WolfAusti's Yeti

[WolfAusti]

For my first thread here I thought I would share whatever I decide to do with this awesome vehicle. I'm new to the crawler scene, but I've been into RC pretty seriously for close to 10 years now.













My plans for this truck and thread: I'm not one to go out and buy all the upgrades before I see a need for them. I will be slowly upgrading this truck as I see fit. In the near future I plan to upgrade tires, add lights, install a wrap, and fix weak points. From there, we'll see what happens.

GOALS:

1. Remain completely waterproof all the way to submersion
2. Maintain ability to switch between bashing and crawling on the same battery pack. Where I'm located right now, I'd say I'm at about 50-50 crawling/bashing.

Edit: Before you run the YETI, refer to the Yeti Pre-run Checklist!! Don't make the same mistake I did and just trust that it was assembled properly from the factory. This list came out the day after I received my vehicle, go figure.

Truck arrived today. Took it to a park nearby for some crawling and light bashing. I like to get a good feel for a new vehicle by driving it completely stock. Upgrades are more rewarding this way. First ran it on 2s- was quicker than I expected, and certainly adequate for hiking or crawling, but I felt that it wouldn't take me long to get bored with it considering I come from the rctech world of racing and bashing. Also worth noting- I drove the thing through some pretty deep and muddy puddles and had zero issues. Man is this going to be fun!

So I installed a 3S pack. Definitely came alive, but I shredded both rear hubs within minutes. You do have to wonder if the vehicles that Axial used to test during product development had this issue...Disappointing first day at best, but I have high hopes for this vehicle, as it has great potential.

Ordered my first batch of upgrade parts. I want to stay as close to the stock width as possible when replacing the hubs:
-Vanquish 225 SLW Aluminum hubs (VPS01042) for the front, 600 (VPS01039) for the rear
-AXI30429 Wraith Aluminum Hexes (what a steal at $6 and required for the vanquish hubs to work)
- 4-40 x5/16" screws for hub (hubs do not include hardware... stock screws have a metric thread) McMaster-Carr

Why not share the 3S battery I chose to use while I'm at it. Pack fits perfectly.

More updates to come, but for now I wait for he mail man. :roll:

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PARTS LIST

Hubs
Vanquish 225 Front Hubs (and 4-40 x 5/16" hardware)
Vanquish 600 Rear Hubs (and 4-40 x 5/16" hardware)
Wraith Aluminum Hexes

Battery
Turnigy 5000 35C

Steering
Ofna Aluminum Servo Horn
XP ds1015 Digital Servo

Suspension
2x Traxxas 3745 Links
Traxxas Revo Large Rod Ends w/Hollow Balls 5347 (hollow balls on above links are too large)

Cosmetic
Vanquish Rigid Industries 4" light bar

PLANNED UPGRADES

Cosmetic
Wrap, possibly Freqeskinz

Steering
Vanquish aluminum steering rack
Ball bearings to replace plastic bushings
Servo saver eliminator (none released as of 9/12/14)

Suspension
Vanquish rear upper titanium links

Drivetrain
No known issues

Tires
Axial Maxxis Trepadors

Electronics
Hobbywing SC8 120a waterproof esc

 

[WolfAusti]

I had a chance to tear the truck apart last night. My main goal was to lock the servo saver and to clean the truck up, but I ran into a few other interesting things along the way.

First, this truck is surprisingly flexy. The front arms and bumper, shock tower, motor mount, steering rack, and steering links all seem very flexible. I do not necessarily have an issue with this, but it is a little more than I am used to. I'm hoping that this means the plastics will remain somewhat flexible during cold winter runs. I will be adding a few upgrades here and there to make the platform feel a little more solid, such as adjustable suspension links, aluminum steering rack, and hopefully an aluminum motor mount.



The servo saver in this truck is way too loose in my opinion. I disassembled the front end and ended up locking it up with some CA glue. I'm hopeful that this will hold up to some abuse and improve steering response for now, or at least until some option parts become available, such as an aluminum servo saver eliminator and the Vanquish steering rack kit.

I also found that the entire steering system rides on plastic bushings, which will need to be upgraded to ball bearings. I've decided to start a list on my first post for planned upgrades and I've added this to it. I'll be looking for an economical ball bearing choice for this.

