I have one of these, too, only mine's the GP version. And I love it to death. What I've noticed from running mine, though?
* For sure loctite issues. I had one of the suspension links come loose and dangle during engine breakin!
* Max reasonable speed for this thing is around 30MPH. That's roughly what the VE tops out at, but the GP with its three speed transmission will reach around 40-45MPH. And it's terrifying to drive at those speeds. At that kinda speed it bobs and weaves randomly, with little if any grip on what direction it's actually pointed. You're at the mercy of inertia at that point, the suspension just can't handle it. Probably irrelevant for crawling on the platform, but even right out of the box they're a bit weeble-wobbly at high speed.
* On the topic of power, the KE-25 Kyosho put in mine is an absolute brute and I'm never short on power. I can do a standing half-backflip on command whenever I damn well please just about, and it powers through foot-and-a-half tall grass with grace and easy. I can only imagine the brushless one's similarly potent. I'm pretty sure with how much power I have on tap I don't really need locked diffs unless it's super technical(In which case why even run a truck this enormous?). When in doubt, Power Out! And I'm probably running 20-30% less power than VE guys run...
* The GP doesn't stop for *$(%. I'm kinda jealous of you VE guys reporting one tap of the brakes endo's the thing. I firewall my brakes and it's like 'oh fine I guess I'll laze up to the stop sign if you absolutely insist'. Might be part of why I find it so terrifying to drive the thing at high speeds?
* Stock setup offers about...oooh, 30-35 degrees of flex. IT's not exactly designed for crawling but I've seen the potential in mine, hell I've actually clambered up things with it just to see how it'd do.
* It does pretty good when it's asked to stop being a monster truck and start crawling around, all things considered, but the ground clearance under the pumpkin leaves much to be desired, it hangs up on the center of the chassis VERY easily, and the diffs are a massive problem vis-a-vis resisting unloading. Also means, at least in my experience, they can't do donuts very well. Gonna put 200k cst silicone in mine's diffs this week and see what difference that makes.
* It's HUGE. GL ever comping one of these things, they're so wide they'll straddle the damn gates with both tires.
* Rear steering isn't a difficult modification at all to make, since the axle housings are interchangeable front and rear.
* The offset diffs induce some torquesteer. Mine loves to veer right a bit when I get it up on the wheelie bar.
* Getting to the fuel tank with the body on is a pain in the rear, but engine startup doesn't require de-lidding.
* Stock body is awesome. GP's gets painted a lovely shade of red and the factory light buckets mean you can drive these things at night with a lightkit fitted and have no trouble avoiding running into stuff.
* The stock servos are terrible. I was having brownout issues 15 minutes into a run, on both 4 alkaline cells as intended by Kyosho and on an 1800mAh 2s LiFE receiver pack. Repalced Rx/Tx with a Futaba stick radio, replaced steering servo with a Reedy 1514MG, throttle servo with a Reedy S1903, and the brownouts disappeared. If you VE guys are finding battery life less than ideal, or if the BEC in the ESC starts getting excessively hot, might wanna look into doing the same.
* Why are the axle housings held together with JIS screws instead of allen screws?!
I'd dearly love to take mine to a trail run, be the only nitro guy there and prolly still do better than stone dead last :lmao:.
* For sure loctite issues. I had one of the suspension links come loose and dangle during engine breakin!
* Max reasonable speed for this thing is around 30MPH. That's roughly what the VE tops out at, but the GP with its three speed transmission will reach around 40-45MPH. And it's terrifying to drive at those speeds. At that kinda speed it bobs and weaves randomly, with little if any grip on what direction it's actually pointed. You're at the mercy of inertia at that point, the suspension just can't handle it. Probably irrelevant for crawling on the platform, but even right out of the box they're a bit weeble-wobbly at high speed.
* On the topic of power, the KE-25 Kyosho put in mine is an absolute brute and I'm never short on power. I can do a standing half-backflip on command whenever I damn well please just about, and it powers through foot-and-a-half tall grass with grace and easy. I can only imagine the brushless one's similarly potent. I'm pretty sure with how much power I have on tap I don't really need locked diffs unless it's super technical(In which case why even run a truck this enormous?). When in doubt, Power Out! And I'm probably running 20-30% less power than VE guys run...
* The GP doesn't stop for *$(%. I'm kinda jealous of you VE guys reporting one tap of the brakes endo's the thing. I firewall my brakes and it's like 'oh fine I guess I'll laze up to the stop sign if you absolutely insist'. Might be part of why I find it so terrifying to drive the thing at high speeds?
* Stock setup offers about...oooh, 30-35 degrees of flex. IT's not exactly designed for crawling but I've seen the potential in mine, hell I've actually clambered up things with it just to see how it'd do.
* It does pretty good when it's asked to stop being a monster truck and start crawling around, all things considered, but the ground clearance under the pumpkin leaves much to be desired, it hangs up on the center of the chassis VERY easily, and the diffs are a massive problem vis-a-vis resisting unloading. Also means, at least in my experience, they can't do donuts very well. Gonna put 200k cst silicone in mine's diffs this week and see what difference that makes.
* It's HUGE. GL ever comping one of these things, they're so wide they'll straddle the damn gates with both tires.
* Rear steering isn't a difficult modification at all to make, since the axle housings are interchangeable front and rear.
* The offset diffs induce some torquesteer. Mine loves to veer right a bit when I get it up on the wheelie bar.
* Getting to the fuel tank with the body on is a pain in the rear, but engine startup doesn't require de-lidding.
* Stock body is awesome. GP's gets painted a lovely shade of red and the factory light buckets mean you can drive these things at night with a lightkit fitted and have no trouble avoiding running into stuff.
* The stock servos are terrible. I was having brownout issues 15 minutes into a run, on both 4 alkaline cells as intended by Kyosho and on an 1800mAh 2s LiFE receiver pack. Repalced Rx/Tx with a Futaba stick radio, replaced steering servo with a Reedy 1514MG, throttle servo with a Reedy S1903, and the brownouts disappeared. If you VE guys are finding battery life less than ideal, or if the BEC in the ESC starts getting excessively hot, might wanna look into doing the same.
* Why are the axle housings held together with JIS screws instead of allen screws?!
I'd dearly love to take mine to a trail run, be the only nitro guy there and prolly still do better than stone dead last :lmao:.
Last edited:
