Smokin' Grass in Vegas

[Steve B in Vegas]

Found the sweet spot for this build finally; grass racer. An absolute pleasure to dive on this surface. Nimble, precise, and surprisingly fast.

I'm so tempted to try a 4s battery in this setup ( Tekin 3500 Kv Pro 4 HD / RX-8 ), but I'm almost certain I will ruin the electronics. So 3s it is

s

 

[Steve B in Vegas]

One more.

 

[MAVERICK]

dident know there was any grass out there in the desert.

glad to see you got her dialed in

Please tell me that’s a tamiya ps53 paint job. It looks great

 

[Steve B in Vegas]

Grass is a luxury in this area, and when the watering schedule changes for the fields, most of them die off into this excellent loose surface. The landscaping crew at this soccer park are fascinated by the RC cars, and they mow this one field super short for us.

The pain is Spaz Stix # 05809 with a Spaz Stix 15709 behind it. I'm no painter, so rattle cans it is for me. I don't have the patience for the painting detail work.

Super pleased with this machine. Thanks!

s

 

[Jack the Tripper]

Found the sweet spot for this build finally; grass racer. An absolute pleasure to dive on this surface. Nimble, precise, and surprisingly fast.

I'm so tempted to try a 4s battery in this setup ( Tekin 3500 Kv Pro 4 HD / RX-8 ), but I'm almost certain I will ruin the electronics. So 3s it is

sView attachment 5740View attachment 5741View attachment 5742

That turned out a killer rig @Steve B in Vegas !! Quite original with the truggy wheelbase and body but with the narrower track.
One question concerning the motor; how did you find it when you had the weight of the nomad cage on and the aluminum beadlock wheels, big tires and offset hubs ? I basically mean with all the extra weight brought by the db48 set up.
I ask since I am considering motor options for my db48 and I find it quite difficult to decide. I know Tekin’s are more docile but did you find 3500kv to work good in the db48 or would you recommend a different kv ? Ill be going sensorless on this one and Im eyeing the ezrun 3660 3200kv but Im considering too a 3674 and maybe lower kv.
I guess the question is what would be a good motor for a db48 for general bashing. Besides dirt and grass, I plan to run it a lot in the sand so Im guessing something in the 2600-3200kv range with a 13-14t pinion could work. Though with decent speed, Im not looking for it to be a fast rig. Im leaning more towards a lot of torque with good run times and cool temps. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Nicochau]

That turned out a killer rig @Steve B in Vegas !! Quite original with the truggy wheelbase and body but with the narrower track.
One question concerning the motor; how did you find it when you had the weight of the nomad cage on and the aluminum beadlock wheels, big tires and offset hubs ? I basically mean with all the extra weight brought by the db48 set up.
I ask since I am considering motor options for my db48 and I find it quite difficult to decide. I know Tekin’s are more docile but did you find 3500kv to work good in the db48 or would you recommend a different kv ? Ill be going sensorless on this one and Im eyeing the ezrun 3660 3200kv but Im considering too a 3674 and maybe lower kv.
I guess the question is what would be a good motor for a db48 for general bashing. Besides dirt and grass, I plan to run it a lot in the sand so Im guessing something in the 2600-3200kv range with a 13-14t pinion could work. Though with decent speed, Im not looking for it to be a fast rig. Im leaning more towards a lot of torque with good run times and cool temps. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

What battery are you planning on running? That’s where it starts.

 

[Jack the Tripper]

What battery are you planning on running? That’s where it starts.

Hey @Nicochau I think I’ll be running mainly a 2s lihv from my 1/10 buggy and the parallel 3s turnigy lipos from the starter box. I have the ET48 & MT410 pair of 4s too, but I don’t know if the DB48 setup can handle the 4s power without issues.
Also, Im filling diffs with 10F/200C/10R. That’s the only fluids I had laying around. Haven’t filled the front one yet, should I consider diluting the F with some 5k or 7k I have leftover from other kit ?
Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Steve B in Vegas]

