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

[BobTeagle]

Agreed that out of the box it handles a ton better and the center diff certainly helps in the regard but with some tuning the yeti can run pretty close to the Rey, maybe not quite as fast top speed but very close.

Actually if you change out the spur on the yeti score to the optional 56t and run 20-22t pinion you can get the same speeds as the Baja Rey! I was running the 56t spur and 22t pinion with a 3100kv motor on 3s and getting speeds well over 40mph! This gearing was still conservative for the motor and esc I'm using, temps were reasonable! After tuning my Score I feel it only needs a center diff to perform like the Baja Rey! I'm still hoping Axial or aftermarket offers one. The small final gear in the transfer case could be swapped out for a center diff. It would be small but would be fine if made with hardened spider and sun gears!

I still give a nod to the Baja Rey for its out of box performance! When aftermarket parts kick in with more tuning options it's really going to be limitless! A carbon fiber steering rack to tighten up the front end is first on my list. No more darting left or right under hard acceleration..

 

[BobTeagle]

Great, the stock wheels aren't my cup of tea. If I would take the brakes off, would that also give enough space for the stock hub, what the Methods come with? I can't justify paying more than the price of the wheels for the Vanquish hubs, unless that's the only thing that will work...

Sorry I've been out of town working. I'll check into the offset using the small stock plastic hub today. Removing the brake disc will not make a difference. If you remove that you will need excessive shiming. And the depth of the hex in the hub is only so deep.

 

[BobTeagle]

Great, the stock wheels aren't my cup of tea. If I would take the brakes off, would that also give enough space for the stock hub, what the Methods come with? I can't justify paying more than the price of the wheels for the Vanquish hubs, unless that's the only thing that will work...

The stock plastic hubs for the front of the Yeti do work, but they have a wider offset than Vanquish SLW225's. The tire tucks under the rear fender but rubs the inside fender wall some. You could reduce the width of the plastic hub with a file and it should work to narrow out the offset some.

Or you can just glue up some axial BFG's on an SCT wheel. As mentioned in this thread proline protrac wheels, tlr22 wheels, or sc10 4x4 wheels work.

 

[fyrstormer]

Even with significant tuning, the center of gravity on the Yeti is still higher than on the Baja Rey, because the Baja Rey has the motor and battery sitting right on the chassis plate. There is no way to overcome that problem with the Yeti without building a custom chassis.

If your Baja Rey is darting side-to-side under hard acceleration, open the front diff, clean it out completely, and lightly grease the internal gears. That will reduce torque-steer on hard acceleration, because the front wheels will only be able to put power to the ground when they *both* have significant traction. You won't lose any meaningful amount of acceleration from this, because the rear axle is locked and is quite capable of handling hard launches without help from the front wheels.

 

[BobTeagle]

Even with significant tuning, the center of gravity on the Yeti is still higher than on the Baja Rey, because the Baja Rey has the motor and battery sitting right on the chassis plate. There is no way to overcome that problem with the Yeti without building a custom chassis.

If your Baja Rey is darting side-to-side under hard acceleration, open the front diff, clean it out completely, and lightly grease the internal gears. That will reduce torque-steer on hard acceleration, because the front wheels will only be able to put power to the ground when they *both* have significant traction. You won't lose any meaningful amount of acceleration from this, because the rear axle is locked and is quite capable of handling hard launches without help from the front wheels.

I have already cleaned and put grease in the front diff. That is a solution To certain extent but there is way too much flex in the steering. I don't have a darting issue off road, only when on high traction surfaces like pavement. I had the same issue with the Yeti Score until I added a carbon fiber steering rack. After that the Score stopped darting 100%. Keep in mind I'm bull headed and insist on running 3s so it really bends that rubbery plastic!

I agree that the center of gravity is higher on the yeti score, but it does not make that truck untunable. The Slash 4x4 has a higher COG than the SCTE, but that does not mean a Slash can't be competitive against the SCTE. I see them win all the time racing against superior SCTs.

Trust me when I say I'm with you on the Baja Rey being the superior TT, but I really do want a class of TT's that consist of more than just the Baja Rey. That is why I still support the Axial Score. I think a center diff could help a lot in closing the gap between the two.

 

[CM9000]

does the yeti score have a diff cup in the center like an exo? if it does you can put spiders in it.

and a cf steering rack would be nice for the rey. and a decent way to keep my damn front sway bar connected to my front a arms.

if there was a tt class.. what would the rules be? certain tire's only? 3s only? 2 s only? what kv motor?

