Thank you! "thumbsup"
The Choosts were all over a few years ago. Now they seem more difficult to find, but still out there. They are definitely not Vanquish quality, but a nice budget wheel choice since the original has been discontinued.
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Jato's Bumpy Road to Fordyce
- Thread starter JatoTheRipper
- Start date
Thank you! "thumbsup"
The Choosts were all over a few years ago. Now they seem more difficult to find, but still out there. They are definitely not Vanquish quality, but a nice budget wheel choice since the original has been discontinued.
I'm dog sitting at my girlfriend's house because she and her son are in NY and I don't have enough vacation days to tag along. NASCAR race at Watkins Glen for my birthday present and SEMA/Vegas trip because she's the best girlfriend ever have consumed most of my vacation time. Meet the "killer" pocket pit bull named Zombie. She is sweet as can be and one of the few dogs to ever steal my heart.
I brought my Fordyce to play with it. That sounds dirty now that I know what Fordyce means...
Anyway...yesterday is the very first time I ran my Fordyce outside. Despite purchasing all those parts, I think the only mods I did to this truck were the Roost clones with brass rings in the front. I don't think I installed the 21% overdrive transfer case gears in this truck. I will have to double check. I was also building the VS4-10 Pro kit (still in process) and VRD Carbon kit at the same time so who knows where the overdrive set got to. I think the overdrive went into the Pro. Pretty sure the VFD Carbon comes with the lightweight overdrive gears.
I ran the truck on both 2S and 3S. It is a slow dog on 2S. Fine enough for trails and honestly the electronics seem completely servicable for an RTR. But I like wheel speed. 3S is a good speed for a brushed trail truck with enough snot to climb hills. The servo is okay. Not the worst RTR servo I've ever seen. Won't know for sure until I do a trail run with it though. I think the first thing I want to do is switch to a HobbyWing 1080 ESC. The 1060 is fine, but I want more tuning options. This truck would be a great candidate for the Fusion Pro should I switch my VRD Carbon to the Stubby Kit with an outrunner motor.
I only ran the truck around the rock wall and hill at my girlfriend's house, but the tires seem pretty good. Foams are decent too for an RTR, but maybe not enough sidewall support.
The truck climbed the hills better than expected. Admittedly, my gauge of performance is out of calibration due to my total lack of driving crawlers, trail trucks and RC in general for a few years now. I expected it to tip over since it was an RTR with a top heavy body. That didn't happen while ascending nor descending. I did wish for an adjustable drag brake though. Again, the 1080 ESC is calling me. The steepness of the hill obviously isn't done justice by photos. I tried attemping the hill at various spots and it conquered every spot on both 2S and 3S.
I did notice the tires clog up with mud though. That will most likely be problematic for the East Coast terrain.
I think the star of the electronics show is the transmitter. This radio is not bad at all. I believe it can hold up to 15 models. So who is the OEM and where can I get other receivers? Vanquish is out of them.
The body is very nice. It is high quality like the entire truck. The hidden clips and pivoting body are a great idea. The clips are kind of a PITA to get to even with my small mitts. With muddy tires come muddy hands when accessing these clips. A small gripe and I like the hidden body mounts to deal with this. The front pivot is easily removable with one body clip and then you pull the pin. Nice!
The body cab is held to width by plastic parts on the chassis. Great in theory and they usually work well, but after some rollovers my body did pop up and rest on top of those. I feel that they should be a touch taller and this wouldn't happen. There are also provisions below the cab for more body clips, but not worth the hassle IMO.
So tomorrow I plan on going on my first trail run in oh four years or more. I have had stomach issues since Thursday, but hopefully those hold off tomorrow and I can meet @OSRC on the trails! Anything I said above may change after a real run in the wild, but at this point I am impressed by this truck. It looks great, is high quality everywhere, a good design with lots of creative ideas and the performance is really good for a stock RTR. This may be my new favorite chassis. To be continued...
I brought my Fordyce to play with it. That sounds dirty now that I know what Fordyce means...
