Mousesi2k

I run the Losi Upgrade shocks with Team Associated RC18T blue springs on all 4 corners. In each shock, i run Team Associated 50wt shock fluid. My car is run 95% of the time on the street / pavment while the other 5% is offroad / sand. Works just fine for me, though i feel i might want to change the spring on the rear to make it a tad bit stiffer. Seems a little to soft for my liking.

2canSAM

My Feedback: (12)

Thanks guys. I had mine setup with the standard oil shock setup (20wt all 4 corners, pinks in the front, silver in the rear) and it is way too soft. I am mostly bashing right now. Where we live it is a gravel and dirt road to get back to our house so that is mostly the terrain I am running on. I will be building a dedicated track over the next few weeks. On a funny note though I forgot how addictive this RC stuff is. I bought a Mini-T a few weeks ago, traded a stampede for 2 more of em, some other odds and ends for another 1 and just bought another stampede from the marketplace, so I will end up with 4 mini-t and a stampede back in the stable. Plus I added a trainer plane around Christmas, and now looking at a boat. This stuff is like crack

Mousesi2k

Hahaha RC'ing is like crack! I find that my addiction is modifying though. I could just build my own Mini-T by the amount of aftermarket parts that i have purchased. I probley have enough stock parts left over to build a 2nd on....*mind is think well today...runs to spare parts box!*

Cheap Guy

Welcome to the Four Mini-T club. I've found that the combination of size and the price of upgrades has led to me spending more time on my Mini's than my Rustlers. I'm also thinking about a boat like you.

As far as shocks, I just ordered two sets of GPM rear shocks for two of my Minis that have the stock shocks. I was going to start with the typical 30w oil and start from there. The rear shocks and/or springs seem to really be a weak spot.

Burntt32

My Feedback: (1)

didnt get fronts? and i just got an email from ebay asking me to leave feedback for that motor/esc combo. i think they might be swimming them over to us cheap guy.

MTboy

Well cheap guy you will have to let us know how those shocks work out.
I have the aftermarket aluminum shocks with every color spring that I have found but I got them all in a bid on ebay so have no clue what to use for whatever.
Like I said before, I will start with 35wt. and try aother springs to see what I like and then go up in oil from there. Since I havent mest with a mini before but seem to spend every dime I have on it I am going to run and test everything I can just to report back on what I think is the right thing for it.
I love the size and the cost of these things but really have no idea of what they can do till I get it out and test for myself. But do find that these are and seem to be great rigs and for the years have been running for years.
I would say that on gravel and hard packed I would say to go with softer set up.. Let them hook up as you punch it, but still stiff enough to handle the jumps without bottoming..lol
Like you didnt know..
Sorry wife is crying to me to fix her shoes......

Burntt32

My Feedback: (1)

guys, someone posted about the ezrun system in their rc18, good reviews.

[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8881485/anchors_8884023/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8884023[/link]

Cheap Guy

Yep, front only. That's all I can afford this "allowance" go around. Plus, while the front shocks seem "okay" the rear shocks were really bad, to extent they would bottom out and cause a rear flip.

As far as Giftshop, I guess I can't really complain since they did say it could take 5 - 22 days. Sometimes being a too "Cheap Guy" works against me.

r.sok

I have a ezrun 25a esc and 7800kv motor in my rc18t & I love it, my runtimes with a 900 mah 2s lipo is around 15-20 minutes and it is plenty of speed to enjoy, I recommend it

Cheap Guy

One of the two EZRun combo I bought off eBay came today. It was NOT the one from Giftshop (Hong Kong) which is now 20 days old. This was the one I bought off a seller in the U.S. It said in the posting it was new and was a 25a, ESC but when I opened the package, it was the 18a ESC, and the battery leads were clipped. Arrrgh!

[:@]

Do you guys think it will make a huge difference between the 18A and the 25a?

MTboy

Sorry to hear that Cheap guy. I don't think it's a big deal running the 18a esc. Just not as much room for bigger motors and may get alittle hotter but work fine together.
Make sure to let us know how it works in the MT once you get it in..

