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Mac10's Xray Romeo Ten

Me and catfish snuck out for a conference weekend crawl session today!
So we went to the church of the rock!!!:ror:

It was an excellent time and I am very glad that we got out and just did work on the rocks!

I have really been struggling to get my tire/foam setup where I need it to be.

I was running stock wheels with sedonas and nova 5.5dd foams front and rear.
I have really been struggling to get this setup t work correctly.
I changed my weight multiple times and link geometry with no success.
My thoughts are that the stock wheels are too wide for the sedonas and don't give the tire an optimal contact patch. They were bouncy and unpredictable in every situation!

I was on the verge of buying some vp wheels, when I remembered I have a basically brand new set of rovers still.
So last night I started playing with foam setups in the rovers.
I ended up with full nova foams in the rear and in the front I trimmed the corners of the outer foam away and siped the foam.

This was the ticket, my rig now drives like my berg did only lighter!

I am pleased with this setup and still plan on softening the front foams even more.

My front wheel/tire combo now weighs 15.5oz. Each
With a total rig weight of 6.1 lbs.
This is a little heavier than I would like, but any lighter and it's just not that stable.

The one thing I hate about this rig is the narrow rear. It makes sidehils and some transitions extremely difficult.

Here are a couple pics I snapped today.
cecbabaa.jpg

e4ce7599.jpg

b949cdb2.jpg


Oh and catfish's son Henry has his own "rock crawler" now, that he is very proud of, so uncle Mac10 decided to hook him up with some new meats!!!
667b77f9.jpg
 
I've been thinking about making my own electronic mounting plate too. I don't really care for the way Axial designed the plates and receiver box. The receiver box seems to be a waste of space. Not much else can fit in there besides a small receiver, and while I appreciate the protection it offers, I think the space could have been better used to make room for the ESC and battery. The chassis is so small, everything is a tight fit!
 
Marc, the VP wheels are nice, I am glad you are liking the rig. Mine is frustrating the hell out of me, and it may end up on the shelf :|
 
It's funny how some people hate the narrow rear and some love it... I wouldn't widen it if you paid me, I run slws with 225s all around, and the narrow rear helps on the tight turning gates, and I feel like it is as stable as my bully ever was....what is it you don't like?
 
I think a narrow rear is beneficial, but depending on your terrain, you will either love or hate it!

the narrow rear makes it really hard to make certain sidehills and transfers from a sidehill, and it also wants to carry the high side rear tire.

I have yet to find any line that the narrow rear makes easier.
it is true that it makes some gates easier, but I'm not worried about that aspect of it.
I may try a narrow rear again, once I have got the rig where I want it and am comfortable with it.


dirk,
what is the issue?
we should bounce ideas off each other.
I agree with you idea about having the knuckles rolled back.
my biggest issue has been getting my foam, weight combo where I like it.
I am very worried that the SLW was not a great choice for my front wheels, but I wanted to try it out.
I am running 10oz per wheel in my stock wheels right now and it feels good!
I'm going to start with 6-8oz per wheel with the slw's.
the sedonas were really frustrating me, but I am loving my rovers again!
they are definately the better tire choice on this light of a rig!

I wish I could have made it to wendover this weekend.
there is a line that is almost a vertical face, that my berg could walk right up that I wanted to test this rig on.
that super high traction rock is great to tune your suspension on IMO.
 
Mac10 said:
I think a narrow rear is beneficial, but depending on your terrain, you will either love or hate it!

I'm a hater on the narrow rear, i have found 1 line that i liked it better on, and i actually couldn't ever make the line with my berg.

the narrow rear makes it really hard to make certain sidehills and transfers from a sidehill, and it also wants to carry the high side rear tire.
Well put.

I have yet to find any line that the narrow rear makes easier.
it is true that it makes some gates easier, but I'm not worried about that aspect of it.
I may try a narrow rear again, once I have got the rig where I want it and am comfortable with it.

Yup, if you can't make it to the gate, the narrow rear doesn't help. I finished 2 of the 5 courses at wendover... Not all due to the rig though, i was frustrated with it and not driving my best. I ended up swapping to my berg wheels with panthers after my first course.


dirk,
what is the issue?
we should bounce ideas off each other.
I agree with you idea about having the knuckles rolled back.
my biggest issue has been getting my foam, weight combo where I like it.
That has been one problem as well, it seems like tires i knew by the back of my hand, are completely new on this rig. I don't know, could be because my rig isn't dialed completely yet causing tires to act weird.
I am very worried that the SLW was not a great choice for my front wheels, but I wanted to try it out.
I bet you'll like the wheels, i do, except when my rig rolls, i cring that i am going to bend a wheel, where i used to be worried i would brake a stub shaft at the most.
I am running 10oz per wheel in my stock wheels right now and it feels good!
I'm going to start with 6-8oz per wheel with the slw's.]
See thats the thing... In my berg i was running around 6-8oz in the front. What i don't get is why i cannot get less weight to work in this rig, almost every aspect of the rig is lighter. I was running 6-8oz in the berg up front to get the weight bias more to the front than all over. With the xr10, It seems i am having to run more to make up for the lost axle weight. Which i don't get, I'm running light shock oil, losi greys front/whites in the rear, super smooth hpi firestorm shocks with 0 pre load, its about as soft as i can get it, but it acts stiffer than a brick on the rocks. Thinking logically, why run the xr 10 if it's going to end up weighing just as much as my berg and cost just as much, if not more, and be more fragile. It sounds like someones forcing me to run the xr10, and some are probably thinking, "why the hell doesn't he just go back to his berg and quit bitching", well that's not the case, i would much rather support Axial, be able to get parts at LHS, and drive a new rig for late 2010/2011 season, and by all means i am not bitching, just frustrated with my rig trying to get it dialed in.
the sedonas were really frustrating me, but I am loving my rovers again!
they are definately the better tire choice on this light of a rig!
I may have to give in and try a set of rovers, my boss claws don't work, and i didn't give the sedonas enough time. They felt really wide on the narrow rear.

