Weekend Warriors

Here's my story with REDCAT...
Ok first off my boys( age 8 and 11 ) have a stampede that i have hoped-up and and rustler both with Veliniom 3800 brushless motors, they beat the crap out of these things and yet to break anything major .
Then i decided to buy a EARTHQUAKE 8e for myself....ordered it online even though i have a redcat dealer in my town( they are smart like dumptruck). Ordered it on july 22( my B-day) recieved it about the first of Aug, long story short. Look over and tighten up all nuts and bolts, all is good. Test drive AWESOME, after about 3-4 battery charges, i'd say about 1 to 11/2 hrs of drive time, the front and rear drive shaft cup BEARINGS blew, wich then cause all the diff pinions and spurs gears to chip really bad to where all three diffs needed to be replaced...So after about 1hr of play time and waiting a12 days for parts to arrive,rebuild both front and rear diff with new parts and bought brand new center diff..... test drive awesome again. Took the boys out rc'n, so after 2 more charges, another 30-40 minutes of play time, AGAIN, took apart the front diff only to find metal pieces everywhere....i put her back on the shelf.. too pissed to look at the other diffs. I'm so dissapointed, it's not funny. I got aluminum parts, 17mm hub upgrade, 3 sets of rims, 3 sets of tires, and nuts/bolts, etc. yet to arrive and i'm regreating this purchase. I figured that the first blow up was just a crappy build from the company and figured she should be good to go now..... boy was i wrong.
DO THE DIFFS NEED TO BE SHIMMED???? Does this help, anyone tried this and had great results?? i honestly think i should have boughten a emaxx, instead of this thing, what was i thinking. While the QUAKEwas down i even painted some sick shells for her and pimped 2 of them out with LED's and a sickdodge shell with lights and a rpm light bar..... and i can't drive the stupid thing..ok enough crying i guess, thanks for any info guys
PSwhere would i find proper shimmes for the diffs??? thanks again

soldier5050

Well first off I know exactly what you are going through have a Caldera 10 E and Ground Pounder and have had nothing but troubles . They now just sit on the shelf as Iam tired of running them a hour or so then something else goes wrong . Recat vehicles are the worst Ihave seen .. I own a Traxxas 2 wd and Traxxas 4x4 and have had nothing wrong with them . Awesome tough trucks no wonder they won Truck of the year through RC DRIVER .

Redcats warranty is a joke call them they tell you to fill out the warranty if still under warranty . Then one you fill it out takes 3 day or so to get back to you then once they screw around with you then you have a 7 days and then you will get email from Redcat part ready to ship then takes 1-2 days before it leaves then the send UPS or Pony Experess which takes another 7 days ... And now once a part breaks they want you to send it back so they can actually tell that yup that is what is wrong so maybe you might get it running in 20 + days ... As you can see you are not the only one that has had a bad experince . Mine started the day I opened the box .... WOW

Some people think I just come to bash Redcat well I do not Iam just telling the truth . I know Redcat stuff is cheap to buy and that is not why I bought it the trucks looked tough and fast . The thing is if you get there vehicles change all electronic and reciever . Also change the battery connectors . The banana connectors that now come with I think all there new vehicles are a joke the chargers they send with the truck are crap . Once that is done well you have a good truck .

I wondered why never saw any advertising in any rc magazines , now Iknow why.

Good Luck WIth Your Truck as I know your frustration.....

Weekend Warriors

Yup roger THAT.... same with me, i'm not here to bash them, it's just there product ( QUAKE 8e) from my opinion is a big pile of junk. How can they call that an rc's... i just can't express my thought enough about this thing..... i think that it's new name, THE THING, Look at my nice new tires and upgrades for this THING sitting on the shelf....
thanks for your sympathy because REDCAT sure hasn't had any for me...
they have my money and still want more......

edgeverse

I can relate to being not so pleased with my EQ8E..

Got it in Jan 2011, ran it a few times, then I find my esc was defective, they were cool and shipped me a new one free of charge after I shipped mine to them. I loved the wheelies at first, after a while, like gum losing its flavor, I was bored with it. I decided to converrt mine into a backdraft and have had no p[robs at all. first thing I loved was NO wheelies, no desire to flip over when you give it throttle or turn.

Weekend Warriors

I'm started to see that converting it to backdraft is better i guess....?  Mine is still brand new, i mean new, i'll post sum pics as soon i figure how to, and done taking apart this THING....i've got other tires coming and wheels coming in, 3.8 dirt dawg by pro line with offset rims, and a set of hpi phatline tire on tremors rims and a set of paddles ( which is going to be big trouble if i run those)
To convert this THING into a backdraft, do you guys change the diffs or anything????
i have a wheelie bar on it and i'm not too buzzed about the wheelie thing, just like the power thats all

nitrosportsandrunner

i ended up selling my e 8e chassis as the diff housings flexed(or rather, the screws stripped out the plastic housing and thus the housing didnt stay tight) which caused the diff pinion to strip.

shimming can help. but i had many hours of use on my 8e before this happened. none of my driving was gentle. i beat the crap out of it.
i did consider changing it to a backdraft, since the smaller diameter tires would put much less stress on parts.
but i ended up putting the ESC and motor on and e-savage. sounds good, but the driveshafts and diffs on the e savage cant handle the power either

i think if redcat made alloy diff housings, it would really beef up the 8e.

Weekend Warriors

I think your right on the button with that comment.....just so happen that two screws are stripped out the front housing, and that's where it's slipping.
Aluminum housing is really, i mean really needed for this thing

nitrosportsandrunner

or if they at least molded a nut into the housing, so the screw threads into that instead of the plastic. there is just too much "shock" force put on the housings.

