and rechecked everything and I can’t work it out
It’s won’t let me upload the video sorry guys

 

[CertifiedMike]

To upload a video here, as far as I know, you actually post to Youtule or another hosting site, then post the link here.

 

[daveovington]

So had my mt10 for about 12 months now and it’s been awesome. Recently did some upgrades and man it’s made a big difference.
Upgraded the servo to surpass 20kg metal gear, fastrax steering assembly, installed fan and ally heat sink to motor, installed team associated ally shocks all round (huge difference and well worth the upgrade, handles way better under acceleration and cornering, also they look so good ), also bought a new body as the original one has had some damage and looking abit worse for wear haha
After some hints on best way to paint the new body, anyone recommend any other essential upgrades?
Shock towers and body mounts??
I’ll do the rpm arms as they break
I’ve seen alot do motor and esc but it’s one cranky little truck not sure it needs anymore performance but open to suggestions

Do you find that it's incredibly difficult to keep the damn thing going straight ? Lol. I've just bought a bearing kit for mine as when I started digging into it a bit after a hard landing made it grumpy lol some of them were non existent and down to the races only so I'm hoping it helps alot. But I'm just curious if yours is hard to keep straight so I might be able to start thinking ahead of what else might need to be ordered for it lol

 

[CertifiedMike]

Bad bearings can 100% cause any truck to not go straight. I'd start with them unless there are obvious signs of other breakage too.

 

[daveovington]

Bad bearings can 100% cause any truck to not go straight. I'd start with them unless there are obvious signs of other breakage too.

Awesome, I'm happy to hear that. I was already pretty sure but had to hear it from someone other than the voices in my head lmao and it's an older rig but everything else seems to be in pretty good shape. I went over everything with my calipers last week just to make sure that everything was adjust right and was tight, and now I've got the new bearings to put in so I'm optimistic that things will run alot smoother. Ty for the reassurance

 

[CertifiedMike]

Awesome, I'm happy to hear that. I was already pretty sure but had to hear it from someone other than the voices in my head lmao and it's an older rig but everything else seems to be in pretty good shape. I went over everything with my calipers last week just to make sure that everything was adjust right and was tight, and now I've got the new bearings to put in so I'm optimistic that things will run alot smoother. Ty for the reassurance

Ppl love these trucks. I'm sure you'll love yours too!

Regular teardowns for maintenance, inspection and of course to repair are all part of RC, esp in an MT or basher.
You'll be used to all this in no time.

You bought a great truck! Have fun with it!

Post a build thread when you get a chance. There are a bunch of ppl who bought these trucks who can offer pointers along the way.

Good build threads are always fun to follow... post lots and lots of pics.

 

[RustyUs]

Do you find that it's incredibly difficult to keep the damn thing going straight ? Lol. I've just bought a bearing kit for mine as when I started digging into it a bit after a hard landing made it grumpy lol some of them were non existent and down to the races only so I'm hoping it helps alot. But I'm just curious if yours is hard to keep straight so I might be able to start thinking ahead of what else might need to be ordered for it lol

Possibly take a closer look at is the servo saver, and servo gear backlash.

 

[daveovington]

I have plenty of other rc's but this one is my first mt/basher. It's alot crazier and harder to control than anything else I have so I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to what to look at first with it for some reason lol. It is an older truck too so I can't really expect perfection from it. I built a small ramp for it and jumped it a few times before I finally landed a backflip but it landed pretty hard and popped the motor apart, that's what got me really looking at the guts of it .

 

[RustyUs]

Wear and Tear

I have plenty of other rc's but this one is my first mt/basher. It's alot crazier and harder to control than anything else I have so I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to what to look at first with it for some reason lol. It is an older truck too so I can't really expect perfection from it. I built a small ramp for it and jumped it a few times before I finally landed a backflip but it landed pretty hard and popped the motor apart, that's what got me really looking at the guts of it .

Parts wearing down/wallowing out, even if your Rival MT10 is not one of the first production runs, the bigger tires and running environment may come into play with a person's OCD quicker than a RC with smaller tires. Add up all the slop from each of the steering's pivot points, and it can surely be enough to raise concern. Even with new pivot balls, rod ends/ball cups, and servo... there will be some play in the steering. It's completely normal IMO.