RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Here's a true story: I ordered the stabilizer set from Rcmart/Dinball on 6/6 on a Wednesday and then had them delivered and in my hands on 6/13, Wednesday, exactly 1 week. BTW, I'll add the stabilizers/swaybars to my short list of "Best" hopups for DB01. Anyone having body roll or sway problems and don't want to compromise a soft suspension setup by putting stiffer springs to combat the roll, should try the stabilizer kit. I have the thickest bar in the back and middle bar for the fronts. Good results and real difference. The swaying is a thing of the past and I like driving the DB01 again since I put TRF dampers in. The dampers are good too, but I don't believe their cost justifies them, though I bought them brand new for about 38 dollars on sale. I will continue to test and change up shock oils and such, but for now the TRF dampers miss my "Best" list.
Posted on: 6/17/2012 9:10 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11121940

RE: Setting Slipper Clutch on 4x4: All your best tips, dos and don'ts?
It's a Tamiya DB01. I'll try your method once I get the car running again, thanks. Keep the tips coming.
Posted on: 6/3/2012 10:56 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11105426

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
[quote]ORIGINAL: Eman77 I've used RcMart, no issues. It does take a while, but then it's on the other side of the world, so... *shrug* [/quote] I just remembered that in the end they're no slower than anyone else on that side of the planet. BUT.. they have EXCELLENT customer service. Their website is RCmart.com and their ebay seller tag is dinball. I believe I wrote about it. When I purchased a blue alloy steering linkage kit for the Db01 and it didn't fit (it fits only the TRF501x, which is slightly different) they didn't hesitate at all to fix the mistake: Unconditional refund. They made the mistake in advertising the linkage as being compatible with the Db01. And they paid for it and I paid nothing. That's a seller that has won more business with me. And indeed after that issue, I went ahead and purchased more items from them. Laudable seller.
Posted on: 6/3/2012 10:53 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11105423

Setting Slipper Clutch on 4x4: All your best tips, dos and don'ts?
For some time I'd been using this method: Roll the car back and let it have some backward momentum, and then throttle it forward, see how it responds and then make adjustments. If there's no lag while accellerating, the slipper clutch may be too tight. There should be a little lag. Or that's how I've done it. But I'm no longer sure. I keep getting stripped gears, which is happening (I'm not sure) due either to slipper clutch which is too tight or a slipper clutch that is too loose (and overheating causing the center pulley gear right next to the slipper to heat, soften, and strip out). Again, I'm not sure as I wasn't able to get to the gears right after they'd strip out. What's your proven method for setting the clutch? Thanks.
Posted on: 6/3/2012 5:41 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11105171

RE: Lunchbox TEU104BK ESC already dead?
[quote]ORIGINAL: collector1231 Why don't I zip tie the wires to the motor, like Tamiya tells you to do in the kit with the Mabuchi motor? Or would it still scrape the tires or suspension? [/quote] Again, because the wires are too stiff. They are not soft like those wires on the Mabuchi silver can. You don't have much room by that wheel, and you'll need to zitptie those wires at a sharp angle.
Posted on: 6/2/2012 10:39 AM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11103832

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
I've ordered from RCmart quite a few times. Their delivery time was average from China to where I live (about 1-2 weeks). Although I believe they've taken a day or two longer to send the things out. That said, Stellamodels is a good merchant and I've bought from them twice now. And they sell the diffs cheaper than anyone, and they provide shipment tracking.
Posted on: 5/31/2012 6:36 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11101831

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
[quote]ORIGINAL: Eman77 Can you link me to the DB01 gear diffs, and/or what is necessary to get to replace the ball diffs with those? Did you do front and rear, or just rear? [/quote] You can get it from Stellamodels for about 20 USD. http://www.stellamodels.com.hk/54329-db01-gear-differential-unit-p-5772.html I'd recommend picking up some green slime and putting that on the o-rings and the gasket to prevent leaks. I only have it in the rear and I used the stock 1k oil. Very happy with it. But you might want to try thicker oils for some limited slip and for better leak prevention, although be careful about understeer.
Posted on: 5/31/2012 6:05 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11101796

