Losi Baja Rey 1/10th 4WD RTR desert truck

[CaliCrawler]

PowershiftRC makes some great 12v boosters with a switch too, and without the switch. I use a lot of his lights/boosters on my crawlers, his optical pods on 12v are stunningly bright and scale looking too. You can find his stuff at Amain and direct, he will make you custom stuff too, super nice guy!!

Good info, thank you! I’ll have to hit him up. I have some neat ideas (I’m hoping people will love) in the back of the brain that I need to see come to fruition! Sounds like the guy to talk with. 8)

 

[edjo69]

Panther, on the Exotek disk 12mm hexes, they are stock offset, very well made and I really don't see a benefit of going to clamp on hexes, just get a pack of hardened pins and you will be good to go. Another benefit to the Exotek discs is that you no longer need the axle bearing spacer at all four corners, Exotec machined it into the backside of the disc. They fit perfectly as well, they are a good piece of kit. Ed

 

[Panther6834]

Panther, on the Exotek disk 12mm hexes, they are stock offset, very well made and I really don't see a benefit of going to clamp on hexes, just get a pack of hardened pins and you will be good to go. Another benefit to the Exotek discs is that you no longer need the axle bearing spacer at all four corners, Exotec machined it into the backside of the disc. They fit perfectly as well, they are a good piece of kit. Ed

Actually, clamp-on hexes have a huge benefit over pin-only hexes. The weakest point of an axle stub is where the pin goes through. If an axle stub is going to snap, that's the most likely location for where it will happen. This is because, with a standard hex, the "force" that propels the vehicle is transferred from the axle stub, to the wheels, via the hex pin. Put another way, it's the hex that is turning the wheels...not the axle, or axle stub.

With a clamp-on hex, the pin is still there, but it's more like a 'backup'...the axle (or axle stub), itself, becomes what's turning the wheels (as it is in 1:1 vehicles). If you check with racers, you'll discover that very few (as in, almost none...and, in all likelihood, none) use 'standard' hexes. They all user clamp-on hexes. The pin, in effect, sorta-kinda "strengthens" the hex, as well as the transfer of propulsion power to the wheels.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

 

[CaliCrawler]

Actually, clamp-on hexes have a huge benefit over pin-only hexes. The weakest point of an axle stub is where the pin goes through. If an axle stub is going to snap, that's the most likely location for where it will happen. This is because, with a standard hex, the "force" that propels the vehicle is transferred from the axle stub, to the wheels, via the hex pin. Put another way, it's the hex that is turning the wheels...not the axle, or axle stub.

With a clamp-on hex, the pin is still there, but it's more like a 'backup'...the axle (or axle stub), itself, becomes what's turning the wheels (as it is in 1:1 vehicles). If you check with racers, you'll discover that very few (as in, almost none...and, in all likelihood, none) use 'standard' hexes. They all user clamp-on hexes. The pin, in effect, sorta-kinda "strengthens" the hex, as well as the transfer of propulsion power to the wheels.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

Interesting information! Love it! Do they “score” the shafts and the inside of the hexes to make them “grip” more? Maybe with a hobby file? And another question, (just because my mind works like that, not trying to sound dumb) Isn’t that similar to a dog bone coming into the axle Hex? And are clamp on the same as ( lack of better terminology) The same that have a set screw style shaft/pin going through the axle shaft? Clamp on I think of it being a “C” shape where it clamps together With a screw tightening the ends together.

 

[Panther6834]

Interesting information! Love it! Do they “score” the shafts and the inside of the hexes to make them “grip” more? Maybe with a hobby file? And another question, (just because my mind works like that, not trying to sound dumb) Isn’t that similar to a dog bone coming into the axle Hex? And are clamp on the same as ( lack of better terminology) The same that have a set screw style shaft/pin going through the axle shaft? Clamp on I think of it being a “C” shape where it clamps together With a screw tightening the ends together.

"Clamp on" is equal to your last sentence. No, they don't 'score' the shaft...lol. As for the inside of the hex, honestly, I've never taken that close of a look...but, whether they are, or not, I'd assume that their ID, when fully clamped, is designed to be a few microns smaller than the diameter of the axle stub. Obviously, if it was larger, it couldn't clamp/hold properly. If the ID was to small, they wouldn't be able to fully 'clamp'.

