A brief background: I have been flying helis for 7 years now and just decided to buy 2 Monster Trucks to my boys. I ordered them from Tower and just received them this past Saturday. We read the manual, saw the DVD and it all looked straight forward.

We prepared both cars (blue and red) as per the manual for the breakin sessions. I crancked up the blue one first. It idled very nicely and i drove it around smoothly in a large parking lot. I gave the controller to one of my boys as i prepared the red car... it too idled nicely and started off nicely. For a few minutes, we saw both cars moving nicely and slowly and we were focusing on the first tanks.

Suddenly, the red car started speeding on its own and would not respond to the radio at all... it went far enough and got stuck under a car with the engine reving very high. It took a couple of minutes to pry it out and pinch the fuel tube to shut it down. The engine at that point was screaming.

Meanwhile, my 2nd son driving the blue car tried the reverse switch while his car was not in full stop (i did hear a sound). It did continue for a few more minutes and the blue car did the same thing as the red one... it lost radio signal and started speeding on its own. We managed to block it and shut the engine before it got in trouble and the engine too was screaming.

I let both cars cool down since I feared the engines got fried. When i crancked both of them up, they idled very nicely. The radio check showed no signs of problems... all servos were responding correctly except the blue car did not move the servo while breaking.

I kept them idling for a few minutes and it all started again... they both started speeding and stopped responding to the radio. I turned them off quickly and let them cool again and repeated the process. When they idled nicely again, i tried to drive the blue car but it would not move at all (the one who went in reverse before stopping) and i believe the gear is busted. The red car did move on command but in less than a minute repeated the runaway behavios again.


To be honest we were all floored and disappointed as it was a beautiful day and very excited... i am at a complete loss on how to start fixing this problem as i have never encoutered this with my helis. I flew my heli in this area many times before and i know there are no radio signals that could interfere with both frequencies.

Could it be the receivers? maybe when the high speed needle is too rich (4 1/2 turns out), the vibration is excessive and the receivers cut off?

Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

stupid ? but, the trucks aren't on the same channel,are they? check batteries and then do a range check,then try one truck at a time.before starting the trucks insp each one closely,with the bodies off and the radios on check throttel/brk and steering making sure tha there is no binding or something getting hung up.for tips,advice refer to ANY ONE OWN A WAR HEAD! Good luck!

Send them both back to Duratrax, get new ones and start over. Do one at a time. That's what I would do. You may have ruined the engine on the one due to overheating. I had a problem with my radio also, I sent it back to Duratrax and told them to send me a new one, due to this being the break in period and I felt it may have messed up my engine when mine took off.

You got them from Tower, right? Cut your losses now.
Box them up and send them both back for a refund. Do it while you still can.
Then order Savage X's or Revo's or go to the Horizon site and order LST 2's.
No MT is perfect (even out ofthe box[&o]) but the Warhead has, so far, been nothing but trouble for those that have bought them.
Yes, Duratrax has been good about warranty work (almost all rc companies are) but parts are very hard to come by and waits for warranty issues and replacement parts have been long - some people have waited 3 months for parts.
My LHS (in buisness 20+ years and sell Duratrax) refuses to sell, or even work on, the Warhead.

I'm not trying to be negative, the Warhead may someday be a good truck but right now, it's not.
Believe me, if you keep those trucks, in three months you'll wish you had not.

dave hit the nail on the head. this truck has many problems. i had mine for a few months, but recently sold it so that i could get an mgt. 1) parts are actually readily available 2) its been out for several years and is a proven truck.
it just seems that everything on the warhead is weak, drivelines, engine, servo saver, gears, clutch, radio... ill just cut it off there and say its just flat weak.

Thanks guys for your quick replies. I was afraid you were going to say that. You see, i had to pay shipping and customs to bring them to my door... this added 40% to 45% to the original price. I am not sure if the customs here would reimburse or credit for other items. I will check but from the way things are done over here it seems to me that i am stuck with these units... Just wished i read the threads in this forum before ordering.

I wrote Duratrax today and i am waiting for their response.

But in the worst case that i am stuck with them, can anyone diagnose what could have happened with the units? it must have a logical solution that can be repaired even at an additional cost.

