Towing

[flandersander]

What kind of mods would I need to make my tmaxxx a towing vehicle? I know that weights go out front but what else? Like from the drive train or engine or what?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

What r u going to be towing? Like this?
My Losi Towing Rig:

Or like this:
My T-Maxx boat/trailer rig:

 

[flandersander]

Well more like the bottome ones. I just want to build a scale quad trailer for some model quads and a scale sled for maybe a snowmobile. You know just for looks. Do you have a vid of you're losi rig?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

no, unfortunatly. and if you want my honest opinion, i wouldnt use you t-maxx for just towing stuff around the yard. It wears on your clutch extremely bad. If you are dead set on making somthing to tow stuff, outside of competition, id get an electric like an e-maxx or somthing. It burns plugs, clutch shoes, and clutch bells and puts a large strain on your engine just to screw around with. But if you want some help designing a trailer, hit me up, I've done a few of em for my boat, and for my sled puller. I have one designed for the mini-t to pull the losi around the pits.
If the weather is clear, ill do a short vid of my t-maxx pulling the boat in the parking lot.

 

[flandersander]

That would be great. i wonder if I could get a kite or scale glider to fly with an emaxx or rustler...

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Weather was super sheisty last night, like 85 mph winds and golf ball sized hail. Hopefully it clears up tonight and ill get u that vid.

 

[flandersander]

that would be awesome. so you live in louisianna? Do you like crawfish???

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Yep, had a crawfish boil for mothers day last week at my parents house. Season's gona b closing soon though.

 

[flandersander]

true. we have em up here too. less around here but I think they are bigger. Me and my friend used to catch 3 pounders when we were little...

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Just a quick one for you. I'm gona make a better one when i get my AX 10, electric pulls better than nitro. You can hear the strain on the engine when pulling, and its not that difficult to pull. I've pulled this trailer with my mini-t before. No problems.

[ame=http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk285/losiaftershock/?action=view&current=MVI_0036.flv]

[/ame]

 

[flandersander]

wow. that baby is working hard. I bet it runs pretty hot to do that eh?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

yea, thats y i made the vid so short.

 

[flandersander]

yeah i can see why. So did you warm it up first? Also can you tell me about your losi rig?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Yea i just ran it for like 3-4 min to get the clutch springs and head warmed up a bit. What u wana know bout the losi?

 

[flandersander]

everything. What kind of traction it gets. power everything about performance while pulling.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

BASE PLATFORM:
Losi Aftershock. I chose this vehicle because at first, it had the sheer size, and stance inorder to become a strong contender. With her dual steering servo's and newly designed Mach .26ss motor, I just couldnt pass up a chance to try this bad boy out.

OK, I am by far not a heavy compeditor. I just tried to strengthen all the main parts that have a lot of stress on them.

STRENGTH:
First off, you have to be able to attach the clip on the front of the sled onto the rear of your puller without ripping off any parts. So I upgraded to some aluminum pieces.

Integy Aluminum rear bumper:
http://www.integy.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=2894&p_catid=

Integy Aluminum rear skid plate.
http://www.integy.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=2890&p_catid=

With putting that much strain on the rear of my vehicle, i upgraded my turnbuckles on the rear to some that are like 3x the size of stock.
http://www.integy.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=4096&p_catid=

To protect and allow more airflow to the engine while on the track, I added a hard bodyz roll cage, instead of a body. A body i feel is too enveloping the motor, restricting the cooler air around it. You have to remember, when you are putting that much strain on your motor, ITS GONA GET HOTT!!
http://www.hbzusa.com/webpics/LST.htm

POWER:
I decided to stick with the stock Losi Mach .26ss motor. I upgraded the 1m head shim up to a 2mil head shim, and am running 30% nitrotaine fuel.
http://losi.com/Products/Features.aspx?ProdId=LOSF0430

Brought the stock clutch bell down a few teeth, dont remember what it was brought to. It lost a little top end, but got a little more torquie.

Jammin JP-3. One word: AMAZING. I had this pipe installed when i was running 20% fuel and was extremely happy. I added the shim and 30% and this bastard woke up like it was in a coma at stock.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXNNE3&P=M

Ofna Aluminum 3-shoe Clutch. Over the stock composite shoes, these are a huge difference. Using a dremal I roughed up the inside of my clutch bell, and then installed it. Using the more firm springs, I was able to make the truck launch at higher RPM's and give it a much shorter acceleration rate.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKKF6&P=FR

TRACTION:

In order to stop stripping out the hubs on my rims........ 4 in one day during practice........ I went ahead and upgraded the stock wheel adapters up to the 23mm wheel adapters (HUGE) by Integy
http://www.integy.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=4463&p_catid=

I got the Pro-Line Wabash 40 series 23mm HD rims. Just because they fit, and I liked the way that they look.
http://www.prolineracing.com/p-350-wabash-40-series-23mm-hd.aspx

To keep my truck moving, I added the Proline MOAB 40 series tires. This enables me to be able to fine tune my driving skills on concrete and not wearing down to much, as well as providing some sticky-icky track time. These tires work very well for well groomed tracks.
http://www.prolineracing.com/p-304-moab-40-series.aspx

And finally, because of all of the jerk-offs in the pits who dont know how to follow the rules and keep their radios off, I upgraded my stock electronics from the nice stock digital JR system, to the much nicer Spektrum DX-3.0 radio and reciever.
http://www.spektrumrc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=SPM20300

As you can see in the pix. There are weights placed in precise spots all over the truck inorder to hold the wheels on the ground. I start off with a 3lb bench press weight sitting on the front bumper extending over the front of the truck. There is lead weights attached to the sides of the roll cage, and sitting on the top of the cage. The max weight of my class can be 20lb exactly or below. At comp time, my rig weighed 20.04lb. I ran the rig for 30 seconds and brought it down to 19.98. Never forget to compensate for how much fuel you have in ur tank at weigh-in.

Anything else you need. Hit me up.

Custom painted body for a little show in the pits.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

One more for size of tire comparison
MINI-T with tall hummer body.

 

[flandersander]

Man, thats a ton of info. I have one question though, What do you do? I mean pull something but do you drag a benchpress weight or pull a scale sled? Or is there a track that you drag it around or what?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Its a scale sled, with weights added to it. The bench weight on the front of my rig is for weight on the front end. Just put that on so i didnt have to get an ass load of lead for it like some people do. Look at the first pic and it'll show you how we pull.

 

[flandersander]

so its just a straight line? So when you pull it how far do you usually pull it?