What I do know is they hold the axle stub "like there's no tomorrow", if you get the picture. After having an axle stub sheered off at the end of a race (because another driver ran his truck into mine), now every vehicle I have has clamping hexes

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

 

[nesal87]

Hi all,

Been following this thread for a while as a reader learning about the losi baja rey. I have also searched around for some info but haven't had much luck!

In short, I have a bunch of rc cars including 1/5 gasoline which I race at a local track (HPI Baja 5T), a 1/16 e revo vxl I also race at a local track and a brushless 1/10 summit for crawling and light bashing.

To be honest what got me here was the awesome scale looks of the baja rey king of shocks (blue). I started off with the super baja rey/udr battle to use at my local track for racing with the 1/5s but not many tire options kind of killed it for me... Very into getting a rear solid axle SCT and then seeing the more affordable 1/10 option with cool scale looks, infinite tire options and that I already have the lipos for it made it a possible next purchase.

My intention with this truck would be to hop it up slowly as needed using it 50% for running at the track and 50% as a weekend light basher (I don't bash hard at all).

Is this thing in any way competitive at a track? Our racing is simply for fun, not looking to win any titles but want something that is a solid runner and with a bit of setup can get a decent job done. Any experience there?

Thanks! Really appreciate having found this thread with so much valuable information and upgrade ideas/options

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

 

[snivilous]

The Proline paddles are sweet in the sand, but they chew through 5000mah batteries. Had a gnarly sound coming out of the rear axle too so I took it apart, of course it was full of sand so put it in the parts cleaner. Everything was visually fine, soaked the bearings in motor oil and then lubricated everything with a ton of Lucas grease. Will see how it holds up compared to my girlfriends that I have the spider gears in an oil bath and the ring and pinion is just greased. Sealed the housing with silicone and now it's not making any noise, so not sure what I fixed or if stuff was just slipping.

 

[CaliCrawler]

"Clamp on" is equal to your last sentence. No, they don't 'score' the shaft...lol. As for the inside of the hex, honestly, I've never taken that close of a look...

Had a few too many beers last night…!:ror: The idea that was in my head was it would be cool if we could come up with a splined shaft & hex. Tighten it down with a bolt and a spacer (As a buffer between the nut and hex to make up for the wheel thickness) before installing the wheels? Shim as needed? Unless it’s like the picture and can be seated at a predetermined point. Oh yeah"thumbsup".

<a href="https://ibb.co/WydRsVL"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/58zJ2KP/D7-A4177-C-E97-B-4-DB7-AD2-C-AFF820-A80240.jpg" alt="D7-A4177-C-E97-B-4-DB7-AD2-C-AFF820-A80240" border="0"></a>

 

[CaliCrawler]

Got some love from HEYOK RC!8)

Also a question on the AVC... Have it turned off on the dial but not disabled... does anybody have it acting erratic in reverse at about 5 mph [At 5 miles an hour let off the throttle (and stopped steering it manually) and when it comes to a natural stop, it wigwags hard!]. Watch the video to see what I mean…:shock:

https://youtu.be/-0Cj6O5anGs





<a href="https://ibb.co/B3K719h"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/4tgDQHb/362-DB88-D-2669-42-EB-8-E0-C-CBE89-BF47-B26.png" alt="362-DB88-D-2669-42-EB-8-E0-C-CBE89-BF47-B26" border="0"></a>

 

[Panther6834]

Had a few too many beers last night…!:ror: The idea that was in my head was it would be cool if we could come up with a splined shaft & hex. Tighten it down with a bolt and a spacer (As a buffer between the nut and hex) before installing the wheels? Shim as needed? Unless it’s like the picture and can be seated at a predetermined point. Oh yeah"thumbsup".

<a href="https://ibb.co/WydRsVL"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/58zJ2KP/D7-A4177-C-E97-B-4-DB7-AD2-C-AFF820-A80240.jpg" alt="D7-A4177-C-E97-B-4-DB7-AD2-C-AFF820-A80240" border="0"></a>

There's good...and bad...in your design idea. In some ways, your splined shaft isn't really much different from the traditional hex. Both rely on 'teeth' to transfer rotational power from hex to wheel. If you think of a spline as having "concave" and "convex" teeth, you could say that the traditional hex has "convex" teeth.