Anyway...yesterday is the very first time I ran my Fordyce outside. Despite purchasing all those parts, I think the only mods I did to this truck were the Roost clones with brass rings in the front. I don't think I installed the 21% overdrive transfer case gears in this truck. I will have to double check. I was also building the VS4-10 Pro kit (still in process) and VRD Carbon kit at the same time so who knows where the overdrive set got to. I think the overdrive went into the Pro. Pretty sure the VFD Carbon comes with the lightweight overdrive gears.
I ran the truck on both 2S and 3S. It is a slow dog on 2S. Fine enough for trails and honestly the electronics seem completely servicable for an RTR. But I like wheel speed. 3S is a good speed for a brushed trail truck with enough snot to climb hills. The servo is okay. Not the worst RTR servo I've ever seen. Won't know for sure until I do a trail run with it though. I think the first thing I want to do is switch to a HobbyWing 1080 ESC. The 1060 is fine, but I want more tuning options. This truck would be a great candidate for the Fusion Pro should I switch my VRD Carbon to the Stubby Kit with an outrunner motor.
I only ran the truck around the rock wall and hill at my girlfriend's house, but the tires seem pretty good. Foams are decent too for an RTR, but maybe not enough sidewall support.
The truck climbed the hills better than expected. Admittedly, my gauge of performance is out of calibration due to my total lack of driving crawlers, trail trucks and RC in general for a few years now. I expected it to tip over since it was an RTR with a top heavy body. That didn't happen while ascending nor descending. I did wish for an adjustable drag brake though. Again, the 1080 ESC is calling me. The steepness of the hill obviously isn't done justice by photos. I tried attemping the hill at various spots and it conquered every spot on both 2S and 3S.
I did notice the tires clog up with mud though. That will most likely be problematic for the East Coast terrain.
I think the star of the electronics show is the transmitter. This radio is not bad at all. I believe it can hold up to 15 models. So who is the OEM and where can I get other receivers? Vanquish is out of them.
The body is very nice. It is high quality like the entire truck. The hidden clips and pivoting body are a great idea. The clips are kind of a PITA to get to even with my small mitts. With muddy tires come muddy hands when accessing these clips. A small gripe and I like the hidden body mounts to deal with this. The front pivot is easily removable with one body clip and then you pull the pin. Nice!
The body cab is held to width by plastic parts on the chassis. Great in theory and they usually work well, but after some rollovers my body did pop up and rest on top of those. I feel that they should be a touch taller and this wouldn't happen. There are also provisions below the cab for more body clips, but not worth the hassle IMO.
So tomorrow I plan on going on my first trail run in oh four years or more. I have had stomach issues since Thursday, but hopefully those hold off tomorrow and I can meet @OSRC on the trails! Anything I said above may change after a real run in the wild, but at this point I am impressed by this truck. It looks great, is high quality everywhere, a good design with lots of creative ideas and the performance is really good for a stock RTR. This may be my new favorite chassis. To be continued...
OSRC
I wanna be Dave
Drink some pepto, charge up those batteries and let's get muddy! 
Glad I'm not the only one who forgets what the heck I put in some of my trucks. At one point I started taking notes and putting them in my tool drawer but that didnt last too long.
Go get that thing on the trails.
Go get that thing on the trails.
Yeah I need a spreadsheet or something. Too many trucks. I need to thin the heard first!
I decided to forge ahead despite my stomach issues and risk having to do what bears do in the woods and went trailing with @OSRC. Or like I told my girlfriend, "I went hiking with a tiny truck like a nerd." 
Since I was dog-sitting at my girlfriend's and 40-minutes from my home, I only had the option of my slightly modified Vanquish Fordcye RTR. RTR's are typically not the best performers, but we were about to see what Vanquish and the, uh, "bumpy member" were made of! I also only had a small selection of batteries on hand. This meant I would have to trail run with the 2S battery and the Fordyce would be fairly slow. I didn't expect that my 2200mAh 3S batteries would last all that long so I saved them for crawling on the rocks at the end. Out on the trails, I didn't feel the flat-ground speed on 2S was bad, but when climbing I definitely wanted more wheel speed at times.