That turned out a killer rig @Steve B in Vegas !! Quite original with the truggy wheelbase and body but with the narrower track.
One question concerning the motor; how did you find it when you had the weight of the nomad cage on and the aluminum beadlock wheels, big tires and offset hubs ? I basically mean with all the extra weight brought by the db48 set up.
I ask since I am considering motor options for my db48 and I find it quite difficult to decide. I know Tekin’s are more docile but did you find 3500kv to work good in the db48 or would you recommend a different kv ? Ill be going sensorless on this one and Im eyeing the ezrun 3660 3200kv but Im considering too a 3674 and maybe lower kv.
I guess the question is what would be a good motor for a db48 for general bashing. Besides dirt and grass, I plan to run it a lot in the sand so Im guessing something in the 2600-3200kv range with a 13-14t pinion could work. Though with decent speed, Im not looking for it to be a fast rig. Im leaning more towards a lot of torque with good run times and cool temps. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Greetings Jack,

Thanks for the good words. As far as the power, I felt it was surprisingly good on our track. I ran with a 14 tooth and 15 tooth pinion gear, and it did great. I wanted to stay with a 3s system for weight, and that motor provided plenty of speed and power.

I had toyed with the idea of a 4s system, but for my needs it just wasn't warranted. Interestingly that I had a love / hate relationship with the Tekno as a rock racer. I never found a body mounting setup I liked, and I was frustrated with how much the small rocks and pebbled caused havoc inside the chassis.

I switched to the Leadfinger body and then made some rock guards to protect the front left and right corners of the chassis, blocking all the debris kicked up from the front tires, and this did help, but about every track day I ruined a spur gear from rocks.

Later on we switched tracks to our new desert track, and for some reason this problem mostly went away. Maybe fewer loose pebbles or something; I'm not sure. It's a brutal track:

http://www.mojavevalleyrcadventures.com/desert-racetrack.html

I never had any traction roll issues with the weight of the Nomad body, but I really like the feel with the Leadfinger body.

As for the layout, the Tekno feels superb as I have it. Crazy nimble and precise; it's so easy to drive and weirdly finds it's own line. Of course I can flip it over if I snap corners too tight in grass, but that's just poor driving skills there on my part.

Right now I'm running a 17 tooth pinion, and I will try 18 through 22 tooth at the field later this week. I have plenty of bottom-end power on this surface, so I want to see how it feels at greater speed. Chances are I will still end up running 17 to 18 tooth as my final choice. Its the only vehicle in the fleet that I just run for pleasure and not looking to further upgrade.

Here is my current power layout:
Tekin Pro 4 HD 3500 kV
Tekin RX-8 ESC
SMC 3s V2 battery.

 

[Jack the Tripper]

Greetings Jack,

Thanks for the good words. As far as the power, I felt it was surprisingly good on our track. I ran with a 14 tooth and 15 tooth pinion gear, and it did great. I wanted to stay with a 3s system for weight, and that motor provided plenty of speed and power.

I had toyed with the idea of a 4s system, but for my needs it just wasn't warranted. Interestingly that I had a love / hate relationship with the Tekno as a rock racer. I never found a body mounting setup I liked, and I was frustrated with how much the small rocks and pebbled caused havoc inside the chassis.

I switched to the Leadfinger body and then made some rock guards to protect the front left and right corners of the chassis, blocking all the debris kicked up from the front tires, and this did help, but about every track day I ruined a spur gear from rocks.

Later on we switched tracks to our new desert track, and for some reason this problem mostly went away. Maybe fewer loose pebbles or something; I'm not sure. It's a brutal track:

http://www.mojavevalleyrcadventures.com/desert-racetrack.html

I never had any traction roll issues with the weight of the Nomad body, but I really like the feel with the Leadfinger body.

As for the layout, the Tekno feels superb as I have it. Crazy nimble and precise; it's so easy to drive and weirdly finds it's own line. Of course I can flip it over if I snap corners too tight in grass, but that's just poor driving skills there on my part.

Right now I'm running a 17 tooth pinion, and I will try 18 through 22 tooth at the field later this week. I have plenty of bottom-end power on this surface, so I want to see how it feels at greater speed. Chances are I will still end up running 17 to 18 tooth as my final choice. Its the only vehicle in the fleet that I just run for pleasure and not looking to further upgrade.

Here is my current power layout:
Tekin Pro 4 HD 3500 kV
Tekin RX-8 ESC
SMC 3s V2 battery.




