RC Truck

[peejman]

I want to get my (almost) 5 yr old and RC truck for Christmas. He loves then and will sit and watch videos on youtube until we drag him away. My wife bought one off some facebook classifieds thing. Its a huge F150 with lights and such and looks really cool. Since it was (lightly) used, I figured I should make sure it worked properly before giving it to him.

I'm glad I did.... while it works fine on the driveway, it doesn't go worth a flip in the grass. I keep my lawn fairly closely mowed and it bogs down within a few feet. The motor hasn't got remotely enough torque.

I want something he can drive around in the grass, over small obstacles, and up the slope in my back yard. I don't really need something as elaborate (or expensive) as one of the big traxxas trophy trucks. Modestly indestructible would be good too, I'm sure he'll beat the crap out of it. Anyone have any recommendations?

Edited November 29, 2012 by peejman

[Mechanic_X]

This is my BIL's site.
[url="http://wolfcreekrcpark.com/"]Wolf Creek[/url]

He has some info on there and links to other forums he posts to.
Here is a pic of his place.
[img]http://wolfcreekrcpark.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dsc00915.jpg?w=315&h=420[/img]

[gjohnsoniv]

Maybe try HobbyTown in Turkey Creek?

[sigmtnman]

Having bought a few RCs over the years, it does not pay to go cheap. Either they will break easy/early or they will not have the power to go most places.

Traxxis vehicles are a great buy and all of the parts can be replaced when they break. If you want one but don't want to drop a lot of coin, to checkout craigslist for a used one. Here is one in maryville for a reasonable price. [url="http://knoxville.craigslist.org/ele/3433197675.html"]http://knoxville.cra...3433197675.html[/url] Edited November 29, 2012 by sigmtnman

[xd shooter]

I have 2 Traxxas Stampede 2wd trucks I would like to sell PM Me if you may be interested.

Just so you know to drive through much grass you need a pretty stout motor & some good battery packs. Bogging in grass kills battery packs fast.

[RichardR]

Most of my RC's are nitromethane powered so I am not an expert on electric RC's, but if you are wanting an electric that can handle driving through grass and stuff you will probably want to look into LIPO powered electrics, preferably with "brushless" motors in them, they are a bit more expensive but they have a lot more power than standard electric RC's do.

[Guest kilo33]

Buy anything Hobby Grade. if you don't want to spend Traxxas money up front, just make sure replacement parts are available at a local shop. Breaking an RC car\Truck and waiting for parts in the mail is no good.

Personally my son and I run Traxxas Emaxx and Stampedes. Parts are carried at local hobby shops and there easy to work on.

[sigmtnman]

[quote name='RichardR' timestamp='1354241766' post='852658']
Most of my RC's are nitromethane powered so I am not an expert on electric RC's, but if you are wanting an electric that can handle driving through grass and stuff you will probably want to look into LIPO powered electrics, preferably with "brushless" motors in them, they are a bit more expensive but they have a lot more power than standard electric RC's do.
[/quote]

Nah, no need for lipos unless you want to do 50mph in the grass.

[RichardR]

[quote name='sigmtnman' timestamp='1354248439' post='852709']


Nah, no need for lipos unless you want to do 50mph in the grass.
[/quote]

Well keep in mind that I am used to running nitro's so anything short of lipo + brushless in electrics seem woefully underpowered to me.

[peejman]

Thanks for the advice. I was into RC cars some 25 years ago and was shocked yesterday when I found they still sell the old car I had... a Grasshopper. In fact, I still may have it somewhere.... I know all about breaking and fixing them. I broke that thing so many times it's silly. But I'm so far removed from it, I don't know what's good and what's not anymore.

Keep in mind this is for my 5 yr old. I think even something like the Grasshopper would be too fast for him. I was just hoping for something relatively low speed with lots of torque that would just tractor around and climb over stuff.

The one linked above is about double what I'd like to spend... $100-ish.

These any good?

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/tag/3444254274.html

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/fod/3427672500.html

[sigmtnman]

Not familiar with racers edge, but here is a link to more specs on the the one in the first link: http://www.rcplanet.com/Racers_Edge_2WD_RTR_Short_Course_Truck_Red_Body_p/rcep2scr.htm

I don't see the exact one in the second link, but it looks like parts are readily available: http://search.rcplanet.com/search/keywords-sc10--res_per_page-100

It looks like the first one does not include a charger, so plan on buying that. The second one includes a charger.

My boy was 4 the first time he drove the traxxis and he had no problem figuring it out pretty quick and out driving his 14 yo sister. You can gear them down and change the speeds on most of them to drop the top end and give it more bottom end.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

A truck sounds like a great way to get your son's tinkering obsession properly started. Today's kids don't tinker enough. It was flying model planes got me going, only a couple years past that. Fly plane. Crash plane. Repair plane or build another.

[Sam1]

Used to be into them pretty big 15 years ago or so, built a buggy with a carbon fiber frame (when it was just coming out, cost almost $600), and I was playing with it in a parking lot and ran into a curb at full speed. Did about $800 worth of damage, sold all my stuff that weekend and said I would never touch another one.

