What are the 1st couple of upgrades to get for the XS?

Hello,
I'm new to the forum and this is my first real rc and I'm a little clueless about what upgrades to get. I plan on doing jumps, and general bashing. I have a ATV track going around my property with a few 2-3 ft jumps a bunch of ravines 1 of em is pretty much a dirt half pipe. The hobby shop guy where I bought it from talked me into getting a wheelie bar...I'm not sure if it's really necessary or not though but i've already installed it so i guess thats here to stay.
Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks
BigBud

I say to run it and when something breaks then look into better parts to replace them with, and running on dirt I see little use for a wheelie bar, it probably wont be needed there.....

Thanks for the reply and the advice. Much appreciated.

Welcome to the forum Bigbud! Someone likes trailer park boys.

I'm going to mirror what jam said. Run that beast until you break stuff. I actually believe that wheelie bar will be vital, though not as much so if you are solely driving on dirt. Those electric savages wheelie like a bat out of hell.

as above, just go have some fun with it, get use to the beast

Welcome...and I second and third the motion! Stock it works well. Then when your confidence grows, things start to break as we take risks!
Replace whats needed then to suit your bashing style.

Wow..Thanks for the warm welcome all. And YES I LOVE The Trailer Park Boys!
Ive always wanted a "real" rc car and the closest thing i had when I was younger was a Tyco Fast Tracks, The thing was a blast. I looked em up on ebay and they are $400-$600 bucks now...not sure why. Also, My son has been playing a few to many video games so I figured this would be a good way for us to go outside and have some real fun.
As for the Savage xs Flux, I was looking around on the net and came across it and loved it, I was wanting a 1/10 (my buddy used to have a nitro of some sort that size) but the only thing i could afford was the hpi bullet but it seems the savage xs flux has a much better motor and from what I can tell so far I love it.

You won't regret the Flux...in fact any version of the HPI Savage is great to have!
Wow...tyco prices that much? Tyco is a brand I have not heard for some time! Maybe they left their RC market as there are tons of other brands available now in the non-hobby grade RC department.

And kids with video games? Yeah...feel the pain! my 2 gals got hooked on the IPAD till I had to go Cold turkey on them and restrict it! they are back to their physically played toys now....phew!

Welcome to HPISF @BigBud. As others have said don't waste to much time worrying about upgrades at this point. The Savage trucks, even the XS, are incredibly tough so go out and have some fun with it then worry about upgrades or replacement parts once you start breaking stuff.

If you really want to spend some money on it, an inexpensive item that's going to add more protection would be a front bumper (or even the rear too) from T-Bone Racing. I have used these bumpers on several models and have been very pleased with them and they really do hold up and help add a bit more protection.

Thanks for the reply WoodiE. Those bumpers look like they would protect much more than the stock bumpers for sure and it looks like the back bumper has a built in wheelie bar on it.
What about tires and rims? I've heard there not very good and break or come undone on the ones that come with the xs. What would you all recommend for mainly dirt but will still do well on concrete? I was looking on ebay and found these for the snow but they are something crazy like $130 just for the two. I wonder how well they actually work. Anyone seen em before? or is this just a cheap gimmick that tires with snow chains will do the same thing? I would think the track would need to be wider or something to counteract the weight of the car.

Don't buy those things, waste of money. The big things to keep an eye on are the cups where the dogbones go in, when they get to looking bad or you notice you only have 2wd, swap them out with the HD ones. And get some extra m3 screws, and the small easy out from a hardware store, when you do break something, you might strip the head out of a screw.

What does the HD stand for?
Thanks for your reply.

HD = Heavy Duty

ah, thanks for the explanation.
In the near future I think I'm going to get a 3s LiPo for this xs. I know I will have to change one of the gears i believe. Anyone have any idea on what the best 3s battery is for this truck? Is it pretty much the higher the mAh and the higher the C the better the ?stronger the battery?

Check of value hobby, its where I got my batteries. And for 3s, just go ahead and get HD cups all around, gears are 24t pinion, 32\60t idler. And I would get the hardened steel gears, the factory 32\60t idler gear stripped on me just running 2s. The truck is a handful on 2s as it is.

