camshaftprelube

The low speed mixture adjustment is located in the center of the throttle shaft. The manual is fairly worthless when it comes to this.

camshaftprelube

Oh, about the trucks...
Some buddies of mine have them. They seem pretty tough. Weak points tend to be the hubs, and steering stuff. Overall, I think they are happy, especially considering the price, and the prices of replacement parts.

synergism721

Might be helpful if a newbie rewrites the manuel!

camshaftprelube

I just broke another a-arm. I'm not happy with the plastic quality.

oz_hole

Hey all, I know that neg stuff isn't what you wanted, so we'll start off with the positive... I'm 2 days new into r/c trucks and this site seems pretty positive, got a lot of useful info from the links provided.
I just got two of the Volcano STX's off of Ebay for $230/each PLUS shipping. I didn't want to admit that, especially after seeing the dealer prices. I've had these out with my buddy for a total of 20 minutes...

1. Body lasted 10 minutes.
2. Rear stub axle carrier broke.
3. Starter coil spring broke.
4 Starter pull string broke.
5. Lower tie-rod broke.
6. Front shock tower broke.


When will the breakages stop? It's absolutely ridiculous to expect these things to happen after such a short amount of run-time. Especially during a break-in period where we haven't even been running them that hard.
We've had to restrain ourselves after seeing the vids on the redcat website, imagining doing the jumps with our trucks... But if we're suffering the kind of breakages we're getting from a smooth parking lot and a basball diamond, what's gonna happne if we try them "off-road" and over jumps?!?

But it seems that nearly every part is made out of the same easily broken plastic... will it take mod-ing every one of these pieces to a better material before these breakages stop cutting our time short? Right now I'm starting to think that having to go home because I've run out of fuel is a dream.

trpastor

Hey Oz

That is not a good track record. Actually that is horrible. I haven't really gotten a chance to get past break in as I've been busy - but I will definitly post what I find about the durability. I have the 1/8 buggy though. These are the 1/10 trucks you are talking about?

When you say flat parking lot and baseball diamond are they flipping or crashing into stuff? I can't imagine this happening without any impact.

Also - waht are the temps around there? Most cars break much more easily in cold weather (below 40 - 45 I belive) I've heard you can boil plastic parts of any car to cure the plastic. I think the tradeoff is that it's more flexible. There's a company that incourages people to do this if they are going to ride in cold weather. I think it's maybe OFNA that I read it in their manual.

Does anyone else have the 1/8th scale? Have you been seeing breaking problems?

nofreetime

Hi everybody,

I am also new to this RC thing and recently purchased a buggy from red cat racing dot com. I LOVE MY CAR!!! what an awesome first experience.. My only recomendation is get an FM reciever and you will be good to go!. I do have a question... Where ELSE can I get parts besides recats site???? I recently had my first real accident and had to order some parts from RCR but they were out of the "Reduction gears" (I have the single speed trans it's the big gear in the trans) and they were out [:@] Ryan from RCR said it would have to be ordered from CHINA!!! NO!!!!! its gonna be weeks and there has to be sombody that know where I can get it today..

Thanks to all!

nofreetime

I NEED PARTS FOR MY RED CAT BUGGY RED CAT IS OUT OF STOCK! HELP!!!

oz_hole

Thanks for the reply TR,
I'm sure that you can imagine how frustrating it is to have to end two 10 minute runs after something else breaking. It COULD be the temp, I'm in Rhode Island and somewhere around 40-45F as you mentioned. Guess I'll be doing a complete dismantling this weekend! Any idea of how long I should cook 'em?
I do have the 1/10 truck, but I'll guarantee that the buggies are made with the same plastic.