[peejman]

[quote name='sigmtnman' timestamp='1354286844' post='852819']
Not familiar with racers edge, but here is a link to more specs on the the one in the first link: [url="http://www.rcplanet.com/Racers_Edge_2WD_RTR_Short_Course_Truck_Red_Body_p/rcep2scr.htm"]http://www.rcplanet...._p/rcep2scr.htm[/url]

I don't see the exact one in the second link, but it looks like parts are readily available: [url="http://search.rcplanet.com/search/keywords-sc10--res_per_page-100"]http://search.rcplan...es_per_page-100[/url]

It looks like the first one does not include a charger, so plan on buying that. The second one includes a charger.

My boy was 4 the first time he drove the traxxis and he had no problem figuring it out pretty quick and out driving his 14 yo sister. You can gear them down and change the speeds on most of them to drop the top end and give it more bottom end.
[/quote]

Thanks. My boy does seem to have a knack for stuff like this so I think he'll pick it up quickly. I do think I'll need to get some sort of bumper for the front as I expect he'll drive it into stuff full speed repeatedly.

Do I recall that the speed controllers might be adjustable? Like I could dial it back so full throttle isn't really full throttle? Re-gearing is a good option too.

[sigmtnman]

With the traxxis slashes we have, there is an electronic speed control as well 100% forward/reverse, 100%Fwd/no revers and 50% Forward/Revers (IIRC). So, there are a couple of ways you can control the speed.

We live on a mountain and the kids and I were do massive jumps, ~6 foot drop ins and barrel roles with them. We have been very rough with them and while we have broken some parts, I've been impressed with what it takes to do damage.

The replacement parts are relatively cheap on RC planet, so when I order something I usually get a spare and pick an upgraded model of the part. None of the upgraded parts have failed as of yet. Edited November 30, 2012 by sigmtnman

[peejman]

Traxxis had a demo set-up at the NHRA at Bristol several months ago. Imagine getting paid to tour around the country playing with RC cars all day.... Anyway, they were jumping/flipping/rolling these things 6' in the air and landing on concrete and crashing into steel posts like it was nothing. Occasionally one would quit working, but given the severity of the beating they were taking, I was impressed.

They also did a demo with one of the really fast (~70mph) cars jumping it probably 15 ft in the air. I recall some bits scattering when it came crashing down, but it still ran and they repeated it several times. Edited November 30, 2012 by peejman

[BLACKVANDRIVER]

Aww the good ole days. I had the Tamiya Sand Scorcher Baja bug. I got the Grasshopper also but never got around to building it and gave it to my cousin.

[reed1285]

I bought an ecx ruckus at my local hobbytown and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I upgraded the motor to a 14t brushless and got a bigger esc as well to handle the bigger faster motor. A good rc setup will bring hours of enjoyment and is a great hobby for father/son.

I know my ruckus with an 8.4v battery will fly, havent even tried lipo yet. Enjoy your soon to be good times!

[xd shooter]

This is what happens to a VXL Rustler at about 45 mph when it comes to a dead stop on a concrete mailbox! i had just put on the aluminun a arms & caster blocks about 10 min before the crash. Cost about $12 to fix

The second pic is how it looks now after about 50 to 55 mph & hitting a truck wheel in the road! this should cost around $25 to fix.
[IMG]http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn101/Angeliablackwell/photo1-2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn101/Angeliablackwell/photo4.jpg[/IMG]

[sigmtnman]

[quote name='xd shooter' timestamp='1354323037' post='853160']
This is what happens to a VXL Rustler at about 45 mph when it comes to a dead stop on a concrete mailbox! i had just put on the aluminun a arms & caster blocks about 10 min before the crash. Cost about $12 to fix

The second pic is how it looks now after about 50 to 55 mph & hitting a truck wheel in the road! this should cost around $25 to fix.

[/quote]

And I thought we were rough on them.

[Garufa]

[quote name='Mechanic_X' timestamp='1354222608' post='852544']
This is my BIL's site.
[url="http://wolfcreekrcpark.com/"]Wolf Creek[/url]

He has some info on there and links to other forums he posts to.
Here is a pic of his place.
[img]http://wolfcreekrcpark.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dsc00915.jpg?w=315&h=420[/img]
[/quote]

That's almost as cool as a backyard railroad.

[AU_88]

[quote name='Mechanic_X' timestamp='1354222608' post='852544']
This is my BIL's site.
[url="http://wolfcreekrcpark.com/"]Wolf Creek[/url]

He has some info on there and links to other forums he posts to.
Here is a pic of his place.
[img]http://wolfcreekrcpark.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dsc00915.jpg?w=315&h=420[/img]
[/quote]

That is a very cool D90... Would go well with my other hobby.

[peejman]

I'll revive this to say thanks to all for the advice and thanks to xdshooter for the trucks.  The boy and I have had a ball with them!

 

I was really disappointed because the weather around Christmas was terrible here.... 35-40 deg, rainy, windy... :yuck: .  The 4 year old didn't care.  We bundled him up, charged up the batteries, and he drove them until it got dark and I made him quit.  Same thing the next day, the wind nearly knocked him down a couple times, but he didn't complain at all.  Then we took them to grandma & grandpa's for a few days.  The weather was a little nicer there and he learned that they don't go so well in knee deep leaves.  :)

 

His hand is a bit small for the controller.  He can hold it normally and drive it forward, but his fingers aren't long enough to drive it backwards.  So he just switches hands and doesn't really miss a beat.  He's gotten pretty good with it though he still treats the throttle like an on/off switch.  Fun fun.

 

:wave:

[xd shooter]

I'm glad it is working out for you. You & little man will have alot of fun out of those trucks.