The 'good' is that it would probably be a lot easier getting the wheels pressed onto the spline (I'm sure we've all experienced how difficult it can sometimes be getting wheels seated onto the hex). Unfortunately, and realistically, that's probably the extent of the 'good'.

Since most wheels tend to be plastic (racers ALWAYS use plastic wheels), this leads to another problem - the greater the number of 'teeth', the more likely, and the faster, the wheel will shear. This is because, the greater the number of 'teeth', the smaller the teeth would be. A hex has, in essence, 6 'teeth', so that possibility is greatly minimalized. With a splined design, the greater the number of teeth, the smaller each tooth is, thus the less holding power they have, and the shorter the life of the wheel would be.

Notice I haven't even mentioned about how the spline would be held in place in the axle stub. When you say "tighten it down with a bolt", I assume you're either referring to a grub screw (goes into a threaded hole on the side of the spline, tightens against the axle stub, holding the spline in place), or a threaded pin (goes through both sides of the spline, as well as the pin hole in the axle stub, with one side of the spline's hole also being threaded). In either of these, as with a pin being held in place by a traditional hex, the rotational power is still transferred via the pin, thus nothing is gained.

Now, if the spline & axle stub were a single piece (ie. machined), completely eliminating the need for a hex pin, then we'd be getting somewhere. Such a design would be MUCH stronger than the current axle stub/pin/hex method ..except that there'd still be the tooth-shearing problem described in my 2nd paragraph. Taking that idea one step further...one that would truly resolve both problems (ie. snapping/shearing the axle stub where the pin passes through, AND how/where rotational power is transferred)...would be to have a one-piece axle stub-hex, but keeping the traditional hex design. Unfortunately, I don't see this ever happening, as people sometimes like to adjust the vehicle width, and this is topically done through the use of different width hexes...thus, we're back to square one.

There are a lot of great solutions to these problems...but, until someone can come up with a realistic way of resolving them all, the traditional axle stub/hex pin/hex design will probably remain the same. This is the design that's been used since the beginning on RC...it's not perfect, but it works. Now, if you have a vehicle that you are 100% certain you'll never adjust the width on, you could always try welding the hex (from the vehicle side, obviously, not the wheel side) to the axle stub (I'm not suggesting, or advocating, this, it's just another idea).

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

 

[CaliCrawler]

There's good...and bad...in your design idea. In some ways, your splined shaft isn't really much different from the traditional hex. Both rely on 'teeth' to transfer rotational power from hex to wheel. If you think of a spline as having "concave" and "convex" teeth, you could say that the traditional hex has "convex" teeth.

The 'good' is that it would probably be a lot easier getting the wheels pressed onto the spline (I'm sure we've all experienced how difficult it can sometimes be getting wheels seated onto the hex). Unfortunately, and realistically, that's probably the extent of the 'good'.

Since most wheels tend to be plastic (racers ALWAYS use plastic wheels), this leads to another problem - the greater the number of 'teeth', the more likely, and the faster, the wheel will shear. This is because, the greater the number of 'teeth', the smaller the teeth would be. A hex has, in essence, 6 'teeth', so that possibility is greatly minimalized. With a splined design, the greater the number of teeth, the smaller each tooth is, thus the less holding power they have, and the shorter the life of the wheel would be.

Notice I haven't even mentioned about how the spline would be held in place in the axle stub. When you say "tighten it down with a bolt", I assume you're either referring to a grub screw (goes into a threaded hole on the side of the spline, tightens against the axle stub, holding the spline in place), or a threaded pin (goes through both sides of the spline, as well as the pin hole in the axle stub, with one side of the spline's hole also being threaded). In either of these, as with a pin being held in place by a traditional hex, the rotational power is still transferred via the pin, thus nothing is gained.

Now, if the spline & axle stub were a single piece (ie. machined), completely eliminating the need for a hex pin, then we'd be getting somewhere. Such a design would be MUCH stronger than the current axle stub/pin/hex method ..except that there'd still be the tooth-shearing problem described in my 2nd paragraph. Taking that idea one step further...one that would truly resolve both problems (ie. snapping/shearing the axle stub where the pin passes through, AND how/where rotational power is transferred)...would be to have a one-piece axle stub-hex, but keeping the traditional hex design. Unfortunately, I don't see this ever happening, as people sometimes like to adjust the vehicle width, and this is topically done through the use of different width hexes...thus, we're back to square one.

