Help me choose...

[stylo328]

My wife surprised me with a 10.3 kit for our wedding anniversary and it arrived last week. For context, I’ve been a nitro RC guy for a long time and currently have several Traxxas nitro RC trucks and an old HPI Savage that I’ve had for over 15 years.

I am brand new to crawlers, having recently built my first crawler, a TRX4 sport, for my son. I went with all of the Traxxas factory options for that build to keep it simple, knowing we can always upgrade later.

For this axial kit, I would like to build something that we can enjoy without worrying about upgrading. Would like your suggestions on:

Radio
Receiver
ESC
Motor
Steering servo
2-speed servo
Dig servo

I’ve looked through several of the builds on this forum and have seen what some of you listed as your choices, but don’t really know what makes one selection better than the other. I don’t really have a budget so go ahead and recommend what you think is best.

Thank you in advance.

AJ


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[2mtech]

If you looked at the choices in my build thread, they were based on:

1. Applicability to the intent of the rig (basic crawling/trailing, non comp)

2. Experience with the components

3. Reasonable price of the components

4. General experiences of the crowd

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[Fricker08]

Congrats on the new rig!

You can check my build thread also, but me and my dad built almost identical rigs 1,000 miles apart with totally different terrain.
Savox 1210sg steering servo
Align ds450 micro servos for dig and 2 speed due to the high voltage capability. I’m running 7.4v
We’re both running dx5c radios, he’s running a sr515 receiver and me an sr410 because I had it laying around.
Hobbywing 1080 esc with Holmes hobbies 35t torquemaster expert 540 can.
I’m running 2s he’s running 3s but we’re both super happy with the setups.


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[stylo328]

Thank you both for the replies. Excited to get started on the build. We’re planning a back yard crawler track. Should be good fun with the kids.


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[JatoTheRipper]

Congrats! And welcome to the site.

Radio - do you want it for this truck alone or for other vehicles as well?
ESC - HobbyWing WP 1080
Motor - Holmes CrawlMaster Sport 16T
Steering servo - spend money here - Savox 1230, Savox 2290 or Holmes SHV500v3 (you must run 3S with this servo)
2-speed servo: None! The spread between 1st and 2nd gear is a joke. Just lock it in one gear and be done with it.
Dig servo - the Spektrum SX107 - it's fine if you set your end points correctly.

 

[Timmahh]

My wife surprised me with a 10.3 kit for our wedding anniversary and it arrived last week. For context, I’ve been a nitro RC guy for a long time and currently have several Traxxas nitro RC trucks and an old HPI Savage that I’ve had for over 15 years.

I am brand new to crawlers, having recently built my first crawler, a TRX4 sport, for my son. I went with all of the Traxxas factory options for that build to keep it simple, knowing we can always upgrade later.

For this axial kit, I would like to build something that we can enjoy without worrying about upgrading. Would like your suggestions on:

Radio
Receiver
ESC
Motor
Steering servo
2-speed servo
Dig servo

I’ve looked through several of the builds on this forum and have seen what some of you listed as your choices, but don’t really know what makes one selection better than the other. I don’t really have a budget so go ahead and recommend what you think is best.

Thank you in advance.

AJ


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Hey AJ. Welcome to you and the Fam. Wife buying you an RC for the Anniversary? Thats a keeper if there ever was one! Thumbs Up! Lol

I've been out of Crawlers since 2010, just getting back in along with my neighbor. Been looking at items for my builds. May get a 10.3 at one point. but leaning towards a racer/bomber possibility as I'll have 3 trail/crawler options when i get done here. lol

I like the Reef Servo options. Seem to be well recommended. Work well. Reef (nickname for his real name ) is also an American so an American Company (sure probably made in China) at any rate.

But the servos look good for the money.

As far as ESC/Motor setups/combos there are many.
Only recent unit I have current familiarity with is the Hobbywing XERUN AXE Unit that comes on the RedCat. Nice system and with a 550 motor on it,(comes with 540 atm, but 550s should be hitting the shores any day now) it would be a pretty decent option for not TOO much power, but maybe more than needed in most cases. And if you have good trigger control, getting snail crawl speed is easy.
Otherwise, I used the old Castle Crawler setup around 2010, and ofcourse the Novak Rooster which is not around or been carried forward by Novak it seems.

The Casle Mamba, MambaX ESC are top notch and very crawler capable units. Pair it with the motor that will give you what you're looking for wheel speed etc and you'll have a good setup.


Of course My old standard go to servo were JR's Not looked at the recent options but if i don't go with the Reefs, JR is probably gonna be getting my servo funds. heh.

 

[stylo328]

Congrats! And welcome to the site.

Radio - do you want it for this truck alone or for other vehicles as well?
ESC - HobbyWing WP 1080
Motor - Holmes CrawlMaster Sport 16T
Steering servo - spend money here - Savox 1230, Savox 2290 or Holmes SHV500v3 (you must run 3S with this servo)
2-speed servo: None! The spread between 1st and 2nd gear is a joke. Just lock it in one gear and be done with it.
Dig servo - the Spektrum SX107 - it's fine if you set your end points correctly.

Thanks!

The radio will be dedicated to this truck.
I have ordered the Hobbywing QuickRun 1080

I’ll look into the rest of the items you listed.


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[JatoTheRipper]

Thanks!

The radio will be dedicated to this truck.
I have ordered the Hobbywing QuickRun 1080

I’ll look into the rest of the items you listed.


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You're welcome!

Cool! You'll love the 1080.

Then for the transmitter you first need to determine how many channels you need. To run steering, the ESC, DIG, and 2-speed you need 4 channels. If you lockout the transmission then you only need 3 channels. If you want to add a winch or something like that you'll need an additional channel for that. The more channels you need the more expensive it gets.

I assume Horizon will come up with a new radio for the RTR SCX10 III because, as far as I know, they don't have an inexpensive 4-channel radio. That's obviously not out yet.

 

[stylo328]

That spektrum DX5 rugged with the receiver for $200 seems like it might work out.


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[Timmahh]

Grab a Radiolink RS6 setup from Amazon. They are 74.99 shipped free, just take about 10 to 15 days to arrive. They are now in a V2 with 2 thumb buttons and ship with the R7FG receivers which have telemetry to read the Rx battery voltage and display it on the Radio screen.

For 75.00, its a sweet radio. Can mix all channels, hella adjustments on every channel. can run on a 3s Lipo (I have a 3s 2200 in mine) and additional rxs are 20.00ish. Also has 10 to 20 model memory on it so you can run multiple rigs and save all the setting etc.
I also have the Flysky GT5 on my Gen8 Axe, and I am liking the Radiolink more.