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What's On Your Bench?

Damn it, I made the mistake of looking in here and drug the old AX10 RTR out of hibernation and started dicking with it. Now I am already pissing away money to upgrade it :laughing:

Basically stock aside from the aluminum link upgrade kit from Axial, 55T motor to replace the original 27T, 10 tooth pinion, and 2 of the "green" springs and 2 of the original "blue" spring to help keep the torque twist in check. I've been running it without foams pretty much forever and decided to put water in the front tires. Made a great improvement for free. The stock wishbone uppers are both blown out. I fixed the rear one quick and dirty, but there wasn't a super easy way to fix the front one so I just ran with it and the front axle flopping back and forth :homer:

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:homer:

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I ordered these on eBay to convert it to a true four link front and back. I figured I can't go wrong for aluminum and under $20 delivered :smokin::
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Next I think I need to upgrade the shitty stock servo. It doesn't have any where near enough power and I can't hold my lines because it won't steer (and won't actually turn the knuckles to lock without playing with the steering trim knob). Any suggestions for cheap upgrade options? Likewise the stock ESC isn't smooth at all and doesn't have a drag brake, so that is probably the next thing. I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole since I'd probably be better off buying new pretty quick. Those SCXIII look pretty bad ass...
 
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Servo:
ZOSKAY 35kg high Torque Coreless Motor servo Metal Gear) https://a.co/d/4pErTKt

Esc:

I've had great luck with both of these even in a U4 style Bomber. Love seeing old models coming back out. New ones are cool but the OG ax10s can still hang. Love the long discontinued PL moab tires!
 
I've been running the hobbywing for a couple years now, also have a friend with one is his basher crawler. Both have held up well.
 
Servo:
ZOSKAY 35kg high Torque Coreless Motor servo Metal Gear) https://a.co/d/4pErTKt

Esc:

I've had great luck with both of these even in a U4 style Bomber. Love seeing old models coming back out. New ones are cool but the OG ax10s can still hang. Love the long discontinued PL moab tires!

I've been running the hobbywing for a couple years now, also have a friend with one is his basher crawler. Both have held up well.

Quit convincing me to spend money on this dumb thing :flipoff2:

I still have the OG Rock lizard tires as backups if I ever wear out the Moabs. What are some of the better scale-ish 2.2" tires in the 5-5.5" range? I've always liked the looks of the RC4WD Krawler knock offs, but I am sure there's better stuff out now.

I got the Servo you linked ordered along with a 93T spur gear, the HD Axial spiral cut 43/13 ring and pinions, and some of the Axial "red" springs. With all the additional gear reduction, I might swap it back over to the 27T motor or 14T pinion. I'll see how I like all these upgrades before I pull the trigger on the Hobbywing ESC. Prior to ordering all the upgrade parts I was thinking an SCX24 might be cool. I guess that ship has sailed :homer:

I've also got an old HPI Bronco body from when I did a half-assed SCX10 conversion a long time ago before I converted it back into an AX10. Maybe I need to work out a way to mount that Body since the RTR one looks dumb...
 
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Not to date myself... but I remember when those HPI bodies came out and subsequently when they were discontinued, they were pretty nice at the time. I still have a TLT axled crawler and an E-Maxx crawler haha. Back when scale was a niche and to make a crawler you had to buy 2 rigs and tear them both down for parts and Axial didn't exist. Ah the good ol' days.

For tires basically anything from Proline in the G8 compound is really good, the predator stuff is a bit too soft and will need $40 closed cell foams to not be folding all over the place, maybe an AX10 is light enough to not need them. Pitbull Tires and RC4wd stuff is good as well. Just depends on the look and compound you want. Axial probably makes the best looking krawler tire, Proline's tread blocks are a little small but the R35 compound is just okay by today's standards, I run them on a Yeti with closed cell foams. I do have 1.9 proline krawlers on an Element that looks about right.
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SCX24s are amazing for what they are. Probably the best $100 I ever spent on RC related things. My 6yr old and I each have one so we set up courses in the living room out of rocks/blocks when its raining.
 
And update from last "on the bench" EXO-Pro bashup is a roller. Still need to draw up some chassis wings but one win compared to a regular exo is the ability to flip the body up for complete access to everything. Mounted the DB Pro hinge to the axial rear shock tower.
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Next on the bench was building Bomber #3 from a bare chassis because I make bad life choices. Bomber #1 is a 2 speed brushless do it all rig. #2 is a stock Savvy for my son. Wanted to build a more crawler specific one this time around. Going to put shorter trailing arms/links in the rear and probably rear steer.
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Not on my bench yet but I'm eyeballing the new King Sling from Losi. Looks like it would be a fun rig to bash around with at the house. Anybody have a king sling or LMT? They decent?
 