RE: Lunchbox TEU104BK ESC already dead?
Do not use Leopard motors for the LB!! I'll tell you why. The wires on the motor stick OUTWARD and cannot be cut. And they're as STIFF as they look. Check out Ultimaterc's review of Leopard motors. I've never owned a Leopard but Jang mentions how the wires are stiff. This would be important because these same wires are going to rub against the wheel, tires, and/or shocks. EZRUN is not walk in the park either but they'll fit if you go with the 9t combo (comes prewired, I believe). EZruns that aren't prewired require some soldering skills and they are not "easy". But don't be turned off by this as you will learn a lot. A cheap 30a 10USD Radioshack iron will do. Maybe with a chisel tip attachment on it as well (buy it at Sears for a couple dollars), and lead (melts easier) 60/40 solder.
Posted on: 5/31/2012 5:56 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11101788

RE: Lunchbox TEU104BK ESC already dead?
The LB powertrain will handle the brushless power, no problem. It's the body and body mounts you'll need to be careful about. But then again that's not a problem either with good driving. Or just set the end point of the throttle lower so that you give yourself a speed handicap there. The real reason you should get a BL system is that unlike brushed motors, the motors have no brushes that you'll need to replace after a every few runs. They are more durable and require far less maintenance. But if you need to stick with brushed, there are plenty of cheap ones for about 20 USD or less. I have a good Venom brand in mine. Although, 1 reason I wouldn't recommend it is that its on/off switch is tethered very close to the ESC. It's not like the Tamiya ESCs that have long strong wires and large switches that you can mount on the chassis. Shop around. There are a lot of cheap brushed ESCs. Better yet, there are many cheap brushless ESCs. Makes no sense anymore to stick with brushed if you're spending money.
Posted on: 5/29/2012 8:35 AM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11098534

RE: Lunchbox TEU104BK ESC already dead?
If you're going to buy a 42 dollar brushed motor, you might as well get a cheap brushless ESC and motor combo. Maybe an EZRun 35a ESC with the 9t Ezrun motor? Should cost less than 80.
Posted on: 5/29/2012 4:09 AM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11098273

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
[quote]ORIGINAL: Colzy2 . Very frustrating as the larger pinion that came with the kit won't mesh correctly onto the spur (with the brushed motor having a bearing on the outside of the case this reduces the space available for the pinion to fit & therefore won't align correctly to the spur). [/quote] Here's the solution: Get the pinions made by HPI. They are smaller in length which means they have a lower profile. I installed a new motor- LRP X12 6.5t- and had the same problem you were having with the sport tuned. But I bought an HPI pinion (48p, 20t) and now everything lines up perfect. I've tried Traxxas pinions in the past. Don't like them. They too are slightly shorter in length (though not as short as the HPI and not short enough to fix the problem you've had), and they don't seem very refined and seem to be rough on spur gears. BTW, I don't recommend using a 23t or something greater than 17t with the brushed motors as I imagine they will overheat. Or if you do use higher gearing make sure you're monitoring temps.
Posted on: 5/25/2012 7:09 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11094880

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Video: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItvxgpOQw84[/youtube] Very basic stuff. No jumps or interesting handling. Not much of speed either. Just messing around and finding out that filming and driving with less than 3 hands and arms is rather difficult. I deliberately try to slide out and drift throughout the video, but it's no good with less than a full hand on the steering wheel. Note that the increase in rotating MASS due to the gear diff makes the DB01 a touch sluggish. It almost gives me an excuse to buy a hotter motor. But as much as I'd like one, I'm afraid that adding more power will cause other problems - stripped gears, overheating, zero tolerance for overheating, short runtimes. In the latter respect, the EZrun 8.5t was a good choice. I've taken it to over 200F one time when I had first installed the one-way and there was binding there that I wasn't aware of. The motor still ticks just as I had bought it the first time.
Posted on: 5/12/2012 7:17 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11078543

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
My DB01 after three months of playing with it: [IMG]http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/1633/dscn0149g.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/3792/dscn0161vo.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2351/dscn0157j.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3473/dscn0155wk.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/8769/dscn0152q.jpg[/IMG] (With Durga shell, black 3racing DF03 wheels and tires, Team Associated blue alloy M3x10 screws, and home-made shock tower covers)
Posted on: 5/12/2012 1:41 AM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11077745