First test rock. I watched OSRC's overlander TRX-4 Sport walk right up it and the Fordyce followed suit. This is a two step rock with a landing about 2/3 of the way up. You can see this landing in the second photo. Then you can choose a variety of different lines with varying grades up to the top. There are some lines that are nearly impossible and only the best performing rigs will make it. It doesn't happen often. This truck made it all the way to the top, but definitely not on the steepest line. When I first got into scale crawling and trailing with my OG SCX10 2012 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Rubicon (of course, because does Axial ever use other brands?), this rock was much more difficult than it is now. At least that's the way my dim bulb remembers it. Scale trucks have evolved a lot over the years and the performance shows.
Next we get up to the famed mushroom rock. After all my years of crawling, it is somehow still standing. There was one tricky spot where teh truck impressed me. Then we venture to a downhill that often results in a spill. I forget how I made out here honestly. I think the truck was on its side once.
Beware, the Rabbids are still free! You probably have to be a gamer or have gamer kids to understand this one. All the grafitti sucks, but sometimes it is beautiful and/or funny. The one rock on the trail down said "Penis music". That would have been fitting for the Fordcye. Not sure why I didn't take a photo.
I saw mushroom species that I don't ever remember seeing before. I was entranced by the shrooms on this run.
I called these "crab leg" mushrooms because as a non-seafood eater it reminds me of the red shell and white meat of a crab.
This is how we rollooollloolll... (For all my country music fans)
The truck definitely conquered steeper inclines than I ever thought possible. That just speaks volumes for the design and suspension geometry IMO. You can definitely drag tire in this photo. I will explain that below.
Stradling rocks is always a fun challenge. This gives me a chance to speak about the tires. I like them. They do very well except for in mud. That's when they pack full of mud. This is a rare case of an RTR not immediately needing new tires. Nice! I will changeout the tires to something with more spacing for my East Cost (what what!) terrain that can be wet, muddy and slippery.
Let it all hang out. Here you can see the left front tire conforming nicely to the rock.
Now let's head to test rock #2. This thing is such a challenge. You can make it down the side, but if you go down the middle, where you climb up, it is too steep for all but the best rigs. On the way up, the rock is split and you often end up in the gap. Crawling on the right side of the gap is easiest and this truck handled that, but not easily. Straddling the gap and climbing up the middle is tough and this truck could not make it.
This is on the climb up to the left of the gap and it's just not happening. You can see a bad case of drag tire here.
Look at that sweet view. This place is great. Almost like it was designed for scale trucks.
and went trailing with @OSRC. Or like I told my girlfriend, "I went hiking with a tiny truck like a nerd." Since I was dog-sitting at my girlfriend's and 40-minutes from my home, I only had the option of my slightly modified Vanquish Fordcye RTR. RTR's are typically not the best performers, but we were about to see what Vanquish and the, uh, "bumpy member" were made of! I also only had a small selection of batteries on hand. This meant I would have to trail run with the 2S battery and the Fordyce would be fairly slow. I didn't expect that my 2200mAh 3S batteries would last all that long so I saved them for crawling on the rocks at the end. Out on the trails, I didn't feel the flat-ground speed on 2S was bad, but when climbing I definitely wanted more wheel speed at times.First test rock. I watched OSRC's overlander TRX-4 Sport walk right up it and the Fordyce followed suit. This is a two step rock with a landing about 2/3 of the way up. You can see this landing in the second photo. Then you can choose a variety of different lines with varying grades up to the top. There are some lines that are nearly impossible and only the best performing rigs will make it. It doesn't happen often. This truck made it all the way to the top, but definitely not on the steepest line. When I first got into scale crawling and trailing with my OG SCX10 2012 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Rubicon (of course, because does Axial ever use other brands?), this rock was much more difficult than it is now. At least that's the way my dim bulb remembers it. Scale trucks have evolved a lot over the years and the performance shows.
Next we get up to the famed mushroom rock. After all my years of crawling, it is somehow still standing. There was one tricky spot where teh truck impressed me. Then we venture to a downhill that often results in a spill. I forget how I made out here honestly. I think the truck was on its side once.
Beware, the Rabbids are still free! You probably have to be a gamer or have gamer kids to understand this one. All the grafitti sucks, but sometimes it is beautiful and/or funny. The one rock on the trail down said "Penis music". That would have been fitting for the Fordcye. Not sure why I didn't take a photo.
