Wheelies can be bad for your truck's health

[Digital Liquid]

Ok, I out running my savage today. I normally don't run on the street, but today I was b/c a friend was with me and all he does is drag race his HPI Nitro MT. So I said I would run w/ him (I would have taken my touring car but it is all apart getting hop-ups). Anyway, I'm running my savage w/ my dirt wheels and getting some pretty good hook-up on the street. Power wheelies (from a dead start) are coming all day and night.

So after awhile I start to see how long I can walk her down the street (constantly accelerating). Sometimes she pops up and rolls too far back and flips upside down and slides on her lid. After a few runs and a few more slides upside down, I bring her in to take a temp check and what do I notice. My receiver wire is now only a 6-inch stub. Needless to say that I was bummed out and pissed off.

So I ran her as far as I could in the parking lot to see how it affected my range and didn't notice any difference. So my question is:

--- Can I simply attach some wire onto the cut end to fix it?

--- Not do anything since it seems to work fine?

--- Open the receiver case and try to solder on a new wire?

What have you guys done in this situation? Thanks.

 

[Rolex]

As long as you have a length still coming out of the reciever box, just solder on the amount you need to get the proper length, and cover it with heat shrink tubing.

 

[wannarunem]

what gauge is the receiver wire? The same thing happened to my storm

 

[Digital Liquid]

what gauge is the receiver wire? The same thing happened to my storm

It looks to be around 18-guage wire. What did you do to fix your storm?

 

[ImBroken]

I would personally suggest just picking up a new antenna wire from your LHS, or Horizon Hobby , for the $1.50... They are very easy to replace if you have a soldering gun. You could even ask the LHS if they could do it. Just my opinion...

 

[olds97_lss]

I did the exact same thing with my savage. I now run the wire underneath the roll bar. That damn thing acts like a set of shears when you flip it.

It took me longer to get the receiver out than it did to solder in a new antenna. It's not hard, just take your time. You may not notice much difference, but it would suck to see it screeming WOT away from you because it's more prone to glitching when it's that short.

Where I live, there is apparently a lot of interferance. Depending on where I go, even with the full antenna, I can't get out more than 100 yards or so before it starts twitching out on me. With the short antenna (just like yours did), I couldn't get further than 25 yards away before it would freak out.

Spend the $2 on a new antenna and replace it before you regret it.

Oh, I'm using the Airtronics MX-3 (FM) and it still won't clear 100 yards or so before twitching out.

 

[wannarunem]

It looks to be around 18-guage wire. What did you do to fix your storm?

I havent fixed it yet. But i was told that i could go to Radio Shack and buy a roll of antenna wire(for like 4 bucks). I went there and i didnt see anything small enough. Everything was to big to fit through the antenna tube. If i would have found it...id just pull out the receiver, take the old wire off the circuit board (carefully) and solder on a new wire. If u do this make sure u add the same lenght of wire that was there originally. Otherwise, it may affect the frequency.

If i remember correctly..I tried 22 gauge and it was still to big for the tube.

 

[cvec7]

that happens to me all the time, when it happens, I jus take it to the lhs, and have them solder on a new wire.

 

[joneser4u]

Wheelies also take their tole on stock diffs. But I was standing on my antana while trying to flip my truck back over and ripped it off, I stripped the insulation off the wires and twisted them together, put some electrical tape on and its good as new.

 

[olds97_lss]

Wheelies also take their tole on stock diffs. But I was standing on my antana while trying to flip my truck back over and ripped it off, I stripped the insulation off the wires and twisted them together, put some electrical tape on and its good as new.

Actually, that will probably shorten the distance it will go reliably. By doing that, it creates a new "end of antenna" at the break point. Even though it's twisted on and making contact, the break in the line could cause issues.

 

[Rolex]

Always solder the connection if you don't want to take apart the reciever. Just moist air getting to a twisted connection will eventually give you a bad contact point as soon as the wires lose the 'shine'.
Patching is fine for a quick fix at the track, but run a new lead from the reciever the first chance you get.

 

[Digital Liquid]

Ok, thanks for the info. I will get a new receiver wire and solder it on. I will let you guys know how it goes.