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
I've had the DB01 since middle February. Since that time, I've played with tires and wheels, one-ways, fans, and shells. And I now have a gear diff in the rear, which I recommend more than any other hopup so far. The gear diff is smoother than a ball diff will ever be. The power delivery it gives is composed, predictable, consistent, direct, linear and any other adjective from this ballpark you can think of. It makes driving the car very simple. The car doesn't spin out and the forward traction is greater. I haven't had it for more than a week, so I can't comment on durability. But so far so good. I had the 10k diff oil but ultimately decided to use the 1k oil that comes with the gear diff kit. I also used green slime on the gasket and o rings to ward off leaks. But that's something I will be looking out for. I still have the ball diff in front. It's feeling a bit gritty and it's stiffer in diff action than the rear. But I won't be outright replacing it till I think I need to. The downside of the DB01 gear diffs is 1) the possibility for leaks, 2) gears are plastic - they're supposed to be durable but how much so? against how much power? remains to be seen; 3) More mass. The gears have more plastic mass and are filled with diff oil. The rotating mass is greater and you can tell. There's less of a punch off throttle. And you can feel that mass when you hold the DB01 in your hand and punch the throttle the car lifts up or inclines as if it wants to wheelie, and there's a gyoscope effect that didn't exist with the ball diffs. Anyway, I defintely recommend the gear diff. Again, I can't comment yet on how durable these are. But they're supposed to be more durable and involve far less maintenance than the ball diffs. The best part about the gear diff, besides that they are mechanically simple and direct, is that they correct so many of the traction and handling issues I've had. I don't have to wrestle with the DB01 in tight turns, no more crazy spin outs; and because the power delivery is so much more consistent, I get a lot more power off road, despite the thin oil that I'm using. One would think the opposite would be true due to the limited slip effect of the ball diffs, but it's clear to me that this is not so. The gear diff, the alloy blocks and mount, slipper clutch, hotter motor, fans for the motor, replacement screws (since the stock screws rust), and a TBR bumper = best hopups for the DB01.
Posted on: 5/12/2012 1:36 AM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11077741

RE: Return of Lunchbox..
Nice video of the LB on train tracks: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEpev5_Ax84[/youtube]
Posted on: 5/6/2012 11:57 AM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Classic Cars & Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11070495

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
I took my DB01 for a spin during lunch again... It was making a rough noise. But I didn't think much about it. And then... suddenly no reverse. And then, suddenly it's FWD only. I spun the rear wheels, there was no diff action whatsoever. The rear differential finally bit the dust. Or so I thought. About 10 hours later when I have time to check it out, it's not the rear diff. It's the center pulley! Freak. I knew I was running the rear belt a little too loose. I believe that's why it stripped out. The rear diff is still good. I mean, it's dirty as hell and doesn't feel smooth. So I'll need to rebuild and relube. But, since I have the gear diff coming in, I'm not even going to bother. My DB01 will be "on the lifts" or "in the garage" until I get the gear diff in. I'm going to storage charge my lipo. I was waiting for tje gear diff in the first place to readjust my belt. Oh well. But that solves another mystery. When I rolled the DB01 by hand, I noticed a lot of tension. I thought it was spur/pinion mesh, which is why I tended to mesh the spur on the loose side. It didn't occur to me till very recently that the tension was a "rubber band" effect I was getting from the rear belt. I believe this is also the reason why my DB01 made the peculiar noise that it did when going full throttle. It sounded mildly "nitro". It was a belt that was too loose going full blast. Good thing I have the one-way because that means I have an extra center pulley laying around. ;) And good thing I had already purchased an extra belt. And good thing I have the gear diff coming around. I took off the diff covers for the rear for the first time ever. And it's not going to close till I get the gear diff installed. Lesson learned.
Posted on: 5/2/2012 8:08 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11066241

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Electric_Guy, I don't think it's just me but the video has a lot of artifacts, like 50% of the screen is covered in pixels. I can't see the car. And even without the pixels, the view is wanting, to say the least. You get no sense of scale or distance travelled, and therefore no sense of speed. But I do like the sound. ;) Sounds kind of like Star Wars, no? What tires are you riding on?
Posted on: 5/2/2012 7:56 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11066224

