69Stang

Thanks cummins!

qadude

Well now, I have just finished all 138 pages. I certainly wish I had found this site prior to my purchase of 2 Savage XS Flux's a month ago

Just a little background on me first. Long time RC car enthusiast. First car Revo 3.3 over 10yrs ago I suspect. Back in the hobby a few years now (and its still a money pit), ever since electric became viable. Have 2 sons in the hobby. Between us we have maybe a dozen cars/trucks, Emaxx, Revo, Slash, Gravedigger, Tam racing buggies, and so on.

I recently got tired of buying a certain brand (rhymes with axis) and then dropping twice the purchase price on upgrades to make it durable. So I researched HPI (but missed this site). I decided to try the Savage XS before i dropped bigger dollars on the full sized one.

So first of all, SHAME on HPI. I got 10 minutes out of the first one before it stopped dead in its tracks. Motor whirred, truck didn't move. Figured pinion right away. After the Oh-So-Fun dis assembly learning curve, that's what it was. No loctite on grub. So whats it been now, 2 YEARS for goodness sakes?

I emailed HPI of course, but they were like "meh". They said I could send the whole truck in and they would fix it, but it might be better if I did it myself and of course they would gladly replace any broken parts. There ARE no broken parts and I got the distinct impression the rep couldn't have cared less. So, since I live in Canada, shipping it back was not really an option.

I had a good look at the setup, with the 5mm recommended space gap. I also saw in this thread where someone made a spacer to hold up the pinion.

After measuring the flat-ground area on the motor shaft, I came up with a simpler solution.

I installed the pinion upside down.

It sits on the transition area between flat and round on the motor shaft. I then used Loctite, etc. Sure, it makes the set/grub screw harder to get to, but so what. When i pull the tranny out i take it apart anyway, not just open up that inspection plate.

If anyone is wondering, I've put at least 5 packs through it so far, with no issues. I use 5000 or 6000 2S hard cases, Duratrax, etc. No need for 3S for my driving style.

Motor and ESC are barely warm to the touch, and considering these were purchased late July 2013, hopefully they have all the bugs worked out by now.

I haven't un-boxxed the second one yet because i know i have to take it apart before running. Please don't tell me that taking the entire car apart to "check" things is SOP. Anyone who pushes that theory is insane. The idea itself is so ludicrous as to not merit discussion.

Other than the above (inexcusable) problem, I like the truck. It is pretty well built considering its price point. I like it and think it is MUCH better built than some of its competitors in the same price range. Still on the fence about dropping the money to purchase 2 of its big brothers though.

Anyway, lots of good information in this thread and my thanks to all of the posters who compiled it. Well done.

Cheers

Pete

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

I am sorry to hear that you are selling your XS, cummins..

Savagexsfail

I am new to the hpi savage xs flux. I am just wondering if changing the gearing for the 3s lipo setup will help solve the breaking of axles and shredding of tires or should I just buy 2s batteries

whee-sconsin basher

Hello everyone! Just about to be a new owner (Monday is taking forever to get here!) I actually got the kit version instead of the RTR, so I'd be happy to post progress as I build. Haven't read EVERY page in this forum yet, but I'm working on it. Can't wait!

whee-sconsin basher

WOOHOO! Now I can get the ball rolling on building. The only thing I'm leery about right now is the battery I chose. Viper says a 30c is minimum, and I plan to set it up in a training mode so my boy can learn to drive with this, so I should be okay. Man, I never had a toy this awesome at 4 years old!

whee-sconsin basher

@savagexsfail, I see alot of negative comments on this over multiple forums and almost as many saying they don't have problems. I would love to know what circumstances they run under when this happens. I also wonder if they are setting the slipper right to help with drivetrain stresses.

suburban_hooligan

iv had issues with my SS driveshafts but it was do to bad loctite. issue has seemingly sense been resolved.
only chassis issues i ever hear about are the diff cups. i hardened mine when i built the kit, so far they are still like new (been running the truck sense early August with a 2s lipo, 3800kv 4 pole castle motor and MMP esc)

iv noticed that most of the *****ing comes from RTR owners. and from what iv gathered doing research before i bought mine, it's typical HPI RTR electronics issues, diff cups and other typical RTR bugs that need to be ironed out, and you have those bugs with any new RC. i haven't seen any complaints about chassis parts breaking. idk what people are complaining about. and iv never been able to get a straight answer, i always get some pissed off diatribe about how it never worked and always fell apart, but no clear cut answer as to how and under what circumstances.

the only clear cut answer iv ever gotten about the truck is that 3s is to much for the drivetrain and chassis to handle. i run mine strictly on 2s and it's F'ing ballistic. idk why anyone would need or want a 3s. the thing would be uncontrollable.

whee-sconsin basher

@suburban_hooligan, how do you like that motor in there? The one I'm going to use is a 3900kv, also a 4 pole.

whee-sconsin basher

As of last night, I completed the front clip. Something you can't see in this pic that I did, is a layer of electrical tape to help seal the skidplate spacer between the skidplate itself and the bulkheads. Figured an extra layer to keep dirt out would be a good idea. I will post a pic of the rear when I do it so you can see what I mean.
I also built up the rear diff and stuffed it in the bulkhead, but couldn't finish the rear clip cuz I have 1 hinge pin that is larger than the rest, and binds as a result. Tonight I will polish that down and finish the rearend.

