Losi Hammer Rey

[armalite_ar50]

Pipes look great

I got my locker last Friday but haven't installed it.
Sat I ordered the VITAVON Hammer Rey Rear SWAY BAR CNC Aluminum7075 Silver.
78 shipped ( OUCH!!)

I didn't see it on their website so I grabbed a set of the bay.

Hoping to install the locker in the center dif and possibly one in the rear after I drive it some.
Possibly some tamiya putty up in the front to stiffen that one up and reduce some of the free slip it has.

I also want to weigh th 3s packs I'm using in it and put the same amount of weight on the left
Of the body opposite the battery so it doesn't traction roll so bad in a turn from the uneven
weight on the right side.

Wanted to get to all this last weekend but was busy with yard work and putting the overdrive
gears in one of my trx-4 rigs, made a custom part for it on my lathe along with adding a driver and alum running boards.

 

[meatmonkey]

So it's another oversized "1/10" truck with undersized bearings. This awful trend is becoming the norm for Horizon and I for one am not impressed.

At least it looks cool, but I'll pass.

 

[Jay-Em]

By the by, its squirrily behaviour improves quite a bit with a faster and stronger servo ( basically standard for AVC. A slow, weak servo wìth AVC is actually worse than a weak servo without AVC) I put-in an áctual 12kg servo, and the 3kg difference with the stock spektrum servo was quite noticable. Finally the AVC worked as it should. (Funky enough exactly the trouble I had with the Ryft. Weak servo, and a crappy, floppy servo-saver to boot, made for a hopelessly wobbly ride with AVC on.) The somewhat stronger servo gave fàr less wobbly steering compared to the stock setup, that wobbled and flailed like mad due to the servo lagging behind the AVC. The servo saver and steering assembly in the Hammer Rey is better than I thought. Still a bit of play. Alu could improve that.

Though, truth be told, a proper 20kg, or even 30kg, fast servo would be even better. (But waaay more expensive)

And now…mentally prepare myself to completely strip the Hammer to get to the rear gearbox outdrive. The shaft is almost completely loose, which indicates a blown bearing somewhere… took only about 6 packs… *sigh*

 

[armalite_ar50]

I started ripping mine apart yesterday to get to the center diff.

Yup it's a full tear down.

Haven't broke anything yet but I'm not bashing it either.
I have traxxas rigs & RPM mods for the bash'n.

This is strictly a performance racer that needs drove as such.
Launch this thing 30 ft or plant it into a curb at 20 mph and it's gonna break.
It is not a basher by any means.

No idea if Losi is noted for small undersized bearings or not.
This is my only Losi.

I bought this cause I am a king of hammers fan.
I am really hoping they do the bronco next and then some other hammer rig setups so i can have other UD4 racers to run against instead just solo laps.

We have plans to drive out hammer town next year for two weeks.

 

[Jay-Em]

I started ripping mine apart yesterday to get to the center diff.

Yup it's a full tear down

*shiver* Time to charge the electric screwdriver…

Thing is, I didn’t even ‘bash’ it. Had some barrel rolls on relatively soft undergrounds, grass, soft sand. Just speed passes on grass and on a local beach. Hardly any jumps of significance. It’s, indeed, not a basher, and needs to be driven ‘scale’. It also prefers slippery surfaces to high grip. The beach was the moment I thought ‘YESS! This is what it’s supposed to do.’

I haven’t actually broken anything (I believe), just that the outgoing rear gearbox shaft wobbles. Maybe I lucked-out, and the bearing is just loose. I’m not sure if the end bearing is held in place with an e-clip, or just the friction of the plastic. I’m about to find out. And if it ìs the bearing.. well.. I got boxes of high quality bearings in all sorts of sizes. Even a bunch of 10x5 and 11x5 ceramic bearings.

EDIT: It was even WORSE! There was NO bearing in the rear of the gearbox. Just wasn’t there. I must’ve gotten a ‘monday-model’ Someone completely forgot to install one. Luckily I had a few, nicely rubber-sealed 15x10 bearings laying around. Does explain why my Hammer was so noisy. It's now very quiet for a metal-geared car.
Still. A claim to Horizon Germany is on its way. Sheesh…

 

[armalite_ar50]

I stuffed the center diff with tamiya diff putty as full as i could get it like squirting out when i tightened the screws.

Then i installed the Losi 2032011 baja rey locker in the rear.

Haven't done anything yet to the front diff.

Took it out yesterday for a spin and it's a world of difference .

Doesn't have near the tourqe twist it had. Climbs the same dirt mound with out all the extra speed needed that caused it to just spin up the hill wildly then launch like a basher.
Just crawls up with about a 1/4 the speed needed and is very controlable to drive.
It's also cornering a lot better without so much roll now too.
Sliding in the dirt a lot better and not fish tailing in the turns or when it was coming out of a turn.

Was a 16 dollar fix and my time.
With the rear sway bar it's going to be 96 bux total.

Pretty happy with it as a base rtr since it didn't take 2 to 500 bux to straighten it out and weeks or ordering and swapping parts.

Thats my biggest gripe with tamiya. They really only sell a very entry kit and you have to hit it with a tonn of hop ups to make it worth any type of driver other then living room stuff.

This seems to be more like a traxxas or arma where ya only need a couple of bux to make it great and then just upgrade as you break stuff.
That's pretty much what i expecting for the price.

So as my 1st Losi I'm really happy with it.

Still waiting on the rear swaybars to show up.
And hoping they produce some more UD4 hammer trophy trucks.

 

[Miatalife]

Hey new here. Just looking for some tips. I recently purchased some scale bump stops from 949 designs. And just looking to see if anyone has tried to install these. Looking for tips to take the faux bump stops and tur. The. Into functioning ones. Anything helps

 

[armalite_ar50]

The ones on the rear for the axle?