I think these trucks have amazing potential, so I'm hoping that it's simply the cold...

synergism721

I have the 1/8 truck with a 27 and I/m waiting for the 1/8 buggy with a 21. Truck is fast but I'm still breakin' it in and haven't even opened it more than 1/2. Nothing broke so far and I'm at 47 degrees on gravel. I got mine from Hong Kong, but I think it's the same as Redcats. I'd like to become a distributor. I'll let you know when something breaks.

trpastor

nofreetime - Try going on ebay and look at the folks that sell your car and they may be able to get the parts for you. I know that Pro-RC is supposed to be in the US but I don't know if they stock parts. There's some connection between himotoracing, pro-rc, import-houses, that I haven't been able to figure out. Anyway that's the only other part stocking company I know of at this point.

The only other thing is if you have the 1/8th scale they are supposed to be modeled after the kyosho 7.5 - but I don't know how accurate that is/how well parts exchange. I'm planning on taking it up to a LHS about 15miles from here to see how transferrable they are.

OzHole- I found 2 topics on it one here

[link=http://hpieurope.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/hpieurope.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=I6nJUtZh&p_lva=&p_faqid=451&p_created=1081518194&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTImc F9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1ib2lsJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPX5hbnl_JnB fcHJvZF9sdmwyPX5hbnl_JnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=]HPI Site[/link]
...and one here http://www.ofna.com/faq.html

They both give different directions but OFNA even says that this will not stop all problems (So I guess you have problems like with with the big names big dollar brands). Have you owned other nitro vechicles? If so does it seem worse than the others?

The Himoto's are the same as the Redcats. The Redcats might send the bigger engines with a polished pipe though and maybe a couple things like that but overall the same thing.

rtweet28155

I have a 1/10 scale Tornato xp it is total junk it shatered a gear set broken 2 lower control arms and 2 shocks lost front axlel and orderd a set looked at diagram it is wrong parts it book the shaft is too short the car dosent stay in adjustment for nothing about to just toss it and i have had a well known r/c pro here in town look at it and he just laught at it and even tryed to ajust it it has spent more time in pieces on my dining room table than running im very un pleased with the buggy

Nitromancer99

I have yet to break anything on My Redcat 1/10 scale cars. I bought 2 of 1/10 and one of the Hurricanes and all have been pretty good. Mainly bought for the kids to learn on but I really like the 1/8 scale and the 1/10's so far so good. Kinda of agree on the radio. Its OK but could be better but I think for the price of the total package its not too bad. I would not recommend the radio for racing but for all around fun driving mine work perfectly. I see some posts about constant breaking on these things and I have a Traxxas and HPI and I break them pretty easy. I don't thinnk the plastic on the parts is any less than the major brands but I do agree that running them in too cold of a temp can cause a more brittle and easily breakable part. My Traxxas and HPI I broke within a few days of using doing normal things and on the 1/8 Redcat I did break a small suspsension part but that was due to the speed I was running it at and my stupidity to hand the controller over to a friend. By the way dont let friends drive....

I did some research on Redcat and Himoto to see if I could learn anything. Redcat seems to be a manufacturer of mainly ATV's and Cycles and just got into RC. They claim to have over 500 dealers in the U.S. for ATV's and they sound solid but am unsure. Redcatmotors.com and redcatracing.com have the same physical address in Phoenix. Himoto looks to be located in China and ships direct from there, they also seem like they have been doing this for a while and seem solid but again am unsure. From what I can tell they buy from the same factory and simply market them under different names.

Overall for the money I was rather impressed with the cars I purchased, but with only about 10 hours on them I surely will keep everyone updated on this thread.

[&:]

ScottHarp

Here are a few random things.

The truck is 1/10, not 1/8 and does not come with a .27 engine.

Cold weather will kill parts.

We are in Alabama and I have personally flipped the Volcano close to a zillion times. The body is crap but all the parts are still intact.

THE RADIOS ARE JUNK. I have one that will not hold center on the throttle. Makes it VERY INTERESTING.

We are a Redcat dealer, feel free to give us a shout for parts needs. But please keep in mind we are still recieving our parts shipments.

synergism721

Musings:

The 1/8 truck from Himoto is available with the 27 Infinity.