I wish I could have made it to wendover this weekend.
there is a line that is almost a vertical face, that my berg could walk right up that I wanted to test this rig on.
that super high traction rock is great to tune your suspension on IMO.
I wish you would have too, I would have liked to check your rig out and watch your set up drive.
Click to expand...



Mac10 said:
dragrcr,
how wide is your rear with 225's on it?
I think I saw somewhere that its less than 10"

is that true?
Click to expand...

With the 1" wide slw3's and 225's my rear is about dead on 10" outside tire to outside tire, and 10.50" front w/ 225's as well. I ended up running wider hexes in the rear to make it a hair wider than 10", but will probably order new hubs to get the rears even with the front.
 
Last edited:
The boss claws simply did not work for me!
No matter what foam I tried. (I refuse to use memory foam)

I loved sedonas on a heavy rig, but rovers are so far the ticket.
I still plan on softening my foam even more though.

My opinion on the weight issue is this:
You can run a lighter setup, but I think link geometry and shock setup are crucial to make it work right!
Squat/anti-squat probably needs to be alot different to make the rig react like it needs to with the lighter wheels/axles.
We can't run these rigs setup like our bergs. It's a whole new ballgame now.

I love suspension tuning!
It makes me happy!!!:mrgreen:
 
Mac10 said:
dragrcr,
how wide is your rear with 225's on it?
I think I saw somewhere that its less than 10"

is that true?
Click to expand...

1 inch slwv4s with a custom foam, is right at 10 on the money, works great for me"thumbsup"
 
1 inch slwv4s with a custom foam, is right at 10 on the money, works great for me
Click to expand...

Cool. Thanks!

I had the opportunity to speak with steve from VP yesterday about my order.
I couldn't be happier with the level of service they have provided for me!

What a great no "BS" type of guy.
He told me exactly how it was, with no excuses!!!

I can't wait to run their product!!!!
 
stripped out a rod end the other day!

I plan on drilling my links to 4mm tomorrow night.

has anybody had better luck with the stock rod ends drilled to 4mm???
 
I finally got all my VP goodies today!

These wheels are the $hit!!!!
I love them.
The black knuckles and c's are nice and fit great(of course)
The turning ability is excellent!

I upgraded to titanium steering links with traxxas rod ends, this upgrade along with the aluminum parts took basically all the slop out of the steering.

I trimmed my nova inner foams down from 2" wide to about 1 3/4 wide in the front, and Added 8oz. Of weights.

Total front wheel weight is 13.8 oz each.
I didn't weigh the rears, but I figure they didn't change much from the stock wheels. So we will guess 6.5 oz each
.225 hubs in front
.350 hubs in rear

I hope I don't have to add much more weight!:|

Onto the pics.
b74aca37.jpg

9def172a.jpg

941b3d4c.jpg
 
the servo armor is available from www.chaoticcrawlers.com


the rig did great today!
I killed all the hardest lines out there with ease.

I am trying to get used to it being so light in the front though.
it can make the really steep lines, but you have to finesse it to goup some of them.
I would like to get another 1/2 to 1 oz extra per wheel in it.

I also noticed it trying to unload the high side rear on some really off camber sidehils, that my berg would just walk across it.
I think I can cure that with link adjustment and shock tuning though.

I was about to switch my pack and try one more set of ridiculously steep lines when I dropped it off a couple inch ledge and the rig flopped on the landing and started into a roll...

well, I broke 2 gears in the front axle when the wheels hit the rock!:cry::cry:
I was surprised because it was such a small and simple roll when it broke!

but I guess I'm not really that surprised in the end!
but all my bearings are still in good condition!:)

all in all I'm very happy with the stance the rig has and it's capability is exceptional, the lighter weight really allows you to get it into some crazy places!

I think I'm going to try the HR machined gears because I'm not about to put another garbage pot metal gear back into these axles, hopefully HR gears are decent!!!(I'm a little nervous)
 
the xr was looking real nice out there today Mac....8)
I'm thinking about picking one up to play with:shock:
if a guy was gonna pick an xr up...
whats your thoughts on bearings?? are the bronze VP bushings the way to go or some good ceramic bearings?? or?
 
The vp bushings will definately work, but personally I would go with ceramic bearings.

I'm not a huge bushings fan.
Although the vp bushings will definately get rid of any bearing worries!
 
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