There are a lot of great solutions to these problems...but, until someone can come up with a realistic way of resolving them all, the traditional axle stub/hex pin/hex design will probably remain the same. This is the design that's been used since the beginning on RC...it's not perfect, but it works. Now, if you have a vehicle that you are 100% certain you'll never adjust the width on, you could always try welding the hex (from the vehicle side, obviously, not the wheel side) to the axle stub (I'm not suggesting, or advocating, this, it's just another idea).

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

I’m pretty sure I read most of that correctly…
My idea is to eliminate the pin or clamp hex entirely and just have the spline shaft with the wheel hub hex “Pressed” on the shaft. Or maybe have the spline slightly tapered? You could still do extenders with those fancy barrel nuts to secure the wheel on. PM me later, would love to have a phone chat about what’s in my brain! I think I might be onto something here. Obviously wouldn’t be able to cross platforms but we could make something proprietary to get the ball rolling.8)

 

[edjo69]

Cali, to disable the AVC completely you need to re-bind the transmitter with the second bind plug installed. Turning it "off" in the transmitter does not disable it completely and you will have weird stuff happen occasionally. So if you want no weirdness re-bind with both plugs or button pushes (its in the manual) depending on which RX you have.

 

[Panther6834]

Cali, to disable the AVC completely you need to re-bind the transmitter with the second bind plug installed. Turning it "off" in the transmitter does not disable it completely and you will have weird stuff happen occasionally. So if you want no weirdness re-bind with both plugs or button pushes (its in the manual) depending on which RX you have.

Personally, I'm just looking forward to replacing the ESC & motor, with Mamba X, and either a HH PP 540-L or Tekin Pro4 HD. Between these two, any suggestions/recommendations?

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

 

[edjo69]

Personally, I'm just looking forward to replacing the ESC & motor, with Mamba X, and either a HH PP 540-L or Tekin Pro4 HD. Between these two, any suggestions/recommendations?

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

Since the HH PP L is only available as low as 4100kV I would probably try the Tekin Pro4HD first. I have a V2 PP L as well and to get the gearing in a reasonable range it would need to be used with a 10-8T pinion. I managed to find an out of production Novak Mod 1 pinion in a 9T and have modified the motor plate to get proper mesh with it should I not like the Tekin I am starting with. It is a Tekin 412ROC HD 3100kV. I am really hoping it performs the way I want it too! My second BR in running a HW XERUN 3660 G2 3600kV with an XR-10 pro G2 ESC and it is a monster on 2s with a 13T pinion. We'll see, just a few weeks away...

 

[Panther6834]

Since the HH PP L is only available as low as 4100kV I would probably try the Tekin Pro4HD first. I have a V2 PP L as well and to get the gearing in a reasonable range it would need to be used with a 10-8T pinion. I managed to find an out of production Novak Mod 1 pinion in a 9T and have modified the motor plate to get proper mesh with it should I not like the Tekin I am starting with. It is a Tekin 412ROC HD 3100kV. I am really hoping it performs the way I want it too! My second BR in running a HW XERUN 3660 G2 3600kV with an XR-10 pro G2 ESC and it is a monster on 2s with a 13T pinion. We'll see, just a few weeks away...

Actually, I had forgotten about the ROC412 HD...thanks for reminding me. HH PP 540-L eliminated from contention, but still have talk motors to be considered. Now, is Tekin vs Tekin. Will start evaluating after I'm fully awake, and coffee has kicked in. The best part of waking up is anything-but-Folgers in your cup.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

 

[Panther6834]

Since the HH PP L is only available as low as 4100kV I would probably try the Tekin Pro4HD first. (I'm first trying) a Tekin 412ROC HD 3100kV. I am really hoping it performs the way I want it too. We'll see, just a few weeks away...

I've had the chance to read up on both motors, but have some questions (since I've never run Tekin motors...tho, I know several guys at the track who pair them with their HW ESCs on their buggies, truggies, and SCTs). First, the contenders:

Pro4 HD 3500kV & 4300kV
ROC412 HD 3100kV & 4200kV

These are for a 2S setup (for the (eventual) 3S setup, it would probably be between the Pro4 HD 2500kV & ROC412 HD 2300kV...but, I'm concentrating on 2S for now). If I remember correctly, Tekin typically recommends to gear down the pinion by 1 tooth, if using the same kV motor. With the more realistic options (Pro4 HD 3500kV & ROC412 HD 3100kV) being somewhat lower than the stock motor, I'd assume that keeping the stock pinion should be a good starting point.