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Hi Colzy2, Perhaps the Sport Tuned motor's shaft is too short? I don't believe you'll have a problem with most brushless motors, although even with them you'll have some issue aligning the spur with the pinion if the standard length is like mine. If I'm honest, I have an EZrun 8.5t and about 15-20% of the width of the pinion is not on the spur because the shaft is too short. But I don't see that as a real problem. There's enough area for the pinion and spurs to mesh there, IMO. Though I might be wrong. If you go brushless, also consider buying a lipo battery and charger, if you haven't already. Brushless will make a vast difference and can be used with NIMH, but you'll find the Nimh running hot, and in fact you'll run the risk of running the battery too hot. Not to mention the inferior run times you'll be getting. I'd suggest getting an EZRun 60a ESC or better. You can get them for about 50 US dollars. For the motor, try the 6.5t LRP Vector K4 motor. The LRP is a Team Associated brand, I think and the K4 line of their motors is their economy grade, but are still very good. They are completely rebuildable, come presoldered (EZRun doesn't and soldering turns out to be a major PITA), and are sensored. You can run the motor with sensored or sensorless ESCs, and it seems to have high temp tolerances. They sell for about 60-70 USD, although sometimes they are on sale for 55. I don't have the LRP but I recommend it because it's something I'd buy if I had to do it over again. The EZrun 8.5t is plenty fast, but I yearn for something faster, although that probably doesn't make me wiser. Today on a lunch break at work, I made use of a very large parking lot on the side of which was a strip of off road, nice little rocks and nice little hill of dirt, which I made use of for the first time. I did a lot of speed runs (on the parking lot) and then on that off road strip I did a lot of jumping. The DB01 handled itself superb, gliding through rough, rocky terrain and powering through and jumping off the dirt hills, and crash landing several times with no damage. I have my DB01 geared at 23/90 and my motor temp after 30 minutes was 130-140F, which was only (barely) hot to the touch but not burning, but that's also with a Yeah Racing tornado fan on the motor. But that was also with the spur meshed too loose to the pinion, which is not good. Right now I'm shopping for replacement spurs. DB01 spur gears are compatible with Team Associated B4, B44.1, TC, SC10 spur gears, and a lot of aftermarket companies make spur gears for them - Kimbrough, JConcepts, Hot Racing, and such. Lots of options.
Posted on: 4/29/2012 3:40 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11061579

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
^ DB01 running is a happy DB01. But clean it's happy too. So either way it works, I think since, IMO, Durgas are nice-lookers. I have honestly read through this entire thread perhaps 1 and 1/2 times, reading up on everything I could. And I've now had the center one-way in for about month. So let me add some stuff about it to this thread. I don't like the one-way. Pros: Allows more rotational torque when turning. 4x4 RC buggies are prone to understeer because of the nature of their bound drivetrain. A one-way decouples the axles so they are less prone to understeer. And another way of looking at it, is that off-power the buggy is like 2wd while on-power it's 4wd. How this translates in terms of performance and handling is not something I've been able to zero in on yet. Perhaps, the one way is what's enabling the Db01 to slalom easier midspeed. I'm not sure yet. The buggy seems to be able to hook into turns better off power now. It just kind of sucks directly into and locks into corners because of the way the power train decouples and the fronts wheels are able to free spin when off power. And that can be a useful characteristic in a race. Cons: 1) You have to cut out bits of the spur cover. I don't think this had ever been mentioned and I was completely surprised by this aspect. You have to trim the cover in order to avoid the one-way pulley abrading against the spur cover when it's been properly built and installed into the center shaft. I did not do the best job - and in fact my spur cover has a small hole from overcutting or overtrimming. No big deal but this is just one of those things that reveals how rather ad-hoc the center one-way is in the DB01. 2) Most of the times, for most conditions, the pro above is a subtle pro. You're not going to notice a mind blowing difference in turning between the one-way vs without. 3) The biggest disadvantage to using the center one-way, or any one-way, is that you lose braking on the front wheels. 4wheel braking gives far stabler braking in any condition and you get much greater stopping power. With the one-way, you'll spin out and do 180s when braking and that's desirable to me in..no way.. In fact it can be damaging to the power train. If you're going 40mph in one direction and then you brake, spinout and do a 180 and then you hit the throttle again in order to accelerate in the opposite direction, your drive train will be working against that momentum and you'll be more likely to strip out gears, which is I believe what's going on with my vehicle now. 4) The one-way isn't sturdy. There are rollpins that make up the one-way bearing that are prone to falling out if you're not careful. All these reasons combined are, at least, enough for me to want to remove the one-way and return to stock. I don't like 2-wheel braking, guys. The move from 4 wheel to 2 wheel braking, in the end and overall, would make the one-way a definite hop-DOWN. And so after a month of tinkering around with it, I must say, I don't recommend it. I even think I ought to be paying someone a price in removing the one-way, as if that in itself were a hop-up! Postedit: I've done some more testing. It turns out that spin outs when braking can be minimized with a softer suspension in the front. I rose the ride height of the front by moving the bottom mount toward the center, but then to add a little firmness to the shocks since it was drooping a little too much without any spacer, I added just a thin spacer on each shock, whereas normally I add a thicker spacer. With this tiny tweak my braking is straight and my DB01 doesn't spin out. So that's good. All it took was a change of the spacer or a slightly softer front suspension setup. I also tweaked the rears so that they're noticeably negative in camber. Before they seemed closer to neutral if not neutral. My car seems to handle just fine under this new setting (negative rear camber + softer front suspension). I can still filp over but I have to force it now. I guess I just need to keep tuning this. The one-way is a good idea but it calls for heavy suspension and driving adjustment to be truly useful. I guess.
Posted on: 4/29/2012 2:29 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11060577