I saw mushroom species that I don't ever remember seeing before. I was entranced by the shrooms on this run.
I called these "crab leg" mushrooms because as a non-seafood eater it reminds me of the red shell and white meat of a crab.
This is how we rollooollloolll... (For all my country music fans)
The truck definitely conquered steeper inclines than I ever thought possible. That just speaks volumes for the design and suspension geometry IMO. You can definitely drag tire in this photo. I will explain that below.
Stradling rocks is always a fun challenge. This gives me a chance to speak about the tires. I like them. They do very well except for in mud. That's when they pack full of mud. This is a rare case of an RTR not immediately needing new tires. Nice! I will changeout the tires to something with more spacing for my East Cost (what what!) terrain that can be wet, muddy and slippery.
Let it all hang out. Here you can see the left front tire conforming nicely to the rock.
Now let's head to test rock #2. This thing is such a challenge. You can make it down the side, but if you go down the middle, where you climb up, it is too steep for all but the best rigs. On the way up, the rock is split and you often end up in the gap. Crawling on the right side of the gap is easiest and this truck handled that, but not easily. Straddling the gap and climbing up the middle is tough and this truck could not make it.
This is on the climb up to the left of the gap and it's just not happening. You can see a bad case of drag tire here.
Look at that sweet view. This place is great. Almost like it was designed for scale trucks.
Hmm the new RCC made me split this post. Here is the rest...
So how did it go? Honestly, the performance was surprisingly good! I would recommend the Fordyce to anybody from a complete noob looking for a first truck to a seasoned vet. It is very good. Former Vanquish hater turned Vanquish fanbwoi!
Things I want to change:
Body: Possibly. I like the body. It looks great. But it is a little large and definitely heavy. This makes the rig top heavy. I could counteract this a bit by lowering the rig. Vanquish did include some shorter shock ends to accomplish this. Maybe some modifications to the body are in order. Still unsure if I want to keep as-is, modify or completely change it. I hate cutting up good looking bodies. OSRC was using an Element Ecto body on his high-performance rig and that was much smaller and would have been a perfect fit on this truck. I also have a clear Proline Power Wagon body...somewhere... That means I have to paint. Ugh!
ESC: I just want some more control. The drag brake is a touch too stiff for me on steep downhills. More low end control would also be nice and I've been spoiled by using some of the best ESCs on the market. I have a fully built and ready-to-drive Vanquish Ultra sitting here that I'm never going to run. That is going to get sold. So I may just strip all the electronics from it and move those to the Fordyce.
Motor: The brushed motor may be fine if I stick with 3S and change the ESC to a HobbyWing WP1080. Maybe a gearing change is in order if that's possible with this truck and electronics combo. Or, as mentioned above, I could give this truck the power plant from the Ultra.
Overdrive: This kind of goes without saying these days. The truck comes stock with only 6.5% overdrive. OD certainly would have certainly helped in a bunch of situations. I just have to figure out if I want to put the 21% od in the transfer case, OD in the front axle, or underdrive in the rear axle or a combination of these. I'm open to feedback here.
Steering Servo: The steering servo is probably the biggest let down as is often the case with RTRs. It just doesn't have much power and speed, especially on 2S and easily binds up in the rocks. Again, I'm spoiled by having used some of the best servos on the market. The Ultra servo is probably going in this truck.
Tires and Tire Foams: The foams were overly soft in terms of the sidewalls flopping over on side hills. They weren't nearly as bad for climbing. I did experience "drag tire" as mentioned above. No, this tire isn't confused about it's gender. I mean the way drag racing slicks twist and wrinkle under the insane acceleration of a top fuel or funnycar. The tires were great for an RTR tire, but the spacing isn't wide enough to clear out the East Coast mud.
I have these on my Ultra build. I just hope the 5-year old tires aren't too dry rotted.
And if you're wondering, I did not have to do bear's business in the woods.
So how did it go? Honestly, the performance was surprisingly good! I would recommend the Fordyce to anybody from a complete noob looking for a first truck to a seasoned vet. It is very good. Former Vanquish hater turned Vanquish fanbwoi!