Thanks again

Sounds like you went out of radio range... how far was it? Were you using good batteries in the recievers/transmitter?
Buy yourself a couple of failsafes, they really save you from events like you describe, or if nothing else, wire up a throttle return spring strong enough to bring the throttle back to idle(or brake would be best) if you lose radio signal.
Lots of different things can mess up AM radios mostly metal on metal contact though, so if you're near a chain link fence or something similar, that it could be messing with your radio signal.
GJ to the guys who said you bought a pos instead of actually helping with the issues you're having.
If you really want to get different trucks, get your money back and goto a LHS (or at least talk to a hobby store in your country) about getting trucks they stock parts for, doesnt matter what you buy you're going to break things, all of these trucks are big, heavy and powerful, parts will break
Btw the failsafe(s) thing is good plan whether or not you plan on keeping the warheads.

The cars behaved this way at a distance of 30 feet max. It never went beyound 200 ft (when it got stuck under a car parked on the side). I thought those radios were FM rather than AM!!

Duratrax replied by asking me to check the crystal in the receiver, is it well seated? i did and i found it is well seated.

The failsafe is very good idea and i will invest in them whether i keep the WarHeads or not... thank you for the advice destrega. Regarding buying from Cairo, there are many hobby stores that sell the SAVAGE but i stupidly didn't trust their after-sale support and i opted to buy, ship and pay more from the US... I do regret this decision.

were just telling him the truth about the sub-standard parts and manufacturing this truck has. if you want info on how bad it can get, then search through the 150 pages of the "anyone own a warhead" thread. you will notice that in the 50 recent pages everybody has started selling theirs. im not trying to sound harsh or anything, im just expressing the truth as i owned one, couldnt afford to keep it going because of the sub standard parts always breaking, and recently sold it.

Ive got a warhead too :P but i'd rather help the guy out..

Telling someone they bought a lemon before they spend a lot of time and money trying to fix what should NOT be a problem anyway IS helping them out. Especially since I gave a very viable option of returning the trucks - Tower is great about that. So don't get your undergarmets all knotted up just because you're stuck with a WH too.

Ecarg,
That sucks about the shipping and fees. I did not see you were not in the US.
A failsafe is a good idea for any nitro vehicle and you should get one (or 2). Otherwise I hope that DTX can get things worked out for you. Good Luck

Your feedback did help me a lot in my communication with Tower and Duratrax. I am going ahead with my order of the failsafe units from Tower. I realize now that i have made a mistake in my selection of cars.... i must admit that the fact of having them posted in Tower's home page at the top, plus the nice write up they have about the trucks, plus i donwloaded the video to watch what it was all about (the kids went balistic when they saw it), plus visiting the DTX dedicated site www.warheadmt.com and reading every page in it... i didn't imagine that a product that had so much marketing might behind it could turn out a lemon especially from a company as reputable as Duratrax.

That is what marketing people are there to do and why they are so expensive... but it should be at no time deceitful.

Thanks again everyone

Hello again,

After i posted my previous message an hour ago, i browsed the RCU site a bit and came across this Magazine Review: http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=625

The author seems to speak CAUTIOUSLY well of the WarHead.

If you are stuck with them, might I suggest you try to cut a deal for some decent radios in exchange for the faulty ones? It doesn't sound as if a failsafe alone will fix your problem. I'm not suggesting anyting fancy, just a medium grade FM setup. In the future you might also go to a nearby hobby shop to see if they can get parts for you a bit cheaper. The hobby shops probably make more money on parts anyway, so they may be willing to get parts for a regular customer. You could also try to bribe the people in the hobby shop with food in exchange for any asisstance. Everyone in my local hobby shop has had a friendly greeting for me after having bought pizza for everyone one time!

Good luck on those truck, I know the boys will love them once you get the bugs worked out!

is duratrax or tower taking back the warhead. ??????????? I purchased mine 1 month ago have not had time to break it this truck in but now I am afraid seems to they are lemon's

When you get your failsafes you will also want to get hump packs, most failsafes wont work on regular alkaline batteries, tower hobbies has a really nice one that a lot of people have got for their warheads it can be found [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFJT1&P=ML]here[/link]

Actually im not stuck with my warhead, i could take it back right now for a full refund, but why would i? the only thing ive broke was a small crack in my skidplate and thats from running it in -20c weather.
Ive only had a few glitches with my radio, once i put the antenna up all the way i never seemed to have any probs, maybe im just lucky who knows.

azrctruck, i am trying to sort out the problems with DTX and Tower since sending back the cars and paying again the shipping and custom duties will make the cost prohibitable.

Thanks sarroopoo for your advice... i was just about to make the order with Tower and i will include the batteries with the Failsafes.

