Very New To Rc - Differences Between Savage Models....
 

Well hey there everyone, where I live we dont have any Hobby Shops Close by so I cannot look at anything first hand and I am primarily looking at used products any way. So I have been looking online at different vehicles and believe price and performance wise I am going to pick up a used HPI Savage for my son for Christmas but am a little confused on all the different models, like Flux, Savage SS, Savage 3.3, 4.1, 4.6, xl etc....What are the main differences?

I am basically looking for something to 'bash' around in snow, mud, rock, weeds, make some noise and look good doing it. I think I have found a good deal on a Savage X 4.1 ($150 but needs a roto gear). Would this truck fit my needs and is there a way to start this truck without replacing that gear to see if the motor even runs? If not is there a way to possibly tell if its in good shape?

Here is a pic of the truck, it looks real clean, going to be receiving more pics before I take the drive to check it out this weekend.http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1948318

Savage .21 is the 1st Savage truck has silver plates with a silver roll bar, also has different diff casings
Savage .25 is the 2nd one very similar to the .21, but has a .25 engine included (that is only difference to my knowledge
Savage X 4.6 is a good truck, and has a decent RTR engine quite a few changes from the original (but almost every part is still compatible). Main changes from the .21, and .25 are the radio box, and diff casings. Newer ones have stronger diffs(easy way to tell is new ones have a orange metal plates to mount things to where older ones have purple)
Savage X SS is a kit form comes with a engine (that is of lesser quality IMO then the RTR)
Savage XL is essentially a longer version of the X. Also has some stronger parts like the dogbones.
Savage flux same size as savage X, but has a Brushless motor
Savage XS 1/12th scale electric version of the savage


Now to start it without a roto start you could use a drill with the roto start wand piece.
Or if you buy it you could replace the motor backplate with a pull start (my recommendation as I found the roto start to be flaky)

I guess its the gear thats bad, seller says it either needs a pull start or new gear for the rotostart to work so is there any way to start it with a bad gear without taking it apart or anything? Also does $150 seem like a good price?

Here are some more pics, anyone see anything that throws up a red flag?
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1948520http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1948521http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1948522

Well it is the older 4.6 as it has 8 shocks, and the purple piece all the way on the left side of the 1st pic.


Looks pretty clean to me. Doesn't look like it was run much, or he didn't beat on it. I'd be a tad worried about the engine, but worst comes to worst you can get a brand new F4.6 of ebay for like $100 shipped. New the trucks around $400 so even with a shot motor it would be $250ish running.
I paid $220ish for my savage X on ebay a few years back, and it had a blown engine. Was in tip top shape physically, and clean dude didn't know what he was doing, and trashed it within 5 runs (he didn't break the engine in).


I will say this looking at the pics if I was shopping for another savage, saw this one was on ebay, and I only had those pics to go off of I would buy it for that price even if the engine was toast. But that is just me.

Will say one thing you might want to pick up a flysky GT2, or some other 2.4ghz radio though to replace the AM radio that has, as they are way more reliable 99% of the time. I've cause quite a bit of damage to my nitros due to AM radios failing.

Ok, is AM like the old controllers which would have your vehicle take off somewhere and usually end up the last place you wanted it to? I am in contact with the seller through email and a couple things make me think it probably will need a new engine.

well if there was enough interference yes it could end up where ever lol
Plus on savages there was another issue with AM. When they flip the antennas like to get sheered off.
Remember having to replace my antenna like 5 times on my old AM radio
Something like http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...arehouse_.html would do the trick. It even has a failsafe you can set so if it does lose contact with the radio it would stop(I forgot how to do that though) Just keep the antenna under the body as 2.4 is short, and can penetrate the shell easy.

Thats pretty darn cheap for a controller and receiver, last time I had an rc the radio cost about as much as the vehicle.

They still have those lol
Some are over $300
Its cheap cause its a bare basic radio, and 2.4ghz tech is cheaper to make then the AM stuff as its basically just a chip that doesn't need circuitry tuned to precision.
Also that one is sold under a few different names. I have one of them under its actual company name (FlySky), and I find it does the job very nicely. I also have 2 of their more expensive models that have some of the bells and whistles(throttle adjustments, steering fine tuning etc), but for a savage that will be fine ;).

Really, no trim adjustment....? Probably wont need it, but I didnt even know they made controllers like that for these types of rc.

it has trim under the little plastic thing, and basic adjustments

I more meant no throttle adjustments like on the somewhat higher end model I can change the servo's throw rate curve depending how far I pull the trigger among quite a few other things that I never use lol. BAsically they are more settings for fine tuning racers IMO, and since I don't race I don't bother with them, also they have 10 model memory that stores different setups, etc...