Things I want to change:
Body: Possibly. I like the body. It looks great. But it is a little large and definitely heavy. This makes the rig top heavy. I could counteract this a bit by lowering the rig. Vanquish did include some shorter shock ends to accomplish this. Maybe some modifications to the body are in order. Still unsure if I want to keep as-is, modify or completely change it. I hate cutting up good looking bodies. OSRC was using an Element Ecto body on his high-performance rig and that was much smaller and would have been a perfect fit on this truck. I also have a clear Proline Power Wagon body...somewhere... That means I have to paint. Ugh!
ESC: I just want some more control. The drag brake is a touch too stiff for me on steep downhills. More low end control would also be nice and I've been spoiled by using some of the best ESCs on the market. I have a fully built and ready-to-drive Vanquish Ultra sitting here that I'm never going to run. That is going to get sold. So I may just strip all the electronics from it and move those to the Fordyce.
Motor: The brushed motor may be fine if I stick with 3S and change the ESC to a HobbyWing WP1080. Maybe a gearing change is in order if that's possible with this truck and electronics combo. Or, as mentioned above, I could give this truck the power plant from the Ultra.
Overdrive: This kind of goes without saying these days. The truck comes stock with only 6.5% overdrive. OD certainly would have certainly helped in a bunch of situations. I just have to figure out if I want to put the 21% od in the transfer case, OD in the front axle, or underdrive in the rear axle or a combination of these. I'm open to feedback here.
Steering Servo: The steering servo is probably the biggest let down as is often the case with RTRs. It just doesn't have much power and speed, especially on 2S and easily binds up in the rocks. Again, I'm spoiled by having used some of the best servos on the market. The Ultra servo is probably going in this truck.
Tires and Tire Foams: The foams were overly soft in terms of the sidewalls flopping over on side hills. They weren't nearly as bad for climbing. I did experience "drag tire" as mentioned above. No, this tire isn't confused about it's gender. I mean the way drag racing slicks twist and wrinkle under the insane acceleration of a top fuel or funnycar. The tires were great for an RTR tire, but the spacing isn't wide enough to clear out the East Coast mud.
I have these on my Ultra build. I just hope the 5-year old tires aren't too dry rotted.
And if you're wondering, I did not have to do bear's business in the woods.
OSRC
I wanna be Dave
And if you're wondering, I did not have to do bear's business in the woods.
Thankfully...
I did the same but then I forgot where I put the notes.
The body and cage is pretty heavy. I finally swapped the Phoenix body for a "Tucked K10" from Jconcepts and it made a noticeable difference in performance. I did the 21% OD in that truck at the same time so I'm sure that was a huge part of the performance increase as well.
Something to keep in mind is adding too much power might make those sintered gears in the axle go boom. Standard 30/8 hardened gears up front and 33/8 in the rear would get you ~16%, which would be pretty good for a trail truck and you get two upgrades at once that way.
Something to keep in mind is adding too much power might make those sintered gears in the axle go boom. Standard 30/8 hardened gears up front and 33/8 in the rear would get you ~16%, which would be pretty good for a trail truck and you get two upgrades at once that way.
I know the feeling all too well...
Good info. Thank you.
I forgot to include the best photo from the trail run. This one taken by OSRC and shared with me. I think the colors and lighting are much truer than what my brand new iPhone 15 can produce. I don't know why, but Apple has never been able to master accurate color reproduction and it drives me nuts.
This is on test rock #2. I think that's what OSRC calls it anyway. He knows this place like the back of his hand. I'd get lost by myself.
OSRC
I wanna be Dave
Love that picture... nothing like two tiny trucks doing what they do best on a perfect Sunday morning.
Great pics, looks like an awesome day! Mushrooms also grow in one of my favorite crawl spots. Bears too, though its typically only their business i ever come across. Blasting through mushroom clusters on high throttle can make a pretty big mess of things.
Look forward to seeing where you take the platform.
Look forward to seeing where you take the platform.
Yep, great thread. Gotta just say however, that you've ruined any and all innocent bumpy road images that have ever resided in my mind. Otherwise nice review of the new rig and awesome pics/ story.
Thank you! Wow thankfully I've never seen bear droppings in the woods at this place!
Well don't ever accidentally search for "Fordyce" on your work computer without putting "Vanquish" in front of it. Or you will get some NSFW stuff!You say that like I'm not an innocent angel...