Most are cutting them off flush.
By that i mean cutting the inner smaller small absorber off flush with the housing.

I haven't addressed mine yet.

I'm thinking if someone makes replacements that are functional for under 100 I'll buy a set.
If i notice they are a problem i can always make a set on my lathe but i don't "send it" so right now it's been a non issue with me.

My intent was to take the squirrel in the ass end and I seem to have done that with in what i was willing to spend.
Both in time and money.

Pretty sure you will only need to correct/Mod those axle stops if you are jumping it high and far.

I'm very well used to driving REVO 2.0 and the MERV along with the fireteam 6
The hammer rey is NOT designed for that speed or handling. But it comes out of the box with crap suspension & speed.
One or the other has to go. If you lose the speed you are still stuck with the crap suspension And two much wheel speed with a diff that slips and causes the rear to hop so it makes sense to straighten out the rear end and keep the speed for racing.

Still waiting on my rear sways.
Then I'll either ignore or address those axle stops.

 

[Jay-Em]

Locking the centre diff, indeed, cures some of its squirrily behaviour. It's a trick that serves the Baja Rey and Rock Rey -same chassis, but shorter- well too.

-Center diff open : Wild take-offs and fishtailing, while making the front tires go all pizza-cutter when it squats down during acceleration. And the slightest steering will make all 3 trucks, Hammer, Baja and Rock go in a sort of uncontrollable "sponson walking" ( Those with experience on powerboats know what I mean) that mostly ends in a hard tumble. The Axial Ryft has the same unpleasant habit. So I locked its centre diff too. A world of difference.
-Center diff locked: Way smoother take-offs, less wobbly squatting, and taking corners a bit faster without immediately becoming a tumbleweed. No idea why Losi and Axial insist on using open centre diffs in an off-road. I understand their use in 1/10 Touringcars. I raced them actively for years.. but in off-roads?

Biggest improvement, though, was my ugly, but functional sway bar. So, I suggest people start there. Without an extra rear sway, the stock teeny weeny sway just cannot cope with the torque and weight, and the Hammer usually veers wildly to one side during take-off.

 

[armalite_ar50]

I got the vitivon rear sway on saterday and ran it Sunday .
I left the front factory sway on the rear its so far forward I'm not sure it helps much anyways.

Pretty much calling this done for upgrades smothed it right out.

Been running the same spot since i got it so i could see the improvements and all positive.

Looks like the only things left to upgrade are parts as they break or wear out.

 

[Miatalife]

Got the 949 design bump stops in drilled out the faux ones and inserted them into it. Up coming and ordered is all the vitivon aluminum parts. And new wheels and tires.
Have a lhs and the owner did this. It looks slick and with new proline suspension it handles alot better.

 

[SteveB1]

Out on the track!

 

[foratm]

Where can I find a locker foe the center diff?
Does anyone have a part number or recommendation?

Also the vitavon rear sway bar makes a night and day difference. I want to build this for rock racing but the open diffs make it unbearable. I just want to lock center and rear.

 

[Jay-Em]

I didn’t use an actual locker, but stuffed it with blue-tac. That gummy stuff used to stick posters to any wall. Bit of a task to get to the center diff, though.. I stopped counting the screws at 20..

 

[cul8tr]

I've been thinking about getting 1. Not for U4 but just playing around.
Has anybody ever put wider wheels and tires on theirs?
How did it look and run?
Maybe some 2.8's?

 

[armalite_ar50]

Where can I find a locker foe the center diff?
Does anyone have a part number or recommendation?

Also the vitavon rear sway bar makes a night and day difference. I want to build this for rock racing but the open diffs make it unbearable. I just want to lock center and rear.

Sorry got mine done 1st time checking back since then.
My post above has the locker part # but here it is again.

Then i installed the Losi 2032011 baja rey locker in the rear.

Was like 12 bux shipped.

Yes the center diff. is a total tear down to get fo it. So far the tamiya locker putty is holding up to the heat and running.



I haven't done anything with tires/wheels other then the posts above i made.
But i am running the spare now on the rear right.
Fore the inner tire and also stripped out the center hex on the rim.
1st time I've used a spare on a RC for anything other then looks.


Now back to read about the bump stop mod.
Its why i came back to the thread to see if that had been adressed yet and it seems it's in a post above.

 

[Jay-Em]

Hmm.. yeah.. "Stripping-out the hexes".. the next pain-point in the Hammer. Same exact thing happened to me, rear right too. Would've been nice if Losi had added 17mm hexes, like all fast, weighty, big-arse buggies have. 12mm hexes in wheels just don't hold-up. That'll be the next upgrade, I guess. In due time.. Currently I'm way too busy fiddling with the MST Range Rover Discovery. "Slow fun" instead of "I'll break something every run"- fast fun with the Hammer, that's currently gathering dust, looking pretty..

 

[luv2ridemx]

Guys, can someone please help, i just bought a Hammer Rey. does someone know what size the rear axle shafts are ? or....i'm trying to find a wider wheel 12mm hex i can install to widen the wheel base out a little, any ideas?

 

[SteveB1]

Just finished this project


https://www.mojavevalleyrcadventures.com/losi-hammer-rey.html

 

[durok]

Interesting read - especially the comparisons to the Nomad...;-)

Still have my AE DB8 buggy, have never driven it since the first few battery packs.

I even have spare new body panels in the tan/brown, and another set unpainted, and a full NIP cage.

And while the stock tires are pretty worn (because I was silly and tested it initially on pavement) I do have a set of barely used pre-mounted Pro-line Badlands.

Just not into goin' fast anymore!

I love the looks of the Hammer Rey, but it would be wasted on me.