I have had a warhead for nearly two months and haven't had any problems with it so far. I have managed to break a couple parts but it has been my fault everytime from a combination of driving it in 0 degrees F or colder and no previous experience with Nitro R/Cs

I have had my warhead for a couple of weeks and it has been a bit frustrating needless to say. I consider myself somewhat average in Nitro RC but I have solved some of my warheads problems quite simply. The first thing is a failsafe, it will eliminate the run on and control issues. Next is a 1200 mah reciever pack. It will give you better radio control and more responsive steering. GET A Starter box, the pullstart is garbage, and they have sent me 2 new ones. (not that I need them). Lastly break the engine in for 2 extra tanks (for a total of 8). It is a new product, and some patience is required.

Id like to see you ditch them, even if it cost ya a little extra. Nothing and I say nothing is more frustrating then having issues everytime you run a truck, and parts are always breaking. I went through this myself with a truck. But since you plan on keeping them I would definately hit duratrax up for new radios and recievers even if they are AM radios. They are futaba radios!! I have run the bare basic AM radios in many of my trucks without issues, and they were futaba EL cheapo radios. I liked them. If you can get them to deal with you, and you offset a little extra cash for FM radios do it!! If your certain your keeping the trucks, then buy 2 fm radios, they don't need to be digital or analog, but rather just like your am radios only FM. The battery packs are a smart idea, don't forget the charger, and the failsafes are also smart. Remind Duratrax, that you did check your radios and if your engines fail from full on runaway, don't let them give you any crap ask for a new engine. The motors are guaranteed for 2years.

Other helpful hints locktite everything metal to metal with blue locktite. Go over all fasteners after each run. Do afterun maintance on the motors. This means running the tank dry or dumping out fuel at the end of a session, starting the motor and running it till it quits. Pull the glow plugs, and put a little afterun oil in the glow plug hole and in the carb throat and crank it a few times till most of the oil is out of the motor. Set the pistons at bdc, install the glow plugs and store. Oh the one biggy, clean those air filters regular, and when putting the truck in reverse it must be totally stopped. The starter box is a good idea to, because big block motors can be hard on starter cords.

Good luck to ya

Thanks a lot for your help and support. I do appreciate the advice very much. The 2 trucks have been on the bench since my first post as i was waiting for the Spur gears, fail safe units, starter boxes, receiver batteries and after-run oil that i ordered. They all just arrived yesterday and i will have time to work on them with the boys this coming weekend.

Needless to say, the boys are frustrated to see their trucks sitting there and they only touched the radio for a few minutes.

Silverman1, thanks for the tip of changing the radio to FM. I guess this will be the next move. I thought of ditching them back, but the fact is that even if DTX accepted to take them, it will cost me another $100 to ship back to US. Then i will have to repay another Shipping cost for the new 2 trucks of whatever brand plus the customs duties. That will be just too much. I guess i am stuck with them.

No problem, I feel your pain. I had a truck called the Dirt Demon, and it was the one that broke often, that i mentioned. I to also owned a warhead, but never started it. After hearing all the bad stuff going on I shipped it back to Tower hobbies for a refund. Easy for me because I live in the USA. With your pur gear melt downs, many guys on the 150 page plus on rcuniverse that talks all about the warhead, found the clutch to be faulty causing spur gear wear. Not the slipper clutch, but the clutch under the clutchbell on the engine. Many guys replaced this with hpi savage clutches which helped to rectify the problem. Hopefully you'll get all the little issues straightened out and your kids will be able to have a lot of fun with your trucks. Id still try to get new radios and recievers AM or FM.


good luck

WOW u have 2 of the money suckin trucks,,,,,, prepair to spend alot of money , i have 1 and had it since jan 1 2006
keep in mind i live in michigan and ist cold here
first thing i broke was the lower bell crank actually 3 of them . but I learned how to adjust the settings.
next, i was flooding bad, all the time always taking out the glow plug eventually stripping out the head. eventually breakin the chessy recoil pullstarter oh 3 of those bty..... ,,,, i fixed that problem ......drilled a hole in top of gas tank and use that hole as my pick up line, plugged the old pick up line......
oh also the replace the tires they r so heavy ,,, but make sure u get same size dia.
another big hint when it is in monster mode steering SUCKS have mine on med i plan on never to raise it lol
order plenty of spur gears too
i was rechargin regular akiline batteries but found that they really dont hold a good charge so i use nicad now
oh tighten up all parts my head was lose from the factory among other things
and use 2AA batteries in series for your glow plug works great
am trying to place a vid in here ill call it blew a spur gear check it out i have sand paddle tires on the back look sweet wish it could of been a longer vid but oh well that is a warhead

Could you explain how you fixed your fuel tank? How do you pick fuel up out of the top?