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Haha. I just noticed I mistook the author of post 1653. - Sorry. Atomic shock towers? They do look different from the stock? Do they look cooler? I've read that they can be a bit too tough in that in a bad crash situation they won't break but the next weakest link in the chain, the diff covers, would break. Tamiya are releasing carbon shock towers of their own, for the DB01, fronts and rears, soon. New item #s: 54385 DB01 Carbon Damper Stay (Front) 54386 DB01 Carbon Damper Stay (Rear) - About the diffs, hmm, when I built the diffs, I used the Tamiya recommendation, that is, to hold both shafts in place and tighten until the pulley gear couldn't be turned. I didn't tighten any more than that. After running the DB01 for the first few times and knowing about how ball diffs inevitably loosen for the first few runs, the diffs did loosen and I readjusted them by popping off one of the tie rods to get to the left rear wheel outshaft and front right wheel outshaft screws. I held the spur and one wheel firmly in place and tightened until I wasn't able to move the other wheel, and not more. The check to see if the diffs are too tight is checking to see if the wheels turn in the opposite directions from each other when you spin any one of them. If they both spin in the same direction the diff is too tight. ~ I haven't had a problem with the diffs at all after the first readjustment. I never worry about them. The only things I worry about on my DB01 are 1) the wing. 2) the body. 3) the temp of the motor. 4) the dogbones. 5) the spur gear. (in that order of urgency). - Legdog, "Windup" would be what an RC 4x4 gets without the one-way. It's the push-pull binding that goes on when the wheels of one axle can't spin or rotate indepedently from the wheels of the other axle but which need to in a turn situation considering that the wheels are covering different distances and will need to spin at different rates. That's how I understand it. With the one-way, the windup there doesn't exist off-throttle. Great job on getting the Schumachers! Tell us how you like them. I'm probably not going to get them until the present Dirt Hawgs and wheels wear or break. I'm thinking of buying a new brushless - an LPR Vector K4 6.5t, which outputs 5200 ? kv instead. Thinking about it. BTW, my DB01 would run better with the spacers removed and everything lowered. It does in fact. I like spacers because they're so easy to deal with. But I need the spacers by default, because without them my Db01 would get destroyed in my back yard. I'm a backyard basher and that means I need to preserve maximum ride height. The trick for me is to get the best handling with that ride height. Anyway, I did a quick little run at a park tonight while doing a grocery run... and I didn't flip over once. But that's purely because the pavement was wet. The DB01's corners were still dipping down during a turn. I now have the rear shocks mounted on the lower outermost position, and I have springs taken from other shocks that I had that are considerably stiffer and I still see the DB01 dip a lot turing a turn. If I turn left, I can see the rear right dipping, and so on. I'm sure if the pavement wasn't wet the DB01 would have landed on its lid a half-dozen times today. It slaloms nice enough, though, at midspeed.
Posted on: 4/26/2012 7:50 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11058468