View attachment 5745

Agree, I think 3s could be the best choice, for the db48 type. Also, the Pro4HD would be a 550 can, that would be about the same size as a 3660 from hw right ? Is there a noticeable advantage in running a bigger can like a 3674 ? I read that it would provide more torque, is that so ? What about a 3674 1900kv ? Would you consider that a good motor for the db48 ?
Im really lost with the motor choice for this one. Will keep on kicking forward that decision till the last minute I guess.
I can see now that I’ve been able to mock up the body mount there’s a lot of open space for rocks and debris to get in easily, interested to know how you solved your front mudguards, I have already cut and bent a piece of 1/32 lexan for that purpose, it fits well but still need to figure out mounting and opening for the servo arm.
With regards to mounting the nomad cage, I believe I came up with a quite satisfying solution; I inverted a pair of shock standoffs to hold the nomad body mount on the front shock tower and they are spaced just right. On the back shock tower you fix the mount and shock stand offs as you normally would. You end up having 4 shock standoffs in the front shock tower. The two facing front for the shocks, and two facing back for the body mount. Maybe you tried it but didn’t work out for you. I think it is an aceptable solution and you can invert the setup if you want the cage moved forward. Attaching a pic when I mocked up the cage mounting, first thing I did before starting the rebuild.
Mann that track looks crazy fun and omg what an incredible landscape. That’s one hell of an rc racing/bashing spot kudos to you.
Have you tried the steel spur ? It could be well suited for such hard core conditions.
Also I’ve seen a few pics of folks already using the lasernut cage on the db48 and surprisingly it seems to be quite a better fit with the chassis. It looks like it provides the electronics with a much more tight enclosure, plus the looks of that cage is just spot on. Super tempted to try that cage out. Maybe next year.
Good to know that the combo worked out well with the nomad cage on 3s, that gives me some good reference.
The good thing is that building the db without specific instructions opens up the game to try different setups and I intend to do just that. This rig I’ll bash with no compromise. Build bash break rebuild. Also playing with the idea of installing dual shocks in all four arms just because.
Regarding the diff oils, to be honest 200k and 10k are the only weights I have at hand right now and I kind of cut the cord on expenses for this project. Im hoping it handles well with a good all wheel drive feel.

 

[Steve B in Vegas]

Jack,

That looks really good. You came up with a better method than I was using. I'm torn in that I think a tighter fitting body is the way to go, but I love the looks of the Nomad body.

I think 1900 kV is the sweet spot for all things 4s, and it would not be a bad choice at all. After I kill off the electronics in my Lasernut U4, I will get the Tekin 1900 setup. I just need to research a bit more because of the massive tires we are spinning on beadlocks. Maybe a 1700 kV system, but I want to stay with 4s.

The track is so much fun, but we might be on to a much bigger piece of land soon with a much larger track. Gonna find out if we get permission next month. 8.3 acres is a lot to play with.

I will post up some photos later today of my guards and the cuts I made for the steering linkages. Works pretty well. I also run velcro on the sides of the body and chassis to seal off the sides.

s

 

[Jack the Tripper]

Got some time today working on the mud guard and this is how it turned out. Surprisingly it was easier to do than I expected. Been thinking of doing this piece since I started the et so maybe thats why. Did it in one try no template.
The steering linkages move totally free.
Im thinking to do the piece again though, making it run all the way back and bent again following the nerf bar till it hits the cage. Since I have already done it I might as well do it right and make sure I block all the debris the front wheels might kick up.
Curious to see how others solved the issue.
Happy thanksgiving all !!

 

[Steve B in Vegas]

Cooler weather has arrived! Out on the fields this morning, and while a bit breezy, the temps were low 50's..! So much better than being in the low 90's in the morning some months back. We also got our first measurable rain in 240 days! Just a sprinkle, but it counts.

Been working with the DT-48 on the grass, tuning and testing. Here is the setup from today:

Tekin Pro 4 HD 3500 KV
20 tooth pinion
RX-8 ESC
SMC 3s V2 graphine battery.

Holy cow it flies..! Took the GoPro for some video, but I forgot to charge it, so just a still photo from the day before testing the 18 tooth pinion.

Motor temps hit 160 with the 20 tooth, running full-speed passes diagonal on the soccer field. It's amazing how fast it covers the distance. I'm gonna need to get a speed tracker to see what it's running.

It handles superbly, and I'm glad I finally found it's place in the bunch.

s

 

[Steve B in Vegas]

Another perfect morning. Best driving RC I own.

s