I have the only Baja rey in my area.. as none sold except for mine out of our three hobbyshops.

and that flimsy plastic for arms didn't save a cvd this past weekend... I bent the shit out of it.

 

[BobTeagle]

does the yeti score have a diff cup in the center like an exo? if it does you can put spiders in it.

and a cf steering rack would be nice for the rey. and a decent way to keep my damn front sway bar connected to my front a arms.

if there was a tt class.. what would the rules be? certain tire's only? 3s only? 2 s only? what kv motor?

I have the only Baja rey in my area.. as none sold except for mine out of our three hobbyshops.

and that flimsy plastic for arms didn't save a cvd this past weekend... I bent the shit out of it.

Hey bro sorry to hear about your cvd..

Also it's a shame the Baja Rey didn't sell better in ur area. I preordered mine from A main Hobbies but Losi's initial stock ran out before they filled my order. I was able to cancel my order and get elsewhere. I thought it sold pretty well, but it may have just been the hobby shops filling their shelves.

Unfortunately the Yeti does not have a diff cup in the center. It's completely locked in the center. It works on the rock racer version but Is dumb they didn't change it for the Score. They could still fix it by making a small diff that fits in the final gear spot in the transfer case. My guess is it's wishful thinking..

The whole TT class is a pipe dream of mine. Honestly I wouldn't care what the rules were as long as i could participate.

Other than your cvd and swaybar issue how'd you do this past weekend?

 

[CM9000]

I didn't have a race this past weekend. the last series race is September 10th if im not mistaken.

tt class should never be a pipe dream. it should be reality.

there are still 2 Baja reys in the westland store. 3 in yipsi. and 3 in Farmington I think. price is to high??? they weigh in at our stores for 450$ I get mine at discount though. I paid 390 including tax.

 

[BobTeagle]

I didn't have a race this past weekend. the last series race is September 10th if im not mistaken.

tt class should never be a pipe dream. it should be reality.

there are still 2 Baja reys in the westland store. 3 in yipsi. and 3 in Farmington I think. price is to high??? they weigh in at our stores for 450$ I get mine at discount though. I paid 390 including tax.

$450 ain't chump change, but it's cheaper than a 4x4 SCT. Plus $450 hasn't stopped the sales of the Score RTR. Maybe I need to rethink my support for the Score and focus on this truck! We need aftermarket support and that ain't gonna happen if the sales don't support them.

 

[ser3100]

Yeah man i keep checking to see if any vendors are releasing anything and nada. kinda frustrating. Thank god is thing is somewhat durable.

 

[shelby7]

is anyone else having issues with jumping the Baja Rey? mine will not stop doing end's (ass over front). I am not an RC expert, how would I counter this tendency?

my stock wheels wobble really bad so I bought some Prolines and they are still doing this, any suggestions?
would bent front axles cause this?

Thanks for the help guys

 

[fyrstormer]

Take the wheels off and inspect the hexes and the stub-axles as you rotate them slowly. Then you can determine what is causing the wobble.

If you're hitting jumps close to top speed, there is nothing you can do to prevent front-flipping. Front-flipping on any vehicle can only be compensated-for by making the suspension stiffer, and/or hitting jumps at moderate speed so you can rev-up the motor while the vehicle is in the air. On the Baja Rey, making the suspension stiffer isn't really an option because that will destroy the truck's handling when it's on the ground.

 

[CM9000]

Yeah man i keep checking to see if any vendors are releasing anything and nada. kinda frustrating. Thank god is thing is somewhat durable.

^ I think this is why we don't have aftermarket yet. its pretty durable for what it is. but it would be nice if rpm gave us stiffer a arms with a better way to mount the swaybar.

for 450$ in my area people will buy 2 2wd slash's they would rather get two for one.

sucks they think this way. maybe I can sell one today or tmrw :lmao:

 

[TTDRIVER13]

No issues jumping my Rey at moderate or full throttle. I have added weight to the back fuel cell, the same amount as a spare tire weighs so it's like having two spares in the back, upped the shock oil to 45wt losi oil and adjusted ride height to about 40bump/60droop roughly. Truck handles amazing and eats up my backyard track no problem, track is rough to say the least. The wheel wobble is a known thing with this truck. I would upgrade the flange nuts to the traxxas ones as the traxxas ones have a locking surface rather than the flat surface the losi ones have. I also added holes to my tires and plugged up the holes in the wheels as they will fill up with dirt bad!! Btw it's hard to compensated a truck in the air when it's 4wd, doesn't work the same as a 2wd vehicle where you have more control. This has been my experience and hope it helps.