I mean while going through my fleet of RCs to scavenge electronics for the Fordyce and figure out what I want to sell, I found a copy of my statement given to the police from a long time ago when I kicked a car while riding my motorcycle... I mean she almost rear ended me and then passed me between my bike and the curb on a single lane road in town so she deserved it, but of course this angel was the one that got in trouble.
I was in the garage last night tinkering with RCs and searching for a set of wheels and tires and electronics for the Fordyce. Man, do I have way too much unused stuff sitting around. And a bunch of it is expensive stuff like Vanquish wheels, a Holmes SHV500 servo, Tekin T-120, BXR, etc. I even have brand new builds that were never used except for a backyard test including an Axial SCX10 III and a Vanquish VS4-10 Ultra or some rigs than were only ran once on the trails. So it is time to sell off some rigs and start reusing wheels, tires and electronics. I used to have a rule that for every new RC kit that I built or RTR that I bought, I would buy a set of new wheels and tires. I can stop that for a while.
First up, I attacked the Ultra. That got stripped of electronics and wheels and tires. I spent a lot of money on that build and ended up not having the desire to run it so it will be up for sale soon. These Vanquish wheels and JConcepts Landmines tires don't look bad on the Fordyce. I think the stock foams are inside. My Ultra thread does not mention foams so that is a good indication the foams are stock. The tires may not be in the best shape after baking in the garage for 3 or 4 years.
Then I moved onto the Capra. That rig was only run once on the trails, but after fiddling with it, I had the desire to run it again so I did not strip it of its electronics. I think these 1.9" SSD Rock Racer wheels and Pit Bull Rock Beast XL tires look great on the Fordyce and judging by my GOAT Capra thread, there should be some Crawler Innovations two-stage foams inside. The foams seem a little soft to me, but the tires seemed to have held up great after baking in the garage for the same 3 or 4 years. The front set of wheels did have SSD brass wheel hubs so that's a plus. Not as low as brass rings, but still more weight up front. I could always add brass rings. I think this set of wheels is the winner and I've always loved the OG 4.45" Rock Beasts on my Ascender. I was also impressed by the XL's on OSRC's TRX-4 Sport.
Sadly, those 1.9" Rock Racer wheels are discontinued. Does anybody know what is up with SSD? He seems to have disappeared. His website has errors, some cool products were discontinued, and he hasn't been on this site since 2022.
Quick comparison shot of the tires. The JConcepts Landmines and Pit Bull Rock Beast XL tires are very similar in size.
Then I popped the body off the Fordyce to reinvestigate the electronics. Vanquish included a 35T brushed motor, a rebranded HobbyWing WP1060 ESC and a VS-1 servo with no published specs that I could find. What's this? They also included the dead weight of ferrite rings. I was not expecting to see those. First time I ever remember seeing these on a hobby-grade RC. Removing these, alone, will reduce weight of the truck. Take those off, people... Still not sure if I want to keep this truck brushed or go brushless. I'm leaning towards the Castle Mamba X and Slate 2850KV motor from the Ultra. Will 2850KV be enough on 3S with stock gearing? These are the questions I have now that may have been a question I could answer in a split second just a few years ago. I have lost all this type of RC knowledge and will have to relearn it.
I was also reminded that I need something else for this truck - shocks! Of course, one of the Vanquish shocks is leaking. Suggestions for shocks for this truck? I would prefer not to have to deal with Mini-T springs or overpriced, old-school Traxxas big bore shocks AKA DravTech, but maybe I could finally give them a try this time if there are really no other options...
So I would like feedback on the following:
1. Thoughts on a 2850KV motor on 3S being good with stock gearing for trailing and still having a lot of wheel speed?
2. Which non-Vanquish shocks are you using on your Fordyce?
First up, I attacked the Ultra. That got stripped of electronics and wheels and tires. I spent a lot of money on that build and ended up not having the desire to run it so it will be up for sale soon. These Vanquish wheels and JConcepts Landmines tires don't look bad on the Fordyce. I think the stock foams are inside. My Ultra thread does not mention foams so that is a good indication the foams are stock. The tires may not be in the best shape after baking in the garage for 3 or 4 years.