Next, I removed the spur gear cover to check the gear mesh. Seemed a little loose for my taste, so I tightened it up a bit. The cam style motor mount for adjustable gear mesh was a pleasure to use- all you have to do is rotate the motor toward or away from the spur to tighten or loosen the mesh. Nice touch, Axial! I would be interested in an aluminum cam option to improve motor cooling and take care of some of the flex in the material.

While I was checking out the motor mount system, I noticed that the drive shaft cross pin beneath the motor had come almost completely out. Glad this little pin didn't come completely loose (after a mere two runs)! Added some loctite to the threads and resecured it. Did the same for the rest of the driveshaft cross pins that are threaded into metal.

Eagerly awaiting vanquish hubs! Thanks for reading.

 

[WolfAusti]

Front Suspension Link Parts

Front Suspension Links

Decided the Vanquish suspension links are a bit too spendy, although they do look pretty cool. I'll be installing a more affordable and adjustable option offered by Traxxas. Here are the traxxas parts that will work:

2x Traxxas 3745 Links
Traxxas Revo Large Rod Ends w/Hollow Balls 5347 (hollow balls on above links are too large)

Keep in mind that the 3745 links include balls that will not fit because they are too large. Purchase or use the smaller 5347 hollow balls.

I will post pics when these parts arrive.

 

[gbean]

One if my Yeti purchase decision making criteria will be the price of those lower rear links.
I just have them.

Who am I kidding? I'm gonna get it anyway.

 

[WolfAusti]

One if my Yeti purchase decision making criteria will be the price of those lower rear links.
I just have them.

Who am I kidding? I'm gonna get it anyway.

Those things look awesome. I can't imagine what they will cost.

Did anyone else notice that one of the parts bags included these awesome headlamps? Can't wait to get some LEDs in there. There are some other pretty cool parts in there including different helmets for the drivers, scale looking radiator and tire mounts for the back, and quite a few useful spares? This is my first Axial kit, so I'm assuming this won't be new for most of you if they do this with their other kits. I'm impressed!

 

[gbean]

I'm guessing that the lower links will be slightly more than the TH trailing arms. Those list at $48.60, so I'd guess for the yeti they would be around $60/pr which wouldn't be horribly atrocious I guess.

 

[WolfAusti]

Hubs arrived this weekend! Happy to say that the install went very well. I'm impressed with the build quality and precision of the vanquish hubs. Had a chance to run them today without any issues.

Update on my servo saver: The CA lockout job stayed put, score!

But I noticed the wheels still do not return to neutral when the truck is sitting still on the ground. Aside from the slop in the steering (Which I would like to minimize as much as possible in the future) the servo horn caused this by flexing a significant amount. With Axial plastics being so flexible, I think an aluminum servo horn would be an appropriate fix here. Added to the list.

I had a really fun time crawling this thing over some rocks and various terrain today! Aside from the servo feeling weak and the castle esc thermaling a couple times, it was a flawless run! I snapped a few pics of the session with my iPhone.

 

[gbean]

The caster angle built into the geometry assists in returning the steering to neutral while rolling.
It takes a very strong servo and a very precision steering assembly to return to dead on neutral while sitting still.

 

[binaryterror]

As gbean said, it's all in the flex stock.

My 444oz servo and aluminum horn still has the issue of not returning to pure straight when not rolling.

Eventually we will get a better stock of parts from vendors to fix all the steering issues down the line.

 

[WolfAusti]

Thanks for the insight, guys! I actually managed to strip out the stock servo horn today... What aluminum horns are you running, and also any word on what the spline is on the stock servo?

 

[Black n Blue]

25t

 

[WolfAusti]

Quick update for you guys! I installed a nice aluminum ofna servo horn and it made the steering much more direct and solid. However, with the servo saver locked out and the servo horn not giving at all, the servo crapped out on me on run 1 after I swapped out the horn. Luckily I had an extra ds1015 servo laying around. The new xp servo has 200oz in. of torque, which helps it to easily turn the tires even when sitting still. If this servo continues to impress me, I plan on waterproofing it so I can run it in the stream!

