fauker

Hi all, new to the hobby....just wondering if anyone has as mch bad luck as i do.... nitro engine break-in went wonderful. I took my truck down to a local campground to drive around right after i completed break-in. I was gonna try to get a nice tune with lots of room to test my engine tune, suspension adjustments, steering adjustments, etc. start my truck...make one lap and it bogs and dies. So i make an adjustment, pull the pull-start and to my surprise the string comes out. This is no big deal since i enjoy tinkering, I pack everything up and head home, pull everything apart to fix the pull start and realize what a pain it is to re-coil the starter. remove coil and start looking at other options... I discover that losi made this model with a pull-start AND spin-start option. So I wait till next day and go buy the Spin-start wand and a few other necessities (fuel bottle, receiver charger) and this gets me back on the road throughout the week before work i run this beast of a truck and get it tuned real nice. Now I get to this weekend. I loaded everything up saturday morning and headed out to my moms house (shes got about 4 acres to play on and I didnt feel like driving all the way to the campground again). I get out there, fire the truck up, run it for about 10 minutes before a slight miscalculation at high speed sends me barrelling into a semi-hidden log. My truck catapults and barrel rolls before finally coming to an awkward landing. As it turns out i broke my upper and lower A-arms on the "driver's" side front. Pack everything up with my head hung in dissapoint and head home. Once i get home i assess the situation and determine all I need are the A-arms, so i head down to the lhs, and upgrade to some nice, beefy RPM arms with adjustable camber. I just got those installed and am now patiently waiting until tomorrow morning to make sure my truck still drives straight. These two set backs make me wonder what else I'm going to have to replace next time i really get to run it. The point behind all of this is that even with these problems and mistakes I am enjoying myself greatly and am looking forward to a long productive future in this hobby.

Any tips or advice for a new guy?

anyone from the lafayette, IN area?

P.S. sorry for the long post and lack of paragraphing, I didn't even realize how much I had typed until I just looked at it and i really don't feel like going through and adding paragraphs. lol

Muskokarc

Sounds like your having fun and it is a good thing that you like to tinker it is a big part of the hobby.  I just got my LST last end of summer.   It was a used one and had allot that needed replaced.   I also have an electric 1/10 scale traxxas it is over 16 years old and about two years ago a off road rc track opened up.  Found out how outdated my system was.  Upgraded my power source and electronics.  Along the way managed to hit a solid concrete step.  Managed to break the A-arms and bent all the pins that held them.   So breaking parts by hitting objects that do not want to move is par for the course.      

One thing for sure is each model has it own quirks and they evolve as you break or just upgrade parts.  In the end you end up with a truck that reflects your likes and style.   Read what others have done and pick what suites you.   

Oh ya I am still working out the quirks in my LST; it is not shifting gears right...  

fauker

I would love it if I had a local track to go to, Oh well lots of woody areas and empty fields to play in.

At least I'm not the only one who tries to take on immovable objects at speed
I plan on purchasing a 1/10 electric, probably as a winter project. I'm thinking of a losi XXX or a rally car of some sort.

lilbrett

I'd recommend the New Era Roll Bar, it's about $50 but WELL worth it. With the RPM arms, you may want to look into getting a Lunsford titanium turnbuckle to replace the one that RPM supplied.

fauker

I am actually in the process of designing and building my own roll bar, but I will definitely look into the titanium turnbuckles. I can definitely see where those would be a vast improvement over stock.
 
On a better note, I did finally get a good solid weekend of bashing, and I really had a blast with it!