@Bigbug, those tracks while they look cool are not very useful in any real amount of snow or mud. If you want a new set of tires then I'd take a look at the Proline Big Joe II's.

WoodiE said:

@Bigbug, those tracks while they look cool are not very useful in any real amount of snow or mud. If you want a new set of tires then I'd take a look at the Proline Big Joe II's.

Click to expand...

I figured those tracks were some kind of a gimmick. Those Proline Big Joe II's are damn nice looking. I'm lost on the "compound" that different tires use, I have no idea what the hells that about.

I need a little help.
The battery I have now is a Onyx 5000mAh 7.4v 25C 37Wh 2S and the charger is Primal. I'm still more than a little lost on how to charge this thing without blowing the damn thing up.It goes from 1a to 4a. I'm assuming I go one full charge cycle at 4a then maybe a half an hour on 1a? Does this sound right? Also when do I actually need to charge the battery, when the car stops running or??? Any help would be MUCH appreciated. I'm not used to LiPo or the chargers they use!

All LiPo batteries list a suggested current charge rate. I'd suggest you take a look at your battery and do as suggested.

Usually though, the suggested rate is 1A per 1000mAh.

There is only a battery box but no paper work that says anything. the box says Never charge over 4.2v per cell, Never charge at currents grater that 1C, Never discharge below 3.2V per cell. Are they supposed to come with paper work of some sort?

In the manual for your battery it lists the following:

http://manuals.hobbico.com/dtx/dtx-onyx-LiPo-manual.pdf

Thanks for all that. Much appreciated. I didn't know the battery should of came with that. So i will need to do a full cycle at 4a then another full cycle at 1a or 15 minutes at 4a Correct? That's what I'm getting out of that anyways. Just want to ask someone who actually knows what there doing.
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING.

I think the battery will be fine at a charge rate of 4 amps till it peaks, no need to repeak at a lower rate at all..... remember the LiPo is not like NiMH they retain some voltage, in fact if they are discharged to a too low voltage they just may not recharge at all.....

Thanks Jam. Seeing videos of lipos on YouTube exploding and catching fire had me a little concerned. Do the savage xs flux have a automatic shut off so the battery doesnt get to low?

yes the esc has a LiPo shutoff to prevent over discharging the batteries, one good investment you may consider is a LiPo sack to prevent a fire in case the battery decides to vent and catch fire..... better safe than sorry, and always remove the pack from the vehicle while charging, that way the truck will not melt down if something were to happen to the battery while charging.....

I broke a turnbuckle the other day and am trying to find a upgraded turnbuckle. The only thing I can find is http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCFFZ&P=ML and it still has the plastic end caps. Anyone know of any better ones out there? I looked just about everywhere I can but I'm not sure if there are better parts that are cross compatible or what.
If you all know of any, please let me know.
Thanks

I honestly like them plastic. I'd rather they broke or popped off the ball instead of take out the servo.

X said:

I honestly like them plastic. I'd rather they broke or popped off the ball instead of take out the servo.

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Thats what i was starting to wonder when I couldn't find them any other way. Also, does the turnbuckle have other names that people call it?
Thanks for the reply X

Could also be called the camber link if attaching from hub to chassis or shock tower, I think turnbuckle is adequate to describe that part though.... that part could also be called steering link if used to control steering... either way turnbuckle will work, also will have ends either captured or on a ball to link up and allow movement of suspension...

Gotcha. When I was looking around I seen a ton of parts called different names that all looked like the turnbuckle.

That'sE="X, post: 183148, member: 1626"]Welcome to the forum Bigbud! Someone likes trailer park boys.

I'm going to mirror what jam said. Run that beast until you break stuff. I actually believe that wheelie bar will be vital, though not as much so if you are solely driving on dirt. Those electric savages wheelie like a bat out of hell.[/QUOTE] Thats so true soon 2 own one and exited but by utube they can doba legit standing backflip on dirt even wit the rigjt tires but i thing u may need tires maybe trenccher x, s for 1/10 scale and wide offset rims
Thats