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
I was worried about warping the wheels too. But they just get a nice toasty hot when you take it out. But it's recommended that you let the wheels cool a little before you remove the tires. But it seems to be important to wrap the wheels in foil. I had Losi 40WT shock oil and I started with that. But recently went to the stock. I had always assumed that the Tamiya was going to be thinner. But it's much thicker. Some people say that Tamiya rating = Losi wt * .1. So the 900 Tamiya shock oil = 90 wt Losi, roughly. I doubt that's accurate but in any case it's thicker. According to Tamiya the rating of 1 is what the viscosity of water is. The clear shock oil that Tamiya gives is 900. I'm still trying to figure the suspension out, My car is doing a lot of flip overs and still does now that the Dirt Hawgs are back on. My rears were slighly negative camber. And now I'm going to get them to slightly positive again in the hope that doing so will lessen the traction the rears have in a turn, which would allow them to slide out rather than anchor into the ground. And this way my RC won't flip over so much. My DB01 never flipped over really even with the taller Dirt Hawgs before I got the one-way. And now I got to try to compensate for it.
Posted on: 4/26/2012 5:32 AM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11057291

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Hi Legdog, Tires came in preglued. The glue was adequate but not very strong and I was able to "crack" the tires off. I prefer it that way - to use a glue that is strong enough for running RCs but weak enough so that it sucumbs to the pressure of a strong finger/hand. OTOH, I used a slow dry loctite CA glue to glue my Dirt Hawgs and I had to bake them off. (Preheated oven to 350 f; wrapped each wheel in tin foil and then placed them on a bent up, used tin tray. And placed in oven for 20 minutes, etc.. No bad smell as I was afraid of. And I used an oven mit and moiste towel to handle the rest. Easy.) - BTW, how's your Durga doing lately? Any mods in the works?
Posted on: 4/25/2012 4:34 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11056721

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Nice! I have had the center one-way for some time now. It seems to unleash some sort of rotational torque that didn't exist without the one-way, which is why I've been having to research on suspension tuning and so on, to cope for that extra power. But I like it, even though I'm just a basher and probably have had no real need to get one. - - Pro-line sent me an email about their Road Rage tires for the buggy fronts. Accordingly, they say it is discontinued and that poor sales did not justify production costs. That's too bad. But maybe not too bad considering that Schumacher makes a good enough line of on-road tires for 1/10 buggies. Go here: http://www.racing-cars.com/sp/category/Product_Category/subcategory/Wheels_Tyres_and_Inserts/templateid/12/searchbox7/1-10_Buggy_On_Road_Tyres.html The RT1 Road And Track (Green) tires look great for pavement. The RT3 have a chevron appearance to it, which makes me think it would be a decent all terrain tire. I'll check later to see if that website can ship to the U.S..
Posted on: 4/24/2012 8:28 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11054429

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
I run my DB01 like a smoker takes cigarette breaks. It's nice to have so many good "bashing spots" available outside of my door and even at work where I have a stretch of 500 ft of empty parking space to have fun with. The stock tires are now almost completely bald. In fact they're shiny smooth for most of the width of the tread. I've been using them to practice drifting. ;) The set of Schumacher RT1s shipped to the US will cost 31 dollars, which is not a bad price. I'd buy another set of chrome spoked wheels just for the sake of getting the Schumachers on them. But I have an extra set of black dish wheels that I think will end up going unused, which is 12 dollars I could have used to buy something else. Any suggestion as to what I should do with them? After the chrome spoked wheels, I don't like the plastic dishes. For now I'm going to bake off or maybe just tear off the Dirt Hawgs from the Baldre's dish wheels, and then mount the tires on the chromes I have and see how that goes.
Posted on: 4/24/2012 7:59 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11055577