A zillion is not a real number.

Bad driving kills more parts than weather.

Changed my mind about being a Redcat dealer.

raceman17

I have the redcat tornado 1/10 truck. After the initial break in of 3 to 4 tanks of gas, It broke. I ran the truck into my foot and it snapped the front spindel. Well I had an traxxas maximum mt pro truck that the motor and tranny was shot but, it had ALL the upgraded alumium pieces for the suspension. I found out that you can use the front hubs, and spindles and carrier from the traxxas with alittle modification with a grinder. They bolt right up after you do a clearance grinding. One problem I found was when I use the dogbones for the front 4 wheel drive from the volcano, they would work but, I could tell they were binding just alittle at the up most travel. I need to find a slighly shorter dogbone. If not I will cut a tig weld it back together.
So after the front modification, I took her out for another spin. Well, I hip a SMALL hole 2 minutes after I got it running and it poped the back spindel/hub carrier. So I went back to the shop and started looking at the traxxax. One again, I took the hubs, spindels, and driveshaft/dogbone from the traxxas and they bolted right up. I had to trim an ear off of the spindle that wasnt needed to gain clearance. I also had to use 1 small washer as a shim between all the lower a frames and the spindel mount.
So now that I had that fixed, I went back out. I ran the dog out of it flipping it over and jumping and all sorts of stuff. Well the next thing that broke was the steering arms that are connected to the frame of the truck. Once again a swapped all this stuff over from the traxxas. I still have to get some shorter tie rods though. And I also busted the steering servo. I also bent one of the dogbones and pulled the starter cord off of the motor. So as you can tell I ran the car hard. What fun is it to have a truck that you cant run hard with.But other than that, that was my day yesterday.
I think these trucks would be 10 times better if redcat offered an aluminum upgrade that would bolt right up. The plastic pieces (spindles and carriers) are JUNK. If you replace them with the alumium stuff, it will be 1000000 times better.
Later

trpastor

So most people it sounds like have the 1/10th scale. I will try to get some decent running in on the 1/8th buggy I have so I can report back soon if I have many problems or not.

I do know that people have trouble with all brands breaking and I have heard people calling OFNA and traxxas junk as well and I think it may be just bad experiences with a particular brand - but it's not looking too optimistic. Although - how were the folks on redcat racing able to run them that hard and not have them break? I mean bumping into a foot vs flipping 4 times and crashing into a fence seems hugely different.

I'm hoping the 1/8th turn out to be better quality. It sounds like some of you have had pretty positive experiences with them also though? Those who have run for a while now and not had many problems please post as well so we can find out if htere's some postivie news out there too

synergism721

My 1/8 truck with 27 motor is solid, so far. I'm waiting for the 1/8 buggy - should be here today. I heard nothing good about these things till I found this thread. I have no doubt that as soon as my kids drive either one I'll experience breakage. That's why I won't let them drive my Suburban! Eventually, I'm sure I'll break something on one of my Himotos, but it will be after the motor has been broken in completely and I've worked my way up to the limit of its weakest point. But I think my driving style is a little different than some of these guys. I already know how to break 'em. Nowadays, I try not to crash. My kids are the same way on the video games. Still haven't a clue what a racing line is! Slowly...they learn...slowly.

ScottHarp

Syn -- I was in no way FLAMING you in the least.

I was merely stating what I know that Redcat is dealing in, not Himoto.

I was also stating form 12+ years of R/C racing that cold weather will attribute to breakage of parts more easily. You are 100% correct ( a real number ) that bad driving will break more parts than weather.

As far as "a zillion" not being a real number, I know that. I was merely trying to relate that I had filpped this truck SEVERAL times with no breakage.