Cheap Guy

Got up bright and early to have a little fun with my "New" EZRun combo. After soldering deans on the ESC, I thought I was ready to go. Plugged it in and got a little funny smell. Dismissed it as being new. Ran it for less than a minute without a load (not mounted to tranny) - the motor got REALLY hot. I tested it with my temp gun and it zoomed to 130 degrees. I let it cool off, checked the tranny, mounted it and checked the mesh and tried to take it for a little run - cogged, then - FIRE!!! The ESC went up in flames! Since I mounted it with hook and loop, fortunately I was able to snatch it off before my entire car went up in flames, but solder and burned wires from the ESC were all over the place.

After almost 200 eBay purchases, I almost literally got burned for the first time. [sm=punching.gif][sm=angry_smile.gif]

Stay tuned! Meanwhile, I'm going for a run to cool off, LOL.


EDIT: Just received PM from seller - he's going to give full refund so no harm, no foul.

MTboy

[X(][&o] I can't believe it.. Do you think it was just a faulty ESC? Glad to hear the seller is stepping up and going to refund. I hope you get your other one soon and looking forward to you thoughts on it.

For me it looks like it's going to be awhile before I can get it back together and test it. I crushed my two knuckles, took a huge chunk of skin on my right hand and am having trouble holding the truck and trying to put the little screws in..lol Also not sure even if I get it back togetther if I will be able to drive since I cant grip anything [:@].

Burntt32

My Feedback: (1)

geez cheap guy, im sorry to hear that. i just sent our HK ebay friend a message saying its been 16 days, if i don't get a reply by the 22nd day i'm going to file a claim for my money back.

hairywiskeyman

I fried my mamba micro esc and luckily I had a spare, due to a poor purchase with my income tax refund, from a team trinity now brushless super truggy. The esc that was in my mini monster was from a trade on craigslist I got, then my servo went **** up. If its not one thing its another, but I am still glad I got out of nitro.

Cheap Guy

MTBoy: Ouch! Sorry about the knuckles. At first I thought you were talking about steering knuckles. Don't give up, go find you a helper to "git r done."

I think the motor was bad. Like I stated, it got hot after less than a minute, even when it wasn't under load. I used short screws to mount it so it wasn't an issue of the screws "screwing" it up.

Just to make sure it wasn't the car, I slapped in the extra Losi Speed motor I had laying around, along with a 1/10 ESC and a 3s lipo I had laying around from my airplane days. It actually ran pretty good - the motor held up to the 3s lipo, got a little hot, but not close to the EZRun. The only problem was that the ESC made the car top heavy so it handled like crap. Even with 11.1v, the Speed still wasn't a fast as the Fireball with 2s, not that I expected anything different. The Traxxas TQ tx and Micro rx combo gave much better range than the stock setup.

Burntt32

My Feedback: (1)

with all you guys worried about temps with the EZrun, do you think it would be worth it to get one of those heat sink motor mounts? im just curious. Also, i got a reply back about my EZrun

"Hi,we have sent the item for you by hong kong airmail,it takes 5-22 working days , you will received on July 10 before ,if you not received ,please tell me ,we will re-sent for you ,that ok ?

thanks you ! "

Also, Mousesi, did you end up trying a locked diff?

MTboy

Burntt32, I don't know if they get that hot. Atleast I have heard they run warm but not to hot to worry about. It wouldnt hurt to get one other then a few grams of weight. I know if I feel it is I will be doing all I can to cool it down..