Weekend Warriors

I nominate you as the quality product control manager for REDCAT, or at least someone smart should have that position( that would be you), because whoever is, is not doing a good job, in my opinion anyway. 

nitrosportsandrunner

LOL, well thanx for the praise!

I only know these types of things cause i spend soo much time pulling apart RC's and either figuring out how I wish the company had made it, or figuring out a way to make it better myself.

I have owned over 100 different models, all of which i have tinkered on. you pick up a few things along the way.

Weekend Warriors

Something has got to get done about this redcat THING on my shelf. I've never had a rc, to where both front/rear and center diff were blown after an hour and a half out the box, to rebuild everything, and then a half hour later, both rear/front diffs are gone again....and this thing is still brand spanking new... i've been driving THIS THING like a girl. I think im gonna buy a Emaxx, enough of this crap.............................................. .............................................
.......umm....FOR SALE one brand spanking new earthquake 8, just new out the box, only 2hrs run time thus far, worked great...comes with aluminum parts, 17mm hub upgrade,4 kickass shells, 3 different set of tires and rims, not including stock parts...........SORRY that's just wrong of me.........
.... umm.....TO GIVE AWAY.....

billymare

Iused a long machiened screw to go all the way thru and then put a nut on the end.I havn't blown a diff in almost a year...

Weekend Warriors

That's a hell of an idea, thanks alot mister,,

nitrosportsandrunner

i would do the long screw with a nut on the end 1st.
i have had a brushless emaxx, they are only tough it you upgrade the driveshafts, bumpers, bulkheads and shocks. thats alot of cash to drop.

hard, cold truth is, any large brushless MT will need some work or upgrades to keep it running. having a 12-16 pound truck moving at 40-50mph and not break is alot to ask of a thing.

im planning on getting a savage 2350 next year. ive heard the diffs still need upgrading, but that the rest of the chassis is pretty tough.

Weekend Warriors

yup i checked under the housing and there seems to be enough room to do this. So i guess tomorow go to the LHS and get new guts for both diffs, track down nuts and bolts of proper size and then drill out the housing and see if i can get this stupid THING working for at least 4 hrs of drive time b4 i need to rebuild..
im not a hard driver anymore really, i do go all out but now with style and skill ( not trying to brag or anything), well mostly style, not sure bout skill lol, b4 i was really hard on things cuz of inexperience, still haven't broke any hoods yet with THIS THING!!  and i do agree that sometime things just get out of control and stuff breaks, but THIS THING hasn't even experienced any hard bashing......i'm way too afraid now

St33v3

My Feedback: (1)

Sounds like you need to shim the diffs...

Weekend Warriors

I haven't yet cuz it's only got 2hrs on THIS THING so far. But i am trying to gather info to see if that solves the problem.......see Redcat said not to shimm the diffs, so i think im going to drill and screw and nut on the housing and put new gears in the diffs and see what happens next.....actually if it does brreak again, i'll video tape it getting thrown off a really, really, really big cliffand send it to redcat!   Do you know where to buy shims for the Redcat?, i've seen some somewhere but can't seem to find it again 

Weekend Warriors

actually i emailed a few fab. shops to see if they could make me an aluminum housing!!! i sure hope someone can, Hope it's not a problem to make a redcat part out of aluminum.  i also suggested just to make the bottom out of aluminum

masterhacker1989

you would think redcat would fix the problems that the 8e series has, instead of ignoring them and making a hideous 1/6 scale thing

Weekend Warriors

tell me about it, not impressed at all.
you know what's the worst. REDCAT hasn't said boo about this to me. Its crazy

Foxy

Nah, the Flux 2350 'bullitproof' diffs are in fact 'bulletproof'. Wait til you seee them, they're fatter than rosie o donnell. As long as you shim them well, you'll have no issues at all. My only complaint of them is that the diff cases themselves are closed with red threadlock on philips head screws. I could not open one of them, and after I stripped one screw trying, I just put the diff back and thought I'd buy a new diff set some time in the future. It's a good idea to upgrade the drive gear and idler gear in the transmission, but both of these issues (the tranny gears and what you heard about people blowing diffs) are only going to show up if you run on 6S and crank the slipper all the way down. Since the 2350 will melt pretty quickly on 6S (truck is designed for 4s and is more than a handful already), these are completely optional upgrades. The 2350 when run on 4s is an extremely solid RC.

nitrosportsandrunner

foxy, i LOVE you sig!
its soo true.

another thing i did to my E 8e that helped was i re-programed the ESC.
i set the punch control down, and lowered the initial brake setting as well as remove the drag brake. these changed make the power of the motor a bit smoother, less jerky and thus help reduce strain on the drivetrain.

Weekend Warriors

 Yup roger that too. thats on my list of to do things for THIS THING, do ya remember what was a good setting?? no worries trial an error and i'm sure i'll find a good combo,
Thanks for all the info i can get on THIS THING guys, really, more the better

nitrosportsandrunner

i just set the punch control to the lowest setting(softest)
and i put the initial brake at like 10 or 25%
i removed the drag brake
and i think i put the neutral setting in the middle.
you can also set the reverse power at like 50% when will you ever need to go 40mph backwards?

Weekend Warriors

Well i'm sure that if i didn't have bad luck, i wouldn't have any luck at all......
So i guess the first time (2 weeks ago) that i bought new guts for the rear/front and new center diff, that i bought the last of my LHS inventory for REDCAT parts, to which i ordered i spare set of everyting that day......Today went in and they told me my parts are ALL backordered....Really, so order on line again and play the waiting game.......this sucks....




REDCATplay for an hour, wait for 2 weeks, play for an hour, wait for 2 weeks.......i'm not liking this