 

[CM9000]

Btw it's hard to compensated a truck in the air when it's 4wd, doesn't work the same as a 2wd vehicle where you have more control. This has been my experience and hope it helps.

2wd is harder to control in the air than 4x4 or awd.

you have 4 wheels spinning rather than 2. its way easier to compensate and scrub with the 4wd vehicles than 2wd.

"thumbsup"

 

[fyrstormer]

TTDRIVER13 might be thinking of RWD buggies -- between the rear weight bias and the downforce from the rear spoiler, they have a natural tendency to want to tilt nose-up anyway, so only moderate force exerted by spinning-up the rear wheels can make a big difference. Definitely not the case on larger RWD vehicles like monster trucks though.

- - -

I ran my Baja Rey for the first time in a couple weeks, and about halfway through it started to make unpleasant noises while braking. A quick inspection revealed the rear diff pinion shaft was wobbly, but I didn't feel like going inside so I just let the truck deal with it until the battery ran down. I opened the rear diff case, and the gears are fine, but the inner pinion bearing is completely shot -- and I do mean COMPLETELY shot. The balls weren't even inside the bearing anymore. Fortunately they were ejected into the space between the inner and outer bearings, instead of being ejected into the diff case. The 5x10 bearings used on the diff pinion shaft are way too small for the load the motor can apply to the diff. I'll swap in some Boca Yellow Seal ceramic bearings and see how they hold up -- I've never had one of those bearings fail in any size -- but I suspect the long-term solution is going to involve an aftermarket diff cover with accommodation for larger pinion bearings. I sure hope someone makes one.

 

[BobTeagle]

TTDRIVER13 might be thinking of RWD buggies -- between the rear weight bias and the downforce from the rear spoiler, they have a natural tendency to want to tilt nose-up anyway, so only moderate force exerted by spinning-up the rear wheels can make a big difference. Definitely not the case on larger RWD vehicles like monster trucks though.

- - -

I ran my Baja Rey for the first time in a couple weeks, and about halfway through it started to make unpleasant noises while braking. A quick inspection revealed the rear diff pinion shaft was wobbly, but I didn't feel like going inside so I just let the truck deal with it until the battery ran down. I opened the rear diff case, and the gears are fine, but the inner pinion bearing is completely shot -- and I do mean COMPLETELY shot. The balls weren't even inside the bearing anymore. Fortunately they were ejected into the space between the inner and outer bearings, instead of being ejected into the diff case. The 5x10 bearings used on the diff pinion shaft are way too small for the load the motor can apply to the diff. I'll swap in some Boca Yellow Seal ceramic bearings and see how they hold up -- I've never had one of those bearings fail in any size -- but I suspect the long-term solution is going to involve an aftermarket diff cover with accommodation for larger pinion bearings. I sure hope someone makes one.

Happend to me as well. I posted a YouTube video commenting about it and some others commented on this happening to them as well. I've also had this same thing happen on my Axial Score when I was using the AR60 axle. I believe the bearing fails due to flexible plastics flexing under torque. This puts unusual stress on the bearing at an angle. Another user had this happen in the front gearbox. I've noticed quite a bit of difference between Losi RTR plastics and the TLR plastics. The RTR stuff has very bendy plastics to avoid breakage, but this plastic should not be used on a gearbox or axle! I really hope we have some aftermarket parts released soon for this truck! An alloy axle and front diff case would be a good start..

 

[fyrstormer]

Flexible plastic would cause the gears to bind and wear prematurely. The rear diff cover on my Baja Rey is actually quite stiff; I think the problem is simply that the bearings are too small to handle the load.

I'm content to use a plastic axle. It's lighter, so there's less unsprung weight, which means the rear suspension will actually do its job properly. It just needs larger bearings, that's all. Dlux Fab modifies stock AR60 axles to accept 5x13mm inner pinion bearings, and they work great; maybe we can talk them into doing the same with Baja Rey front diff cases and rear diff covers.

 

[Rjohn929]

Or switch to bushings.

 

[wrightcs77]

Haven't looked, but is there enough material around the bearing for dlux to mod the housings for bigger bearings?