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Dimblum, Thanks. Everything checks out for the one-way. If anything the motor is running hotter because the spur/pinion mesh isn't all that I thought it was. The spur might be wearing down and I can't get it to mesh with the pinion in the same way that I had it at some point before. (I use my own "method" for setting the mesh, as I have never found any consistency or reliability in the paper method.) The last I checked, the diffs were fine. The slipper is fine. I'll need to check on the belt tension. I never considered checking to see if the belt tensions on the two belts are equal. Anyway, for the Dirt Hawgs, I like the camber on the rears slightly positive. But now that I have the balding stock tires back on, coupled with the adapters and DF03 wheels. I'll consider readjusting the rears. I'll consider the shock positions too. But right now I have the car handling in a way that it fits my driving style and tastes. The only thing again that I don't like is the 2 wheel braking. - crusadore, I really like the DF03 wheels. But it's true. Especially when you look at the DB01 from behind, you can tell that the front wheels are stanced wider than what's stock. But, honestly, it hasn't effected the handling in a bad way as far as I see, or not in a way that one couldn't tune for. And for the stance alone, IMO, the DB01 looks so much better.
Posted on: 4/20/2012 10:00 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11050648

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
The center one-way doesn't have a tension setting. It's just a pulley that replaces the pulley that hooks up to the belt hooked up to the front differential and is free to rotate in one direction but locks up in the other direction. I believe I understand the problem now. The reason why my DB01 was twist-somersaulting through the air and onto its lid is that without a one-way there is only a minor constraint on the front axle in a turn situation. The front wheels rotate a lot more than the rear when turning and with a one way, the two axles aren't locked to each other and the different axle wheels aren't constrained by each other, and so a car is much less grounded during rotation. But I see that as a benefit. It's the reason I got a one-way. The car runs much better now ever since I placed a few spacers on the rear shocks to adjust preload, making the springs stiffer. It seems like doing that has brought the car back to a position where the added rotation power is balanced out by the stiffer springs, and so now I don't flip-over as much. The rear opposite corner was dipping real bad in a turn situation before I changed the pre-load. If there was another reason for the bad handling, it's that I had the EPA on the throttle channel set to 105%, which means I was able to max out the throttle easier. I lowered it to 103% to avoid premature full-throttle situations. For the record, I now have the rears positioned with slight positive camber (which means it has slightly less grip when turning, which means it'll be able to give and slide when it needs to) and the fronts have slight negative camber (for better traction). I have also reduced the front toe so that it's almost neutral. I prefer it that way. One gets less steering but better control on the straights - and better control steering too because now the DB01 seems less prone to spinouts in general. All of the above, BTW, is about the problems my DB01 had been having on the pavement. Off road, I'm not sure if it's because of the center one-way or what, but it rotate sbeautifully. It's like there's an invisible hand lifting and rotating the DB01 by its center at all times when turning. The thing I don't like about the one-way for sure, though, is the 2-wheel braking. I have to set my ABS right and brake carefully in order to avoid spinning out 180 degrees when I brake while going straight. There's less stopping power too, so I don't feel secure going very fast. Anyway, I guess I like the one-way. It's just one of those items that's nice to have. And I still like the DF03 wheels - in fact, I'm probably going to buy another set. I really like them. :p
Posted on: 4/19/2012 10:12 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11049413

RE: Return of Lunchbox..
StevenJV, What a sexy beast your LB is! I like the green..? Looks nice. It looks blue in one of the slides of your pic, unless that's a different body. In RC, there's a tension, a constant battle between liking the hobby because you have a beautiful RC car vs liking the hobby because running that RC car is fun. The problem is that these two things are almost mutually exclusive. The more you run the car, the more crap it looks, the more it gets damaged, which = ugly RC. LOL. But a moist microfiber towel can do wonders. And good driving skills.
Posted on: 4/19/2012 9:00 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Classic Cars & Trucks"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11049363