suburban_hooligan

well. no clue how fast it goes, iv only managed to hit top speed with it a couple times, it hauls ass. it's got gobs of torque. im glad im running stock tires or it would probably flip over backwards. the thing is F'ing ballistic! i had to set the traction control and take some timing out of it. it's way faster and more powerful than anything im used to.

my only issue with it, and im still not 100% sure if it's motor or battery or some combo of the two that's causing it. the low end is somewhat inconsistent. it won't leave from a dead stop the same way twice. sometimes it will jump up and go. sometimes it creeps off the line. sometimes it suffers from major "turbo lag". when im driving it around and use quarter throttle for example, sometimes i get quarter throttle, sometimes i get more, sometimes i get less. there's no consistency.
i am only running 20c batteries though, so im thinking that's 90% of the problem right there. im typically not a fan of sensorless motors, but i think with a decent battery (50c or higher) its a good combo for this truck.

whee-sconsin basher

That is weird with the whole inconsistency thing. Viper told me a min of 30c with their system, wonder what Castle reccommends. Hope you don't toast something!

whee-sconsin basher

So here is the pic of the rear skid spacer with the tape on it. This may be overkill, but I'd rather keep my diffs as clean as possible. After seeing how dirt got into my mini revo diffs so easily, I thought of this.
Also did a tad more assembly last night. Got the rear clip done minus the turnbuckles being bolted up. Wanted to get more done, but it was already pretty late so I will be making up for that tonight and hopefully get it finished by Sunday. Hard to do when I can only get an hour or two here and there.

whee-sconsin basher

Well, tonight I will be building shocks. Got the chassis together the other night and that was it.
Now on a totally different note, I've been toying with the idea of buying Predator Tracks and using the Wheely King adaptors. I know this is alot of money for what it is, but if that were my concern, I wouldn't think about it. That being said, has anyone tried this or know of anybody who has?

kistner

My Feedback: (10)

There are a few vids on youtube, looks cool.

whee-sconsin basher

Just watched a few. Some duder with an Axial rig had a sick looking setup. Watching them in action was cool, but I think I'd get sick of them after a bit. I think that will wait til I build a crawler.

mudfrog

Loving the tires. They have excellent grip on all surfaces. The 24T helps but it still gets pretty hot when doing hill climbs. It got hot and shut off on me a month ago and while it still runs it has about half the power that it used to. Just haven't had time to take it apart to see if it's something mechanical or if it's the motor / esc.

whee-sconsin basher

whee-sconsin basher

Finally got the electrics as well as the front and rear clips installed. Shocks were supposed to be done already, but will be doing those maybe tomorrow night. Then it's down to painting the body and glue up the tires.
Soon.....

jason1980

HI guys, jst got myself a savage XS RTR,
What do i have to watch out before i run the truck?
Any tips? or just go and have fun?

whee-sconsin basher

[QUOTE=jason1980;11646455]HI guys, jst got myself a savage XS RTR,
What do i have to watch out before i run the truck?
Any tips? or just go and have fun?[/QUOTE

Welcome!
First thing I read was to check the pinion setscrew and use blue locktite on it. Alot of people seem to have had that problem. Its always good to check every screw and nut you can before you run it anyway. Another thing that seems to happen is people smoking the esc, which could be from running 3s. HPI states it to be capable out of the box. Either they made some junk, or people are running them too hard, or they ars using batteries that aren't strong enough. You need to run a battery pushing a minimum of 25-30c to keep it alive. Even my system I plan to use is set to run 30c minimum. A higher c rating never hurts! Also seen people complain that drive cups should be hardened and drive pins snapping pops up too.
Alot of this info is buried in this thread along with other things. Give it a look, you will b glad you did!

jason1980

Ah yes,, i just had my experience with the pinion... it came loose and my car stopped running after 10 mins of slow moving....
Just took out the motor and tightened the worm screw. Is loctite a must? i don't have any on hand now....
I am horrified that they actually use cheap screws, i actually stripped 1 or 2 screws with the correct size tool.

whee-sconsin basher

Loctite is a must. Not using it will mean it will come loose again. Any time you have metal screws threading into metal you should use it to avoid that very problem.
The hardware disapponts me also. I have at least 3 that I had to throw away while building, and I know there is more that will give me trouble when it comes time to pull things apart. I plan on upgrading to an rcscrewz kit when that happens. Even tried using my good allen wrench set thinking it would help, but wasn't enough.

suburban_hooligan

that's the second hardware complaint iv heard. iv had absolutely no problems with the hardware on mine. i even used the kit supplied L wrenches to build it. i wonder if they made a run with a bad batch of screws

whee-sconsin basher

You know, I never had a problem with my other HPI kits in the past. It kinda threw me off. The ones that hold the hinge pins in were the worst ones. Those are the ones that are gonna give me a run for my money come teardown time. The kit allen wrenches seemed sloppy in the heads to me.