tommie!
Posts: 231
Joined: 11/16/2006
From: Toronto,
ON, CANADA
Status: offline
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I finally got the beast. I just wanted to post my initial experience. Pics will follow as soon as I can get them.
Radio and servos: The radio is basic AM fare. It has a nice hard rubber steering wheel and the trigger is decent. It works quite nicely. The throttle servo is basic and also does a good job of braking. The steering servo on the other hand was no good. It had ok torque but refused to center. It glitched and turned on its own when I tried to accelerate. I had to swap out this servo as it was defective. I installed a servo from my Redcat buggy. I have contacted Redcat about this issue and will report on the servo performance as soon as I have a replacement on hand.
Chassis and Suspension. Strong looking arms, both upper and lower. There is a little bit of play in the upper arms but nothing excessive. As the truggy came from the factory the front suspension was a little on the soft side and bottomed out on jumps. More preload is required up front than the back. Stiffer springs and heavier oil definitely would help on big air jumps. I dialed in more preload and that seemed to work. The suspension travel had pretty good range and there are plenty of suspension adjustments available. I should also mention that the suspension arms are longer and a all new design. No buggy arms here. The chassis and layout has also been stretched out to extend the wheelbase. Overall a good solid rehash of the buggy design. The monsoon has a slight rear weight bias. The wheel and tires that come on the Monsoon are low profile and dense foam inserts. The dished wheels are 17mm plastic chromed and look cool.
Engine. SH .28 P3. I used lTrinity 25% fuel. Breakin went ok.It stalled a few time so my arm got a good work out on the pull starter but nothing unusual. The heat sink is massive in diameter compared to my other big blocks and I gouged my finger on the cylinder head pulling the pull starter. Ouch. The glow plug burned out after I started tuning it for performance. I put a OS# 8 plug in and it works good.
The SH has been out two outings after breakin and I think it is just starting to come alive. I got good low end torque, its a bit soft in the midrange and pulls hard at the top end.
I think more tanks need to be burned off so I can tune it more accurately. The carb adjustments are decent and precise. 1/8 of a turn makes a big change. This engine likes to rev high and the sound reminds me of a F1 car. She screams. Top speed is about the same as my revo 3.3. But boy it sure SOUNDS faster!!
The exhaust is decent although the header bend could have been more gradual. It is slightly crimped.
Clutch looks identical to buggy and should be durable. 3 shoe composite. Engagement was good.
Not sure about the extended clutchbell and fewer teeth. I think the transmission gear is identical to the buggy so a lower tooth clutchbell is used to change gearing for the truggy wheels. I have not had any problems with this set up yet but I wonder how long it will last due to the lower number of teeth. No problems so far though.
Diffs. All 3 diffs must be filled with silicone oil and the perfect weight I might add. Very little ballooning of the front tires and I even caught the front wheels coming off the ground a few inches!!!
High marks to the monsoon in the diff department!
I did have a couple of issues with the Monsoon truggy. One was the steering servo alreadty mentioned. The other was the fuel tank which had a crack at the seam and leaked fuel. I swapped that out with a tank from my buggy and have also contacted Redcat about that as well.
I should also mention that a few screws backed out on me during the break in process but I guess I really should have gone over the truggy myself and checked for loose screws. The screws that backed out for me are: Right lower pivot ball screw, pull starter to engine screw and front diff / driveshaft set screw.
Overall the Monsoon is a very good design. It is a thorough rethink of the Redcat buggy and not just a buggy with big wheels slapped on. It has a killer engine, corners decent with a slight push(understeer, probably due to the diffs crammed with oil!) and flies on jumps like any proper truggy should...easily and quite neutral.
Positives:Killer Engine, Sound Chassis design, Wicked looking body, price!
Negatives: Why the funky clutchbell? Defective gas tank and servo from new?Torn silicone exhaust gasket(header/engine)
If redcat can influence the Quality Control at the factory and nudge it just a little bit higher, the Monsoon will be a true truggy contender at a outstanding price.
Tom
< Message edited by tommie! -- 8/10/2007 11:36:33 PM >
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