EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

Can't go wrong with Hobbywing systems.

RustyUs

I wouldn't recommend the route I took when outfitting RCs with no-name motors and ESCs. For good reliable gear I'd look at Toro, Tenshock, HobbyWing, and Castle Creations. Plenty of other brands out there as well to choose from. If I want to splurge...it'll be Tekin all the way.

mattster1971

I know this is our Yeti Thread but what do you think of this steel tube front bumper from a guy in PA? It would be in black powdercoat not florescent like the picture. I really like the big tube and the tow hooks I could put on the front of it. It would be for my Wraith build.

RustyUs

Anything to protect the front end is great...having the looks to go with it is plain awesome. That bumper has "the" look.

The Saylors

Ya i was looking at the castle and hobby wing sets originally i'm just feeling like a dear in the head lights trying to decide with so many options. I guess my main hang up is that i'm concerned about not having the power for the four wheel drive. Im kinda leaning towards a hobby wing esc with a castle motor but i need to find one with a built in bec as i dont wanna mess with that later if i dont have to.

RustyUs

Most, if not all, ESCs have BEC in them. It' just that some servos are power hungry and the normal 6 volt BECs in speed controls is not quite enough. I've never run into a brown-out issue yet. Of course I've never used any of the known culprits either.

The Saylors

So if thats the case what would you guys recommend as a servo set up for the yeti. I just need the shift servo to be a min of 80oz and something adequate for steering that are both waterproof and that dont blow through gears i.e. no plastic. Im assuming that the shift servo will be one of those rarely used (5-10 timer per batt) servo so 90% of the time only one servo will be in use on the truck. I liked the hi-techs but am unfamiliar with servo brands for the most part aside from the 2075 traxxas one which i hate lol

RustyUs

For a heavy platform, like the Yeti, you will want more than what is included in the RTR version. I think the servo in the RTR is spec @ 150 oz-in. You'll want more than that, especially with the 2 speed tranny and crawling. A good 200 oz-in (14.4 kg-cm) would be the bare minimum for "rock racing". I would up the ante even more since you are gonna be going to be putting the Yeti in Lo gear. At speed it's relatively easy for a servo to do it's job. Trying to navigate rough terrain at weird angles and huge tires...you will want some servo muscle.

I use what I consider a middle of the road servo for my steering needs of the Yeti. A ProTek RC 100T digital servo has been with me, and the Yeti for almost a year now. It's very, very good...for my needs. I wanted to try a different brand other than my usual Hitec stuff. The price just happened to be right for the amount of torque/speed I was looking for.

For the Yeti to be doing crawling duty, as well as normal everyday monster buggy stuff, I'd get something even stronger that what I linked above. The whole crawling genre is all new to me. I can only guess at what would be a great servo. .

The Saylors

This will be my first Crawler/rock racer as well thats why i'm having a hard time. I'm a go big or go home kinda guy so maybe the 130t protek? The price of the 100t is tempting though!

The Saylors

Also does anyone know if there is thread for helping people find other people to go out and bash with in their area? My cousin and i always go play together but he is moving to the other side of the state for work so i will be all alone lol

mattster1971

Where do you live? I would go with the castle motor and Esc because with Castle connect you can up the voltage going to your servos to what you need!! Or bring it back down if you are moving it to another vehicle. Connect is awesome and easy setup with the laptop. LOVE IT!

The Saylors

The Tacoma/Spanaway area of Washington state. My main concern is that i watched a castle burst into flames on its second run the other day. I have a feeling that the situation isnt common but it was still surprising as the system was two days old. luckily we saved his car but still. Castle was originally my first thought

mattster1971

that sounds like a fluke. I have never seen it happen, nor heard of it happening with Castle. Any ESC could burst into flames if you have a short, or wire it incorrectly or use too much JuIcE!!

The Saylors

His was being ran through water and became all glitchy then started sending smoke signals, then fire lol. When i got to it i tried to pull the battery out but the wires to the esc were no longer soldered due to the heat. They were so loose i just pulled the whole wire harness off to get the power cut. Castle was really cool about it and sent him a new one and even offered to give him a chassis for next to nothing. I think i'm just gunna get the mamba 2 or monster X and the 1512 motor and call it good. I really appreciate all your guys' help with this and for helping to ease my worries about everything involved! I look forward to being a part of this forum. Everyone seems to be really nice and its good to not be brow beaten for asking novice questions. Thanks you guys!

RustyUs

You will love that motor. Plenty of torque to get the Yeti moving that's for sure. The good thing about it...it's rated for 4S! Stuffing a 4S battery in the chassis won't be a problem. It just has to be a soft cased pack. Using a 3S LiPo and a 13T pinion gear with that 2650kv motor...temps are just warm. You should be able to gear up quite a bit.