I had some fun yesterday (before the stock servo gave out) driving in a creek area. Same area that is pictured in my previous post. I continue to be impressed with how awesome this thing is at getting over some pretty rough rock gardens. The stock tires may be pretty bad in the dirt, but imo, the grip the rocks pretty well. Keep in mind that this is my first crawler and cannot compare it to trepadors or the voodoos that most people seem to be running. I would like to pick up some trepadors once I get all of the durability issues worked out.

I ran into some thermal overload issues with the castle made esc while crawling on 3s. Understandable in my mind why this would happen. Little to no airflow for cooling, high current draw trying to torque over rocks and up steep hills.. Imo, this esc is way under speced for the size of this vehicle. The yeti is essentially the same size as a 1/8 buggy or 4x4 sct, yet it has 1/10 electronics. For this reason I ordered a hobbywing 120a sc8 esc. I chose the sc8 because I plan on keeping the vehicle 100% waterproof and it delivers in this area. The fan should should also help keep things cool, however I believe the sc8 should easily handle 3s crawling and bashing. I understand that a sensored system would be nice for ultimate smoothness, but to be honest, I find the stock motor plenty smooth for my needs. I am also unaware of any waterproof sensored system. My goals right now with this vehicle are as follows:

1. Remain completely waterproof all the way to submersion
2. Maintain ability to switch between bashing and crawling on the same battery pack. Where I'm located right now, I'd say I'm at about 50-50 crawling/bashing.

I guess that wasn't as quick as I'd liked it to be, but there you have it! Also ordered some vanquish lights. Excited to show you guys! I'll do a write up on the lights, wiring, and waterproofing in the coming weeks. Thanks for readin.

 

[db450]

Great thread so far!! And I completely agree with driving it stock to get a feel for it and upgrade from there, not just throwing tons of parts at it and hope it works like you thought. Anyway, "thumbsup"

 

[WolfAusti]

Great thread so far!! And I completely agree with driving it stock to get a feel for it and upgrade from there, not just throwing tons of parts at it and hope it works like you thought. Anyway, "thumbsup"

Thanks! Glad to hear someone's read at least some of it

Made a little slow motion video of the suspension action with my iPhone 6!

Axial Yeti Slow Motion Suspension Action - YouTube

 

[HulkYeti]

WolfAusti let me get this straight the vanquish hub any hub for this company I will need a 12mm Wheel Hex for it to work???

 

[WolfAusti]

WolfAusti let me get this straight the vanquish hub any hub for this company I will need a 12mm Wheel Hex for it to work???

That is correct! The hubs are not pin drive, they require a hex of some sort. The axial wraith hexes are cheap and a direct fit!

 

[WolfAusti]

Lights

I was very happy to see that the vanquish Rigid Industries 4" light bar was a direct fit for the yeti. Super bright and I think it looks absolutely stellar! I've put the thing through some pretty serious abuse and have had no issues aside from a couple scratches from concrete flips... whoops. Installation was very simple. Used the included hardware to mount to the roof, routed the wires inside the body towards the rear (so it can still open clamshell style) and installed a micro deans connection on my esc. 20awg wire works well for anyone wondering what to use. Thing is really starting to come together!





Side note on the tires: When I first started running this vehicle, I couldn't help but agree with the many haters of the stock tires. To be honest, they were slick as hell and a bit hard to drive in a straight line, especially on a hard packed and dusty surface. After running several packs through these tires, I can say that they are WAY better. Tires tend to have a break in period, and I think this is what many were experiencing. Traction is manageable. Ok, don't get me wrong though! These tires aren't sticky by any means! But tbh, how sticky of tires can this vehicle handle if you want to be able to run without flipping your truck every 2 seconds. I find that my yeti already traction rolls about twice as much as I'd like it to. I can't imagine what would happen with stickier tires. I LIKE that they slide around. It's part of the fun of this vehicle! The center of gravity is too high and the suspension is too soft for a truck like this to be super hooked up. Good job Axial. Again this is just MY OPINION for my driving style! Thanks for the read, folks!

 

[WolfAusti]

Upcoming posts

Stay tuned for updates on electronics that I'm very excited to share with you all!