I recently purchased a Duratrax Nitro Evader ST and have decided to share a couple of my experiences with it that should help folks get it going quicker and solve some problems.

First off, the plastic diff gear is trash. Replace it with Duratrax's new hard anno'd aluminum one ASAP! It's only $16 and saves you a ton of downtime. You can overtighten the diff to heck and back and it will -not- eat the gear or anything else in the tranny.

This goes double for the steering servo! Get that stinking SX100 servo out of there! You -need- a nice metal-geared high-torque servo! You can get one at Tower Hobbies for about $40 (Hobbico brand [Futaba made]). If you need to rebuild your SX100 Servo, remember, it's just a Futaba S3003 Servo. Even though Duratrax doesent offer SX100 rebuild kits yet (Early Feb), you can use S3003 Servo gears. They're the exact same servo (I know, I have both.)

I noticed some people have had an absolutely horrible time with starting those .18 DTX engines. Just like the manual says, try starting the engine at 50% throttle! If your carb is out of tune, just turn the radio gear off, plug your glow igniter in, and use a finger to open up the carb by pushing on the servo horn. Another thing I noticed is that it totally -hates- slightly-going glowplugs or batteries. It's a very finicky motor!

I actually got around all of that by getting my hands on an old-school glow starter. It's essentially the tubular lock-on part and an almost lamp-cord like set of wires comes from the back, out of an orange plastic endcap. Pretty sturdy, just ugly. Well, I had a ton of luck using 6V Lantern batteries with it. It makes the plug glow HOT and BRIGHT and will quickly even heat your engine block! I figure it's a little stressful on the glowplug, but in my experience, you only need 3-4 tugs to fire the motor over. And at $4.49 per plug for a Duratrax Silver Sport plug, I'm willing to take the risk.

As for carb settings? I'm still fighting with mine, sadly. If you mess with the low speed needle, the default setting is "Flush". This means, the top of the screw for the low speed needle is level with the brass sleeve it sits in. Screwing it in 1/4 or 1/2 a turn helped my motor, actually. Default high-speed needle is 2 and 1/2 turns out. After break-in, mine actually sits about 1 and 3/4 to 1 and 1/2 turns out. Seems to be nice (but still spits a lot of oil/fuel?). The idle screw is easily checked, if you mess with it. Pop the fuel filter off for a second and look in with the throttle at neutral. It should only be open about 1.5mm. If you take a look at Duratrax's website and look at the Engine Manuals, some (I forget which) provide a nice diagram of what exactly 1.5mm open LOOKS like! Makes it very, very easy.

I hope this helps some of you Evader Owners out there!

As an addendum, the lamp-cord starter thing was actually sort of an oddball thing for me. I was surprised. I found two of them in a box of parts I got from a friend of mine. It was an old Kyosho Sandmaster nitro stadium truck (Currently rebuilding it. Should be running by 1/9/03. Ruined clutch bell/shoes and air filter. Could use new shocks and tires, and a body.). Anyhow, I tried it just out of sheer curiousity. I figured, hey, More heat from a plug = quicker starting burn! I guess I was right! That 6V cobble-job kicks the motor over every time I've tried it so far!, beats the tar out of the Duratrax starter from the RTR box.

Thank's for the tip's for the evader. It is a hell of a nice truck and very easy to work on. I wish they would offer a metal spur gear, I have looked high and low and cannot find one. I'm gonna have to figure out which one of the spur's from other cars will work. Seem's like I will have to change the clutch bell also to keep it in the original gearing. "I haven't seen many 32p 60t spur gears". Here is a pic notice the back tires?

Great info. I love my Evader too. Where can I find the metal diff gear?

I haven't had any problems getting mine started but I noticed the same thing about iffy glow plugs during break-in I couldn't get it to run without the ignitor attached on tank 3 so I checked the plug saw one coil not glowing, changed it and no problems after that. I am on tank 13 or so but I haven't touched the low end setting still working on the tune.

Did you follow the diff break-in? I checked mine and it was tight as a drum.

Tower hobby has the metal diff gear.

Another thing. Evader's like snow, so long as you lean things out a bit and keep the RPM's high. It's a decent idea to seal your servo's as well. My Throttle servo went a little fritzy on me after a snowbank bash.

Has anyone replaced their stock air filter on their Evader? If so what did you go with?

Also, where can I find replacement air filter elements (the foam) for the stock cleaner? Tower only has the entire assemebly, but Duratrax lists the element as a separate part.

I havent replaced the Air Filter yet, it's a pretty good design as it is. As for the part, looks like they sell just the entire assembley. For a whole $4.50, it's not that big a deal. You'll just have two when they release just the filter elements.

It looks like the filter element from the Maximum would be the same, does anybody know. If the filter assembly from the Maximum would fit I think it would be more out of the way and work better. Any thoughts on that?

I replaced my air filter with a McCoy air filter for a .21 engine. Its gray and fits straight on (no elbow). Works great and I figure it has great pass-through capacity. I think it was $7.99 at Hobby Town.

Bill

hey guys, i have had my nitro evader for a while and i am loving it. I dont know what winddrake is talking about, after i learned how to tune the carb properly it starts up nice and easy and isnt very finicky at all. any way, here are some pics....

