Hello, new here.

[w00t]

Hello I'm new here, just got a Savage X on Monday I'm through break in and trying to get a handle on tuning it. It's my second nitro rc my first being the original HPI nitro rs4 MT which was MUCH easier to tune.

I will be trying to get a handle on tuning it tomorrow before I go to work and if I can't get it figured out the guy at the hobbyshop said he will teach me how to get it running perfect. I'm pretty excited to get it running good, this truck is an absolute beast so far. The whole time I was researching which truck to get I heard people rave about how tuff the Savages were and now I am a true believer because I beat the heck out of it yesterday and it just kept asking for more. I've been getting good performance from it, but to get it to warm up I've been having to lean it way out (like 2 turns in) and then once it's warm I richen it but the temperature is still much hotter than I'd like it to be. I haven't touched the low speed needle yet because the manual recommended not to but it looks like I'm going to have to. Any tips for tuning the 4.1 for hot weather (90-110 degrees)? I also think I need to tune the shift point but that may iron itself out once the engine is propperly tuned.

I was wondering if there are any specific weak areas or common breakage areas on this truck that I need to keep an eye on?

Also do I really have to clean the airfilter EVERY tank? Or just after every day of running?

So far I've lost a screw out of my chassis where the plate screws into the back bulkhead/diff area, it also appears that I've lost two of the pins that are directly above those screws. Is there a fix for losing those pins? When I looked at it briefly it seems as if there's nothing holding those pins in, and in the manual those pins have a screw head on them but no threads. If anyone can shed some light on this issue I'd really appreciate it.

My last question is if the rotostart plate is supposed to be loose on the engine? With mine there is definitely some play where the plate bolts to the engine and from the instructions it looks like it only has 3 bolts connecting it to the engine. I just wanted to verify if there was or was not supposed to be play there before I take the engine out of the truck to check it.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide me!

[HPI_Savage25]

EVERY TANK!? where did you hear that from?? I clean mine like once every 15 tanks..lol..and it is still clean before i clean it..depends on the conditions.

[w00t]

The Savage X manual makes it sound like once every tank! I thought it sounded pretty rediculous myself and I wasn't going to follow that recomendation unless you guys backed it up. I was running in some pretty fine powdery dirt but when I checked the airfilter the surface of the inner element was only slightly dirty.

[4x4]

ye you dont have to clean it every tank i clean it eather when it looks dirty or every 10 to 15 tanks.

[Chunky Monkey]

Every other time you take out the truck, clean it...It's not hard, just use the nitro fuel...takes all of 1 minute to do. You may clean it more than once in a day pending on the weather conditions(a lot of dust on race day, etc.).

[Savage]

Hello welcome to the forum. You don't have to clean the air filter every tank. We I go off roading I clean it maybe a few times a day 'cause it's getting loaded with dust. If were just using them on street or in a parking lot I never clean it because it's not really getting anything on it. To clean it when I have heavy dirt on it I get it all off with Nitro Force and then hit it with Nitro Fuel and it's spotless. Your roto start thing should have 4 screws on it I think too.

[w00t]

I've now lost three pins out of the chassis, what a horrible design, is there a fix for this?

[HPI_Savage25]

Did you go over thet ruck and lock-tite eveything that is metal going into metal?? I have nevr had that happen

[Rake]

I've now lost three pins out of the chassis, what a horrible design, is there a fix for this?

Lots of locktite hehe. Oh the roto start plate should be tight check the 3 bolts and the areas it screws into to see if they striped or broke any. By the way look and see if the throttle return spring is leting your carb open all the way on your engine cause I really had to mess with mine the spring is so darn tight I was only geting about 3/4 throttle.

[Chunky Monkey]

Before running the truck out of the box, check all of the accessible screws...There should be locktite in all applicable areas, but sometimes they miss some, no-one's perfect

[w00t]

Yeah a few things I've done so far was check the throttle and I wasn't getting nearly full throttle. All I had to do was screw the ball cup in a few times and now it goes fully closed to fully open.

I've applied threadlock to all four of the screws that tie the TVP's to the bulks, so far it appears that those are the only ones giving me problems. Are there any other screws that are common problem areas that maybe I've missed, everything else seems to be ok so far.

The only other problem that I started to see was the top hingepins for the front and back arms. When I crashed or landed wrong (which happens a lot) the bumpers would flex allowing the pins to slowly work themselves out. Luckily I caught this before I lost one of got one bent (dunno if it's possible to bend these suckers, they're pretty stout). What I did was drill a small pilot hole through the bumper brace and into a chunk of the bulk head (just above where the hingepin goes in there is a good spot for this with plenty of meat for it to grab into) and put a flanged self tapping screw in it and screwed the bumper brace to the side of the bulkhead.

I will check where the rotostart backplate bolts to the engine and thread lock those screws if it needs it.

[Droogmole SS 4.6!]

