Help me get back up and running!

[Krawler23]

So I’ve decided to get my old XR10 back up and running. It’s been probably 9-10 years since I’ve used it. It’s a shame to see the MOA industry get overtaken I must say, I just think MOA is so much more capable, but I guess scalers are all the rage.

Anyhow I’ve got some questions about how to get back up and running:

1. I’ve got a castle 10 Amp BEC, with 2 Tekin FXR ESC’s. My old lipo’s were Sky Lipo’s that were 1300mah 3s batts, 25c with deans connectors. I used to charge them on my Thunder AC6 (which I still have as well). Does anyone know where to get a battery or two that fits those specs with my electronics and my charger? I don’t know what’s good or not and it’s hard to find batts like that now that the scalers have taken over with much larger mah. Also, what does the 25c part of the battery mean again? If I get a new battery how important is that value?
2. Going with that, I’m considering putting the batt on the front axle, any links to a mount to do that? If not, I’ll consider making my own I suppose.
3. I want to change out some of the screws because they strip so easily on my rig. A lot of the screws are M2 and M3 sized screws. Also, I want to do the brass insert mod and 2 bolt mod because my gears have stripped before, where's a good place to get that hardware as well?
4. My foams are bad, what're some good ones these days?
5. I may get new tires because I shaved mine and didn’t do the best job, plus they’re super old so what’s a good replacement for them?
6. My shocks are probably bad, but since axial discontinued these I'm not sure if I can get parts for them. If I can, what parts should I get to replace them? If I can't get any, what's a good replacement set?
7. Is there just a custom skid plate? I ask because I made my own custom chassis, but never got the skid plate figured out so I thought maybe I’ll just buy one.

Thanks for all the help guys. I really miss being able to crawl so I’m excited to get back into it. If there’s anything else I missed that you think would make a successful build, feel free to suggest some ideas. Thanks!

 

[AK KRAWLER]

So I’ve decided to get my old XR10 back up and running. It’s been probably 9-10 years since I’ve used it. It’s a shame to see the MOA industry get overtaken I must say, I just think MOA is so much more capable, but I guess scalers are all the rage.

Anyhow I’ve got some questions about how to get back up and running:

Thanks for all the help guys. I really miss being able to crawl so I’m excited to get back into it. If there’s anything else I missed that you think would make a successful build, feel free to suggest some ideas. Thanks!

Okay, lots to go through here and a lot of it will likely be some personal choice. I myself do not have an XR10, but will support you getting back to one of the greatest hobbies on earth, it is honestly like stepping into an alternate world for me...

1. I’ve got a castle 10 Amp BEC, with 2 Tekin FXR ESC’s. My old lipo’s were Sky Lipo’s that were 1300mah 3s batts, 25c with deans connectors. I used to charge them on my Thunder AC6 (which I still have as well). Does anyone know where to get a battery or two that fits those specs with my electronics and my charger? I don’t know what’s good or not and it’s hard to find batts like that now that the scalers have taken over with much larger mah. Also, what does the 25c part of the battery mean again? If I get a new battery how important is that value? There are lots of good, small batteries out there. I just Googled "1300ma LiPo Battery", then clicked on the "videos" tab and it came up with a few things to watch. Not a direct answer, but it should lead you where you need to go.
On the connectorside of things, you may need to solder on your own Deans Plug if you do not find a battery that you want that already has the correct plug.
On the "C" Rating, that is it'd discharge rating. The larger the "C" Rating, the more amperage it can safely discharge. Most of my batteries range from 30C to 75C. For my usage, I have not really found much difference in them. If it were a "go fast" rig, it might make more of a difference.

2. Going with that, I’m considering putting the batt on the front axle, any links to a mount to do that? If not, I’ll consider making my own I suppose. No Clue :lmao:

3. I want to change out some of the screws because they strip so easily on my rig. A lot of the screws are M2 and M3 sized screws. Try this as a start https://www.amazon.com/Rc-Screwz-Screw-Set-RCZAXI003/dp/B00445ORM4

4. My foams are bad, what're some good ones these days? A lot of people go with Crawler Innovations. I had a set of them in my Redcat Gen8 AXE and they made the stock tires work great. Pick your foams, after you decide on tires.

5. I may get new tires because I shaved mine and didn’t do the best job, plus they’re super old so what’s a good replacement for them? Not sure on this one and it depends on how ii you want to get, but this is thread has a link to a solid review on one of the newer tires. http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/tires-wheels/628155-its-ready-jconcepts-ruptures-1-9-review.html

6. I want to do the brass insert mod and 2 bolt mod because my gears have stripped before, where's a good place to get that hardware as well? Not exactly sure what I you are asking, as these are not terms I am familiar with...

7. My shocks are probably bad, but since axial discontinued these I'm not sure if I can get parts for them. If I can, what parts should I get to replace them? If I can't get any, what's a good replacement set? I would search this section of the forum, using the advanced search option and select the "titles only" option, then type in shocks to see what comes up. There is bound to be some good discussions for what were, or are the best shocks to use.

8. Is there just a custom skid plate? I ask because I made my own custom chassis, but never got the skid plate figured out so I thought maybe I’ll just buy one. I would do the same for this one as I answered in question #7.

Good luck, stay safe and have a blast!!!

 

[Krawler23]

Thanks for the response. I’m currently working on putting everything together. I made my own custom chassis out of Lexan on my CNC router so I’m trying to get all of that to fit correctly. The hardest part is getting all the electronics stuffed inside on the skid. Once I figure that out I think I will be pretty good.

I think I’m gonna stick with the stock tires and foams and see how they work, if they’re bad I’ll buy new Crawler Innovation ones. It’s funny, those tires that you recommended look very similar to the original LOSI comp claws that came on the original truck.