Just finished re-building our diff, we put in a new aluminum anodized diff gear and replaced the idler gear. Fired it up in 10 degree weather, BBBRRRRRRRRRR[X(]! cruised around to get warm then did a little fine tuning on the high speed side. Then I did a couple of high speed passes pulling some killer wheelies then ended up going over backwards and busting the back shock tower into 3 pieces[]. I always knew plastic and cold don't mix, But for $3.99 I'll be back at it again tomorrow. You gotta love that!

It didn't pull wheelies so easy before. Could it be that the diff is to tight?

hey im not sure if you guys know this but the front shock tower from a xx-t fits the electric and nitro evaders and is a lot stronger.

I think the rear fits also but i am not sure. I installed a xx-t front shock tower on my electric evader st and after about 6 months of hardcore bashing it has not failed.

If you have a electric evader check out [link=http://www.geocities.com/jep_rc/home.html]Jep R/C[/link] for some cheep, effective hop ups. I think Jeps front hinge brace system will work on the nitro evader st and it is vital for a bullet proof front end.

CrazySwede, just loosen your slipper a bit. Have a good day all!

Weird, I've not once been able to get my Evader to do a wheelie! I think the slipper may be too loose for wheelies? Oh well, I know I still get a bunch of wheelspin off the line, so i figure I should probably tone that down a bit by loosening the slipper. Anyone know exactly how to set up the tightness of the diff? Right now, I've got the screw cranked all the way in till it can't be moved, then backed out 1/4 a turn. I'm not quite sure I understand the "Just snug" meaning in the manual. Sadly, I've got a busted rear suspension plate, so until I get the replacement from Tower (Wed/Thurs), I'm sorta stuck and unable to fiddle with the diff more. Anyone have any tips on how to set one up? I'd have figured the diff wouldn't need to be anywhere near -that- tight.

Do you think those eng. settings would work for the .17 duratrax eng.(overdrive)?Having trouble keeping mine running due to overheating....set at 2 3/4 turns..

I wouldnt think the settings for the dtx.18 and velocity .17 would be the same because the dtx is made by o.s. As for the the truck wheeling, mine would wheelie like crazy on asphalt with the stock tires but then i figured out the slipper was stuck together and havent been able to get it to do a wheelie since. Im afraid my diff is going out but it just keeps going. Im just gonna run it till the diff is completely dead if it even happens(since ive tightened it (half a gallon) i havent had it slip but it does make sounds.....oh well). Just today i took it to the local track and man was it a blast. There were 3 other people there and we were doing so crazy jumps on the triples. One guy had the new monster gt and he beat the crap out that truck and broke nothing. I must have crash 20-25 times(bad crashes too) and it took it in stride. Only broke the front body mount.

http://www.rcpics.net/media.php?sear...earch&limit=10

Has anyone mounted a failsafe on their evader? I was thinking of getting one for mine, but can't seem to find a good place to mount it to.

Thanks

Jason

I put a ofna fail-safe on my son's evader. I notched the electronics cover so I could close it with the fail-safe on the outside. I will post a pic when I get home.

crazyswede,

Thanks a picture would be great.

Jason

Here you go dude. When you take off the cover for the receiver there is a lip that stick's up that the cover fit's around. Notch the lip the width of the wire for the failsafe. Then notch out the same width on the cover in the same spot. Don't make the hole to big you want the wire to seal up the hole as much as possible without pinching it. I hope this makes sense

Thanks,

I didn't know they came that small, where did you get yours at?

Jason

hey jay, i know you didnt ask me but you can get them at [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEYG2&P=7]tower hobbies.[/link] Pretty good deal for only 25 bucks!

I'll order one next time I place an order. Last night I ordered the hard anodized aluminum diff gear and a few roles of monocote for my plane, I'm finishing. I'm really not in a big hurry though. I wont be able to run my car for another couple of months, unless Idaho gets a big warm front. I saw a couple different fail safes listed on tower's site. Probably get the one pictured on crazyswede's car.

I'm really looking forward to getting the car out and running it.

Jason

I just got a NEST and I am so far pleased. This is my first nitro R/C vehicle and I am really excited (so far only ran most of one tank through... an unfortunate colision with a concrete wall shattered my front shock tower and I only just got a replacement) I think so far the only thing that I can say is really missing from it is a reverse function but for the price and what was included I really don't think you can beat it (unless someone gives you a savage for free hehe) I can't wait untill I have it fully broken in and have learned how to control it better heh...

Is there anything I should really look out for? (other than concrete walls) Any parts I really need to keep an eye on?

What rims work well with it? I dont like the stock DuraTrax rims or the goofy colored ones. There are so many different things that it's a bit confusing and TowerHobbies' site isnt very consistant with it's specs on the rims...

Thanks

*edit* Also I've seen mention in several places of getting "High speed" servos for the steering... can anyone point me to a specific model of servo to get?

Buy one of these!


You need to modify the hole's a little but it will save your ***** and your wallet. If you dont get one then watch out for those curbs also[:@]

does anyone know of a bigger fuel tank for evader st?