Mike's Rock Rey

[iridebikes247]

Just some info on another Rock Rey out there. The last picture is front last summer, shows a much earlier stage in the evolution of this build. I only have 2 rc trucks right now so have been focused on running and breaking this truck for awhile now.

I'm really happy Exotek and Afrolucha created some parts for this truck. Both companies produce really well designed products and I look forward to seeing what else they design for the rc market.

Build

Tekin roc 412 hd 3100kv.

Exotek differential cups. Center/Rear locked, front has heavier weight oil, forgot the weight.
Exotek steering system (lazy/not installed yet)
Exotek aluminum/carbon fiber shock tower. The carbon piece was replaced by me and is 5.5mm. Intended to create a front light set and creating a new carbon shock tower with more surface area would make this easier but got lazy. Plate manufactured by Dragon Plate in NY.
Exotek front differential case.
Exotek 3mm steel front skid plate.
Exotek alum. servo horn.
Exotek steel brake disc kit.

Afrolucha front axle sliders.

Hot Racing swaybar kit (stiffest wire used)
Hot Racing steering bearing support (not installed yet)
Hot Racing turnbuckle kit.
Hot Racing rear driveshaft.
Hot Racing alum. Lower arms.
Hot Racing alum. c-hubs.
Hot Racing alum. spindles. I replaced the carbon pieces with 3.5mm plate also by Dragon Plate.

JEC Racing steel lower control arms.

SSD rims, forget which ones. +725mm offset hubs.

Team Ottsix Voodoo U4 tires.

Crawler Innovations hard/tall foams. Have something softer coming soon.

Proline Powerstroke shocks.

Vanquish rear axle.

Incision rear upper links.

Savox 1210 servo.

Spektrum DX5 with AVC rx.

Body panels made by someone on ebay, they did great work.


Currently the rear shock tower is cracked, plan to fix it with a aluminum piece. I don't think aluminum hanging off every piece of an rc mean't for abuse is always desirable. Something should absorb the forces or you risk damaging more components deeper in the interior of the truck such as bulkheads, chassis, etc. I went pretty hard at this build with alum. because I think it looks cool, don't really care if and when it does break.

 

[amanc96]

Looking good! Was the front sway bar added?

 

[iridebikes247]

Thank you and yes good eye, the swaybar was added. It is from Hot Racing, was pretty easy to setup. The swaybar kit includes 3 wire swaybars, all of them have a different diameter so you can tune for your purposes.

Going into this I kind of wanted a high speed U4 type truck that would not necessarily be "race legal," but fun for bashing around. These trucks have a lower CG than I thought at first glance, making for decent climbing capabilities.

Right now I think my foams are too stiff, right now have the Crawler Innovations deuce's wild heavy weight foams (black). They are really nicely made but have the double deuce heavy weight inner/firm outer foams coming. Truck weighs in at 10lbs 1 oz with a 3s 5000 mah.

 

[smog]

That looks like a fun rig Mike. I don't have a Rock Rey, but yours is making me wonder why that is"thumbsup"

 

[JatoTheRipper]

That's a great looking Rock Rey.

 

[mass-hole]

Thank you and yes good eye, the swaybar was added. It is from Hot Racing, was pretty easy to setup. The swaybar kit includes 3 wire swaybars, all of them have a different diameter so you can tune for your purposes.

Going into this I kind of wanted a high speed U4 type truck that would not necessarily be "race legal," but fun for bashing around. These trucks have a lower CG than I thought at first glance, making for decent climbing capabilities.

Right now I think my foams are too stiff, right now have the Crawler Innovations deuce's wild heavy weight foams (black). They are really nicely made but have the double deuce heavy weight inner/firm outer foams coming. Truck weighs in at 10lbs 1 oz with a 3s 5000 mah.

Does the sway bar kit help a good amount? I’ve thought about it a lot but have yet to pull the trigger.

 

[Thedesertplumber]

I was wondering how the swaybar does on rock crawling

 

[mass-hole]

I was wondering how the swaybar does on rock crawling

That was one reason I had held off on buying it. The rear sway bar on there is so stiff that it almost cuts the articulation in half. I was running without a rear sway bar and it crawled decently but was fairly unstable at speed.

 

[iridebikes247]

Thanks for the comments guys!

The front sway bar does limit articulation a little bit. The Afrolucha sliders do rub the sway bar, you can see how they have become "polished." Still spins smoothly but after a few runs it is obviously cutting into the new axles more than I would like, will try bending the sway bar a bit to accommodate.