Syn -- I sincerly apologize if you took my post as insulting or defamatory to you in any way. That was not my intent. My intent was to inform about what I know.

synergism721

Sorry Scott,

I've read so much negative stuff that I jumped the gun and should have been more thoughtful before writing. This is my return to RC after not having a car for 12 years. Does this sound OK for a break in? After a couple tanks of 1 - 2 minute very slow runs, I just ran the first full tank through with a couple burps from mid to full throttle for a second. I have plenty of smoke, but no 4 cycling. Right now, all settings remain as they came from the factory. The idle varies a bit, but it doesn't stall. I look forward to doing some real tuning this weekend. Problems - I lost a rear wheel nut and found the front nut on the same side loose. Other than that, so far - so good.

Bret

ScottHarp

You lost a rear wheel nut too?!?! LOL!!!

I found that the ones from a Mugen fit the 1/8 buggy.

Sounds about right. I ran 2 tanks on the bench, and about 4 through it SUPER FAT/RICH. Just when I was getting into pouring on the throttle I hit the jumps and break the friggin wing. There is that "driving" thing again! I am much more adept at oval racing than all this dirt and jumping stuff. But hey at least we are RACING!!

I have worked on the suspension a little but only at the track will I know if I did any good.

Anyway back to your engine. I think I would give it about another tank or two before I started leaning it out any.


On a side note. I am certainly glad there are NO hard feelings. And I hope you do consider being a Redcat dealer. I have been with them for over 2 years now, selling ATV's and they are a good company to deal with.

Drop me an e-mail and I can give you my number if you would like.

ScottHarp

Oh yeah, On the idle. Have you changed radios? If not that could be it. Look at the linkage to see if it is jittering, if so. That is your culprit. If not, it is tuning in the carb.

synergism721

This is too funny! I canabilized the nut off a mugen I bought on e*ay as a replacement for the one I lost! I'm gonna do a check tonight to make sure everything is snug. I'd like to hear more about dealership. What kind of investment is needed, etc. I'm around this weekend and will get back to you. Thanks for the tip on the break in. Regarding racing, I'd love to dirt oval. Closest track to me was in Oregon, but it closed before I could get there to see it. I'll have to set up my own. Any tips on setting up a track? A scale, 1/4 mile oval would be cool.

Bret

trpastor

You know - on a side note - I think the smartech forums started with a lot more negative comments about those cars until the community began figuring out the strengths and weaknesses. I think at this price point (of what you can get them on ebay for) you get a lot of newbies like me - and not having answers or support can be frustrating. But once people find out things like you can exchange the traxxas parts (mentioned above) etc and so on it becomes more enjoyable to be able to fix broken things (which DOES happen with all brands).

Hopefully we will see more and more positive experiences as time goes on. So far, my 1/8th scale Himoto (same as the redcats) has been GREAT. It is going to be quick as hell I can tell already but I"ve been busy and today it snowed. So I'll keep everyone posted on if it goes well or if I'm having problems.

I did get the FM radio but to be honest I got an upgrade to the .27 engine and the fm radio for $30 when I bought one on ebay. I paid $30 for the bigger engine and was planning on ditching the radio system anyway but the FM one has been pretty good. I also like the analong controls on it better than the digital JR radio I have becuase it's easy as pie to change everything right away. BUT it feels like a P O S compared to the JR. The range has been very good though. At least 200ft+ so far but I think it will probably go much further.

Chubbysdad

My Feedback: (1)

xeller.....


Yes came with everything.


oz,
If you are not priming it, you will go through plenty of pullstarters. Mine will start on 1-2 pulls everytime after primed. So far, I went through a clutch, and diff. gear but that was my sons fault. We jump it hard and he was keeping the gas on in the air and when it hit ground it killed it. Other than that, I think they are doing good.
My other volcano has a traxxis pipe and manifold. Also changed out the foam air filters to the paper. Keeps the florida sand out
I also am a dealer, so I keep alot of parts stocked.
Just email me the part number and I can check if it is in stock.