RustyUs

Just curious to know if anyone else has had excessive heat issues on the rear drive shaft? I've only found a handful of people with the problem. The "Wildboar" driveshaft was getting wild alright. Almost to hot to touch for the first 10 packs or so. I just chalked it up as the whole drive line needed to be broken in.

SD1

You have never heard of Castle Cremations? Hehe! It is a name that they earned a few years back. I don't know if it was a bad run of capacitors or fets (which they don't make anyway) but a lot of people lost trust in them. I have never had a problem with any Castle branded ESC but I've blown up two HPI Blur ESCs which were Mamba Monsters with an HPI sticker on them.

Now... I did have a Castle motor seize up once at around 70 mph in the dirt. Twisted my Vorza dogbones into pretzels and left ruts in the ground. It was amazing!

The Saylors

Thanks rust thats kinda what i was thinking too. Freedom to use pretty much what ever will fit and still being able to dial it down when i want to. So is the wild boar a bad d-line then? I noticed when putting the kit together that the rear driveline looked really lousy so i have had an eye out for a replacement.

The Saylors

SD1: Lol when i got out of the hobby years ago the lipo wasn't even available so the biggest concern was hitting stuff because your car was as tough as paper. Now we have 60mph burning bombs that put people in the hospital when they get run over ha ha ha what the hell happened?

mattster1971

I am fairly new to Electric, always been a Nitro fan but I never heard that little tongue twister, kind of catchy. I hope I don't experience that but it sounds like Saylors friends issue was Water related not a fault of the ESC. I don't run my vehicles in water, snow or mud. I spend too much time and money on them to ruin electronics and rust out all the metal parts with moisture.

Rusty, Unfortunately I cant say whether I had that issue because I replaced the drive shaft with MIP as I was building it so the wild boar setup is still attached to the parts tree in a box. On another note, I did order that bumper for the Wraith and a set of Chrome tow shackles from Hot Racing. I am excited :-)

RustyUs

Going for more of a scaler look? Nice.

I had an ESC poop on me today. It was in my eBuggy. Really weird that it's the same model of ESC that I use in my Yeti.

Anyway, for laughs, I put back in my el cheapo 550 4300kv motor that I use for 2S running.
I very impressed with the speed & torque from the black no-name motor. Gives me enough Yeti excitement when driving the rock racer like a short course truck . 152*F with a 13T pinion gear. It hasn't given me any problems like some of the other low priced Hobby Fans stuff I use in my other RCs. The Hobby Fans motors are cheap with the bearings.

mattster1971

Its so funny how some cheapo motors will operate great no problem ever and some crap out in no time. I think sometimes its just luck but other times they may be made by the same manufacturer of the "named" products just without the branding. Glad you had a good run day on the Yeti. I too took my Yeti out yesterday and had a ball with it. My neighbor who can barely walk brought out his Yeti XL and is getting better with controlling it. Although I think he did some damage prior to the ESC because it likes to just back up on its own after brought to a stop. Wiring issues prior.

RustyUs

What ESC? Some ESCs, not all, have a dead band or neutral range adjustment. I'm sure someone recalibrated it, and set the throttle trim to 0 (neutral). Right?

mattster1971

Probably not. Its a Castle. I have the castle link but he is lazy and hasn't allowed me to hook it up yet to see about settings. On a brighter note, I got my PigSnot bumper today and tow shackles, check it out, so pretty

RustyUs

Not much time to do any RCing in the past couple weeks. Raining off and on. Taking the time to put my favorite combo of oil in the shocks...again. I swear I tried about every wt. of oil (10wt ~ 50wt) in the shocks while trying to tune the Yeti's flight pattern . I think Axial should have called the Yeti ..."Donkey". I poke fun at myself because I knew well and good this platform likes to kick it's rear end up every chance it gets. And, for some reason, I still like driving this thing a whole bunch.

I set the Yeti's front ride height like I do on most of my other RCs..."arms level", and then set the rear of the chassis even with the front. Doing so, sets the Yeti up for disaster when launching off almost any type of ramp. The limited upward travel of the rear suspension causes "bottoming out" when getting ready to leave my favorite ramp. Having plenty of reserve throttle is the only way I've found to combat the donkey kicking. That and some thicker shock oil. For my style of track bashing I use 20~25wt shock oil in the rear and 40~45wt in the front. This seems to be a good combo for general all round use. The provided 10wt rear shock oil for the kit set-up is almost useless IMO.