Then I moved onto the Capra. That rig was only run once on the trails, but after fiddling with it, I had the desire to run it again so I did not strip it of its electronics. I think these 1.9" SSD Rock Racer wheels and Pit Bull Rock Beast XL tires look great on the Fordyce and judging by my GOAT Capra thread, there should be some Crawler Innovations two-stage foams inside. The foams seem a little soft to me, but the tires seemed to have held up great after baking in the garage for the same 3 or 4 years. The front set of wheels did have SSD brass wheel hubs so that's a plus. Not as low as brass rings, but still more weight up front. I could always add brass rings. I think this set of wheels is the winner and I've always loved the OG 4.45" Rock Beasts on my Ascender. I was also impressed by the XL's on OSRC's TRX-4 Sport.
Sadly, those 1.9" Rock Racer wheels are discontinued. Does anybody know what is up with SSD? He seems to have disappeared. His website has errors, some cool products were discontinued, and he hasn't been on this site since 2022.
Quick comparison shot of the tires. The JConcepts Landmines and Pit Bull Rock Beast XL tires are very similar in size.
Then I popped the body off the Fordyce to reinvestigate the electronics. Vanquish included a 35T brushed motor, a rebranded HobbyWing WP1060 ESC and a VS-1 servo with no published specs that I could find. What's this? They also included the dead weight of ferrite rings. I was not expecting to see those. First time I ever remember seeing these on a hobby-grade RC. Removing these, alone, will reduce weight of the truck.
Take those off, people... Still not sure if I want to keep this truck brushed or go brushless. I'm leaning towards the Castle Mamba X and Slate 2850KV motor from the Ultra. Will 2850KV be enough on 3S with stock gearing? These are the questions I have now that may have been a question I could answer in a split second just a few years ago. I have lost all this type of RC knowledge and will have to relearn it.I was also reminded that I need something else for this truck - shocks! Of course, one of the Vanquish shocks is leaking. Suggestions for shocks for this truck? I would prefer not to have to deal with Mini-T springs or overpriced, old-school Traxxas big bore shocks AKA DravTech, but maybe I could finally give them a try this time if there are really no other options...
So I would like feedback on the following:
1. Thoughts on a 2850KV motor on 3S being good with stock gearing for trailing and still having a lot of wheel speed?
2. Which non-Vanquish shocks are you using on your Fordyce?
Those 5 spoke VP wheels with the blue rings look fantastic with that blue body.
I have a 3300kv Puller Pro paired with a Mamba X in my Phoenix. It's a lot. The Castle Link software helps with mellowing the throttle curve but it's still a lot of power on a relatively short curve. Much of that curve is being taken up with tuning an-ultra gentle start-up so it leaves a lot of acceleration in a short curve. Shit can get real squirrelly up there if you don't get it just right.
I prefer the Puller Pro 2700kv. Its a sweet spot in my experience.
I figure 2850kv would be fun for trailing with a mix of crawl and zip. Just need to tune it in. Can't be loads different than the 2700
I have a 3300kv Puller Pro paired with a Mamba X in my Phoenix. It's a lot. The Castle Link software helps with mellowing the throttle curve but it's still a lot of power on a relatively short curve. Much of that curve is being taken up with tuning an-ultra gentle start-up so it leaves a lot of acceleration in a short curve. Shit can get real squirrelly up there if you don't get it just right.
I prefer the Puller Pro 2700kv. Its a sweet spot in my experience.
I figure 2850kv would be fun for trailing with a mix of crawl and zip. Just need to tune it in. Can't be loads different than the 2700
I much prefer the SSD Rock Racer wheels. The Vanquish wheels are nice and if the grey was shiny (Vanquish refuses to do shiny wheels for some odd reason) then they'd have a chance. SSD wheels are staying at this point.
Good info on the motor. Seems like I may have a good motor for this rig. Thank you.
svt923
I wanna be Dave
Don't mind the slow response on this question, I'm still catching up on RCC content these days.
Look for the Turbo Racing RX41 receiver. They run $10-16 depending on where you order from and are available from all your favorite providers of fine Chinese electronics (Amazon, Ebay, AliExpress, Banggood, etc.).