I think I’ll go with the 1300mah battery and see if I can get that to fit somewhere but there really is no to little room to fit that stupid thing.

I bought some Lucas oil red n tacky and got the gears re-greased so I should be buttoned up on that front.

I’ll post some pics when I have it up and running again!

 

[Krawler23]

Update: to my surprise, my 10 year old lipo’s are still healthy! Didn’t expect that, that’s pretty crazy they lasted literally a decade. I’ve got the frame coming together and it’s looking great. I found a mount to put a battery on the front axle here https://www.shapeways.com/product/FKRBL2X2P/xr10-battery-tray?optionId=63343685, but it’s kind of expensive. I may try to make my own however b/c I think I can do it pretty decently. I may have some delrin still that I can bend around.

It’s not picture worthy yet, but when it is, I’ll post pics!

I think these rims will fit, would these be good ones to put on my rig? https://www.ebay.com/itm/333465711274?hash=item4da41af2aa:g:yRsAAOSww9deED5G. They’re 35mm wide (1.38inches) with a 12mm hex and they weigh 488g (1.08lb), are they too heavy? The stock rims that have the tiniest head screws that strip easily and it’s annoying going into plastic. I like the idea of metal rims better, but I’m open to some input. I don’t want to overly stress the gears because they’re difficult to find replace (I do have a spare RC4WD hardened gear set on hand but I’d rather not use if I don’t have to). These rims look so nice, I’m tempted to buy them.

Also, what are XR10’s going for these days?

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Update: to my surprise, my 10 year old lipo’s are still healthy! Didn’t expect that, that’s pretty crazy they lasted literally a decade.

That is great to hear on the batteries! Awesome little surprise.

I think these rims will fit, would these be good ones to put on my rig? https://www.ebay.com/itm/333465711274?hash=item4da41af2aa:g:yRsAAOSww9deED5G. They’re 35mm wide (1.38inches) with a 12mm hex and they weigh 488g (1.08lb), are they too heavy?
These rims look so nice, I’m tempted to buy them.

The wheels look good and at basically 1/4lb per wheel, I think you'd be okay on the gears.

 

[Krawler23]

I’ve seen people go a little heavier on their rig and then others super duper light. It seems like the lighter rigs do better? So that’s why I’m a little torn. I just hate the original rims b/c those 1.5mm screw heads are so easy to strip, it’s just not a big enough screw head for the resistance when screwing the rims together. I really don’t like glue-ons though so that’s why I’m leaning towards beadlocks still.

If anyone has any really good recommendations for better beadlocks, I’m all ears. I’m going to search around on the forum for some. I partially like to post a lot of my thoughts to hopefully spark this specific forum a little bit more! I don’t want to let MOA die down this much lol.

 

[grob23]

From my experience (I've never owned an xr10...) but I do have those same wheels. Parts are unfortunately drying up, so almost everything has to be custom made these days.

Those wheels are pretty good actually. Nice and narrow, if you can stand the looks of em:lmao:

LockedUpRc.com seems to be a good source for hardware and standoffs for custom chassis and such

Good luck man!

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Lots of other choices from the same seller and some that are cheaper as well.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dmd=2&iconV2Request=true&_ssn=rc-model-de&store_cat=0&store_name=rcdiymodel&_oac=1&_nkw=2.2

I actually have a set of the black Rockstar look-alikes on my AX10 build. It is still a work in progress though.

 

[Krawler23]

Thanks for the replies I’ll check out some of his other rims. The thing is I’m trying to weigh the benefit of having nice rims but I don’t want them to be super heavy so that they place extra wear on the drivetrain. I would rather put knuckle weights on to help lower the center of gravity and reduce drive train wear. If you think they’ll do good on an XR10 without being too heavy, I may be sold, but I’m still considering all rim options at this point.

The reason I’m worried about all that is because I finally got the rig up and running, took it for a run yesterday, and it did absolutely terrible. Part of it is probably because there’s lots of leaves and dirt where I was crawling so it’s hard to get traction there. It’s also very cold outside, so that probably doesn’t help the tires to “stick”. But even when there were rocks it just really really struggled. Maybe that’s because the tires are 10 years old and they’ve lost their “stickiness” even though the tread is still all there. They’re only Losi Comp Claws, so they’re not amazing, maybe that’s the problem. Also I made a custom chassis with custom upper and lower links out of delrin, so maybe the geometry is just not right with the links.

Also I have a 1300mA battery on the rear of the skid, so admittedly my center of gravity is quite high and very rearward.

Overall, my XR10 did terrible yesterday. Maybe I think it’s more capable than it should be, but I don’t think so from videos that I’ve seen. Something has to be way off because it is really struggling to climb anything. I got so frustrated I was literally considering selling it and just getting some bully v2 axles and building a new MOA from the ground up (or whatever the best MOA is these days). Sometimes I feel like I’m investing in a platform that just isn’t really that great. If you’ve got some guidance I’d really appreciate it. I don’t want to invest in a platform that’s discontinued, but if it’s really good and I’m just doing it wrong, I’ll reconsider.

 

[Krawler23]

Update: I bought some 6" CI Foams, dual stage comp cut narrows for both with soft on the front and medium on the rear (CWR-1030 and CWR-1031 Respectively). These will pair with some HB Rovers I purchased and/or Proline Ibex's if I decide to buy those. Maybe HP Pins if I really want a tall tire.

What're my options for knuckle weights these days? I know Dlux has some. If I go with his, what Upper Arm Type and Upper Arm should I go with? Not sure I understand the difference b/t zero ackerman and proper ackerman and what'll fit on this rig.

Also, what's a good hub offset? I know VP has a bunch but I wanted some input on those as well as I'm looking for some new wheels to fit these knuckle weights.