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Thanks Legdog. The funny thing is "Batman" never occurred to me. But now that i think about it... :p The stock tires are bald now too. The rears are almost bald. The fronts are shiny bald according to the camber angle I set the wheels at. So it seems like any mini-pin or spike tire can't last long on asphalt. I'd like to get a set of buggy on-road tires. I might just shoot Proline an email about their road rage buggy fronts. So far the one-way has been disastrous. For whatever reason the motor runs a bit hotter. I don't know why, I would have thought that it would run cooler. My pinion/spur mesh is good and the spur cover is cut out sufficiently as per instructions. The worst part is, the DB01 flips on its lid if I accelerate hard and turn from a standstill. I can flip it at will now. The DB01 almost twirls in the air first by its corners like a coin spinning on a table. This is very frustrating. I have tried adjusting camber and toe, and even with rather obvious negative camber, the problem still exists, and it exists no matter what wheels or tires I use, although of course it's much worse with the grippier Dirt Hawgs. I didn't have this problem before. Even on very dusty, low traction parking lot area, I can see the corners starting to lift during a turn. I don't understand it. The next thing I'm going to try is almost neutral camber but with visible toe-in at the front and almost neutral but leaning on negative camber for the rear. So far I've had it more toe out than toe in in the front. Placing the camber negative at various degress hasn't helped much so I figured I might as well get it back to default. Any suggestions here for minimizing the flips? Another problem is that the DB01 spins out when I hard brake. I'm sure this is because of the rear, 2 wheel braking. If I'm going fast and straight and I get the brakes on, more than likely but not always, my DB01 spins out and does a 180. I didn't have these issues before the one-way. Any suggestions? I can live with the brake turning. But I don't understand why I'm flipping over so much now.
Posted on: 4/18/2012 3:49 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11047661

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
Observations: (1) Strips of the 3Racing tires went bald after just one battery pack of running the DB01 on a dusty, sandy low traction parking lot surface. I removed the tires and put on the stock. The stock tires too aren't faring very well as they're losing tread and getting slick. The Dirt Hawgs, put under much more abuse, through many mores sessions of wear, hardly look worn. I can't imagine any racing tire lasting very long on asphalt the way the Dirt Hawgs do. So again I must recommend them. They're durable and far superior on grass than the stock or the 3Racing tires that I've used now. They are a very good tire over-all. I'm thinking of buying another set and mounting them on the chrome DF03 wheels. A con of the buggy Dirt Hawgs is that they are soft and balloon at high rpm. (2) The slightly wider stance of the DF03 wheels + adapters does not kill the handling whatsoever. Again, the DB01 feels a touch jumpier at its corners but it also feels more fun to drive, and it seems to negotiate fast 90degree turns much better. There's no "octopus" here. Overall, I find it's an improvement. (3) The Baldre body fits the chassis like a glove. It's a struggle on the other hand to seam and seal the Durga shell in the same way. As far as looks go, I like my Baldre shell better than the Durga shell. I'll probably have the one-way in tommorow.
Posted on: 4/15/2012 8:46 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11043623

RE: Official DB-01 Durga Thread
My new.. ahem.. Durga: [IMG]http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/9625/snapshot591.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4540/snapshot588.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6978/snapshot598l.jpg[/IMG] A plain and simple paint job. I tend to be a sucker for sticker bombs. And notice that the clear spaces masked off in the front of the left air vent and the rear of the left air vent, one shaped with the Pisces "H" and the rear shaped by an abstract butterfly. (I also have star shapes on the left rear corner for added effect). I can now see the LEDs when the car is on! I used Duplicolor Vinyl & Fabric coating paint for the job - very good for Lexan. [quote]ORIGINAL: Legdog As far as I understand it, the diff is locked when (and therefore subject to wind) when you throttle out of a turn and both front wheels are spinning more or less at the same rate. I think what Dimblum was refering to is the effect of using the one-way when you are approaching the turn (and are either free-wheeling or breaking) where the fronts spin independently of eachother, the motor and, the rears. [/quote] Both one-ways have that effect. When off power, the fronts spin independently of each other, the motor, and the rears. What I don't understand is why a car without a front diff would be better generally for on-road outside of drifting scenarios. I trust that the front one-ways are better for on road, but I just don't understand why. And I'll never be able to test it either as I'll never buy it for the DB01. Both one-ways, however, should act as a rudimentary center-diff in that whenever off power the different axles would be allowed to rotate independently of each other. I'm hoping this will eliminate the 4x4 bind and understeer that I noticed while cornering at higher speeds on pavement. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is 2 wheel braking. I think I'd lose control in some situations without the brakes on all 4 wheels.
Posted on: 4/13/2012 10:01 PM by Author "Hwa224" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11040844