So...the question is, what are the realistic differences between these two motors. I know the ROC412 HD is considered "Element proof", but, for the most part, from what I can tell, that's primarily only because it comes with dielectric grease. Other than the kV rating, these two appear to be identical - the physical specs match up perfectly: the cans are the same, the ends (other than color) are the same, the dimensions are the same...even the weight is the same. So, other than one coming with dielectric grease, and the different kV ratings, what's the REAL difference between these two motors?

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

 

[edjo69]

That's a good question, not having very much experience with Tekin I cannot honestly say. I picked the ROC412 HD because its a full 550 sized can (longer rotor) uses ABEC 5 oversize bearing and has Hi-Heat resistant windings and rotor laminates plus based on reviews from A-main hobbies from other Tekin motors. They are supposed to be really smooth and very torque biased. So since I could get the KV rating I wanted for 3s coupled with a good pinion range (smaller) and making some important setting adjustments in the Mamba along with a nice throttle curve I am hoping I will be good to go. HW 3660 motors are very good motors too, super smooth, nice startup, zero cogging, who knows I might end up with another on of those if the Tekin doesn't pan out. My driving style is "scale", appropriately sized jumps, speeds etc, this truck is not going to be a basher. I am in the final stage now, sorting out cage work, inner panels, mounting lightbars and all the scale stuff I have acquired for it over the course of a year. Working on the body now so I can send it out for paint. Sorry for long side track, if you are going to run the truck first on 2s and then later on 3s & not change the motor I wouldn't go any lower than low-mid 3000kv If you go lower you might run into heat problems from pushing too big of a pinion while running 2s. Just my 2 pennies...E

 

[Panther6834]

if you are going to run the truck first on 2s and then later on 3s & not change the motor I wouldn't go any lower than low-mid 3000kv If you go lower you might run into heat problems from pushing too big of a pinion while running 2s. Just my 2 pennies...E

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, my eventual plan is to have to motors (different kV) mounted to two different motor plates, each with a different pinion - one higher kV setup for 2S, and another lower kV setup for 3S. I'll start with the 2S configuration...and then, in 2-4 months, once I'm back working, and money is flowing, then I'd get the 3S setup. Until then, I'm only concentrating on the 2S.

This way, swapping between the two would be as simple as removing the bottom plate, sliding out one motor, unplugging it from the ESC, plugging the other motor in, sliding it into place, and replacing the lower plate. The only other vehicles I have that are this easy (and, technically, this one is super-easy) to do this work would be my two Rustler 4x4s, and my Sl4sh (of course, I'd never do it on my off-road & on-road race vehicles, as they're always 2S).

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

 

[edjo69]

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, my eventual plan is to have to motors (different kV) mounted to two different motor plates, each with a different pinion - one higher kV setup for 2S, and another lower kV setup for 3S. I'll start with the 2S configuration...and then, in 2-4 months, once I'm back working, and money is flowing, then I'd get the 3S setup. Until then, I'm only concentrating on the 2S.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]

Sorry I missed that somewhere along the line, I do know the PRO4's are setup as racing motors for SCT and the ROC412's are more of a rock racer desert truck motor. But other than what I mentioned earlier that is all I got...E

 

[Panther6834]

Sorry I missed that somewhere along the line, I do know the PRO4's are setup as racing motors for SCT and the ROC412's are more of a rock racer desert truck motor. But other than what I mentioned earlier that is all I got...E

That makes it a tough call. Tthe Rock Rey would probably be a good candidate for the ROC412 HD, as it's more of a rock racer. As for the Bala Rey, it's somewhere between an SCT & ST, and a rock racer. Looking at the stock motors (2800kV vs 3800kV), as well as the vehicle type (again, Baja Rey is closer to SCT than rock racer), I'm thinking the Pro4 HD 3500kV should be the perfect choice for 2S. And, when it comes time for 3S, the Pro4 HD 2500kV.

Before I order a motor, snyone else care to chime in? Are my motor choices "good", or "bad", for the Baja Rey? Or...am I better offs going with the ROC412 HD 3100kV for 2S, and 2300kV for 3S. This cat is curious to know.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place [emoji1690]