Oh, ok...yeah I wouldnt need all that other fancy stuff. Talked to seller again...Seller said motor is not mounted because rotostart wand gave out, went to store and bought a pull start which the knot ended up coming undone, he tried to fix it but gave up and so it has sat. He said needs new pull start, a proper glow plug for ambient temp (I assume he means since its cold out now) and engine mounted then it should go no problem. If I can get the green light from the wife I might pick it up this weekend. I just hope the motor was broke in correctly and tuned correctly.

If you have the time when you check out the car, take a battery-powered drill with you - quickly pop the engine in, it only requires 4 screws (remember to get a good mesh between the spur/clutchbell), mount the wand in the drill and start the badass truck up. It shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes to do this.

If there is loctite there, use it, otherwise remember to remove the screws when you get home and put loctite on them.

If it's damn cold and the glowplug is for warmer temps, then use a hairdryer on the engine for a few minutes or put the truck on a radiator to warm up, then start it in the guys garage.

I agree with SyCo, get a 2.4 radioset, it's worth it in every way.

Once you're happily at home again, it's late evenin and your son is sound asleep, check out SavageJunky on the tube for jumping tips etc. The diffs on these older Savages aren't as strong as the newer ones so good landing techniques will lessen the time you need to fix the beast or just sit there drooling and waiting for parts...

Enjoy, and bash it like you hate it :cool:

Ok, may be going to pick it up today, so stay tuned for either great news or....

Savage dust bunny had something I didn't think about, but would like to add about loctight make sure its BLUE loctight seen too many people buy red, and break tools, and strip screws due to that crap.

Remember my truggy I bought used had red on every friggin screw it took me 6-8 hours straight to dismantle it as I had to hold a propane torch to every friggin screw to get that crap to break free. A lot of the damage the last owner of it did was due to that crap too as he broke a screw off in the motor mount, but instead of getting a new mount he drilled a hole through the chassis into the motor mount...


Also these trucks can take a ton of abuse ;)
I've launched mine 15-20 feet into the air (off 10 foot high BMX jumps) in the past, and landed it every which way imaginable on concrete. Most the damage I did was bend my cooling heads fins, and a crap load of scrapes.

The secret to not destroying diffs from jumps is to let go of the throttle right before a wheel hits the ground

ok, thx gonna go pick it up tomorrow and go straight to the local shop since its on the way home. Fingers crossed everything is ok with the motor.

Ok, I picked it up, took $25 in gas to get there and I traded an amp and pair of subwoofers I paid $110 for about 3yrs ago, went to hobby shop, picked up pull start for $27, got it all together and it started!!!---For a second......I hurt my arm a few months ago and a wet towel hurts to pick up so the pull start is killing me.

So in the end I got a Savage X 4.6, 1 bottle of nitro, filler bottle, two glo plug ignitiors, the manuals, box, a couple allen wrenches, and misc pieces for the truck all for under $170, I also got a broken rotostart, a battery and hobby type charger for the battery.

Score!!!!

not bad

Found out the one way bearing was slipping, cleaned it up, put it back on and now I get the 'pop' from the muffler but the thing just wont start, my multimeter is in the garage so I cant check the voltage of the glo plug ignitor, but its likely dead. Guess I will try again tomorrow.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1949550http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1949551

If you have a bad arm then a rotostart will be your best friend. Yes they can be unreliable so you might want to look into getting two. I got a few used ones in an auction once and used them for parts, they are very simple to fix.

I remember the first savage x models had a design flaw on the TVPs, could you post a pic of the chassis right under the fuel tank?

I will take a pic in a couple, I have run into something odd.

When I had the pull start on I would feel compression and hear the muffler pup like I should, then read about cleaning the one way bearing because it may be slipping. I did that and was using my drill and I was getting the pop, flywheel was spinning but no start and then the flywheel stopped and the pop stopped too.

What the heck??? This engine should have started though, glo ignitor was on charge over night,

I think I this engine may have a couple issues, carb and the roto start shaft/bearing, but replacing those I may as well just buy a new engine and save the other for parts.

Take the glow put and put it on the igniter. Does it glow? If not it needs replacement.

Did you use the drill for more than 5-10 seconds? If you did, the oneway may be shot, especially if the carb is flooded.

Nitro engines that have sat for a long time often require a cleaning. The needles in the carb may have gunge that needs to be removed.

Yeah, found out about the short bursts on the one way a little too late:p I am sure I killed it.

I am going to have to do a tear down I guess, got to find a hobby shop with parts, the one I went to didnt have much, they were primarily a Losi shop.

Ok I tore the engine down and found why I am having an issue with it starting. The starter shaft part #1432 and pressure spring/pin #1433 are not making contact very often. the roto start wand/stick (used with drill) will turn over the engine a couple times then not, even turning the one way bearing by hand once you get to the compression stroke more often then not the pin slips out of the groove in the shafts plate. Never going to get the truck running with this issue.