Thanks cheap guy.. Yeah sorry I didnt see that earlier, must have been the pain pills. Also about the screws. I need to pick some up. Glad to hear about the range with the setup of traxxas RX and TX since I will be using the same for now.
I ended up crushing both middle knuckles (hand) and not being able to get stitches b/c I waited to long to go have it checked. Let me tell you it makes it alot worse not having stitches, so if wife says to go you best just go...lol But may now have to pay for the guys teeth so not sure how that will pan out.
I've been working on it very slowly but would like some help and it's more the driving that I'm worried about. But guess since my left hand is good I should be able to handle it..lol We will see. I'm hung up on the shocks. Waiting for my son to get home and see if he can help me hold the shock and A-arm so I can screw in.. Really didnt think that would be a big deal...lol
But as soon as I do get it together I will post pics of it and hope to get a vid of me slamming into a pole since i couldn't turn..lmao..
Good luck guys..

Mousesi2k

Burntt32- Hey mate, i actually havent had the time or funds right at the moment to pic up a 2nd diff to lock. Had a wedding i had to go to and some family birthdays this past month so i never got a chance to order one. I get paid again in a few days and will have cash specifically for this! So i'll post up how it goes. Do keep in mind, i also use the DD slipper setup so it could run differantly if you do not.

Cheap Guy

Burntt32 - If the 1/18 EZRuns are the same as the 1/10 versions, then cooling shouldn't be a problem. One concern that I would have is the additional weight on the back. When you add the power of the brushless, it's going to be that much more difficult to keep it from wheelieing. I was running one of my Minis with the 1/10 ESC on the back and the ribbed tires on the front and it was very tippy, even with shifting the receiver forward.

One last comment: As of today, still no EZRun from Giftshop. I also sent the other bad one back to the eBay seller. And I finally gave up and ordered a second EZRun combo from a US source for $47 shipped. I'll probably go brushless on all four cars now because I'm getting tired of the lack of range with the stock rec/esc and might as well go all out if replacing the stock part.

mrbonez

wow sorry bout the fry out cheao guy and the knuckles mt hopeing to get a couple reviews on the Ezrun set up i personaly havent ordered 1 yet still waitning for a couple rino packs from hong kong then Ezrun next . not for nothing but i grabbed a couple fireballs for my mini t and i have to say they are very impressive for what they are heck that fireball runs wayy cooler then my cobolt 14t and cooler then my orion baja,s on 2s 800mil lipo . now i can runn almost as long as my brothers mambafied t almost

Cheap Guy

I'm telling ya, if it wasn't for the range issue, and after all the crap I've had to deal with insofar as getting the EZRun, I'd stick with the Fireball. It's very impressive, especially for the price. The Fireball just makes the range issue more noticeable because when it gets going it will easily overshoot the range. I got a little ticked after constantly having to run down the street until the receiver kicked in.

About the batteries: While the Rhinos are pretty good, if you can swing the Flightmax 1300, I'd get those instead. It may seem like the extra 300mah won't be much but they are noticeably better than the Rhinos as far as duration. They also seem to have a little more punch.

MTboy

Well Cheap guy if you got your easy run from the same link you gave me for $47 then you may see it before your first one..lol Took 3 days to get to me. Altho I didn't like the packaging it came in. But all was well once I opened up the box.

mrbonez

i would grab the flightmax's but they seemed to be backordered when i went to oreder so i just went with the rino 1050's next order from hong kong will be the flightmax's if they have them and a ezrun set up probably just getting the 35 amp guy for plenty of head room . ya know its crazy how cheap you can get lipos for these days heck i cant even buy a new nimh bat for this cheap . still loving thease fireballs man they hardly get hot and they have lots of smack to them the 1/10 esc might be helping allitle but so far i like the fireball the best from all the brushed motors i have run and we have tried almost all of them! was just thinking without rc uinverse i would still be runing A stock mini t with nimh bats and probably a rx 280 lol

Burntt32

My Feedback: (1)

Lipos are rediculously cheap now. I only started helicopters a year and a half ago, and the price has dropped tremendously on those batteries. Also i was thinking about the weight vs wheelie...ing. I'm almost curious if it would be worth getting a couple alloy parts up front and keep the back plastic just to help shift the weight forward.

One final question for now, would the sand paddle tires work in soft dirt? it is currently raining or i would find out for myself. thanks!