..it's a good idea to threat lock the little screws in your outdrives of your center bones ..if you don't thread lock them they will come out and you will lose front or rear wheel drive.. .or both also if you can't get any stronger bearings i advice you to replace the ones at your diff after every 15 or 20 liters of fuel .. if they wear downe to much you will grind your bevel gears down.. at least that happend to me.. zo now i had to change the bevel and the bearings.. xpencive little joke here in holland

[w00t]

Thanks for the advice Droog.

If you guys don't know I had this site recommended to me for all my bearings needs.
http://www.avidrc.com/

The price per bearing is really cheap, and from what I've heard they're very good bearings. If anyone has actually had any experience with these bearings please chime in.

[Doesgo]

While the Savage X has some improvements over the original Savage, unfortunately there are a few weak points of the Savage X that weren't weak on the original Savage, too.

Many people are having a lot of problems with stripping spur gears, which appears to be attributed to a too-flexible transmission case design. Switching to a steel spur usually successfully treats the symptom, but to truly fix the problem it seems going to the old-style tranny case is required.

Another thing to consider is switching to the old-style slipper setup. It only requires a #86130 slipper hub and a #72130 slipper plate, plus the spur gear of your choice (and a #72131 slipper pad if your gear doesn't include one). This allows you more gearing options since you can run the HPI 47T, 49T, or 52T plastic spur gears, the same tooth count in steel from HPI, or a 48T spur from Robinson.

Another problem some are experiencing is the chassis plates can crack at the narrow point at the bottom of the X. I don't think this is a common problem, but it's not rare.

I also agree on the diff bearing issue. Nothing has changed here from the original Savage. Like the older Savages, the diff outdrive bearings are 10x16x5mm, not 8x16x5mm as indicated in the manual. It's too bad too, since 8x16x5 are more common and more durable. I'd also strongly suggest replacing the plastic bushings in your steering posts with 6x10x3mm bearings. They'll really free up your steering, making your servo faster, more effective, and more efficient. The plastic bushings work okay for a while, but they'll get really sticky sooner or later.

I also agree on Avid bearings. They're inexpensive and they last. They are available directly through Avid and are also available for $0.99 each at the SMF Store (http://www.smfstore.com).

A couple other places to make sure you have Loc-Tite is the four steering post screws, the four screws that hold the engine mount to the engine plate, the four screws that hold the engine block to the engine mount, and all of the screws that thread into the aluminum cross bars under the engine plate. I also have formed the habit of Loc-Titing the wheel nuts on most of my vehicles, especially the Savage. And keep your nuts tight! :)

[Chunky Monkey]

Nice first post doesgo! Welcome aboard

[w00t]

Thanks for the info doesgo, I'm really not liking the idea of having to switch the tranny out...sounds expensive for a truck I just paid over $400 for.

Do I have to change all the gears inside, or will all the X gears work in the old style case?

Also stripped my first spur gear last night. I've only had a half gallon through it and it was running like a champ, I think it was my fault though. I loosened some of the screws on one side of the chassis so I could remove the back of my truck and replace the screws holding on my rotostart plate (2 had fallen out and 2.6x12mm screws are suspiciously more expensive than any other screw at 79 cents a piece!). Well I did it that way so I didn't have to take out the motor as not to disturbe the spur/cb mesh which was good when I checked it from the factory. It all was put back together and then I was just doing speed runs on my street and all the sudden my gear was stripped. I'm hoping that all it was only the mesh not being quite right after the truck got put back together (didn't checke the mesh afterwards).

Another thing I noticed was that the bushing on my clutchbell was allowing quite a bit of play. I put a washer in there that seemed to eliminate most of the play so hopefully that'll be fine.

[Doesgo]

I'm with you, but you don't have to change out the entire tranny, just the case. It's HPI #85046 (http://www.smfstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=31_89&products_id=418) and it only costs $11.

Bummer about the screws! The SMF Store (http://www.smfstore.com) has 10-packs of M2.6x12mm (http://www.smfstore.com/index.php?cPath=21_46_26) screws for $2.00. Yeah, I hope the blown spur was merely the mesh.

Good call on the washer under the clutch bell screw. There needs to be a small amount of play, but only a small amount.

[w00t]

Thanks for the info doesgo, if I keep stripping spurs I may look into switching tranny cases.

Well after a good few hours of bashing I must say that I am still very impressed with the abuse that the Savage can take. I am very gald I went with this truck and not a T-maxx or Revo.

I had several very hard landings that surely would have broken parts on the other trucks I've owned, but this thing kept asking for more! My new spur survived it all too, I think I just screwed up the mesh the other day when I had the truck apart.

My next endevor will be to figure out a throttle/brake linkage that works better than this one. I just don't have very much stopping power at all, and I know if I had the right set up the brakes are capable of giving it to me. Quicker throttle response would be nice too. I tried modifying it a little and it works better than stock but still not great.

Question, when I take off from a dead stop at WOT most of the time the truck seems like it's bogged down a little and won't get to the right rpm to shift to 2nd. If I ease through the throttle's full motion the truck has better acceleration and actually makes it go to 2nd gear. Is this just what to expect from this engine in this truck or is this a tuning issue? If I lean it out much more it's going to be pushing 300+*F. I haven't played with the low speed needle a bunch, but I have tried leaning it a little and then it makes my engine's transition from WOT back down to idle unsteady.