I have neither but looking at them parts wise and feedback from the MT race/freestyle guys is the LMT which the king sling is based off of is awesome. Big upgrade over the SMT10 in the axle department. Early LMTs had issues with axle cases splitting with big jumps but you don't hear much about it anymore. King sling looks like a solid build... now I'm drooling over them. Also holy suspension travel batman.

In the Mega vs. MT thing; I have a SMT10 that I built up as a mega truck initially on 2.2 crawler tires and it was killer. Handled okay (besides traction roll.. because top heavy truck) and the AR60 axles held up pretty well as did steering servo etc.. powered by 3660 brushless. Could bash with little mechanical sympathy and was barrels of fun.
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After 2.6 clod sized MTs it literally broke every time I took it out. Servo horns, steering servo, rear axles (3), lower links(4), ring/pinions... Not basher tough, but looks amazing.
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On the LMT vs King Sling... YES. Both are sweet if you can swing the dough. $160 SMT10 builders kit is pretty dang cheap for what it comes with.
 
Not really on my bench but in my yard. Just bought a house and was playing around last Saturday and made a small track.

I need to put this car on the bench though. The view of the jump really shows how bad the rear shocks are.
 
I picked up an Arma Senton 4x4 1/10th . Played with one at the hobby store and really liked it . For a kid I also liked that it came ready to use and I didn’t have to spend a bunch more money for a battery and charger . I know aftermarket parts aren’t as readily available but it’s what I decided to buy .
 
The wife got me an SCX24 for Christmas. Hell of a lot of fun for the money, but I am still getting used to eyeballing lines for it versus my AX10. Hopefully this doesn't become another money pit :laughing:

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The wife got me an SCX24 for Christmas. Hell of a lot of fun for the money, but I am still getting used to eyeballing lines for it versus my AX10. Hopefully this doesn't become another money pit :laughing:

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I’ve avoided buying this exact one from Summit because it’s a money pit as soon as you look up upgrades.
 
I’ve avoided buying this exact one from Summit because it’s a money pit as soon as you look up upgrades.
So far I am pretty happy with it.

The body gets in the way a lot more than I am used to, the center of gravity is pretty high, it could really use some oil-filled shocks and more flex, and the stock tires suck.

That said, the worm drive is pretty cool since it makes a drag brake unnecessary and gets the driveshafts up high. The suspension is actually set up for some droop unlike my AX10, and the steering is much sharper and stronger than my AX10 was when it was stock.

I put it through some pretty extreme binds today (tires wedged and completely folded over) and nothing broke.
 
The wife got me an SCX24 for Christmas. Hell of a lot of fun for the money, but I am still getting used to eyeballing lines for it versus my AX10. Hopefully this doesn't become another money pit :laughing:

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Some cheep Amazon wheel weights and steering knuckle help a bunch with stability and was like 14 bucks. There awesome Lil rigs. My 4 year old kept steeling the remote so I had to buy him his own.
 

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My brother decided to buy his 5 grandkids rc cars for Christmas and because who my family is all the adults went and bought them too. Now there are 3 slashes, 4 stampedes and 2 bandits. :laughing:

I pulled my drag slash out of mothballs and bought all the pink traxxas aluminum parts and RPM A arms. Aluminum front bulkhead, Hot Racing trans case, MIP drivelines etc etc etc. I'm running a 3500xl Holmes motor on 4s, the rig is ignorant fast but that's limited by my trigger finger so I'm confident it'll outrun everyone in my family. :smokin:
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I ordered a black LCG chassis to replace that blue abomination as well.
 
Did shocks and a broken front A-arm on my little girls slash this weekend, looking for a 4x4 slash now for my boy.
 
Picked up a trx4 defender this weekend because it was on sale at the LHS. Haven't played with Rc's for a while so this thing brought me back. Tonight I got my k10 body and proline cage painted and assembled. Took a couple mock up shots. I'll finish working on it tomorrow, got wheels and tires coming too. These things are rad compared to the old crawlers I used to build out of bruisers and clod busters.
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I know it’s not as cool as y’all’s, but just getting into this and wanted something to run with my buddy’s traxsas level 1. I have an acre mix of concrete, dirt, grass and high grass, so plenty of options for playing around.

we will probably make tracks and do little races between us. Should be fun. :grinpimp:
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Swapped in a castle esc, 4600kv motor and added a chinese heatsink and dual fan into the mt10. Castle used to be bottom end for heli stuff. This thing is uncontrollable with full throttle at any speed now. I am impressed so far.
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