I live on Long Island in NY, we really don't have any sizable rocks we have tree roots to "crawl on." I kind of leaned into a speed setup because of this. I do go camping in the mountains twice a year and bring this and the trx 4, I rely on the trx 4 for crawling though (remote locking diffs are awesome).

 

[Hellllll]

Looks like you have pit bull growlers on the last pic. How do they compare to voodoo U4?

 

[iridebikes247]

Yup you're right, the growlers were on there last summer.

The Voodoo tires hook up a lot better on the grass and also dirt. I haven't tested them on rocks yet. The pitbull tires are softer but the truck does wheelies now and it never really lifted the front wheels in the past.

The new tires definitely put more power to the ground I managed to snap the Hot Racing rear/center axle the first battery pack, snapped one of the rear driveshafts too that inserts into the diff cup. Once in awhile the drive pins let in the hexes snap too.

The Tekin roc412 HD 3100kv on 3s is really impressive. This truck is a blast on 3s it's pretty heavy and really digs in on acceleration. Kinda interesting but I never break parts on dirt, the grass really lets it hook up.

 

[Hellllll]

I sure dig the look of your rig. I'm in the process of building my rock rey and mounted growlers, I'll see how it goes, might switch to voodoo U4 if I don't like them. 3100kv must be a blast, I'm putting in a brood racing 2600kv Vigor think it's more than enough for my driving style. For the rear center axle I ordered the extended rear axle for wraith from MIP hopefully it will hold up to the power.

 

[iridebikes247]

Curious does the Wraith MIP rear shaft fit? I'd buy it in a second, I have a lot of faith in MIP.

The growlers are made from better rubber than the voodoo u4s I think. When I was running the Growlers I was running the hardest single stage foam that Crawler Innovations sells; Deuce's Wild Single Stage Heavy Weight 2.2 Tall Foam Pair.

In the Voodoos I have:
Double Deuce 5.5” Heavy Weight Comp Cut Inner / Firm Outer & Tuning Ring.

I rarely used to break parts when running the hard foams. I have had this truck up to 45 mph with the growlers. I am running strong electronics and launch this thing on thick grass incessantly. You could say I have a lot of miles on this thing since I have very few RCs. The 2600kv will be perfect on 3s, 3100 is actually too much on 3s I just think of it as a "fast and loose," machine.

 

[Cyclist]

Your rig looks awesome! I'm curious what ESC are you using with the roc 412hd ? Are you happy with your electronics? I'm tempted to put a sensored setup in my rock rey. There are no races in my area, I just bash and do some trail.

 

[iridebikes247]

Thank you I appreciate it I have had a lot of fun with this rig.

As far as electronics go I think the stock esc + motor are extremely stout. Last summer I upgraded to the tekin 412 HD + mamba x, wanted sensored for a camping trip lot of good rocks to crawl. Worked good but esc got warm from day one and went up in flames a few months later. I am not ruling out user error, but this is the first esc I have fried in 10+ years. With that said I would buy it again a lot of guys have had great luck. Fantastic low speed control.

So after the flame out I went back to stock motor + esc. This worked great but I delaminated the rotor and the magnets got thrown off. I overheated the motor in tall grass, I consider this an abuse situation since motor temps should always be monitored. Will eventually get a new rotor but put the roc 412 in instead. The roc 412 is more powerful than the stock motor, doesn't cog as bad and runs cooler (and it should for what it costs, stock one is great considering price).

The stock esc is extremely impressive IMO. I can't kill the esc, not great low speed control but going wide open it works well. It is a sensorless esc and works fine with the sensored motor albet not as smooth as sensored/sensored. I'm glad this combo worked, helped me rule out that the motor didn't fry the esc because of a weird defect.



Just realized I did a slow motion video of it last summer, well before the big upgrades. The pitbull growlers + hard Crawler Innovations foams do not balloon at all. They don't make for a plush ride though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5bwzsa1JP0

 

[Cyclist]

cool, thanks for the feedback on your rig.

 

[Hellllll]

To use the Wraith rear shaft, I used MIP's 3.40" male bone: https://supershafty.com/collections/drive-shafts/products/exclusive-mip-x-duty-cvd-bone
The length is perfect without any binding. You have to use stepped set screws to attach it to the axles as the Rock Rey has smaller holes on its output shafts.

I'm currently running double deuce 2.2 comp cut with firm outer in my growlers and they're too soft for my liking. I also noticed the tires are pushed towards inside of the car, which I suspect the two stage foams inside shifted. I ordered voodoo U4 with deuces wild 2.2 tall, hopefully this will make my rig more "stable" at speeds. I run it on grass and dirt about 90% of the time, 2600kv is the sweet spot, I'd say close to 40mph on 3S with stock gearing.