My truck seems to run a good 15-30*F cooler without the body, is this pretty common or are there more tricks to modifying the body to make it cool better?

[w00t]

Well after another few hours of bashing spur gear #2 is toast. I might be able to clean up the teeth with an exacto and get a little more run time out of this one though. The gear was evenly stripped around the center of the whole thing leaving a little bit of the gear untouched around the edges. Any Idea if this would be a mesh problem? Too tight? Too loose? I did the folded piece of paper as tight as you can get them together thing and that seemed way too tight. as the gears weren't spinning freely. I loosened it just a little to the point where there was about .5-1mm of "wobblyness" in the spur gear which from what I've heard that seems to be the right amount.

Doesgo, I think if I can convince my wife to let me I will go ahead and try the Savage 25's transmission case. I just need to make sure it's a direct bolt in for the X chassis...? Are there any gears in the tranny that I should upgrade while it's apart? Also any aluminum tranny cases for the Savage? An anodized purple case would be sick and aluminum would remove all flex.

Also blew my first shock cap today. Any recomendations for upgrades. Durability is key! I would also like it if the truck handled a little better.

[Doesgo]

Everything I've read says the tranny cases are interchangeable, but I haven't done it myself to verify. HPI's website doesn't shed any light on the subject, although that's from where the info came last spring when parts interchangeability between models was being discussed. They said basically everything between the X and old-style Savages is interchangeable except the old aluminum roll bar won't work on the X chassis, and a couple other parts are ones that will work, but need companion parts to finish the job.

Seems I've seen an aluminum tranny case, but I think it was the old-style case and it was VERY expensive. Can't remember who made it, though.

What weight shock oil are you running? I'd keep it around 15wt to 20wt to reduce the load on the shock caps, bodies, and shafts when landing. That's still thick enough to cushion the load, but not so thick as to cause problems.

[w00t]

Shock oil was whatever the stock Savage X had in it.

I haven't checked the shock to see if the threads are stripped but I'm guessing I'll need new parts for that too. For now I will just screw it back together without oil.

Well I looked around the web for an aluminum tranny case and couldn't find one. I will see if I can't convince my wife to let me get the regular one.

One more thing, the old style tranny case has the rubber pull out for adjusting the 2 speed transmission right?

[w00t]

Just talked to HPI customer support, he said stated that it was kind of rediculous that they are having spur gear issues on a Savage, and he said to try running it with the slipper clutch all the way tight, and to make it so there was almost no play in the clutchbell/spur gear mesh.

He said to alleviate the whole problem I could switch to the Savage 25 spur setup.

Doesn't tightening the slipper all the way negate the purpose of even having one?

Also, is there an easy way to change the damn spur gear? I mean without having to remove the engine?? If anyone could clue me in on any of this stuff it'd be great.

[Speedster]

well congragulations on getting a savage x, i just got one and it very nice. If i am getting this right then u said that the roto start plate is not bolted down to the back of the engine, i had this exact same problem and it lead to a stripped roto start gear. There are 3 screws that hold it on and mine alll rattled out and i haven't recieved the parts yet. I woul suggest that you make sure that when you got to start your shiney new savy that you make sire that you have that plate on right(make sure it is straight on the shaft), because i think that was how i stripped mine. also you don't have to clean your air filter that ofen. I also find tuning relativly easy all i had to touch was the high speeed needle ans the idle needle. Run it hard!

[Speedster]

LOL you there's your problem. When i change the spur gear i just take out the top piece of the transmission.look in your manual on page 22, you will have to take the screws out of the side of the rollbar as shown at the top of the page and then the next picture to the right will show how to remove the piece that has the spur gear bolted onto it. once you get this out you will you will beable to see inside the transmission, i would try my best now to get any dirt in there, (WINK WINK)and then change the spur gear and put it back togeather. Hope this helps

[w00t]

Well I've successfully completed 2 hard bashing sessions on the Savage 25 tranny box. So far so good.

The things I've changed were tightening the slipper clutch, and tightening the mesh of the clutchbell/spur gears and of course changing the tranny case to the 25 style.

Doesgo, after removing the X's tranny case I could definitely tell that it would flex more than the 25's. For anyone who doesn't know, the X's tranny is 4 seperate pieces rather than 2. To make changing the spur gear easier HPI made the top half of the tranny removable by only 2 screws. 2 screws versus roughly 2.5 horse power doesn't seem to equate in my brain!

Another question: When I set the mesh of the cb/spur there was almost no play in the gears. After running them for a day there is a little more play than there was when I set them. Is this from the gears wearing intogether, or did my motor mount shift? I am not going to touch the mesh for now and going to let it play out to see how long this spur lasts. I have a feeling that the gears now have a little play because they worn in together. (At least that's my wishful thinking)

I've decided that it's impossible for my engine to run with good performance and stay at reasonable temps. Yesterday it hit 320*F when I was going to stop and let it cool down. There is always plenty of smoke and it never cuts out so I am just going to run it and not worry about it so much.